Christian Classics
‹ Some Letters of Saint Bernard
Contents
To the ReaderLetter I. To the Canons Regular of Horricourt.Letter II. To the Monk Adam.Letter III. To Bruno, Archbishop Elect of Cologne.Letter IV. To the Prior and Monks of the Grand Chartreuse.Letter V. To Peter, Cardinal Deacon.Letter VI. To the Same.Letter VII. To Matthew, the Legate.Letter VIII. To Gilbert, Bishop of London, Universal Doctor.Letter IX. To Ardutio (or Ardutius, Bishop Elect of Geneva.Letter X. The Same, When BishopLetter XI. The Abbot of Saint Nicasius at Rheims.Letter XII. To Louis, King of France.Letter XIII. To the Same Pope, in the Name of Geoffrey, Bishop of Chartres.Letter XIV. To Alexander, Bishop of LincolnLetter XV. To Alvisus, Abbot of Anchin.Letter XVI. To Rainald, Abbot of FoignyLetter XVII. To the Same.Letter XVIII. To the Same.Letter XIX. To Suger, Abbot of S. DenisLetter XX. To Guy, Abbot of Molêsmes.Letter XXI. To the Abbot of S. John at Chartres.Letter XXII. To Simon, Abbot of S. NicholasLetter XXIII. To the Same.Letter XXIV. To Oger, Regular Canon.Letter XXV. To the Same.Letter XXVI. To the Same.Letter XXVII. To the Same.Letter XXVIII. To the Abbots Assembled at Soissons.Letter XXIX. To Henry, King of England.Letter XXX. To Henry, Bishop of Winchester.Letter XXXI. To the Abbot of a Certain Monastery at York, from Which the Prior Had Departed, Taking Several Religious with Him.Letter XXXII. To Thurstan, Archbishop of York.Letter XXXIII. To Richard, Abbot of Fountains, and His Companions, Who Had Passed, Over to the Cistercian Order from Another.Letter XXXIV. Hildebert, Archbishop of Tours, to the Abbot Bernard.Letter XXXV. Reply of the Abbot Bernard to Hildebert, Archbishop of Tours.Letter XXXVI. To the Same Hildebert, Who Had Not Yet Acknowledged the Lord Innocent as Pope.Letter XXXVII. To Magister Geoffrey, of Loretto.Letter XXXVIII. To His Monks of Clairvaux.Letter XXXIX. To the Same.Letter XL. To Thomas, Prior of Beverley.Letter XLI. To Thomas of St. Omer, After He Had Broken His Promise of Adopting a Change of Life.Letter XLII. To the Illustrious Youth, Geoffrey de Perrone, and His Comrades.Letter XLIII. A Consolatory Letter to the Parents of Geoffrey.Letter XLIV. Concerning the Maccabees But to Whom Written is Unknown.Letter XLV. To a Youth Named Fulk, Who Afterwards Was Archdeacon of Langres.Letter XLVI. To Guigues, the Prior, And to the Other Monks of the Grand Chartreuse.Letter XLVII. To the Brother of William, a Monk of Clairvaux.Letter XLVIII. To Magister Walter de Chaumont.Letter XLIX. To Romanus, Sub-Deacon of the Roman Curia.Letter LLetter LI. To the Virgin Sophia.Letter LII. To Another Holy Virgin.Letter LIII. To Another Holy Virgin of the Convent of S. Mary of Troyes.Letter LIV. To Ermengarde, Formerly Countess of Brittany.Letter LV. To the Same.Letter LVI. To Beatrice, a Noble and Religious Lady.Letter LVII. To the Duke and Duchess of Lorraine.Letter LVIII. To the Duchess of Lorraine.Letter LIX. To the Duchess of Burgundy.Note to the Following Treatise.Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies.Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies. · Chapter I.Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies. · Chapter II.Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies. · Chapter III.Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies. · Chapter IV.Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies. · Chapter V.Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies. · Chapter VI.Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies. · Chapter VII.Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies. · Chapter VIII.Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies. · Chapter IX.Letter LXI. To Louis the Younger, King of the French.Letter LXII. To Pope Innocent.Letter LXIII. To the Same, in the Name of Godfrey, Bishop of Langres.Letter LXIV. To the Above-Named Falco.Letter LXV. To the Canons of Lyons, on the Conception of S. Mary.Letter LXVI. To the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux · 68 of 77

Letter LX. To the Same, Against Certain Heads of Abaelard’s Heresies. · Chapter VI.

