Letters106 Letter CVI. To Magister Henry Murdach.
Letter CVI. To Magister Henry Murdach.
He urges him to embrace the religious life, briefly describing its delights.
O <b To his beloved HENRY MURDACH, BERNARD, called Abbot of Clairvaux, wishes eternal life.
1. What wonder if you are tossed to and fro by the waves of prosperity and adversity, since you have not yet set your feet upon the rock? But if you are quite resolved to keep the righteous judgments of the Lord, can anything sever you from the love of Christ? O, if you only knew, and if I were able to convey to you! but Eye hath not seen, without Thee, O God, the things that Thou hast prepared for them that love Thee (Is. Ixiv. 4). But you, my brother, who, as I hear, read the prophets, and no doubt suppose that you understand the sense of their writings, is it not clear to you if you understand that the meaning of the prophetic declaration refers to Christ? And if you desire to lay hold on Him, I assure you that you can attain to Him sooner by following Him than by reading, merely reading of Him. Why do you seek in the Word written, the Word who is already here before your eyes, the Word made flesh? He has long quitted his hiding-place among the prophets to come forth before the eyes of Fishermen; already He has left the deep, shady hills of the ancient Law, as a bridegroom leaves his chamber, and has leapt forth to the plain of the Gospel. Now let him who hath ears to hear, hear Him crying in the Temple, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink (S. John vii. 37), and Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will refresh you (S. Matt. xi. 28). Do you, then, fear to fail where Truth promises to sustain you? Surely if the storm-rain from the clouds of heaven so delights you, how much sweeter will be the draught that you may draw from the pure fountains of the Saviour?
of so great humility as not to disdain, though a master, to follow your disciples.
Dilecto suo HENRICO MURDACH, BERNARDUS abbas dictus de Clara-Valle, salutem, et non in via.
1. Quid mirum si inter prospera fluctuas et adversa, qui necdum statuisti supra petram pedes tuos? Ac si jures et statuas custodire judicia justitiae Domini, quid horum te poterit separare a charitate Christi? O si scires et quid dicam! Oculus, Deus, non vidit absque te, quae praeparasti diligentibus te. Sed tu, frater, qui, ut audivi, Prophetas legis, putas intelligis quae legis? Nam si intelligis, sentis utique sensum propheticae lectionis esse Christum. Quem videlicet si apprehendere cupis, citius illum sequendo, quam legendo consequi potes. Quid quaeris verbum in Verbo, quod jam caro factum praesto est oculis? Jam enim de latibulo prophetarum egressus est ad oculos piscatorum; jam de monte umbroso et condenso, tanquam sponsus de thalamo suo, prosilivit in campum Evangelii. Jam qui habet aures audiendi, audiat illum clamantem in templo: Qui sitit, veniat ad me, et bibat; et: Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos. Tu ergo times deficere, ubi se Veritas reficere te promittit? Certe si tantum te delectat tenebrosa aqua de nubibus aeris, quanto jucundius haurias de serenissimis fontibus Salvatoris?
2. O si semel paululum quid de adipe frumenti, unde satiatur Jerusalem, degustares! quam libenter suas crustas rodendas litteratoribus Judaeis relinqueres! O si te unquam in schola pietatis sub magistro Jesu merear habere sodalem! O si mihi liceat purificatum prius tui pectoris vasculum supponere unctioni quae docet de omnibus! O quam libens tibi pariter calidos panes [ subaudi porrigerem], quos utique adhuc fumigantes, et quasi modo de furno, ut aiunt, recens tractos, de coelesti largitate crebro Christus suis pauperibus frangit! Utinam si quam mihi guttam quandoque de pluvia voluntaria, quam segregavit haereditati suae, stillare dignetur in dulcedine sua pauperi Deus, mox eam tibi possem refundere, et rursus a te vicissim recipere quod senseris! Experto crede: aliquid amplius invenies in silvis, quam in libris. Ligna et lapides docebunt te, quod a magistris audire non possis. An non putas posse te sugere mel de petra, oleumque de saxo durissimo? An non montes stillant dulcedinem, et colles fluunt lac et mel, et valles abundant frumento? Multis occurrentibus mihi dicendis tibi, vix me teneo. Sed quia non lectionem, sed orationem petis, adaperiat Dominus cor tuum in lege sua et in praeceptis suis. Vale.
3. Idipsum ipsi Willelmus et Ivo. Quid super hoc vobis dicemus? Quod vos videre, et ad quid desideremus, scitis; quantum vero, nec nos dicere, nec vos scire potestis. Oramus ergo Deum ut vobis, quo nos praeisse debueratis, tribuat vel sequi: quatenus et in hoc tantae vos humilitatis magistrum teneamus, cum videlicet non despexeritis magister sequi discipulos.