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On Loving God-Saint Bernard of Clairvaux · Westminster Larger Catechism

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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Kirsten Ferrari On Loving God
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  Speaker 1: by Saint Bernard of Clervoux, dedication to the illustrious Lord Hemrick,
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  Speaker 1: Cardinal Deacon of the Roman Church and the Chancellor Bernard,
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  Speaker 1: called Abbot of Clvaux. Wisheth long life in the Lord
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  Speaker 1: and death in the Lord. Hitherto you have been wont
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  Speaker 1: to seek prayers from me, not the solving of problems,
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  Speaker 1: although I count myself sufficient for neither. My profession shows that,
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  Speaker 1: if not my conversation and to speak truth, I lack
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  Speaker 1: the diligence and the ability that are most essential. Yet
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  Speaker 1: I am glad that you turn again for spiritual counsel
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  Speaker 1: in ste yead of busying yourself about carnal matters. I
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  Speaker 1: only wish you had gone to some one better equipped
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  Speaker 1: than I. Am. Still learned and simple give the same excuse,
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  Speaker 1: and one can hardly tell whether it comes from modesty
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  Speaker 1: or from ignorance unless obedience to the task signs shall reveal.
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  Speaker 1: So take from my poverty what I can give you,
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  Speaker 1: lest I should seem to play the philosopher by reason
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  Speaker 1: of my silence. Only I do not promise to answer
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  Speaker 1: other questions. You may raise this one as to loving God,
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  Speaker 1: I will deal with as He shall teach me, For
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  Speaker 1: it is sweetest, it can be handled most safely, and
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  Speaker 1: it will be most profitable. Keep the others for wiser men.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter one, Why we should love God and the measure
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  Speaker 1: of that love. You want me to tell you why
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  Speaker 1: God is to be loved, and how much I answer?
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  Speaker 1: The reason for loving God is God himself, and the
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  Speaker 1: measure of love due to him is immeasurable. Love is
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  Speaker 1: this plain doubtless to a thoughtful man, But I am
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  Speaker 1: debtor to the unwise. Also a word to the wise
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  Speaker 1: is sufficient, But I must consider simple folk too. Therefore
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  Speaker 1: I set myself joyfully to explain more in detail what
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  Speaker 1: is meant above. We are to love God for himself
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  Speaker 1: because of a twofold reason. Nothing is more reasonable, nothing
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  Speaker 1: more profitable. When one asks why should I love God?
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  Speaker 1: He may mean what is lovely in God? Or what
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  Speaker 1: shall I gain by love in God? In either case,
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  Speaker 1: the same sufficient cause of love exists, namely God himself,
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  Speaker 1: and first of his title to our love. Could any
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  Speaker 1: title be greater than this that he gave himself for
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  Speaker 1: us unworthy wretches, And being God, what better gift could
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  Speaker 1: he offer than himself. Hence, if one seeks for God's
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  Speaker 1: claim upon our love, here is the chiefest. Because he
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  Speaker 1: first loved us, ought he not to be loved in return.
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  Speaker 1: When we think who loved, whom he loved, and how
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  Speaker 1: much he loved? For who is he that loved the
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  Speaker 1: same of whom every spirit testifies Thou art, my God,
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  Speaker 1: My goods are nothing unto thee. And is not his
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  Speaker 1: love that wonderful charity which seeketh not her own? But
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  Speaker 1: for whom was such unutterable love made manifest? The Apostle
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  Speaker 1: tells us, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
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  Speaker 1: God by the death of his son. So it was
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  Speaker 1: God who loved us, loved us freely, and loved us
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  Speaker 1: while yet we were enemies. And how great was this
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  Speaker 1: love of his? Saint? John answers, God so loved the
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  Speaker 1: world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
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  Speaker 1: believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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  Speaker 1: Saint Paul adds he spared not his own son, but
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  Speaker 1: delivered him up for us all. And the son says
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  Speaker 1: of himself. Greater love hath no man than this, That
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  Speaker 1: a man lay down his life for his friends. This
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  Speaker 1: is the claim which God, the Holy, the Supreme, the omnipotent,
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  Speaker 1: has upon men, defiled and base and weak. Some one
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  Speaker 1: may urge that this is true of mankind, but not
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  Speaker 1: of angels. True, since for angels it was not needful.
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  Speaker 1: He who succored men in their time of need preserved
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  Speaker 1: angels from such need. And even as his love for
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  Speaker 1: sinful men wrought wondrously in them so that they should
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  Speaker 1: not remain sinful, so that same love, which in equal
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  Speaker 1: measure he poured out upon angels, kept them altogether free
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  Speaker 1: from sin. End of chapter one. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by
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  Speaker 1: Kirsten Ferrari On Loving God by Saint Bernard of Clravox,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter two on Loving God, how much God deserves love
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  Speaker 1: from man in recognition of his gifts, both material and spiritual,
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  Speaker 1: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of
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  Speaker 1: the giver those who admit the truth of what I
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  Speaker 1: have said know I am sure why we are bound
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  Speaker 1: to love God. But if unbelievers will not grant it,
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  Speaker 1: their ingratitude is at once confounded by His innumerable benefits
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  Speaker 1: lavished on our race, and plainly discerned by the senses.
