How one is to conduct oneself in outward and inner sufferings, also in temptations.

The Hundred-and-thirty-seventh Letter.

How one is to conduct oneself in outward and inner sufferings, also in temptations.

N. N.

That I received your pleasant [letter] of the 7th of this [month] aright, is known to you. I must at least answer a few lines with the pen, since otherwise I can now answer my correspondents only in the spirit. Jesus loves you, therefore He lets you drink a little with Him out of His cup, and keeps you on all sides. Through the bodily continuing sufferings the life of the senses and of nature (let it strive so much as it will) is to be held in and starved out; and through the inner drought and sufferings the Lord keeps from self-love, that the same may not spoil His divine work, which His divine hand under it all carries forward in secret. Let love only do with you! Love and suffer, as well as you can; but do not look at it every moment, how well such is done? The Lord will surely reach you your daily bread, as you now and then experience after the trials. Own caring and straining etc. does not overcome the enemy, but humble, quiet sinking-in into the hidden power of Christ, without occupying oneself with the enemies and with oneself. The mother-hand, whereby the child is held by the leading-string, one does not see, yet in the occasions one becomes aware of a power that keeps us from the fall.

If the temptations are of such a kind as you report, then all vehemence in resisting, also sadness and displeasure, only does more harm. The inward-turning into one's heart will there also seldom help. A humble, spoken prayer; an avoiding of the objects; a somewhat applying (or thinking-requiring) occupation, or even a good application of the understanding, still do best. Ah, the Lord cares and keeps us more than we can believe, and will at last with His divine life in us conquer over all life of nature and selfhood. Amen!

Mülheim, the 23rd of April, 1750.

German

Der hundertsiebenunddreißigste Brief.

Wie man sich in äußern und inneren Leiden auch in den Versuchungen zu verhalten.

N. N. Daß ich dein Angenehmes vom 7ten dieses richtig bekommen, ist dir bekannt. Ich muß doch wenigstens einige Zeilen mit der Feder antworten, da sonst meinen Correspondenten jetzt nur im Geist antworten kan.

— Opening lines of the original German. The complete transcription of all 605 letters appears in the forthcoming Encounter Press critical edition; Brief 1 is shown in full as a sample.

German text: public domain (1773–75 first edition / 1845 Gesammelte Schriften).