Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Saints

consider what is set before me. It is prudent for me to choose what is mine and not to touch what belongs to another. I will not stretch out my hand to the glory of miracles, lest, if I attempt what I have not received from above, I deservedly lose even what I seem to have received. I do not lift my eyes with him to search out heavenly secrets, lest, overwhelmed by the glory, I recoil in confusion, fleeing too late to the counsel of the Wise Man, who says: Do not seek things higher than you, and do not search into things stronger than you (Sir. 3:22). New wine of reddened waters is brought to the tables; I do not touch it, for I know it is not set before me, who am not able in like manner to change the elements and make natures new. I see likewise at Victor's table that he heard angels singing. Shall I too see heavenly singers presented to me, or surely those harpers of the Apocalypse harping on their harps before me? (Rev. 14:2.) He commands demons while still living in the body; one bound in the body he sets free when already freed from the body. These are foods, but not mine; delightful indeed and savoury, but my soul does not touch them, for I, being poor, have not the means to repay such things. But if I consider carefully, behold, before my eyes at the saint's table are the strictness of judgement, the vigour of discipline, the mirror of holiness, the pattern of life, the badge of virtue. These are both taken by me without presumption and taken in with profit; and if I neglect them, they are strictly demanded back.

5. Hear further which things I may think rightly set before me. If you offer me the bread of sorrow and the wine of compunction from the rich man's table, I take it without fear, I who am poor and needy. My tears shall be my bread day and night (Ps. 41:4), and I will mingle my drink with weeping (Ps. 101:10). This is my portion, who have committed things to be grieved for. Nor yet, I think, shall I be loath of this food; for he who added knowledge added also sorrow. But if examples of temperance, of justice, of prudence or of fortitude appear, I take them without delay, knowing that such things I must prepare in return. That these are set before me, that these will be required of me, I do not doubt. Are signs and wonders to be required of us, that we should prepare them in turn for the rich man? Brethren, they are vessels for the honour of him who has invited us, not the food of the poor. You, then, who have been invited, consider carefully what he has set before you and what before himself. For not whatever is set on the table is set before you. What if drink is served in a golden cup? Not the cup is set before you, but the drink: take the drink and put down the gold. Thus the father of the household shares with his household the examples of good works and uprightness of conduct, so as to keep for himself the prerogative in miracles. Yet in these and in those He is to be glorified whose gift it is to live holily, whose power it is to work signs, who in perfect Trinity lives and reigns, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON II.

1. Rejoice in the Lord, dearly beloved, who among the continual benefits of His goodness granted to the world a man by whose example many might be saved. Again I say, rejoice, that, taken from our midst, he has drawn near to God, so that many more may be saved by his intercession. He has from among men

one for whom the merciful and compassionate Lord may forgive the sins of men: the kind and merciful advocate has a time and place for interceding; indeed a quiet place and a time of holiday. On earth he was seen, that he might be an example; into heaven he has been lifted up, that he may be a protection. Here he forms us for life; there he invites us to glory. He who becomes a spur to work has been made a mediator for the kingdom. A good mediator, who, now asking nothing for himself, desires to transfer wholly to us both the affection of the suppliant and the fruit of the supplication. For what should he seek for himself who needs nothing? The Lord preserves him, and gives him life, and makes him blessed in glory: nothing will be lacking to him, set in a place of pasture. This is the day of his glorious passing, the day of the gladness of his heart; let us exult and rejoice in it. He has entered into the powers of the Lord: let us rejoice, for now he is more powerful to save.

2. Today Victor, having laid aside the body, by which alone he seemed to be held back from entering glory, has entered the holy place, the more eagerly the more unencumbered, made like the saints in glory. Today from the last and lowly place which he had chosen for himself by the Saviour's counsel, the supreme Father of the household Himself calling him, the true friend has gone up higher, and he has glory before those who sit at table with him. Today, having despised the world and triumphed over the prince of the world, Victor has truly ascended above the world, receiving from the hand of the Lord the crown of victory. And he has ascended with an immense furnishing of merits, renowned for triumphs, glorious in miracles. The veteran soldier rests, and after the labours and sweat of a sacred warfare accomplished he is happily placed and sublimely crowned. His soul shall dwell among good things. Do you ask where? With Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. So with such as these and in such a place she sits at her ease; she sits lofty and shining, she sits joyful and praising; she sits delicate and adorned with her jewels, surrounded with apples, propped up with flowers; she sits, I say, at her ease, free of cares, overflowing with delights, abounding in leisure and quiet for attending to wisdom. She who sat and wept by the rivers of Babylon sits now at the fountain of life, and her dwelling is beside the torrent of pleasure, whose stream gladdens the city of God. She has found for herself the fountain of gardens, the well of living waters, and with the Samaritan woman she is given to drink the water of saving wisdom, that she may never thirst. There is given to her of the fruit of her hands, and her works praise her in the gates, and she glories in the testimony of conscience; of her own conscience, I say, not another's. She sits in the midst of the angels, plainly worthy of the company of those whose desire she burns with, whose purity she shines with, whose chastity she is adorned with. He sits among the apostles, a man of apostolic grace; nor is there any cause for him to hide from the company of the prophets, he who glorified and bore in his body Him whom they foretold. Nor does our Victor think himself to be shut out from the victorious choirs of the martyrs, he who by a hard and long martyrdom offered up the living victim of his own body.

