Chapter IV. What kind of Servitude is Worthy and What Unworthy of him who is called the Servant of the Servants of God

Perhaps thou wilt now remind me of the words of St. Paul, where he says, " Whereas I was free as to all, I made myself the servant of all " (1 Cor. ix. 19). But the Apostle is speaking here of a servitude very different from thine. Thinkest thou that he ever made himself the bondslave of men in order to help them in the acquisition of filthy lucre ? Thinkest thou that to him, from all parts of the globe, thronged the ambitious, the

KIND OF SERVITUDE n avaricious, the simoniacal, the sacrilegious, the licentious, and monsters of vice of every description, in order to obtain or retain ecclesiastical honours by means of his apostolic authority ? Nothing could be farther from the truth. That great man, for whom to live was Christ and to die gain (Philipp. i. 21), made himself the bondslave of all, not for the purpose of increasing the profits of avarice, but that he might convert more souls to God. Consequently thou canst find no justification for thine own servile condition in the most prudent activities of St. Paul, or in his charity, as independent as it was boundless. How much more worthy of thy apostolic office would it not be, how much more salutary for thy conscience and profitable for the Church, if, instead of vainly seeking to excuse thine own servitude by the example of that which the Apostle attributes to himself, thou wert rather to attend to these other words of his, " You are bought with a price, be not made the bondslaves of men " (1 Cor. vii. 23). What slavery can be more degrading and more unworthy of the Sovereign Pontiff than to be kept thus busily employed, I do not say every day, but every hour of every day, in furthering the sordid designs of greed and ambition ? What leisure hast thou left for prayer ? What time remains over to thee for instructing the people, for edifying the Church, for meditating on the law ? True, thy palace is made to resound daily with noisy discussions relating to law, but it is not the law of the Lord, but the law of Justinian. Is this as it ought to be ? Let thy conscience answer. " The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls," as the Psalmist sings (Ps. xviii. 8) : but as to these other laws, they seem to serve no better purpose than to furnish occasions for quarrels and quibbling, which tend to subvert rather than to enlighten the judgment. Then tell me, I pray thee, with what conscience canst thou, the supreme " Shepherd and Bishop of souls " (i Peter ii. 25), permit the former to be condemned to perpetual silence in thy court, whilst allowing the latter to deafen thee with an uninterrupted clamour ? I am greatly mistaken if thou canst contemplate so shocking an abuse with an easy mind. I suspect that thou art sometimes constrained to cry out to the Lord in the words of the Prophet, " The wicked have told me fables, but not as Thy law " (Ps. cxviii. 85). And dost thou nevertheless pretend to be a free man, whilst bearing the heavy yoke of such a servitude, from which thou art not suffered even for a moment to withdraw thy neck ? But if thou mayest deliver thyself and lackest only the desire to do so, then art thou all the more a slave, a slave to thine own perverted will. Is he not a slave whom iniquity dominates ? * Undoubtedly. Or does it seem to thee a greater dishonour to be in bondage to authoritative verdicts or precedents — responsa prudentum,

(2) the Codex, an epitome of the earlier Theodosian Code,

(3) the " Institutes," compiled for the use of students and published separately in 530, (4) the "Authentic " or " Novels," comprising the decisions given by Justinian himself. The civil laws of all Christian States and even the Canon law itself are grounded upon the Corpus Juris. St. Bernard is here finding fault not with the Code itself, but with the bad use to which it was being put in the Papal Court, and particularly with its engrossment of the Pontiff's time and attention to the ^prejudice of the Divine law. — (Translator.)

a human master than to be the slave of sin ? Knowest thou the difference between a willing servitude and a servitude that is constrained ? I will tell thee : the latter is more painful than the former, the former more pitiful than the latter. Dost thou ask me what I would have thee to do ? I would have thee to spare thyself from thy occupations. Perhaps thou wilt answer that this is impossible, that it would be easier to resign the pontifical office ? No doubt — if yet I had counselled thee to renounce altogether these distracting duties, instead of recommending an occasional interruption.