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  Speaker 1: Who is it that gives food to all flesh, light
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  Speaker 1: to every eye, heir to all that breathe. It would
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  Speaker 1: be foolish to begin a catalog, since I have just
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  Speaker 1: called them innumerable. But I name as notable instances food, sunlight,
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  Speaker 1: and air, not because they are God's best gifts, but
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  Speaker 1: because they are essential to bodily life. Man must seek
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  Speaker 1: in his own higher nature for the highest gifts, and
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  Speaker 1: these are dignity, wisdom, and virtue. By dignity I mean
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  Speaker 1: free will, whereby he not only excels all other earthly creatures,
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  Speaker 1: but has dominion over them. Wisdom is the power, whereby
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  Speaker 1: he recognizes this dignity and perceives also that it is
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  Speaker 1: no accomplishment of his own. And virtue impels man to
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  Speaker 1: seek eagerly for him who is man's own source, and
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  Speaker 1: to lay fast hold on him when he has been found. Now,
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  Speaker 1: these three best gifts have each a twofold nature. Dignity
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  Speaker 1: appears not only as the prerogative of human nature, but
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  Speaker 1: also as the cause of that fear and dread of
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  Speaker 1: man which is upon every beast of the earth. Wisdom
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  Speaker 1: perceives this distinction, but owns that though in as it
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  Speaker 1: is like all good qualities, not of us. And lastly,
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  Speaker 1: virtue moves us to seek eagerly for an author, and
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  Speaker 1: when we have found him, teaches us to cling to
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  Speaker 1: him yet more eagerly. Consider too, that dignity without wisdom
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  Speaker 1: is nothing worth, and wisdom is harmful without virtue. As
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  Speaker 1: this argument following shows, there is no glory in having
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  Speaker 1: a gift without knowing it. But to know only that
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  Speaker 1: you have it without knowing that it is not of
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  Speaker 1: yourself that you have it means self glorying, but no
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  Speaker 1: true glory in God. And so the apostle says to
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  Speaker 1: men in such cases, what hast thou that thou didst
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  Speaker 1: not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost
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  Speaker 1: thou glory? As if thou hadst not received it? He asks,
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  Speaker 1: why dost thou glory? But goes on as if thou
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  Speaker 1: hadst not received it? Showing that the guilt is not
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  Speaker 1: in glorying over a possession, but in glorying as though
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  Speaker 1: it had not been received and rightly. Such glorying is
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  Speaker 1: called vain glory, since it has not the solid foundation
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  Speaker 1: of truth. The Apostle shows how to discern the true
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  Speaker 1: glory from the false when he says he that glorieth,
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  Speaker 1: let him glory in the Lord, that is in the truth.
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  Speaker 1: Since our Lord is truth, we must know then what
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  Speaker 1: we are, and that it is not of ourselves that
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  Speaker 1: we are what we are. Unless we know this thoroughly,
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  Speaker 1: either we shall not glory at all, or our glorying
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  Speaker 1: will be in vain. Finally, it is written, if thou
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  Speaker 1: know not, go thy way forth by the footsteps of
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  Speaker 1: the flock. And this is right for man being an honor,
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  Speaker 1: if he know not his own honor may fitly be compared.
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  Speaker 1: Because of such ignorance to the beasts that perish. Not
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  Speaker 1: knowing himself as the creature that is distinguished from the
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  Speaker 1: irrational brutes by the possession of reason, he commences to
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  Speaker 1: be confounded with them. Because ignorant of his own true glory,
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  Speaker 1: which is within, he is led captive by his curiosity
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  Speaker 1: and concerns himself with external sensual things, so he is
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  Speaker 1: made to resemble the lower orders by not knowing that
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  Speaker 1: he has been more highly endowed than they. We must
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  Speaker 1: be on our guard against this ignorance. We must not
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  Speaker 1: rank ourselves too low. And with still greater care, we
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  Speaker 1: must see that we do not think of ourselves more
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  Speaker 1: highly than we ought to think, as happens when we
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  Speaker 1: foolishly impute to ourselves whatever good may be in us.
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  Speaker 1: But far more than either of these kinds of ignorance,
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  Speaker 1: we must hate and shun that presumption which would lead
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  Speaker 1: us to glory in goods not our own, knowing that
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  Speaker 1: they are not of ourselves but of God. And yet
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  Speaker 1: not fearing to rob God of the honor, do unto him.
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  Speaker 1: For mere ignorance, as in the first instance, does not
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  Speaker 1: glory at all, and mere wisdom as in the second.
