Sermon LXXVII. On Unworthy Pastors, and on the Watchmen by whom the Spouse is Found and Guarded

"The watchmen who kept the city found me."

We are now, my brethren, at liberty to go on with the interrupted discourse. And first I would remind you that the qualities which I described for you yesterday as belonging to ecclesiastical rulers are not such as we actually see in our spiritual guides, but such as we should like to see.¹ There is indeed a very great difference between the two, the ideal and the actual. For not all those whom you may now behold standing close to the Spouse on her right and left, and who seem, as the saying is, to cleave to her side, are really the friends of the Bridegroom. Very few indeed shall He be able to find "of all them that are dear to Him "who seek not the things that are their own. They love gifts; and having made themselves thus the slaves of mammon, they cannot at the same has laid down the law for his successors in the words, ' Having food and wherewith to be clothed, with these we are content.' WTiere is such virtue now? You may read of it in books, but you will not find it elsewhere. And yet it is written, ' The law of his God is in his heart,' not in his books. But even this is not perfection — to be satisfied wdth what is sufficient, because the perfect man is willing to be in want of necessaries. However, it is only waste of words to talk of such things to the present generation. Would to God we set limits to even our superfluities! Would to God there were some bounds to our avarice! Do you think you will be able to find one possessed of this degree of virtue, — one who seeks superfluities in measure? It will be no easy task. But see what we have gained. We set out to discover a perfect man who could deliver many, and lo! we have scarcely succeeded in finding one who is able to save himself. He is the perfect man to-day, who is not singularly wicked." Similar trenchant passages occur in the works De Consideratione, De Moribus et Officio Episcoporum, and De Conversione ad Clericos. No doubt these pictures are somewhat overdrawn: great preachers are given to rhetorical exaggeration. Nevertheless there is abundant evidence that the standard of morals amongst clergy and people was lamentably low during the first half of the twelfth century. The widespread corruption was the result of many causes, chief amongst these being the divided state of Christendom and the facility with which candidates were admitted to Holy Orders. On this latter abuse St. Bernard says, "It appears that the Church has been widely extended, and with it the most sacred order of the clergy. The number of the brethren has been multiplied to infinity. But, O my God, although ' Thou hast multiplied thetime love Christ. Observe how they go, all glittering with ornaments and "surrounded with variety," like a bride coming out of her bridal chamber. Were you suddenly to see one of them moving in the distance, would you not take him to be the Spouse herself rather than one of her keepers? Whence, think you, have they obtained that overflowing abundance of wealth, those splendid garments, that luxury which character-ises their tables, that accumulation of vessels of silver and gold? Whence, but from the goods of the Spouse? Therefore it is that she has been left poor and needy and naked, the picture of misery, paid, unregarded, neglected. Hence we may see that the concern of the Spouse's present-day keepers is not to adorn but to despise her, not to guard but to make away with her, not to defend but to betray her, not to instruct but to ruin her, not to feed the flock but to slaughter and devour it. It is of such the Lord says in the psalms that they "devour My people as they eat bread"; and, "They have devoured Jacob and laid waste his place"; and by the Prophet Osee, "They shall eat the sins of my people" — which may be paraphrased thus: content with exacting a fine for every sin, they are little solicitous for the conversion of the sinner. Can you show me even one amongst all our spiritual rulers who is not more intent on emptying the purses of his people than on purifying their souls of their vices? Where shall you find the prelate who endeavours by his prayers to appease the divine anger, who preaches "the acceptable year of the Lord"? But these I have mentioned are only their lighter faults: the graver are reserved for a more terrible judgment.

However, there is nothing to be gained by dwelling on their shortcomings, whether heavy or light, because my words cannot reach their ears. And even though what I say were committed to writing, they would probably disdain to read it; or if perchance they did peruse my remarks, they would wax indignant with me, whereas they should in reason be rather incensed against themselves. Let us therefore waste no more time on them who are not the finders but the betrayers of the Spouse. Let us rather turn our attention to those by whom the Spouse acknowledges that she has been found, whose office and ministry without whose zeal these others have inherited, those whom all desire to succeed and but few to imitate. Would to God our modern prelates exhibited the same alacrity in the discharge of their functions as they did when canvassing for their episcopal chairs! Then doubtless they would keep anxious watch and would exercise great solicitude in guarding that Spouse who was found by their predecessors and entrusted to their care. Nay, they would exercise vigilance out of regard for their own interests, and would never suffer it to be said of them, "My friends and My neighbours have drawn near and stood against Me." Good reason, no doubt, had the Bridegroom for making this complaint, and of none of His "friends and neighbours" could it be more justly made than of the pastors of our own time. It is not enough for these watchmen to neglect the care of their flocks, unless they can also succeed in destroying them. Sunk and buried as they are in the profound sleep of forgetfulness of duty, no thunder-clapping herald of divine vengeance is loud enough to awaken them even to a sense of fear for their own safety. And thus it comes to pass that having no mercy on themselves, they show their people no mercy, so that both shepherd and flock perish miserably together in a common ruin.

