Letters51 Letter LI. To HAIMERIC, THE CHANCELLOR, ON THE SAME SUBJECT To the very illustrious HAIMERIC, Chancellor of the Holy Roman See, BERNARD, Abbot of Clairvaux, health and all that the prayer of a sinner can avail. (A.D. 1128)
Letter LI. To HAIMERIC, THE CHANCELLOR, ON THE SAME SUBJECT To the very illustrious HAIMERIC, Chancellor of the Holy Roman See, BERNARD, Abbot of Clairvaux, health and all that the prayer of a sinner can avail. (A.D. 1128)
How long will it be true to say, All who will live piously in Christ suffer persecution (2 Tim. iii. 12)? How long shall the rod of sinners be extended over the heritage of the just? Who shall enable the just to stand against those who have oppressed them?
Who can bear to see so great a degree of discord between heaven and earth, that while the Angels rejoice at the amendment of the evil, the sons of Adam rage and are envious? Has not Jesus by His sufferings and His blood purified the things which are in heaven and those on earth; and was not God in Him reconciling the world unto Himself? Formerly the Archbishop had nothing but praise, when he was ruled only by the desires of his heart—nothing but approval as long as his life and conversation were worldly. But now simony is sought for under the swaddling clothes of the infancy of Jesus, and a malign curiosity searches among the rising virtues (of the prelate) for even the ashes of dead vices. You see clearly that it is Jesus Himself who is the mark for the hostility of these men. In His name I beseech you; for His sake I am a suppliant to you. He is well worthy both of your reverence and of your pity. Stand fast for Him in the defence of the Archbishop, and remember that you yourself must one day stand before Him to be judged. Farewell.
Viro illustri HAIMERICO, sanctae Romanae Sedis cancellario, BERNARDUS abbas dictus de Clara-Valle, salutem, et si quid valet peccatoris oratio.
Quousque durat illa sententia: Omnes qui pie volunt vivere in Christo, persecutionem patiuntur? Quousque relinquitur virga peccatorum super sortem justorum? Quis det ut stare incipiant justi adversus eos qui se angustiaverunt? Quis jam ferat tantam inter coelum terramque discordiam, ut exsultantibus Angelis super emendatione malorum, filii Adam fremant et tabescant? Quasi non sit passus Jesus pacificans in sanguine suo quae in terra sunt, et quae in coelo; aut in ipso Deus non fuerit mundum reconcilians sibi. Laudabatur quondam archiepiscopus in desideriis animae suae, et in saeculari vita et habitu benedicebatur. At nunc sub pannis infantiae Jesu quaeritur simonia, et inter nascentes virtutes emortuorum vel cadavera vitiorum scrutatur curiosa malitia. Videtis et nunc stare Jesum in signum cui contradicitur. Per ipsum vos obsecro, pro ipso supplico vobis. Habet siquidem et unde illum revereamini, et unde illi misereamini. State pro ipso nunc in defensione archiepiscopi, cui quandoque et vos adstare habetis in examinatione vestri. Valete.