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  Speaker 1: While it has a kind of glory, yet it does
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  Speaker 1: not glory in the Lord. In thee ward evil case, however,
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  Speaker 1: man sins not in ignorance, but deliberately usurping the glory
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  Speaker 1: which belongs to God. And this arrogance is a more
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  Speaker 1: grievous and deadly fault than the ignorance of the second,
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  Speaker 1: since it condemns God while the other knows him not.
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  Speaker 1: Ignorance is brutal, arrogance is devilish. Pride. Only the chief
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  Speaker 1: of all iniquities can make us treat gifts as if
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  Speaker 1: they were rightful attributes of our nature, and while receiving benefits,
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  Speaker 1: rob our benefactor of his due glory. Wherefore, to dignity
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  Speaker 1: and wisdom we must add virtue, the proper fruit of them. Both.
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  Speaker 1: Virtue seeks and finds him who is the author and
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  Speaker 1: giver of all good, and who must be in all
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  Speaker 1: things glorified. Otherwise, one who knows what is right, yet
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  Speaker 1: fails to perform it will be beaten with many stripes. Why,
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  Speaker 1: you may ask, because he has failed to put his
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  Speaker 1: knowledge to good effect, but has rather imagined mischief upon
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  Speaker 1: his bed, like a wicked servant. He has turned aside
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  Speaker 1: to seize the glory which his own knowledge assured him
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  Speaker 1: belonged only to his good lord and master. It is
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  Speaker 1: plain therefore that dignity without wisdom is useless, and that
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  Speaker 1: wisdom without virtue is accursed. But when one possesses virtue,
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  Speaker 1: then wisdom and dignity are not dangerous but blessed. Such
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  Speaker 1: a man calls on God and lauds him, confessing from
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  Speaker 1: a full heart, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
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  Speaker 1: but unto Thy name, give glory, Which is to say,
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  Speaker 1: O Lord, we claim no knowledge, no distinction for ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: All is Thine, since from Thee all things do come.
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  Speaker 1: But we have digressed too far in the wish to
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  Speaker 1: prove that even those who know not Christ are sufficiently
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  Speaker 1: admonished by the natural law and by their own endowments
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  Speaker 1: of soul and body, to love God for God's own sake,
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  Speaker 1: To sum up what the infidel does not know, that
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  Speaker 1: he has received light, air, food, all things necessary for
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  Speaker 1: his own body's life from Him alone, who giveth food
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  Speaker 1: to all flesh, who maketh his son to rise on
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  Speaker 1: the evil and on the good, and sendeth reign on
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  Speaker 1: the just and on the unjust. Who is so impious
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  Speaker 1: as to attribute the peculiar eminence of humanity to any
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  Speaker 1: other except to Him who saith in Genesis. Let us
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  Speaker 1: make man in our own image after our likeness. Who
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  Speaker 1: else could be the bestower of wisdom but He that
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  Speaker 1: teacheth man knowledge. Who else could bestow virtue except the
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  Speaker 1: Lord of virtue Therefore, even the infidel, who knows not Christ,
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  Speaker 1: but does at least know himself, is bound to love
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  Speaker 1: God for God's own sake. He is unpardonable if he
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  Speaker 1: does not love the Lord his God with all his
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  Speaker 1: heart and with all his soul, and with all his
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  Speaker 1: mind for his own. Innate justice and common sense cry
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  Speaker 1: out from within that he is bound wholly to love God,
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  Speaker 1: from whom he has received all things. But it is hard,
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  Speaker 1: nay rather impossible, for a man, by his own strength
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  Speaker 1: or in the power of free will, to render all
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  Speaker 1: things to God from whom they came, without rather turning
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  Speaker 1: them aside, each to his own account, even as it
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  Speaker 1: is written for all seek their own. And again the
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  Speaker 1: imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. End
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  Speaker 1: of chapter two. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
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  Speaker 1: to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Kirsten Ferrari
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  Speaker 1: On Loving God by Saint Bernard of Clervaux, Chapter three.
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  Speaker 1: What greater incentives Christians have more than the heathen to
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  Speaker 1: love God? The faithful know how much need they have
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus and him crucified. But though they wonder and
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  Speaker 1: rejoice that the ineffable love made manifest in him, they
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  Speaker 1: are not daunted at having no more than their own
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  Speaker 1: poor souls to give in return for such great and
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  Speaker 1: condescending charity. They love all the more because they know
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  Speaker 1: themselves to be loved so exceedingly. But to whom little
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  Speaker 1: is given, the same loveth little. Neither jew nor pagan,
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  Speaker 1: feels the pangs of love, as doth the Church which saith.
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  Speaker 1: Stay me with flagons, Comfort me with apples, for I
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  Speaker 1: am sick of love. She beholds King Solomon with the crown,
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  Speaker 1: wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals.
