Letters242 Letter CCXLII. To the people of toulouse after his return (A.D. 1147)
Letter CCXLII. To the people of toulouse after his return (A.D. 1147)
Bernard exhorts them not only to avoid heretics, but also to drive them away; also to exercise hospitality and not to listen to unknown preachers.
1. On the arrival of our dear brother and fellow-abbot Bernard of Grandselve, I was glad and rejoiced greatly to hear what he told me of the constancy and sincerity of your faith in God, of the perseverance of your love, and of your devotion to me, of your zeal and hatred of heretics, so that every one of you is well able to say, "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee, and am not I grieved with those that rise up against Thee? (Ps. cxxxix. 21). hate them with perfect hatred; I count them mine enemies." I thank God that my coming to you was not useless; and that my stay with you, though short, was not unfruitful. When I had made plain the truth not only by word, but also in power, they were seen to be wolves who had come to you in sheep's clothing, and were eating up your people as though they were bread or as sheep appointed to be slain; the foxes which were spoiling your state, that most precious vineyard of the Lord, were seen; they were seen but not seized. Therefore, beloved, follow after them and seize them, and stop not till they utterly perish, and flee from all your territories, for it is not safe to sleep close to serpents. They sit lurking with the rich in secret places that they may slay the innocent. They are thieves and robbers (S. John x. 8), such as our Lord points out in the Gospel. They have themselves been subverted, and they are ready to subvert others, they utterly blemish your good name, and are corrupters of your faith. Evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Cor. xv. 33). The word of such, as the blessed Apostle says, eats like a canker (2 Tim. ii. 17).
2. Will anyone give me an opportunity to come to you once more? For my desire is, if in any way by the will of God I may be able, to see you again; though I am feeble and sick in body, I should think nothing of the labour since it would be for your exhortation and salvation. But in the meanwhile, beloved, so stand in the Lord as ye have begun, and as ye have heard of me. Obey your Bishops and the other rulers of the Church placed over you. Give diligence to show hospitality, for by this many have pleased God. Your father Abraham, through the holy care that he was wont to take in entertaining strangers, merited to receive Angels as his guests (Gen. xviii.). In the same way his nephew Lot, for similar devotion and pious custom in receiving them, was made to rejoice (Gen. xix.). And so do you, in like manner, receive not Angels, but the Lord of Angels, in the person of strangers, feed Him in the poor, clothe Him in the naked, visit Him in the sick, redeem Him in the captives. With such sacrifices God is well pleased, Who, at the judgment, will say: "What you have done to one of the least of these My brethren, you have done to Me" (S. Matt. xxv. 40).
3. I give you also the same advice which I gave you when I was with you, that you receive no strange or unknown preacher, unless he be sent to preach by the Pope, or have permission from your Bishop. How, he says, shall they preach unless they be sent? (Rom. x. 15). These are they who put on the form of godliness, but within deny its power, who intermingle, like poison with honey, their profane novelties of terms and ideas with words from Heaven. Beware of them henceforward as pestilential, and know them to be ravening wolves in sheep's clothing. Let the bearer of this letter, the venerable Abbot of Grandselve, be kindly received by you, as also his house, which is also ours, having been lately handed over to us and our order by him, and specially affiliated to the church of Clairvaux. Show to us in the person of him and the saints with him how far you have profited by our admonitions in works of mercy, and give by your treatment of them a proof of your charity, and of the love which you have for me. Whatever you do for them, think it done for me. The grace of God and His peace be with you. Amen.
1. In adventu charissimi fratris et coabbatis nostri Bernardi de Grandi-Silva, exsultavimus, et delectati sumus in his quae dicta sunt nobis ab illo de constantia et sinceritate fidei vestrae in Deum, de perseverantia dilectionis et devotionis in nos, de zelo et odio adversus haereticos, ita ut quisque vestrum merito dicere possit: Nonne qui oderunt te, Domine, oderam, et super inimicos tuos tabescebam? Perfecto odio oderam illos, et inimici facti sunt mihi. Gratias agimus Deo, quia non fuit otiosus adventus noster ad vos. Et mora quidem brevis apud vos, sed non infructuosa. Veritate nimirum per nos manifestata, manifestata autem non solum in sermone, sed etiam in virtute, deprehensi sunt lupi, qui venientes ad vos in vestimentis ovium, devorabant plebem vestram sicut escam panis, sicut oves occisionis: deprehensae vulpes, quae demoliebantur pretiosissimam vineam Domini, civitatem vestram; deprehensae, sed non comprehensae. Propterea, dilectissimi, persequimini et comprehendite eos, et nolite desistere, donec penitus depereant, et diffugiant de cunctis finibus vestris, quia non est tutum dormire vicinis serpentibus. Sedent in insidiis cum divitibus in occultis, ut interficiant innocentes. Fures sunt et latrones, quales in Evangelio Dominus notat. Subversi sunt, et parati ad subvertendum, plane maculatores famae vestrae, corruptores fidei vestrae. Corrumpunt bonos mores colloquia mala: praesertim talium sermo, sicut dicit beatus Apostolus, serpit ut cancer
2. Quis dabit mihi ut habeam opportunitatem semel adhuc veniendi ad vos? Nam voluntatem habeo, si quo modo possim in voluntate Domini secundo videre vos, laborem non reputaturus, quamvis corpore infirmus et debilis, pro vestra exhortatione et salute. Interim autem sic state in Domino, charissimi, sicut coepistis et accepistis a nobis. Obedite episcopo, caeterisque praepositis vestris, magistris Ecclesiae. Habete diligentiam hospitalitati, quia per hanc multi placuerunt Deo. Abraham pater vester pro studio sancto quod in suscipiendis peregrinis habere solitus erat, angelos hospites suscipere meruit. Similiter et Loth nepos ejus pro simili devotione et pia consuetudine de eorum susceptione exsultavit. Et vos itaque simili forma non Angelos, sed Dominum Angelorum suscipite in peregrinis, pascite in egenis, operite in nudis, visitate in languentibus, redimite in captivis. Talibus hostiis promeretur Deus, qui in judicio dicturus est: Quod uni ex his minimis meis fecistis, mihi fecistis.
3. Hoc etiam moneo vos, charissimi, quod et dicebam vobis cum praesens essem, ut nullum extraneum sive ignotum praedicatorem recipiatis, nisi qui missus a summo, seu a vestro permissus pontifice praedicaverit. Quomodo, inquit, praedicabunt, nisi mittantur? Ipsi sunt, qui induentes sibi formam pietatis, et virtutem ejus penitus abnegantes, profanas novitates vocum et sensuum, tanquam melli venenum, verbis coelestibus intermiscent. Cavete proinde eos tanquam veneficos; et cognoscite in vestimentis ovium lupos rapaces. Sit vobis commendatus lator epistolae venerabilis abbas Grandis-Silvae, et domus ejus, quae et nostra est, nuper nobis, et nostro Ordini ab ipso tradita, et ecclesiae Clarae-Vallis specialiter associata. Ostendite nobis in ipso, et in sanctis qui cum eo sunt, quantum profeceritis ex nostra admonitione in operibus misericordiae; et date in eis experimentum vestrae charitatis et devotionis, quam habetis erga nos. Quidquid illis feceritis, mihi factum reputate. Gratia Dei et pax sit vobiscum, amen.