Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Saints

they have been defiled with the dead, counted with those who are in hell.

5. Not such was that solitary of whom holy Jeremiah says: It is good for a man when he has borne the yoke from his youth. He shall sit solitary, and be silent, because he has raised himself above himself (Lam. 3:27, 28). Those wandered, but this man shall sit. For those always err in heart; but this man does not sit now, but shall sit solitary when he has the honour of singularity, that is, the insignia of that judicial power which the saints shall possess in their land, when everlasting gladness shall be theirs. He shall be silent also, that is, he shall judge with tranquillity, as the Lord of hosts judges all things with tranquillity. Why? Because he raised himself above himself: that is, when he was a youth and felt the heats of a slippery age, he put on the old man, leaving what he was, taking up what he was not. He raised, it says, himself above himself: because he looks not to himself, but to Him who is above him. For he shall sit; and he is silent even now, away from the din of devilish suggestions, from the din of carnal desires, from the din of the world. Happy the soul which does not heed these tongues, though it hear them: far happier that soul, if there is any, to which they do not speak at all. This is the wisdom which the Apostle speaks among the perfect, hidden in mystery, which none of the princes of this world knew (1 Cor. 2:6, 7). Thus the apostles taught me both to live and to ascend [alias believe]. I give Thee thanks, Lord Jesus, who hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to these little ones who have followed Thee and left all things for Thy name's sake.

SERMON II.

1. These saints, whose solemn passion is celebrated today, have furnished us with much cause, and much matter too, for speaking of them. But I fear one thing: lest the words of salvation, heard so often, begin to grow cheap to us, as mere words. For the word of man is a cheap and volatile thing, of no bulk [alias delay], of no weight, of no price, of no solidity. It strikes the air, whence too it is called verbum: and like a leaf snatched by the wind, it flows away, and there is none to consider it. Let none of you, brethren, so receive, nay let none so despise, the word of God. For I say to you: It would have been good for that man had he not heard it. The words of God are fruits of life, not leaves; and if leaves, yet they are golden. Therefore let them not be made light of, let them not pass by, let them not fly past. Gather up even the fragments, lest they perish. For the land which has often received the rain coming upon it and has not borne fruit is reprobate land, near to a curse (Heb. 6:7, 8). So too the barren fig tree which we read of in the Gospel: if, after the keeper of the vineyard has dug about it and put dung on it, it is found barren nonetheless (Luke 13:6–9), must not the axe now be laid to the root of that tree?

2. And I say to you, if the Lord finds less good in those who live in the world, He will have a greater

patience than in us, for whom He has set apart a voluntary rain of heavenly consolations; for whom neither the hoe of discipline nor the dung of poverty and lowliness has been lacking. Or are not the abominations of the Egyptians, which we sacrifice to our God, dung? Dung plainly, vile to look upon, but useful for the fruit. Let him not shun this foulness who desires fruitfulness: for indeed out of the unsightly heap of dung that is carried into the field, a fair heap of sheaves will rise, which will be carried back from the field. Therefore let not this precious vileness grow vile to you; but esteem the reproach of Christ more precious than all the treasures of Egypt. Yet to you who have the earthly dunghill the heavenly rain too is not lacking: which is the devotion of prayers, the pleasant rumination of psalmody, sweet meditation, the consolation of the Scriptures. And lastly this too is rain, which you receive through my mouth, if ever it happens that from the river whose stream makes glad the city of God, and from the torrent of His pleasure, some drops fall upon you while we speak of them.

3. But I must at times dig about, since they have set me as keeper and tiller in the vineyards. Alas! I who have not tilled nor kept my own must nevertheless, while I hold this place, both dig about now and then and lay on dung. It is irksome indeed, but I dare not pass it over, knowing that the axe would do far more harm than the hoe, and fire than dung. And so it is necessary at times both to reprove and to rebuke; nor am I unaware that the word of rebuke is dung, the word of reproach, and that, if necessity did not excuse it, it would also ill befit the one who utters it. But what are we to do, seeing that with this dung, though we see some fattened, we see others plainly both stoned and hardened? For hence it is written: The sluggard shall be stoned with the dung of oxen (Sir. 22:2). Is not he fattened who, when rebuked, takes it kindly, answers meekly, and gladly strives to amend? This plainly is a wholesome and fruitful fattening, that the just man should correct me in mercy and rebuke me; but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For from that fatness which the oil of the sinner begets, thorns and thistles sprout more abundantly, and every root of bitterness springs up more copiously. And so he who calls the rebuke of the just mercy shows clearly enough how it is to be received: with how kind a spirit, with how devout a mind, and how great thanks are to be given for it. For if we receive it so, it will be for us a wholesome fattening, not fertile in vices, like the oil of the sinner, but [bearing] that fruit which, according to the Apostle, we have unto sanctification (Rom. 6:22). But what are we doing to you, O sluggard, that you are rather provoked and exasperated at this mercy? Did I not spread good dung on your field? Whence then does it have stones? But you, enemy man (for he who loves iniquity hates his own soul (Ps. 10:6)), you, I say, enemy man, have done this; you who, going on not to shake off your sloth

but to excuse it, turn the dung into stones for yourself, and are stoned by that by which you ought to have been fattened. These things have been said, brethren, so that you may know how kindly whatever pertains to the salvation of souls is to be heard, how devoutly received, how carefully kept, and heard not as the word of men but (as it truly is) as the word of God, whether it be a word of consolation, or of admonition, or even of rebuke (alias, be seen). I have digressed, I confess, almost forgetting the feast itself, but, as I think, not to your unwisdom, if what you have heard cleaves firmly to your mind.