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  Speaker 1: She sees the soul begotten of the Father, bearing the
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  Speaker 1: heavy burden of his cross. She sees the Lord of
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  Speaker 1: all power and might, bruised and spat upon, the author
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  Speaker 1: of life and glory, transfixed with nails, smitten by the lance,
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  Speaker 1: overwhelmed with mockery, and at last laying down his precious
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  Speaker 1: life for his friends. Contemplating this, the sword of love
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  Speaker 1: pierces through her own soul also, and she cried aloud,
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  Speaker 1: Stay me with flagons, Comfort me with apples, for I
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  Speaker 1: am sick of love. The fruits which the spouse gathers
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  Speaker 1: from the tree of Life in the midst of the
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  Speaker 1: garden of her beloved are pomegranates, borrowing their taste from
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  Speaker 1: the bread of Heaven, and their color from the blood
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  Speaker 1: of Christ. She sees death dying and its author overthrown.
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  Speaker 1: She beholds captivity, led captive from hell to Earth, from
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  Speaker 1: Earth to heaven, so that at the name of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things
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  Speaker 1: in earth, and things under the earth. The earth, under
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  Speaker 1: the ancient curse, brought forth thorns and thistles, But now
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  Speaker 1: the Church beholds it, laughing with flowers and restored by
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  Speaker 1: the grace of a new benediction. Mindful of the verse,
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  Speaker 1: my heart dances for joy, and in my song will
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  Speaker 1: I praise him. She refreshes herself with the fruit of
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  Speaker 1: his passion, which she gathers from the tree of the Cross,
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  Speaker 1: and with the flowers of his resurrection. Whose fragrance invites
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  Speaker 1: the frequent visits of her spouse. Then is it that
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  Speaker 1: he exclaims, behold thou art fair, my beloved, yea pleasant
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  Speaker 1: Also our bed is green. She shows her desire for
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  Speaker 1: his coming, and whence she hopes to obtain it, not
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  Speaker 1: because of her own merits, but because of the flowers
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  Speaker 1: of the field which God hath blessed Christ, who willed
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  Speaker 1: to be conceived and brought up in Nazareth, that is,
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  Speaker 1: the town of Branches, delights in such blossoms. Pleased by
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  Speaker 1: such heavenly fragrance, the bridegroom rejoices to revisit the Heart's
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  Speaker 1: chamber when he finds it adorned with fruit and decked
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  Speaker 1: with flowers, that is, meditating on the mystery of his
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  Speaker 1: passion or on the glory of his resurrection. The tokens
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  Speaker 1: of the passion we recognize as the fruitage of the
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  Speaker 1: ages past, appearing in the fullness of time during the
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  Speaker 1: reign of sin and death. But it is the glory
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  Speaker 1: of the resurrection, in the new springtime of regenerating grace,
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  Speaker 1: that the fresh flowers of the later age come forth,
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  Speaker 1: whose fruits shall be given without measure at the general resurrection,
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  Speaker 1: when time shall be no more. And so it is written,
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  Speaker 1: the winter is past, the rain is over and gone,
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  Speaker 1: the flowers appear on the earth, signifying that summer has
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  Speaker 1: come back with him who dissolves icy death into the
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  Speaker 1: spring of a new life, and says, behold, I make
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  Speaker 1: all things new. His body sown in the grave, has
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  Speaker 1: blossomed in the resurrection, and in like manner, our valleys
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  Speaker 1: and fields which were barren or frozen, as if dead,
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  Speaker 1: glow with reviving life and warmth. The Father of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: who makes all things new, is well pleased with the
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  Speaker 1: freshness of those flowers and fruits, and the beauty of
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  Speaker 1: the field which breathes forth such heavenly fragrance. And he
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  Speaker 1: says in benediction, see the smell of my son is
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  Speaker 1: as the smell of a field which the Lord hath
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  Speaker 1: blessed blessing to overflowing. Indeed, since of his fullness have
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  Speaker 1: we all received. But the bride may come when she pleases,
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  Speaker 1: and gather flowers and fruits. Therewith to adorn the inmost
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  Speaker 1: recesses of her conscience, that the bridegroom, when he cometh,
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  Speaker 1: may find the chamber of her heart redolent with perfume.
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  Speaker 1: So it behooves us if we would have Christ for
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  Speaker 1: a frequent guest, to fill our hearts with faithful meditations
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  Speaker 1: on the mercy He showed in dying for us, and
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  Speaker 1: on his mighty power in rising again from the dead.
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  Speaker 1: To this David testified when he sang, God spake once
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  Speaker 1: and twice. I have also heard the same that the
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  Speaker 1: power belongeth unto God, and that thou, o Lord, art merciful.
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  Speaker 1: And surely there is proof enough and to spare in
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  Speaker 1: that Christ died for our sins and rose again for
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  Speaker 1: our justification, and ascended into heaven that he might protect
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  Speaker 1: us from on high, and sent the Holy Spirit for
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  Speaker 1: our comfort. Hereafter he will come again for the consummation
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  Speaker 1: of our bliss. In his death, he displayed his mercy,
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  Speaker 1: in his resurrection his power both combine to manifest his glory.