3. The veteran soldier sits, at rest now in the sweetness and security that are his due; secure indeed for himself, but anxious for us. For he did not, along with the corruption of the flesh, strip himself of the bowels of compassion; nor did he so put on himself the robe

of glory as to put on forgetfulness both of our misery and of his own mercy. The land the soul of Victor inhabits is not a land of forgetfulness; not a land of labour, that he should be busied in it; in short, not a land at all, but heaven. Does the heavenly dwelling harden the souls it admits, or deprive them of memory, or strip them of compassion? Brethren, the breadth of heaven enlarges hearts, it does not straiten them; it gladdens minds, it does not estrange them; it does not contract the affections but extends them. In the light of God memory is made clear, not darkened; in the light of God what is not known is learned, what is known is not unlearned. Those spirits on high who have dwelt in the heavens from the beginning: because they dwell in the heavens, do they despise the earth, and do they not rather visit and frequent it? Because they always see the face of the Father, does that make void their ministry of compassion? They are nonetheless all ministering spirits, sent to serve for the sake of those who inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14). What then? The angels run to and fro and come to the help of men; and do those who are from among us not know us, nor know any longer how to suffer with us in the things in which they themselves suffered? Those who know no sorrows yet feel ours; and do those who came out of great tribulation no longer recognize the state in which they were? I know who said: The just wait for me, until Thou reward me (Ps. 141:8). Victor is just, waiting also, beyond doubt, for our reward. He is not Pharaoh's cupbearer, who kept for himself the favour he had found, and did not remember his prophet and fellow captive (Gen. 40). He is a minister of Christ; he follows Christ. Christ did not forget His promise, nor did He deny the fellowship of the kingdom to the partner of His passion. The disciple is not against the master; Victor can do nothing except what he has seen the master doing. The works which He did, this one also did likewise.

4. Having now entered the heavens, which even before he used to gaze up at, opened, with blessed eyes, now truly with unveiled face he beholds the glory of God, absorbed indeed, but not forgetful of the cry of the poor. Blessed vision, by which he is transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. A little one for the fight, a hand for victory, not yet come out of his mother's womb and already casting out demons, Victor, living among sinners, was translated with an increase of virtues and merits. O man of outstanding holiness! who was holy before he was born, Victor in deed before he was in name. While still shut in the womb he already triumphed over the enemy. O holiness to be revered even by the angels themselves! which with equal zeal, though

ON THE FEAST OF ST BENEDICT, ABBOT. SERMON.

1. When you come together to hear the word of salvation, I have a great fear, my brethren, lest anyone perhaps receive it less worthily, and not as the word of God ought to be received. For I know that the land which has often received the rain coming upon it, if it does not bear fruit, will be rejected and near to a curse (Heb. 6:7, 8). And I for my part, if I could,

with unequal will, the wicked flee and the good frequent. Nor could I easily say which proves the man the holier, the favour of these or the fear of those. Dwelling on earth in body, in heaven in mind, he heard the voices of the spirits on high, sometimes announcing something more familiarly, sometimes applauding with the ineffable sweetness of song. Truly your soul, Victor, is one of the gems that appeared to you on the cross. Truly, fixed to the cross, when it was set into the divine glory, it put on the same image of brightness which it found. He who had given His spirit to the one fighting opened His bosom to the one conquering. O victorious soul, which like a sparrow flying over have escaped the snares of the world! look upon the unwary souls entangled in them, imperilled in them, that by your patronage we may be rescued.

5. O veteran soldier, who have exchanged the hard labours of the Christian warfare for the rest of angelic happiness! look upon your unwarlike and feeble fellow soldiers, who amid hostile swords and spiritual wickedness are busied with your praises. O renowned Victor, who have triumphed most gloriously over both earth and heaven, nobly proud in despising the glory of the one, and piously violent in seizing the kingdom of the other! look down from heaven upon the captives of the earth, that this may be the consummation of your triumphs, if we too at last feel that you have conquered. For if your name comes from the thing, the full truth of the name will be reckoned from our liberation. And surely something is lacking to its meaning, as long as we who are yours are not set free. How dutiful, how sweet, how delightful, O Victor, in this place of affliction and in this body of death to sing of you, to honour you, to entreat you! Your name and your memorial are a honeycomb dripping on the lips of captives; honey and milk under the tongue of those who delight in your memory. Come then, brave athlete, sweet patron, faithful advocate, rise up to help us, that we may rejoice in our rescue and you may glory in a full victory. O almighty Father, we have sinned against Thee, become strange sons; but we have drawn near in Victor, who, as he conquered his own desire, may conquer also Thy wrath, and powerfully restore us too to grace. O victorious Jesus, we praise Thee in our Victor, because we know that Thou hast conquered in him. Grant him, most loving Jesus, so to glory in his victory in Thee that forgetfulness of us may not creep upon him. Son of God, move him to be ever mindful of us in Thy sight, to take up and plead our cause in Thy dread judgement, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

would rather give you blessings, and not curses. Nay rather, the very blessing of our heavenly Father, not mine (which you yet receive through my mouth, He Himself deigning it), I wish to remain with you always as a blessing, and never to be able to be turned into a curse.