In the work of the of man, not only the mercy, but also the justice, of God is displayed.

15. Man therefore was lawfully delivered up, but mercifully set free. Yet mercy was shown in such a way that a kind of justice was not lacking even in his liberation, since, as was most fitting for man’s recovery, it was part of the mercy of the liberator to employ justice rather than power against man’s enemy. For what could man, the slave of sin, fast bound by the devil, do of himself to recover that which he had formerly lost? Therefore he who lacked had another’s to him, and in this way: The prince of this world came and found nothing in the Saviour; and because he notwithstanding laid hands on the Innocent he lost most justly those whom he held captive; since He who owed nothing to death, lawfully freed him who was subject to it, both from the debt of death, and the dominion of the devil, by accepting the injustice of death; for with what justice could that be exacted from man a second time? It was man who owed the debt, it was man who paid it. For if one, says S. Paul, died for all, then were all dead (2 Cor. v. 14), so that, as One bore the sins of all, the satisfaction of One is to all. It is not that one forfeited, another satisfied; the Head and body is one, viz., Christ. The Head, therefore, satisfied for the members, Christ for His children, since, according to the Gospel of Paul, by which Peter’s falsehood is refuted, He who died for us, us together with Himself, forgiving us all our trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of that was against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross, having spoiled principalities and powers (Col. ii. 13, 14).

16. May I be found amongst those spoils of which the opposing powers were deprived, and be handed over into the possession of my Lord. If Laban pursue the and reproach me for having left him by stealth, he shall be told that I came to him by stealth, and therefore so left him. The secret power of sin subjected me, the hidden plan of freed me from him; or I will reply, that if I was sold for nothing shall I not be freely ? If Asshur has reproached me without cause, he has no right to demand the cause of my escape. But if he says, “Your father sold you into captivity,” I will reply, “But my Brother me.” Why should not come to me from another when guilt came upon me from another? One made me a sinner, the other me from sin; the one by generation, the other by His blood. Shall there be sin in the seed of the sinner and not in the blood of Christ? But he will say, “Let be whose it may, it is none of yours.” Be it so. But let guilt also be whose it may, it is none of mine. Shall the of the righteous be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked not be upon him? It is not fitting for the son to bear the of the father, and yet to have no share in the of his brother. But now by man came death, by Man also came life. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor. xv. 21, 22). I attain to une and to the other in the same way: to the one by the flesh, to the other by faith. And if from the one I was infected with from my birth, by Christ spiritual was infused into me. What more does this hired advocate bring against me? If he urges generation, I oppose ; and add that the former is but , while the latter is spiritual. Nor does equity suffer that they fight as equals, but the higher nature is the more efficacious cause, and therefore the spirit must necessarily overcome the flesh. In other words, the second birth is so much the more beneficial as the first was baneful. The offence, indeed, came to me, but so did ; and not as the offence so also is the free gift; for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto (Rom. v. 16). From the first man flowed down the offence, from the highest heaven came down the free gift: both from our father, one from our first father, the other from the Supreme Father. My earthly birth destroys me, and does not my heavenly much more save me I? And I am not afraid of being rejected by the Father of lights when I have been rescued in this way from the power of darkness, and through His by the blood of His Son: It is God that , who is he that condemneth? He who had mercy on the sinner will not condemn the righteous; I mean that I am righteous, but it is in His , for Christ is the end of the law for to every one that believeth (Rom. x. 4). In short, He was made our by God the Father (1 Cor. i. 30). Is not that mine which was made for me? If my guilt was inherited, why should not my be accorded to me? And, truly, what is given me is safer than what was born in me. For this, indeed, has whereof to glory, but not before God; but that, since it is effectual to my salvation, has nothing whereof to glory save in the Lord. For if I be righteous, says Job, yet will I not lift up my head (Job x. 15), lest I receive the answer: What hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? (1 Cor. iv. 7).