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  Speaker 1: The bride desires to be stayed with flagons and comforted
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  Speaker 1: with apples, because she knows how easily the warmth of
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  Speaker 1: love can languish and grow cold. But such helps are
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  Speaker 1: only until she has entered into the bride chamber. There
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  Speaker 1: she will receive his long desired caresses. Even as she sighs.
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  Speaker 1: His left hand is under my head, and his right
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  Speaker 1: hand doth embrace me. Then she will perceive how far
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  Speaker 1: the embrace of the right hand excels all sweetness, and
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  Speaker 1: that the left hand with which he at first caressed
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  Speaker 1: her cannot be compared to it. She will understand what
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  Speaker 1: she has heard. It is the spirit that quickeneth the
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  Speaker 1: flesh profiteth nothing. She will prove what she hath read.
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  Speaker 1: My memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than
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  Speaker 1: the honeycomb. What is written elsewhere, the memorial of Thine
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  Speaker 1: abundant kindness shall be shown refers doubtless to those of
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  Speaker 1: whom the Psalmist had said, just before one generation shall
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  Speaker 1: praise Thy works unto another, and declare Thy power among us.
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  Speaker 1: On the earth there is his memory, but in the
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  Speaker 1: Kingdom of Heaven, his very presence. That presence is the
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  Speaker 1: joy of those who have already attained to beatitude. The
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: memory is the comfort of us who are still wayfarers,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: journeying towards the fatherland. End of chapter three. This is
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Recorded by Kirsten Ferrari On Loving God by Saint Bernard
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: of Clavo, Chapter four. Of those who find comfort in
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: their collection of God, or are fittest for His love,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: but it will be well to note what class of
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: people takes comfort in the thought of God. Surely not
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: that perverse and crooked generation to whom it was said,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: woe unto you that are rich, for you have received
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: your consolation. Rather those who can say, with truth, my
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: soul refuseth comfort. For it is meet that those who
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: are not satisfied by the present should be sustained by
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the thought of the future, and that the contemplation of
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: eternal happiness should solace those who scorn to drink from
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: the river of transitory joys. That is the generation of
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: them that seek the Lord, even of them that seek
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: not their own but the face of the God of Jacob.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: To them that long for the presence of the living God,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the thought of him is sweetest itself. But there is
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: no satiety, rather an ever increasing appetite. Even as the
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: scripture bears witness, they that eat me shall yet be hungry.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: And if the one a hungered spake when I awake
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: up after Thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Yea blessed even now are they which do hunger and
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: thirst after righteousness, For they and they only shall be filled.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Woe to you wicked and perverse generation. Woe to you,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: foolish and abandoned people who hate Christ's memory and dread
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: his second advent. Well may you fear who will not
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: now seek deliverance from the snare of the hunter, because
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: and into many foolish and hurtful lusts. In that day
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: we shall not escape the dreadful sentence of condemnation. Depart
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: from me, ye, curse it into everlasting fire, O dreadful sentence. Indeed,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: O hard saying, how much harder to bear than that
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: other saying which we repeat daily in church in memory
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: of the passion. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: blood hath eternal life. That signifies whoso honors my death,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: and after my example mortifies his members which are upon
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the earth, shall have eternal life. Even as the apostle says,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. And
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: yet many even to day recoil from these words and
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: go away, saying by their action, if not with their lips,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? A
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: cleaveth not steadfastly unto God, but chooseth rather to trust
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: in uncertain riches. It is disturbed at the very name
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: of the cross, and counts the memory of the passion intolerable.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: How can such sustain the burden of that fearful sentence?