2. We celebrate today the feast of our glorious master Benedict:

for him and about him a solemn sermon is owed to you, according to custom. His most sweet name is to be embraced and honoured by you with all joy: for he is our leader, he is our master and lawgiver. I too indeed take delight in his memory, although I dare not mention the name of this blessed father without blushing for my own. For I have with you, from imitating him, the renunciation of the world and the profession of monastic discipline; but singly, without you, I share with him the name of abbot. He was abbot, and so am I. O abbot, and abbot! One name, but in the other only the shadow of a great name. One ministry, but alas for me! how unlike the ministers, how unlike the ministering itself! Woe to me, if I shall be as far from you, O blessed Benedict, in the future, as I find myself far from the footsteps of your holiness in the present. But there is no need for me to speak at length of this among you. I know that I speak to those who know: I ask only that you lighten this shame and this fear of mine with brotherly compassion.

3. Since, however, a stewardship has been entrusted to me after all, even if I have nothing with me to set before you, I will seek from blessed Benedict three loaves with which to feed you. Let his holiness, his righteousness, his loving devotion refresh you. Recall, dearly beloved, that not all who were in the Lord's procession spread their garments for Him. In that procession, I say, which by the Lord's favour we are soon to celebrate, when the people went out to meet the Lord coming to His passion and seated on a colt, not all spread their garments in the way, but some cut branches from the trees (Matt. 21:1–9). This was no great thing: what they had received freely, they gave freely. Yet even they were not altogether idle, nor are they read to have been shut out from the procession. My brethren, Christ's faithful beast of burden, you who can say with the Prophet: I am become as a beast of burden before Thee, and I am always with Thee (Ps. 72:23); you on whom Christ sits, since the soul of the just is the seat of wisdom, and the Apostle preaches Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (I Cor. 1:24): if I have no garments to spread beneath your feet, I will at least try to cut branches from the trees, so that some little part of my service may not be lacking to so great a procession.

4. Blessed Benedict was a tree, great and fruitful, like the tree which is planted beside the streams of waters (Ps. 1:3). Where are the streams of waters? In the valleys, surely; for the waters shall pass through the midst of the mountains. For who does not see that even the torrents of the mountains avoid the heights and always turn aside to the lowliness of the middle of the valley? So surely, so God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Jas. 4:6). Here plant your foot securely, whoever you are that are Christ's beast of burden; lean upon this branch; walk the path of the valley. For indeed the old serpent has set his seat on the mountain, biting

the horse's hooves, so that its rider falls backward: therefore choose rather the valley for walking, choose the valley for planting. For even in setting trees we are not accustomed to choose mountainous places, because they are often dry and stony. In the valleys there is richness: there plants thrive, there the ear is full, there the hundredfold fruit springs up, according to the saying: And the valleys shall abound with grain (Ps. 64:14). You hear that wherever the valley is praised, humility is proclaimed. There, then, plant, where the streams of waters are; for there is the abundance of spiritual grace; and the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord, that is, heavenly blessings cause Him to be praised. Let us stand in this, dearest brethren, and stand planted, that we may not wither. Let us not be moved by every breath, as it is written: If the spirit of one who has power rushes upon you, do not leave your place (Eccl. 10:4). For no temptation will prevail over you, if you do not walk in great things and in wonders above you, but remain with firm roots, rooted and grounded in humility. Thus, planted beside the streams of waters, this holy confessor of the Lord gave his fruit in its season.

5. For there are those who bear no fruit; there are those who bear it, but not their own; there are those who bear their own, but not in its season. There are, I say, unfruitful trees, like the oak and the elm and other wild trees; but no one plants such in his garden, because they bear no fruit; and if they bear any, it is fit not for human eating but for swine's. Such are the children of this world, living in revellings and drunkenness, in gluttony and greed, in chambering and wantonness. For these are the food of swine, which the true Jew, that is, the Christian, who ought not to cleave to them, is forbidden to eat (Deut. 14:8). For just as pork, when it is eaten, cleaves to our flesh, so that it becomes one flesh, so the transgressor of the Lord's precept joins unclean spirits to himself, and by cleaving to them becomes one demon with them. And for this reason that animal is forbidden to be offered in sacrifices, because it signifies the foul and unclean spirits, who, having abandoned all cleanness, take pleasure only in the filth they join to themselves, and delight always to wallow in the mire of vices and crimes. Hence also in the Gospel that accursed legion, when it was being cast out of the man, asks for the swine as an animal like itself, and they are not refused (Mark 5:1–13). For these the unfruitful trees bear fruit, at whose roots the axe is now seen to be laid.

6. But the trees that bear fruit, yet not their own, are the hypocrites, carrying with Simon of Cyrene a cross not their own: lacking a religious intention, they are pressed into service; and the things they do not love they are compelled to do for love of the glory they desire. Now in the words in its season (Ps. 1:3) certain people are reproved who wish to bear fruit before their time. For do we not, when our trees too are budding earlier than is fitting,

altogether fear untimely blossoms? So there are some whose fruits, because they come up too hastily, come up less happily. These are they who at the beginning of their conversion presume to wish to bear fruit for others straightway, hastening against the decrees of the law to plough with the firstborn of the ox and to shear the firstborn of the sheep. Do you wish to know how carefully this holy master of ours avoided this? This branch too I set before you: that for three years, known to God alone, he remained unknown to men. Much fruit indeed he bore, as you yourselves see; but in its season. For he did not believe it to be the time for bearing fruit when he was weighed down by so great a temptation of the flesh that he almost yielded, almost went away. For I will not pass over even this branch, since, although it bristles in some manner with the prickles of the thorns into which the Lord's Benedict threw himself, yet it is altogether useful: useful to the Lord's beast of burden because of the pits of temptations, that it may not fall into them by consenting, but rather resist and act manfully, and wait for the Lord, lest it despair. Here, then, plant your foot, beast of burden of Christ, and learn, however bitterly temptation may rage, not to yield, nor to believe that you have therefore been forsaken by the Lord, but remember that it is written: Call upon Me in the day of tribulation; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me (Ps. 49:15).