4. And now let us try to say something, if only briefly, about the solemnity itself. The feast day of the apostles of Christ is being kept, to whom I know that very great honour is indeed owed by us; but whether any can be shown them, I am much in doubt. For Thy friends, O God, are exceedingly honoured; their princedom is exceedingly strengthened (Ps. 138:17). For what? If while still set on earth they could do all things, not indeed in themselves but in Christ, what will they not be able to do today, living in eternal happiness with Him? While still mortal and about to die they seemed to hold dominion over life and death, putting the living to death and raising the dead by a word alone: how much more now, when they are exceedingly honoured, when their princedom is exceedingly strengthened? But what is this, brethren? When the blessed memory of the apostles is celebrated today, is it a solemn commemoration of their birth, or of their conversion, or at any rate of their life or miracles that is kept? This is not, brethren, the solemnity of a human birth, as a little while ago you celebrated the birthday of blessed John. For he is honoured in being born, because he is born sanctified. Indeed, in John alone the birth is more celebrated than the passion; for although he suffered for Christ when he fell for justice and truth, yet more evidently was he born for Him, being a man sent from God, who was born for this and came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth (John 1:7). Nor do we today recount the conversion of the apostles or their miracles, as on certain other days the conversion of the one, and the deliverance of the other from prison wrought by an angel, is called to memory with the festive joys of the Church. It is their death that we especially venerate, than which nothing among men is, by human judgement, more dreaded.

5. Consider, brethren, the judgement of holy Church, which judges according to faith, not according to appearance. For in their chief solemnity she recalls the death of the apostles. Today indeed Peter was crucified, today Paul was beheaded. This is the cause of today's festival, this the matter of our present joys. Keeping, then, a festal and glad day in these things, the Church without doubt has the spirit of the Bridegroom, the Spirit of the Lord: in whose sight, as you have it in the psalm, Precious is the death of the saints (Ps. 115:15). For how many do we believe were present, while the apostles were suffering, who would by no means have envied them their precious deaths? For in the eyes of the unwise they seemed to die, and

their departure was reckoned an affliction; and so indeed they seemed in the eyes of the unwise to die. But to me, says the Prophet, Thy friends, O God, are exceedingly honoured; their princedom is exceedingly strengthened. Brethren, the friends of God seem to die in the eyes of the unwise; but in the eyes of the wise they are judged rather to fall asleep. Indeed Lazarus too was sleeping, because he was a friend (John 11:11); and when He shall have given sleep to His beloved, behold the inheritance of the Lord (Ps. 126:2–3).

6. Let us strive, brethren, to live the life of the just, but much more let us desire to die their death. For the wisdom of the just sets the last things first, judging us there where it shall have found us. It is altogether necessary that the end of the present life cohere with the beginning of the future, nor is any unlikeness tolerable there. For just as, if someone wishes to sew or bind together two girdles, so to speak, caring less about the other parts, he shapes uniformly the very ends that are to be joined, so that they may not be at odds with one another; so I tell you, however spiritual our way of life may have been, if our end be carnal, it does not cohere at all with that spiritual life, nor can flesh and blood possess the kingdom of God. Son, says the Wise Man, remember your last end, and you will not sin (Sir. 7:40). For indeed this remembrance above all makes a man God-fearing; and fear drives out sin and does not admit negligence.

7. Hence Moses too says of certain men: O that they were wise and understood, and would provide for their last end! (Deut. 32:29.) In these words I see three things commended to us: wisdom, understanding, providence. I think indeed that they can be assigned to three times, so that a certain image of eternity may be seen to be re-formed in us, as we govern the present through wisdom, judge the past through understanding, and foresee the last things for our safeguarding. This indeed is the sum of spiritual exercise, this of spiritual endeavour: that we order our present wisely, think over the past in the bitterness of our soul, and also provide carefully for the future. Let us live soberly and justly and godly in this world, says the Apostle (Titus 2:12): that is, let sobriety be kept in the present; let the past times, which have gone by for us without the fruit of salvation, be redeemed by just satisfaction; let us set the shield of godliness against the dangers that threaten from the future. For godliness alone avails for all things, that is, the humble and devout worship of God: nor is there any other way for us to provide for the last things than that, turning over with diligent thought all the dangers that seem to threaten us, we learn to distrust our own industry altogether, and still more our own merits, and to commit ourselves to the divine protection alone with a certain dutiful affection of mind, and with the affection [alias this is lacking, and with the effect] of a dutiful intention towards Him whose best gift and perfect gift is a happy end and a precious death.

8. You have these same three in the Gospel, commended to you by the Lord's word: Blessed, He says, are the poor; blessed the meek; blessed they that mourn (Matt. 5:3–5). Blessed are they who savour the things to come, for the inward longing for heavenly things