Letter CCCLXVIII. To the Cardinal-DEACON G
(Circa A.D. 1147.)
Bernard gratefully thanks him for his affectionate letter, and the presents sent to him, and dissuades him from the love of riches and of earthly things.1
To his lord and very dear friend G., by the grace of God Cardinal- Deacon in the holy Roman Church, Brother BERNARD, called Abbot of Clairvaux, health and the assurance of his devoted prayers.
1. 1 thank you in the Lord for having prevented me so liberally with the blessings of sweetness, and if there be any bowels of mercy, any affection or charity in me, the kindly humility and unaffected kindness -of the mind of one so illustrious fully deserves it from me. ForJ knew already, and rejoiced over the earnest zeal in you, of which I had heard from my brethren; but now I feel myself so much more indebted to you for the affection so humble and devoted with which you have commended yourself to so humble a person as I. I would wish, indeed, to be sufficiently powerful with God to acquit myself of my obligation to you. Wherefore I was anxious also to read to my brethren the letter in which your heart is fully displayed — a letter filled with devoted affection, with piety and grace; to show them also the blessing2 which you had given to us, •and to direct as you had ordered, that the Holy Mysteries •of the Mass, should be celebrated in those very vessels, for the memory of you and yours. May God make of you a vessel to honour in His great house [which is His Church], so that it may be our happiness to hear one day He is for me a -vessel of election (Acts ix. 15). This is our most •earnest prayer. For the Spirit of Truth is our witness, by whom also the love of God is spread abroad in our hearts (Romans v. 5), how greatly we long for you in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
2. As it is in God alone that I feel for you the affection with which my heart is full, not only is my intercession on your behalf directed to this, but I wish you to pray for yourself that you may perceive carefully how you ought to behave yourself in the House of God, and to discharge the functions -of your ministry. For I say this, not of presumption, God knows, but of charity, since the judgment is severe upon Ihose who bear rule if they do not labour to rule profitably (Wisdom vi. 5); and, on the contrary, he who has minis tered well shall gain a good degree (1 Tim. iii. 13). Do you, then, my lord, dearly-beloved and longed for, study, I beseech you, to avoid evil and to do good more and more; let no one see you seeking your own advantage in the heritage of Christ, but be always mindful of the words of the Apostle, We have brought nothing into the world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out (1 Tim. vi. 7). Wherefore guard well your soul, since that is your immortal part. Let it not be able by any temptation to be torn away from, or uprooted from that disposition of which the Lord speaks in the Gospel: What shall it profit a man if lie shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul / (S. Matt, xvi. 26). Unhappy, unspeakably unhappy, are they who spend all their lives in the enjoyment of their good things, so as to fall in an instant into the depths of hell! (Job xxi. 13). They will carry away no tiling of all that they possess when they perish, neither shall their glory descend with them (Ps. xlix. 17); it is but a vapour, appearing for a moment (S. James iv. 15). Think of these things, my dear friend; meditate seriously upon them; grave them upon vour heart, nor let them ever depart from your memory. Farewell.
Footnotes
Chapter 368 of 491