7. Therefore, as I had begun to say, blessed Benedict did not believe it was then the time for bearing fruit, while he was still pressed by such great temptations; but the time came, and in its season he gave his fruit. Of his fruit are those three things which I touched on above: his holiness, his justice, his piety. His miracles prove his holiness, his teaching his piety, his life his justice. You see, O beast of burden of Christ, branches green with leaves, blooming with flowers, laden with fruit. Lean upon these, that you may make straight steps for your feet. But how do I set his miracles before you? Is it that you should wish to work miracles? By no means, but that you may lean upon his miracles: that is, that you may be confident and rejoice that you have been placed under such a shepherd, that you have deserved to have so great a patron. For he is surely very powerful in heaven who proved so powerful on earth: exalted in the greatness of glory according to the greatness of grace. For branches too are known to come forth in proportion to the extent of the roots: and by as many roots as a tree rests upon, with so many branches, as they say, is it adorned. So then, although we do not have [miracles] of our own, the miracles of our patron ought to be a great consolation to us. His teaching, moreover, instructs us and directs our steps into the way of peace. And the justice of his life altogether strengthens and quickens us, so that we are the more kindled to do what he taught, the more certain we are that he taught nothing other than what he did. A living and effective word, indeed, is the example of deeds, making what is said most persuasive, while it shows that what is urged can be done.

8. In this way, then, his holiness strengthens, his piety shapes, his justice confirms. For of how great piety was it that he not only profited those then present, but was solicitous also for those to come? Not only for those who were then living did this tree bear fruit, but even to this day

his fruit both remains and grows. Beloved indeed by God and men: whose presence alone was not in blessing, as there are many beloved by God alone because known as yet to God alone; but his memory too is even now in blessing. For even to this day, for the threefold confession of love of the Lord, he feeds the Lord's flock with this threefold fruit. He feeds by his life, he feeds by his teaching, he feeds also by his intercession. Helped by this unceasingly, do you also bear fruit, dearly beloved, since you have been placed here for this, that you may go and bring forth fruit. From where are you to go? From yourselves, surely, as it is written: Turn away from your own wills (Sir. 18:30). For of the Lord too we read that He went out to sow His seed (Matt. 13:3). Behold, here too we have His seed, as before we had His fruit. Let us imitate Him also, brethren; for to this end He came, that He might hand on to us a pattern and show us the way.

9. Perhaps the Lord Himself also is a tree, and we ought to receive branches from Him too, to set before your feet: nay, not perhaps, but rather truly He Himself is a tree and a heavenly plant, but planted on earth, as it is written: Truth has sprung from the earth, and justice has looked down from heaven (Ps. 84:12). From Him, therefore, I set this branch before you, that as He emptied Himself, you may have this same mind in yourselves: except that it is not so much I who set it before you as the Apostle, in whom you have read: Have this mind in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus: who, though He was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man (Phil. 2:5–7). You too, therefore, dearly beloved brethren, empty yourselves, humble yourselves, sow yourselves, lose yourselves. Sow an animal body, and a spiritual body will rise again. Lose your souls, and you will keep them unto life eternal. Do you wish to know how the Apostle himself who taught this did it? Whether, he says, we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or whether we are sober, it is for you (II Cor. 5:13). What then for yourself? I have become, he says, like a lost vessel (Ps. 30:13). He loses himself well who never does anything for himself, but all whose intention and every desire tend to the good pleasure of God and the profit of his brethren. For unhappy is he who sows in the flesh, because from the flesh he shall reap corruption (Gal. 6:8). But elsewhere it is written: Blessed are they who sow upon all waters (Isa. 32:20). But how upon all waters? Perhaps also upon the waters of which we read: And let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord (Ps. 148:4): which are the angelic powers and the heavenly peoples. So it is indeed: For we have been made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men (I Cor. 4:9).

10. Let us therefore sow for men a good example through open works; let us sow for the angels great joy through hidden sighs, and through other things of this kind which are known to them alone. For there is joy to the angels of God over one sinner doing penance. Hence the Apostle said: Providing good things not only before God, but also before men (II Cor. 8:[21])

21). For to God we are wholly known; but he said "before God", that is, before those who stand ever in His presence. For it pleases them most when they see you praying in secret, or ruminating on some psalm, or doing some such thing. So do you also sow, so bear fruit, dearly beloved. Do you also sow, because so many have sown before you; bear fruit, because they sowed for you. O race of Adam, how many have sown in you, and how precious the seed! How wretchedly will you perish, and how deservedly, if so great a seed perish in you, and with it the labour of the sowers! To what perdition will you be handed over by the husbandman if all these things perish in you? The whole Trinity has sown in our land; the angels and the apostles alike have sown; the martyrs have sown, and the confessors, and the virgins. God the Father has sown; for His heart has uttered a good Word. For the Lord has given goodness, and our land has yielded its fruit. The Son too has sown: for He it is who went out to sow His seed. For the Father did not go out, but the Son proceeded from the Father and came into the world; that He who before was a thought of peace in the heart of the Father might Himself become our peace in the womb of His mother. The Holy Spirit too has sown; for He also came, and there appeared to the disciples parted tongues as of fire. So the whole Trinity has sown: the Father, namely, peace from heaven, the Son truth, the Holy Spirit charity.