But who are those watchmen of the city by whom the Spouse has been found, as she herself confesses? They are the apostles, my brethren, and men of apostolic lives. Verily these are the watchmen who keep the city, that is to say, who keep the Church which is the Spouse whom they have found; and they keep it the more vigilantly at this present time when they behold it exposed to more serious danger from a domestic and internal enemy, as it is written, "A man's enemies are they of his own household." For surely they have not abandoned and deprived of their protection her for whose sake they "resisted unto blood," but rather they continue to defend and guard her by day and by night, that is, in life and after death. And if the death of His saints is precious in the sight of the Lord, as the Psalmist testifies, I make no doubt that their protection of the Church is all the more powerful after death in proportion as "their principality is (more) exceedingly strengthened."

Perhaps some one will here object and say to me, "Thou speakest of these matters with the same confidence as if thou hadst beheld them with thine own eyes, yet they are altogether beyond the range of mortal vision." To this I answer, by telling thee that if thou regardest as trustworthy the testimony of thine eyes, "the testimony of God is greater." Now, here is the testimony of God, "Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen, all the day and all the night they shall never hold their peace." But thou mayst reply that these words refer to the angels» I will not contradict, since, as we read, "they are all ministering spirits." But who shall prevent me from supposing that the same words are equally applicable to the beatified souls of men, which are not now inferior in power to the angels themselves, and at the same time perhaps feel more affection and compassion for us in proportion as they are more united to us by community of nature? Add to this the fact that they have endured the same sufferings and miseries to which they behold us still subjected. And how is it possible that the recollection of having passed through similar tribulations does not excite in those holy souls a more special pity and solicitude in our regard? Is not theirs the voice which we hear in the psalm, saying, "We have passed through fire and water and Thou hast brought us out into a refreshment"? What? They have got safely across, and will they abandon us in the midst of the flames and the billows, without so much as deigning to reach out a helping hand to their perishing children? No, my brethren, the case is not so. It is well with thee, O holy mother Church, it is well with thee in the place of thy banishment, since both heaven and earth stand ready to succour thee. They that guard thee "neither slumber nor sleep." Thy keepers are the holy angels, thy watch-men are the spirits and souls of the just. Nor are they in error who suppose that thou hast been found by both these orders of blessed spirits, angelic and human, and art likewise guarded by both. Each of the two orders has its own special motive for solicitude concerning thee. The saints are solicitous, because without thee they cannot reach their consummation; the angels are solicitous, because it is only through thee that they shall have restored to them the integrity of their number. For who is not aware that the fall of Satan and his confederates has left a great gap in the ranks of the heavenly host? Consequently both the angels and the saints are dependent on thee for the consummation, the former of their number, the latter of their desire. Recognise thine own voice, therefore, in the psalm, "The just wait for me until Thou reward me."

And it is a matter worthy of note, my brethren, that it is not the Spouse who is represented as finding the watchmen, but rather the watchmen as finding the Spouse. It appears to me that they were specially charged with this duty. For "how could they preach unless they were sent?" Hence we have the command of the Lord where He says in the Gospel, "Go: Behold I send you," and, "Go ye into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature." So indeed it was. The Bride sought her Bridegroom, and the Bridegroom did not conceal Himself from her. For, in fact, it was He Who aroused in her the very desire to seek Him and gave her a heart well disposed to obey His precepts and the law of Hfe and discipline, provided she had some one to instruct her in the faith and to teach her the way of prudence. And He sent to meet her those whose office it was to plant and to water, that is to say, who were to foster her and to confirm her in all certitude of truth, to give her knowledge and assurance concerning her Beloved. For it is truth which she seeks and which her soul sincerely loves. |And indeed is there any love of the soul faithful and true except that whereby truth itself is loved? I am endowed with the faculty of reason; I am capable of knowing the truth; but God grant that I may cease to exist if ever I have the misfortune to lose the love of truth! t This love is the fruit, whereas the other gifts are the branches and I am myself the root. I have no security from the axe,² if I am found to be without this fruit. For there can be no doubt that the love of the truth is the one endowment of human nature which most clearly manifests the glory of that divine image whereby man is distinguished and exalted amongst all the other mortal creatures. It is by reason of this that my soul ventures to raise herself to the sweet and pure embraces of Him Who is the subsisting Truth, and to rest in the love of Him with all delight and confidence: provided only that she has found such favour in the eyes of so great a Bridegroom that He esteems her worthy of being elevated to so glorious a privilege, or rather that He "presents her to Himself not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing." Yet, on the other hand, how fearful a thing must we not suppose it to be and deserving of how awful a punishment to hold in one's possession so great a gift of God without making proper use of it! But of this elsewhere.

