Third Sermon for the Dedication of a Church: On How the Stronghold of the King May be Defended and Betrayed

‘ Sion, the city of our strength : the Saviour shall beset therein as a wall and a bulwark.” —Isaias xxvi. I.

This house, brethren, is the stronghold of the Eternal King, and it is now besieged by His enemies. Consequently, all of us who have sworn allegiance to His cause and are enlisted in His army, have need, as you know, to look to three things if we would successfully defend the royal fortress. We must prepare our defences, we must provide ourselves with arms, and we must obtain a sufficient supply of food. What, then, are to be our defences? Let the Prophet answer: “Sion, the city of our strength: the Saviour shall beset therein as a wall and a bulwark ” (Is. xxvi. 1). Continence is the wall and patience the bulwark.* A most excellent wall is the virtue of continence, which so encompasses us and protects us on all sides that death can gain no admission either through the windows of the eyes (Jer. ix. 21) or through the avenues of the other senses. A most excellent bulwark is patience, which sustains the first onslaughts of the enemy, enabling us to stand our ground manfully in spite of repeated is a type of faith, and the bulwark of good works. Cf. A Lapideon this verse.—(Translator.)

THE STRONGHOLD OF THE KING 401 attacks, and to keep up to the end an unflagging resistance. For when continence has been shaken and threatens to fall, the one remedy is to have recourse to patience, and absolutely to refuse consent, no matter how fiercely the fires of passion may burn. ‘In your patience you shall possess your souls”’ (Luke xxi. 19). In His own city, therefore, the Saviour is “‘ set as a wall anda bulwark,” being “of God the Father made unto us justice ” (1 Cor. i. 30), and even made patience unto the Prophet who has acknowledged this, saying, ‘‘ Thou art my patience, O Lord”’ (Ps. lxx. 5). He is set as a wall, I say, in the example of His life, abstaining from all the delights of the flesh and the world, and as a bulwark in His passion, supporting with fortitude every kind of affliction.

It is necessary also to provide arms, not material but spiritual arms, “ weapons mighty to God” (2 Cor. x. 4), not only for resisting but for attacking too, yea, and for courageously subduing the enemy. ‘“‘ Put ye on the armour of God,” says the Apostle, “ that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil ” (Ephes. vi. 11). What are we afraid of, brethren? If—as I grant—the enemy’s temptation is very troublesome to us, we must remember that our prayer is far more troublesome to him. He hurts us, I allow, with his _ malice and his cunning; but we hurt him much more with our simplicity and mercifulness. He cannot bear our humility, our charity tortures him, whilst our meekness and obedience cause him the most excruciating anguish.

But neither can we be compelled by hunger to surrender the stronghold of the Lord to His enemies ; for thanks be to God, that dreadful famine threatened by

I, 27 the Prophet Amos, yea, threatened by the Lord by the mouth of His Prophet, “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of the hearing of the word of the Lord ” (Amos viii. 11), as it is written, ‘‘ Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God ” (Matt. iv. 4) : thanks be to God, I say, that spiritual famine has not come upon us. For we, my brethren, are in no want of spiritual aliments. We have instructions frequently and pious lectures more frequently still. Sometimes also we are allowed to taste the delights of spiritual devotion, even as “the whelps eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters ” (Matt. xv. 27): I speak of that heavenly table which is burdened “with the plenty of God’s house ” (Ps. xxxv. 9). We have besides “‘ the bread of tears ” (Ps. Ixxix. 6), which although not very palatable is still most useful for ‘‘ strengthening the heart of man ” (Ps. ciii. 15). There is also the bread of obedience, of which the Lord said to His disciples, “ My meat, is to do the will of Him that sent Me ” (John iv. 34). But, above all, we have “the Living Bread ”? (John vi. 51), the Body of our Lord and Saviour, in the strength of Which we are more than a match for all the power of our enemies.