11. The angels too have sown, when, while others fell, they themselves stood. For that Lucifer said, no longer light-bearer but darkness-bearer and evening star: I will sit on the mountain of the covenant, I will be like the Most High (Isa. 14:13–14). O shameless and senseless one! Thousands of thousands minister to Him, and ten hundred thousand stand before Him (Dan. 7:10); and will you sit? The cherubim, says the prophet, stood (Isa. 6:2; Ezek. 10:3), and did not sit; what have you laboured at, that you should sit now? They are all ministering spirits, sent to minister for the sake of those who receive the inheritance of salvation; and will you sit? What have you sown, that you should reap now? It is not yours, it is not yours, this, but theirs for whom it has been prepared by the Father. Why do you envy them? Assuredly they themselves shall sit; they, I say, little worms of the earth, shall sit as judges, and you shall not only not stand, but shall stand by to be judged. Do you not know, says the Apostle, that we shall judge even angels? (I Cor. 6:3.) They surely who went and wept, casting their seeds, shall come back with rejoicing, carrying their sheaves (Ps. 125:6). There are two sheaves which you seek, namely of honour and of rest. You covet a seat and loftiness; but not so, wicked one, not so: you will not gather, because you have not sown. Those who have sown labour and lowliness will reap honour and rest alike. For in return for their double confusion and blushing [variant: labour], in their land they shall possess double. Hence too someone said: See my lowliness and my labour (Ps. 24:18). Today indeed you heard in the Gospel the Lord promising and saying to the disciples: You shall sit upon seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28). Behold the rest of sitting, and the honour of judgement. For the Lord Himself too willed not to come to these things except through lowliness

and labour. Hence too He was condemned to a most shameful death, questioned with torments and filled with reproaches: so that the enemy might be clothed with confusion, he and alike all who imitate him and pass by the way. He it is, O wicked one, He it is who is to sit on the throne of His majesty, like the Most High, and co-most-high with Him. This surely the holy angels considered, who, when the evil one fell, did not consent to his apostasy, leaving us an example, that as they themselves chose to serve, so we also should do. For those too who flee labour and grasp at honour should know that they are imitating him who sought a seat and loftiness: and if his fault does not frighten them enough, let at least his punishment frighten them. For all things turned out the contrary way, so that he was formed to be mocked, and eternal fire was prepared for him. To avoid these things the holy angels sowed prudence for us, who first held to it while others fell.

12. But the apostles too sowed this same [prudence] for us, when, as those departed who followed the wisdom of this world, which is folly with God, and the prudence of the flesh, which works death and is hostile to God, they themselves clung to the Lord. For those men, scandalized on hearing of the sacrament of the flesh and blood, no longer walked with Him. But the disciples, asked whether they too wished to go away, answered: To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We must, brethren, imitate this prudence; for many still walk with Jesus until it comes to eating His flesh and drinking His blood, that is, to sharing in His sufferings (for this is what both that word and the sacrament itself signify): but from then on they are scandalized and go back, saying: This saying is hard (John 6:67–69, 61). Let us be prudent with the apostles, and say: Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. We do not depart from Thee; Thou wilt quicken us. Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). The world alone does not have delight, but far greater delight is in Thy words. Hence too the Prophet says: How sweet are Thy words to my palate! more than honey to my mouth (Ps. 118:103). To whom then shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, Lord; and they are above all that the world can have. Not only life itself, but the promise of eternal life also and the expectation of the just, is gladness, and so great a gladness that nothing that is desired can be compared with it. This prudence, then, the holy apostles sowed for us. That the martyrs sowed fortitude is plain. The confessors, moreover, sowed justice, which they followed in all their life; for the difference between martyrs and confessors is that between Peter leaving all things at once and Abraham spending the substance of the world on good uses; for the former, made perfect in a short time, fulfilled many times, while the latter drew out long and manifold martyrdoms. It is plain that the holy virgins sowed temperance, who so trampled on lust.

ON THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. SERMON I. On the words of Psalm 84:10-11: "That glory may dwell in our land."

1. That glory may dwell in our land, mercy and truth have met each other, justice and peace have kissed. This is our glory, says the Apostle, the testimony of our conscience (II Cor. 1:12). Not indeed such a testimony as that proud Pharisee had, bearing testimony about himself with a deceived and deceiving thought (Luke 18:11–12), and his testimony was not true; but when the Spirit Himself bears testimony to our spirit. Now this testimony, I believe, consists in three things. For it is necessary first of all to believe that you cannot have remission of sins except through the indulgence of God; next, that you can have nothing whatever of good work unless He Himself has given this too; lastly, that you can merit eternal life by no works unless that too is given you freely. For who can make clean what was conceived of unclean seed, but He who alone is clean? (Job 14:4.) What has been done, certainly, cannot not have been done: yet if He does not impute it, it will be as though it had not been. Considering which, the Prophet too says: Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin (Ps. 31:2). Of good works, again, it is altogether certain that no one has them from himself. For if human nature could not stand while still whole, how much less will it be able to rise again by itself now that it is corrupted? It is certain that all things tend, as far as in them lies, towards their origin, and are always more inclined in that direction. So too with us, who were created out of nothing: it is clear that if we are left to ourselves, we always decline into sin, which is nothing.