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Depart from me, ye, cursed into everlasting fire prepared for
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: the devil and his angels. On whomsoever that stone shall fall,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: it will grind him into powder. But the generation of
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the faithful shall be blessed, since like the apostle, they
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: labor that, whether present or absent, they may be accepted
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: of the Lord. At the last day, they too shall
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: hear the judge pronounce their reward. Come, ye, blessed of
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: foundation of the world. In that day, those who set
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: not their hearts aright will feel too late. How easy
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: is Christ's yoke to which they would not bend their necks,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: and how light his burden in comparison with the pains
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: they must then endure. O, wretched slaves of Mammon, you
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: cannot glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: while you trust in treasures laid up on earth. You
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: cannot taste and see how gracious the Lord is while
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: you are hungering. For if you have not rejoiced at
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the thought of his coming, that day will indeed be
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: a day of wrath to you. But the believing soul
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: longs and faints for God. She rests sweetly in the
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: contemplation of Him. She glories in the reproach of the cross,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: until the glory of his face shall be revealed, Like
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the bride, the dove of Christ that is covered with
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: silver wings, white with innocence and purity. She reposes in
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the thought of thine abundant kindness, Lord Jesus. And above
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: all she longs for that day when, in the joyful
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: splendor of thy saints, gleaming with the radiance of the
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: beatific vision, her feathers shall be like gold, resplendent with
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the joy of thy countenance. Rightly, then may she exult.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: His left hand is under my head, and his right
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: hand doth embrace me. The left hand signifies the memory
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: of that matchless love which moved him to lay down
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: his life for his friends, and the right hand is
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the beatific vision which he hath promised to you. His own,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: and the delight they have in his presence. The Psalmist
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: sings rapturously at thy right hand, there is pleasure for
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: evermore so we are warranted in explaining the right hand
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: as that divine and deifying joy of his presence. Rightly, too,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: is that wondrous and ever memorable love, symbolized as his
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: left hand, upon which the bride rests her head until
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: iniquity be done away. For he sustains the purpose of
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: her mind, lest it should be turned aside to earthly
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: carnal desires. For the flesh wars against the spirit. The
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things. What
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: could result from the contemplation of compassion, so marvelous and
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: so undeserved, favor, so free and so well attested, kindness,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: so unexpected, clemency, so unconquerable, grace so amazing, except that
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: the soul should withdraw from all sinful affections, reject all
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: that is inconsistent with Christ's love, and yield herself wholly
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: to heavenly things. No wonder is it that the bride
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: moved by the perfume of these unctions, runs swiftly all
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: on fire with love, yet reckons herself as loving all
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: too little in return for the bridegroom's love. And rightly,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: since it is no great matter that a little dust
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: should be all consumed with love of that majesty which
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: loved her first, and which revealed itself as wholly bent
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: on saving her. For God so loved the world that
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This sets
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: forth the Father's love he hath poured out his soul
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: unto death. Was written of the Son and of the
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. It is said the comforter, which is the
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: He shall teach you all things and bring all things
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: to your remembrance. Whatsoever I have said to you. It
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: is plain therefore that God loves us, and he loves
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: us with all his heart. For the Holy Trinity altogether
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: loves us. If we may venture so to speak of
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: the infinite and incomprehensible Godhead, who is essentially one. End
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: of Chapter four. This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Kirsten Ferrari
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: On Loving God by Saint Bernard of Clervaux, Chapter five
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: of the Christian's Debt of Love. How great it is.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: From the contemplation of what has just been said, we
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: see plainly that God is to be loved, and that
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: he has a just claim upon our love. But the
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: infidel does not acknowledge the Son of God, and so
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: he can know neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: For he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth, not the
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Father which sent him, nor the Spirit whom he hath sent.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: He knows less of God than we. No wonder that
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: he loves God less this much he understands at least
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: that he owes all he is to his Creator. But
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: how will it be with me? For I know that
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: my God is not merely the bounteous bestower of my life,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: the generous provider for all my needs, the pitiful consoler
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: of all my sorrows, the wise guide of my course,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: but that he is far more than all. That he
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: saves me with an abundant deliverance He is my eternal preserver.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: The portion of my inheritance, my glory, even so it
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: is written, with him, is plencious redemption. And again he
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: entered once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: for us of his salvation. It is written, He forsaketh
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: not his that be godly, But they are preserved forever.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: And of his bounty, good measure, pressed down and shaken
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: together and running over shall men give into your bosom.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: And in another place I have not seen nor ear heard,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: neither have entered into the heart of man, those things
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: which God hath prepared for them that love him. He
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: will glorify us, even as the Apostle beareth witness, saying,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: like unto his glorious body. Are not worthy to be
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: And once more, our light affliction, which is but for
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: things which are seen, but at the things which are
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: not seen. What shall I render unto the Lord for
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: all his benefits towards me. Reason and natural justice alike
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: move me to give up myself wholly to loving Him,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: to whom I owe all that I have and am.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: But faith shows me that I should love him far
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: more than I love myself, as I come to realize
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: that He hath given me not only my life, but
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: even himself. Yet, before the time of full revelation had come,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: before the word was made, flesh died on the cross,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: came forth from the grave, and returned to his father.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Before God had shewed us how much he loved us.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: By all this plenitude of grace, the commandment had been uttered,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thine
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy might,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: that is, with all thy being, all thy knowledge, all
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: thy powers. And it was not unjust for God to
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: claim this from his own work and gifts. Why should
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: not the creature love his creator, who gave him the
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: power to love. Why should he not love him with
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: all his being, since it is by his gift alone
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: that he can do anything that is good. It was
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: God's creative grace that out of nothingness raised us to
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: the dignity of manhood, and from this appears our duty
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: to love him, and the justice of his claim to
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: that love. But how infinitely is the benefit increased when
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: we bethink ourselves of his fulfillment of the promise. Thou Lord,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: shalt save both man and beast. How excellent is thy mercy,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: O Lord, For we who turned our glory into the
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: similitude of a calf that eateth hay by our evil deeds,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: debased ourselves so that we may be compared unto the
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: beasts that perish. I owe all that I am to
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: him who made me. But how can I pay my
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: debt to him who redeemed me? And in such wondrous wise?