Thus, my brethren, has the stronghold of the Lord been fortified and secured, so that we have nothing now to fear if only we are determined to do our part with courage and fidelity. That is to say, if only we have made up our minds to be neither traitors, nor cowards, nor sluggards. For traitors undoubtedly are all they who endeavour to introduce His enemies into this fortress of God: such as detractors who “‘sow discord among brethren ” (Prov. vi. 19) and nourish scandals

THE STRONGHOLD OF THE KING 403 and whom “the Lord hateth” (ibid. 16). For it is manifest enough that the devil’s place is in discord just as the Lord’s “place is in peace” (Ps. lxxv. 3). Be not surprised, brethren, that I speak with so much severity : truth flattersno man. Let him know beyond doubt that he is a traitor to his King whosoever attempts (the which may God forbid!) to introduce into this monastery any kind of vice, and to make the temple of the Lord a den of devils. Not many such ill-disposed characters do I find here, for which God bepraised. Nevertheless, I have found some from time to time, even in this community, holding communication with the enemy and by consequence in league with death. I am speaking of those religious who strive with all their power to relax discipline in the Order, to cool fervour, to disturb peace, to injure charity.. These we must be on our guard against as well as we can, according to what we find written of the Jews, how that “ Jesus did not trust Himself unto them ” (John ii. 24). But I assure you that, although at present they are a burden to us which we have to bear, they themselves, unless they speedily amend, shall soon bear the burden of a heavy judgment (Gal. v. 10), proportioned to the gravity of the evil they design to inflict upon us. What sayest thou, my brother? Judged by thy conduct, wouldst thou not appear to be preserving allegiance to vanity, tepidity, or some other form of vice, and to belying to God by thy tonsure? Certainly, thou wilt have deprived Christ of an excellent stronghold when thou hast delivered up Clairvaux to His enemies. Rich and precious in His eyes are the revenues which He draws year by year from this Abbey. Moreover, the abundant spoil captured from His enemies He is wont to bring hither to this strongly fortified place, having the fullest confidence in its strength. For behold! we have here present those “ whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the countries, from the rising and from the setting of the sun, from the north and from the sea ” (Ps. cvi. 2,¹). To what kind of torture, therefore, shall the betrayer of this fortress, after he has been discovered and seized—for certainly he cannot either hide or flee away—to what torments, I ask, ought such a traitor to be subjected ? Obviously, he ought not to be condemned to any common kind of death, but must be made to expire in excruciating agony. But there is no need to dwell longer on this point. I am sure that henceforth we shall all be more careful to shun this most abominable treachery, and that for the future we shall strive with more than our wonted solicitude, not to introduce, but rather to drive out every species of vice, whether it appertains to the flesh or to the world, so that we may not deserve to receive either the name or the punishment of traitors.

In the next place, each one of us must be on his guard, lest, yielding to pusillanimity, he should abandon the defence of the fortress, “‘ trembling with fear where there is no fear ” (Ps. xiii. 5), and at the same time, with the temerity of madness, considering himself secure where the danger is most extreme. For he undoubtedly exposes himself to the power and to the swords of his enemies, whosoever he may be, that deserts his post, as if he were ignorant that these enemies are absolutely devoid of mercy, cruel to aliens, but much crueller to their allies, and crueller still to themselves.

There is a third danger which I shall now treat of, but briefly, because I have already overstepped my

THE STRONGHOLD OF THE KING 405 time-limit, whilst in my great, though not undue, solicitude for your salvation, I have been seeking various remedies for our various moral maladies. Although, then, I may have no intention either to betray or to flee from the fortress, what is the merit of that, so long as I wish to remain there in idleness and sloth? Consequently, dearest brethren, let us strive with all our heart and with all our strength to guard this stronghold which our Lord and King has entrusted to our keeping, always on the alert against the cunning tricks of the enemy and ready to bring to naught his every artifice. Remember what is written, “ Resist the devil and he will fly from you ” (James iv. 7). But since we know who it was that said, “ Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it ”? (Ps. xxvi. 1), let us “ be humbled under the mighty hand of God ” (x Peter v. 6), committing ourselves and our monastery with all devotion to His merciful providence, that He may guard us from all the snares of all our enemies, unto the praise and glory of His name, which is blessed for ever-

= more. Amen.

Footnotes

1. St. Gregory interprets the wall to mean Christ and the bulwark the prophets; and according to St. Jerome the wall ↩