Nevertheless the Spouse did not find Him Whom she sought, but was herself found by some whom she was not seeking. Here is a lesson for those who have no fear of entering upon the ways of life without the assistance of a guide to direct them, who in the spiritual art desire to be their own disciples and their own masters. Nor are they satisfied with this. They must also gather together a multitude of followers and make themselves blind leaders of the blind. How many has not such ambition drawn away from the right path and caused to fall into most dangerous errors! For they were ignorant of the deceits and devices of Satan; and so it came to pass that having begun in the spirit they ended in the flesh, and after being shamefully deceived fell into scandalous disorders. Let those therefore, who are inclined to be thus presumptuous, learn how to walk with caution; let them receive a lesson from the example of the Spouse who could by no means attain to Him Whom she desired until she was met by the watchmen and submitted to be instructed by them in the knowledge of her Beloved, and this that she might learn the fear of the Lord. He that refuses to follow his spiritual director commits himself to the guidance of the seducer. And he that sends his flock to pasture unguarded is more a shepherd to the wolves than to the sheep.

Let us turn now, my brethren, to the Spouse and see in what sense she proclaims that she has been found. For to me this seems a very strange expression to use. It suggests the idea that the Church has come from but one single place; whereas she has been drawn, according to the testimony of Christ, from the east and from the west and from all the ends of the earth. But neither has she been at any time assembled in any one place where she might have been found by the apostles or by the angels, and by them led or directed to Him Whom her soul loveth. Perhaps she had been found before she was collected? No, that could not be,: because she did not exist at all until she was collected. Wherefore, had she said that she was collected, or assembled, or — to employ an expression still more appropriate to the Church — called together, by the preachers of the Gospel, I should have simply passed on, seeing no reason for delay. For these preachers were the "coadjutors of God," Whom they had even heard saying to them, "He that gathereth not with Me, scattereth." Nor should I feel surprised if some one were to speak of the Church as having been founded or built by the preachers, since they in truth co-operated in this work with Him Who declares in the Gospel, "And upon this rock I will build my Church," and "It fell not because it was founded on a rock." But the Spouse makes use of none of these very suitable expressions, preferring to say, in language less intelligible, that she has been found. This causes me to hesitate and excites in my mind the suspicion that there is something here concealed which requires to be more diligently investigated.

It was my intention, I confess, to make no pause at this place, and to save myself the trouble of an enquiry to which I recognise that my powers are inadequate. But now, remembering how often in dealing with other passages, equally obscure and difficult, I have been assisted beyond all hope when you lifted up your hearts to intercede for me with God, I feel ashamed of such diffidence; and condemning my cowardice, I am willing, yet without presumption, to proceed to the task which before I would have timidly avoided. The Holy Spirit, I make no doubt, will not be wanting with His customary help. But in any case, I have an assurance in the good will of my present hearers that whatever I may find to say shall not be unproductive of some fruit. However, the discussion in question must be reserved for another occasion, as this sermon has to be concluded here. May it be granted you not only to retain the memory of what has been said to-day, but also to cherish it with affection and to carry it out in practice — may this, I pray, be granted you by the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Footnotes

1. In the preface to his Life of St. Malachy, after asserting that the prevailing spiritual indigence either betokened the presence of Antichrist or heralded his coming, the holy Abbot continues: "I pass over the common crowd. I say nothing about the vile throng of the children of this world. I only want you to turn your eyes to the pillars of the Church. Amongst those who seem to have been ' given for a hght of the Gentiles ' can you discover a single one that does not yield less light than smoke from his lofty eminence? ' If, then, the light that is in thee be darkness, the darkness itself how great shall it be? ' Unless indeed (which I refuse to beheve) you regard them as shining who ' suppose gain to be godliness/ who in the inheritance of the Lord seek not the things that are the Lord's but the things that are their own. Why do I say, the things that are their own? He would now be considered a perfect man and a saint who should content himself with seeking his own and keeping his own, if only he could keep his hands off what belongs to his neighbour. Yet let him who has attained to this remember that the same degree of sanctity is required even from pagans. Are not soldiers commanded to be content with their pay as a condition of their salvation? Truly then it is a great thing for a doctor of the Church to have the virtue of a soldier!,.. Oh, what degeneracy! Is he to be reputed the greatest in merit, who falling from the highest degree of sanctity just manages to stand in the lowest and so saves himself from being swallowed up in the abyss? Yet how hard to find even such perfection in the clergy! Where shall you find a cleric who is satisfied with what is necessary and does not ask for superfluities? Nevertheless the Apostle 4M people. Thou hast not increased the joy.' Merit seems to diminish as numbers grow. Men rush indiscriminately into Holy Orders, and undertake hghtly and irreverently that spiritual ministry which is fearful even to angels." The Saint, however, had the consolation of seeing his zeal rewarded by a happy revival of fervour. — (Translator.) ↩

2. "Non sum securus a securi." A characteristically Bernardine pun. There is allusion to Matt. iii. 10, "For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that doth not yield fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire." — (Translator.) ↩