2. As for eternal life, we know that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, not even if one man were to bear them all. For the merits of men are not such that eternal life is owed for them by right, or that God would do some wrong if He did not give it. For, to say nothing of the fact that all merits are gifts of God, and so man is more God's debtor because of them than God is man's, what are all merits beside so great a glory? Finally, who is a better prophet than he to whom the Lord Himself bears so signal a testimony, saying: I have found a man after My own heart? (I Kgs. 13:14; Acts 13:22.) Yet even he had need to say to God: Enter not into judgement with Thy servant, O Lord (Ps. 142:2). Let no one, therefore, deceive himself; for if he will think it over well [variant: reckon it up], he will find beyond doubt that not even with ten thousand can he meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand (Luke 14:31).

3. But these things which we have now said are not wholly sufficient, but are rather to be held as a kind of beginning and, as it were, a foundation

of faith. And so, if you believe that your sins cannot be blotted out except by Him against whom alone you have sinned, and upon whom sin does not fall, you do well: but add further that you believe this too, that through Him your sins are forgiven you. This is the testimony which the Holy Spirit bears in your heart, saying: Your sins are forgiven you. For so the Apostle judges, that man is justified freely through faith (Rom. 3:28). So too concerning merits: if you believe that they cannot be had except through Him, it is not enough, until the Spirit of truth bears you testimony that you have them through Him. So also concerning eternal life, you must have the testimony of the Spirit that you will come to it by the divine gift. For He Himself forgives sins, He Himself gives merits, and He Himself no less gives back rewards.

4. Now these testimonies have become exceedingly credible to me. For concerning the remission of sins I hold a most powerful proof, the Lord's passion. For the voice of His blood has prevailed far more than the voice of Abel's blood, crying in the hearts of the elect the remission of all sins. For He was delivered up for our sins: and there is no doubt that His death is more powerful and more effective for good than our sins for evil. Concerning good works, again, His resurrection is to me a no less effective proof, for He rose again for our justification (Rom. 4:25). And concerning the hope of rewards, His ascension is the testimony, for He ascended for our glorification. These three you have in the psalms, the Prophet saying: Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin (Ps. 31:2); and elsewhere: Blessed is the man whose help is from Thee (Ps. 83:6); and again elsewhere: Blessed is he whom Thou hast chosen and taken to Thee; he shall dwell in Thy courts (Ps. 64:5). This is true glory, glory that dwells within; for it is from Him who dwells by faith in our hearts. But the sons of Adam, seeking the glory that comes from one another, did not want the glory that comes from God alone: and so, pursuing a glory that flows from without, they had glory not in themselves, but rather in others.

5. Do you wish to know whence a man has indwelling glory? I say it briefly, since my purpose hastens to the mystical sense. For I had proposed to trace out more carefully only that in those prophetic words, but the apostolic saying about inward glory and the testimony of conscience, meeting me at the very outset, turned [me] aside to the moral sense. Thus, then, this glory dwells even here in our land, if mercy and truth have met each other, and justice and peace kiss one another. For the truth of our confession [variant: conversion] must meet the mercy that goes before, and thereafter we must pursue holiness and peace, without which no one will see God. For when anyone is pricked to compunction, already then mercy has come before him;

but it will by no means enter in until the truth of confession meets it. I have sinned against the Lord, said David himself to the prophet Nathan, when he was rebuked for adultery and murder. And the Lord has taken away your sin from you, said the prophet (II Kgs. 12:13). Truly mercy and truth have met each other. And this indeed so that you may turn away from evil. But now, that you may do good, you must sing psalms with timbrel and choir, so that the very mortification of your flesh, and the fruits of penance, and the works of justice may be done in unity and concord (since unity of spirit is the bond of perfection); and you will turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left. For there are those whose right hand is a right hand of iniquity. That Pharisee whom we mentioned above was not as the rest of men (Luke 18:11); but he bore testimony to himself, as we said, but not a true one. Surely whoever he is in whom mercy and truth have met each other, justice and peace have kissed, let him glory securely: but let him glory in Him who bears testimony to him, in the Spirit, that is, of truth.

6. That glory may dwell in our land, mercy and truth have met each other, justice and peace have kissed. If a wise son is the glory of his father, since no one is wiser than Wisdom itself, it is plain indeed that Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, is the glory of the Father. Since, then, it had been foretold of Him in the prophets in many ways and in divers manners (Heb. 1:1) that He was to be seen on earth and to converse among men, the Psalmist shows in these words in what manner this was done, and how, when the things foretold of Him by the mouth of all the prophets had been fulfilled, glory dwelt in our land, as though he said more plainly: That the Word might be made flesh and dwell in us, mercy and truth have met each other, justice and peace have kissed. A great sacrament, brethren, and one to be searched out more carefully, were not both understanding wanting to the mystery and words to the understanding itself. Yet I say, as best I can, a little of what I perceive, if perhaps I may seem at least to have given occasion to the wise. I seem to myself to see, dearly beloved, that the first man was clothed with these four virtues from the very beginning of his creation, and, as the prophet recalls, clad in the garment of salvation (Isa. 61:10). For in these four is the wholeness of salvation, nor can salvation subsist without them all; especially since they could not be virtues if they were separated from one another. Man, then, had received mercy as his guardian and attendant, that she might go before him and follow him, and protect and keep him everywhere. You see what a nurse God gave to His little one, what an attendant He gave to man newly born. But he needed a teacher as well, as being a free and rational creature, so that he should not be guarded like some beast of burden, but brought up like a little child. And for this office of teaching none could be found fitter than truth herself, who might at length lead him to the knowledge of the supreme Truth. Meanwhile, however, lest he should be found wise to do evil, and sin should be to him as it were

to one who knew good and yet did not do it, he received justice also, by which he might be ruled. And besides, the most kindly hand of the Creator added peace, by which he might be cherished and delighted: a twofold peace, namely, that there should be neither fightings within nor fears without, that is, that neither should the flesh lust against the spirit, nor any creature be a terror to him. For he freely gave names to all the beasts, and the serpent himself, because he did not presume to use violence, attacked him rather by guile. What did he lack, whom mercy guarded, truth taught, justice ruled, peace cherished!