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Creation was not so vast a work as redemption. For
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: it is written of man and of all things that
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: were made. He spake the word, and they were made.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: But to redeem that creation which sprang into being at
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: his word? How much he spake, What wonders he wrought,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: what hardships he endured, what shame he suffered? Therefore, what
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: benefits which he hath done unto me? In the first creation?
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: He gave me myself. But in his new creation he
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: gave me himself, and by that gift restored to me
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: the self that I had lost, created first, and then restored.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: I owe him myself twice over in return for myself.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: But what have I to offer him for the gift
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: of himself? Could I multiply myself a thousandfold and then
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: give him all? What would that be in comparison with God?
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: End of chapter five. This is abrivox recording. All LibriVox
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Kirsten Ferrari.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: On Loving God by Saint Bernard of Clervo, Chapter six
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: a brief summary. Admit that God deserves to be loved
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: very much, yea boundlessly, because He loved us first. He infinite,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: and we nothing loved us, miserable sinners, with a love
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: so great and so free. This is why I said
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: at the beginning that the measure of our love to
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: God is to love immeasurably. For since our love is
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: toward God, who is infinite and immeasurable, how can we
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: bound or limit the love we owe him? Besides, our
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: love is not a gift but a debt. And since
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: it is the Godhead who loved himself, boundless, eternal, supreme love,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: of whose greatness there is no end yea, and his
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: wisdom is infinite, whose peace passeth all understanding. Since it
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: is he who loves us, I say, can we think
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: of repaying him grudgingly? I will love THEE, O Lord
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: will trust. He is all that I need, all that
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: I long for, my God and my help. I will
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: love THEE for thy great goodness, not so much as
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: I might, surely, but as much as I can. I
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: cannot love THEE as Thou deservest to be loved, for
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: I cannot love THEE more than mine own feebleness permits.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: I will love THEE more when Thou deemest me worthy
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: to receive greater capacity for loving. Yet never so perfectly
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: as thou hast deserved of me. Thine eyes did see
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: my substance, yet being unperfect, And in thy book all
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: my members were written. Yet thou recordest in that book
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: all who do what they can, even though they cannot.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: Yet do what they ought. Surely I have said enough
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: to show how God should be loved and why. But
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: who has felt, who can know? Who can express how
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: much we should love him? End of chapter six. This
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: dot org. Recorded by Kirsten Ferrari On Loving God by
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Saint Bernard of Clervaux, Chapter seven of Love toward God
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: not without reward, and how the hunger of man's heart
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: cannot be satisfied with earthly things. And now let us
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: consider what profit we shall have from loving God. Even
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: though our knowledge of this is imperfect, Still that is
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: better than to ignore it altogether. I have already said,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: when it was a question of wherefore, and in what
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: manner God should be loved, that there was a double
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: reason constraining us his right and our advantage. Having written,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: as best I can, though unworthily of God's right to
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: be loved, I have still to treat of the recompense
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: which that love brings. For although God would be loved
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: without respect of reward, yet He wills not to leave
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: love unrewarded. True charity cannot be left destitute, even though
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: she is unselfish and seeketh not her own. Love is
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: an affection of the soul, not a contract. It cannot
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: rise from mere agreement, nor is it so to be gained.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: It is spontaneous in its origin and impulse, and true
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: love is its own satisfaction. It has its reward, but
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: that reward is the object beloved. For whatever you seem
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: to love, if it is on account of something else,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: what you do really love, is that something else, not
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: the apparent object of desire. Saint Paul did not preach
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: the gospel that he might earn his bread. He ate
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: that he might be strengthened for his ministry. What he
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: loved was not bread, but the gospel. True love does
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: not demand a reward, but it deserves one. Surely, no
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: one offers to pay for love. Yet some recompense is
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: due to one who loves, and if his love endures,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: he will doubtless receive it. On a lower plane of action.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: It is the reluctant, not the eager, whom we urge
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: by promises of reward. Who would think of paying a
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: man to do what he was yearning to do already?