7. But alas! this man, to his great ruin and folly, went down from Jerusalem to Jericho: for he fell among robbers, by whom, before all else, he is read to have been stripped (Luke 10:30). Was he not stripped, who complains, when the Lord comes, that he is naked? Nor indeed could he be clothed again, or recover the garments taken from him, unless Christ lost His own. For as he could not be quickened in soul except by the intervening bodily death of Christ, so neither could he be clothed again without His being stripped. And see whether it is not on account of these four parts of the garment which the first and old man had lost that the garments of the second and new Man also were divided into as many. Or do you perhaps ask also about the seamless tunic, which is not divided but goes by lot? I judge it to be the divine image, which, being not sewn on but implanted and impressed upon nature itself, cannot be divided and rent. For man was made to the image and likeness of God, having freedom of choice in the image, virtues in the likeness. And the likeness indeed perished, yet man passes on in the image. For the image can be burned in hell itself, but not burned away; it can burn, but not be destroyed. This, then, is not rent, but goes by lot. And wherever the soul may come, it too will be there with it. The likeness is not so; but either it remains in good, or, if the soul has sinned, it is wretchedly changed, made like to the senseless beasts.

8. But since we have said that man was stripped of the four virtues, it is fitting that we say in what way he was stripped of each. Man lost justice when Eve obeyed the voice of the serpent, and Adam the voice of the woman, rather than the voice of God. There was, however, something remaining which they might have laid hold of, and the Lord hinted at it by that questioning of His; but they cast that away too, turning to words of malice, to make excuses in sins. For the first portion of justice is not to sin, the second to condemn sin through penance. He lost mercy too, when Eve so burned in her desire that she spared neither herself, nor her husband, nor the children to be born, delivering them all together to a terrible curse and to the necessity of death. Adam too thrust before the divine indignation the woman for whose sake he had sinned, as if wishing to dodge the arrow behind her back. For the woman saw that the tree was fair to the sight and pleasant to eat, and she had heard from the serpent that they would be as gods. A threefold cord is hard to break: of curiosity, of pleasure, and of vanity. This

these alone the world has: the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life. Drawn away and enticed by these, the cruel mother cast away all mercy. So too Adam, who wrongly took pity on the woman so as to sin with her, would not rightly take pity so as to bear the punishment [variant: or to bear the punishment] for her. The woman was deprived of truth also, first by wrongly twisting what she had heard, You shall die the death (Gen. 2:17), and saying, Lest perhaps we die: then by believing the serpent, who flatly denied it and said, You shall by no means die. Adam too was deprived of truth when he blushed to confess it, putting forward leaves, that is, the coverings of excuses. For the Truth Himself says: He who is ashamed of Me before men, I too will be ashamed of him before My Father (Luke 9:26). They lost peace also at once, for there is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord (Isa. 48:22). For had they not found a contrary law in their members, they who had begun anew to be ashamed of their nakedness? I was afraid, he says, because I was naked (Gen. 3[:10]). Not so, wretch, not so did you fear a little before: you did not seek leaves, though naked in body, just as now.

9. From this, indeed (to follow out the parable of the Prophet himself, who recorded that they met each other and were reconciled in a kiss), a grave contention seems to have arisen among the virtues. For truth and justice were afflicting the wretch; peace and mercy, having no part in this zeal, judged rather that he should be spared. For these two are foster-sisters, as are the former two. Hence it came about that, while those persisted in vengeance, and smote the transgressor on this side and that, and heaped upon his present troubles the threat of punishment to come, these withdrew into the heart of the Father, returning to the Lord who gave them. For He alone was thinking thoughts of peace when all things seemed full of affliction. For peace did not cease, and mercy did not keep silence before Him, but knocking at the Father's heart with a kind of tender whispering they said: Will God cast off for ever? or will He not again be more favourable? Will God forget to show mercy? or will He shut up His mercies in His anger? (Ps. 76:8, 10) And although the Father of mercies seemed long and much to dissemble, so as meanwhile to satisfy the zeal of justice and truth, yet the importunity of the suppliants was not fruitless, but was heard in due time.

10. For perhaps He may be said to have given to those pleading such an answer as this: How long your prayers? I am debtor also to your sisters, whom you see girded to execute vengeance among the nations: to justice and to truth. Let them be called, let them come, and let us confer together on this matter. The heavenly envoys therefore hasten, and when they saw the misery of men and the cruel wound, as the prophet says, the angels of peace wept bitterly (Isa. 33:7). For who would more faithfully seek or ask for the things that are for peace than the angels of peace? Indeed, by common deliberation truth went up on the appointed day, but went up only as far as the clouds: not yet wholly bright, but still somewhat dim and clouded over

with the zeal of indignation. And it came about as we read in the Prophet: O Lord, Thy mercy is in heaven, and Thy truth reaches to the clouds (Ps. 35:6). Now the Father of lights sat between, and each spoke for her own part what she held to be more profitable. Who, do you think, was found worthy to be present at that conference, and will tell us? Who heard it, and will relate it? Perhaps the things are unspeakable, and it is not lawful for man to utter them. Yet the sum of the whole controversy seems to have been this. The rational creature needs compassion, says Mercy, for it has become wretched, and exceedingly pitiable. The time has come to have mercy on it, for the time is now past. Truth, on the other hand: The word which Thou hast spoken, O Lord, she says, must be fulfilled. Adam must die wholly, with all who were in him, on the day on which he tasted the forbidden fruit in transgression. Why then, says Mercy, why, Father, didst Thou beget me, to perish so soon? For Truth herself knows that Thy mercy has perished and is nothing, if Thou dost not at some time show mercy. And in like manner the other spoke on the contrary side: For who does not know that if the transgressor escapes the sentence of death pronounced upon him, Thy truth has perished, and will no longer abide for ever, O Lord?

11. But behold, one of the cherubim [some copies add: that is, the Angel of great counsel] suggests that they be sent to King Solomon; for to the Son, he says, all judgement has been given (John 5:22). In His presence, then, Mercy and Truth met each other, repeating the same words of complaint which we recalled above. I grant, says Truth, that Mercy has a good zeal, but would that it were according to knowledge. But now why does she judge that the transgressor should be spared rather than her sister? But you, says Mercy, spare neither, but rage with such indignation against the transgressor that you involve your sister as well. What evil have I deserved? If you have anything against me, tell me: but if not, why do you persecute me? A great controversy, brethren, and an exceedingly intricate dispute. Who would not have said there: It were good for us if that man had not been born? So it was, dearly beloved, altogether so it was: it was not seen how Mercy and Truth could both be preserved towards man. And when Truth added that the injury to her part would recoil upon the Judge Himself as well [variant: would turn back the merits], saying that it must be wholly guarded against that the word of the Father be made void, that the living and effective word be emptied on any occasion whatever: Spare, I pray, says Peace, spare words of this kind. Such wrangling does not become us: contention is unseemly among virtues.

12. Then the Judge, stooping down, wrote with His finger on the ground. And the words of the writing were these, which Peace herself read in the hearing of all (for she sat nearer): This one says, I have perished if Adam does not die; and this one says, I have perished unless he obtains mercy. Let death be made good, and each has what she asks. All were astonished at the word of wisdom and at the form of the settlement and of the judgement alike: for it was plain that no occasion of complaint was left to them, since what each asked could be done, so that both

should die, and obtain mercy. "But how shall that be done?" they say. "Death is most cruel and most bitter; death is terrible, and dreadful even to hear of. By what means could it become good?" And he: "The death of sinners," he says, "is very evil, but the death of the saints can become precious. Will it not be precious if it is the door of life, the gate of glory?" "Precious," they say. "But how shall this be done?" "It can be done," he says, "if someone dies out of charity, someone, that is, who owes nothing to death. For death will not be able to hold the innocent; rather, as it is written, the jaw of Leviathan shall be bored through (Job 40:19), and the middle wall shall be destroyed, and the great chasm that is fixed between death and life shall be dissolved. For indeed charity is strong as death, nay, even stronger than death: if it enters the court of that strong one, it will bind him, and will certainly plunder his goods, and moreover by its own passage will make the depth of the sea a way for the delivered to pass over."

13. The word seemed good, as being faithful and worthy of all acceptance. But where could that innocent one be found who would be willing to die not out of debt but out of will, not from evil desert but of his own good pleasure? Truth goes round the circle of the earth, and no one is clean from filth, not even the infant whose life upon earth is of one day (Job 14:4–5, according to the Septuagint). Mercy too searches through all heaven, and among the angels also she finds, I will not say depravity, but yet a lesser charity. Indeed this victory was owed to another, than whom no one should have greater charity, so that He would lay down His life for unprofitable and unworthy servants. For although He no longer calls us servants, this very thing belongs to His immense love and His surpassing condescension. But we, even if we did all that has been commanded us, what else ought we to say but that we are unprofitable servants? (Luke 17:10.) But who would presume to approach Him on this matter? Truth and Mercy return on the appointed day, greatly anxious, not having found what they desired.

14. Then indeed Peace, comforting them apart, said: "You know nothing, and you do not consider. There is none that does this good, no, not one. Let him who gave the counsel bring the help." The King understood what she was saying, and said: It repents Me that I have made man (Gen. 6:7). "Pain," He says, "holds Me; it falls to Me to bear the pain, to do penance for the man whom I created." Then therefore He said: "Behold, I come. For this cup cannot pass unless I drink it." And summoning Gabriel at once, He said: "Go, say to the daughter of Sion: Behold, your King comes (Zech. 9:9)." He hastened, and said: "Adorn your bridal chamber, Sion, and receive the King." Moreover Mercy and Truth went before the King who was to come, as it is written: Mercy and truth shall go before Your face. Justice prepares the throne, according to that saying: Justice and judgement are the preparation of Your seat (Ps. 88:15). Peace comes with the King, so that the prophet might be found faithful who had said: There shall be peace in our land when He comes. Hence it is that when the Lord was born the choir of angels sang: Peace on earth to men of good will (Luke 2:14). But also