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: For instance, no one would hire a hungry man to eat,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: or a thirsty man to drink, or a mother to
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: nurse her own Who would think of bribing a farmer
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: to dress his own vineyard, or to dig about his
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: own orchard, or to rebuild his house? So all the more,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: one who loves God truly asks no other recompense than
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: God himself, For if he should demand anything else, it
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: would be the prize that he loved, and not God.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: It is natural for a man to desire what he
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: reckons better than he has already, and be satisfied with
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: nothing which lacks that special quality which he misses. Thus,
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: if it is for her beauty that he loves his wife,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: he will cast longing eyes after a fairer woman. If
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: he is clad in a rich garment, he will covet
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: a costlier one, And no matter how rich he may be,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: he will envy a man richer than himself. Do we
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: not see people every day endowed with vast estates, who
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: keep on joining field to field, dreaming of wider boundaries
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: for their lands. Those who dwell in palaces are ever
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: adding house to house, continually building up and tearing down,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: remodeling and changing men in high places are driven by
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: insatiable ambition to clutch at still greater prizes. And nowhere
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: is there any final satisfaction, because nothing there can be
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: defined as absolutely the best or highest. But it is
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: natural that nothing should content a man's desires but the
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: very best, as he reckons it. Is it not then
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: mad folly always to be craving for things which can
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: never quiet our longings, much less satisfy them. No matter
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: how many things one has, he is always lusting after
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: what he has not, Never at peace, he sighs for
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: new possessions. Discontented, he spends himself in fruitless toil, and
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: finds only weariness in this evanescent and unreal pleasure of
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: the world. In his greediness, he counts all that he
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: has clutched as nothing in comparison with what is beyond
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: his grasp, and loses all pleasure in his actual possessions
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: by longing after what he has not yet covets. No
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: man can ever hope to own all things. Even the
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: little one does possess is god only with toil, and
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: is held in fear, since each is certain to lose
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: what he hath when God's day appointed. Though unrevealed shall come.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: But the perverted will struggles towards the ultimate good by
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: devious ways, yearning after satisfaction, yet let astray by vanity
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: and deceived by wickedness. Oh, if you wish to attain
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: to the consummation of all desire, so that nothing unfulfilled
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: would be left, why do you weary yourself with fruitless efforts,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: running hither and thither, only to die long before the
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: goal is reached. It is so that the impious ones
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: wander in a circle, longing after something to gratify their yearnings,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: yet madly reject that which alone can bring them to
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: their desired end, not by exhaustion but by attainment. They
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: wear themselves out in vain travail, without reaching their blessed consummation.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: Because they delight in creatures, not in the Creator. They
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: want to traverse creation, trying all things one by one,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: rather than think of coming to Him who is lord
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: of all. And if their utmost longing were realized so
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: that they should have all the world for their own,
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: yet without possessing him, who is the author of all being,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: then the same law of their desires would make them
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: condemn what they had and restlessly seek Him whom they
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: still lacked. That is God himself. Rest is in him alone.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: Man knows no peace in the world, but he has
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: no disturbance when he is with God. And so the
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: soul says, with confidence, whom have I in heaven but THEE,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: And there is none upon earth that I desire in
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: comparison of the things. God is the strength of my
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: heart and my portion forever. It is good for me
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: to hold fast by God, to put my trust in
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: the Lord God. Even by this way one would eventually
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: come to God if only he might have time to
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: test all lesser goods in turn. But life is too short,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: strength too feeble, and competitors too many for that course
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: to be practicable. One could never reach the end. Though
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: he were to weary himself with the long effort and
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: fruitless toil of testing everything that might seem desirable. It
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: would be far easier and better to make the essay
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: in imagination than an experiment. For the mind is swifter
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: in operation and keener in discrimination than the bodily senses,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: to this very purpose, that it may go before the
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: sensuous affection, so that they may cleave to nothing which
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: the mind has found worthless. And so it is written,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: prove all things hold fast that which is good, which
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: is to say that the right judgment should prepare the
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: way for the heart. Otherwise we may not ascend into
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: the hill of the Lord, nor rise up in his
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: holy place. We should have no profit in possessing a
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: rational mind if we were to follow the impulse of
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: the senses, like brute beasts with no regard at all
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: to reason. Those whom reason does not guide in their
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: course may indeed run, but not in the appointed race track,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: neglecting the apostolic council. So run that you may obtain,
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: For how could they obtain the prize, who put that
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: last of all in their endeavor, and run round after
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: everything else first? But as for the righteous man, it
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: is not so with him. He remembers the condemnation pronounced
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: on the multitude who wander after vanity, who travel the
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: broad way that leads to death, And he chooses the
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: King's highway, turning aside, neither to the right hand nor
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: to the left. Even as the prophet saith the way
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: of the just is uprightness, warned by wholesome counsel, he
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: shuns the perilous road and heeds the direction that shortens
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: the search, forbidding covetousness, and commanding that he sell all
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: he hath and give it to the poor. Blessed truly
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: They which run in a race run all, but distinction
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: is made among the racers. The Lord knoweth the way
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly, shall perish.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: A small thing that the righteous hath is better than
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: great riches of the ungodly. Even as the preacher saith
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: and the fool discovereth, he that loveth silver shall not
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: be satisfied with silver, but Christ saith. Blessed are they
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: be filled. Righteousness is the natural and essential food of
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: the soul, which can no more be satisfied by earthly
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: treasures than the hunger of the body can be satisfied
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: by air. If you should see a starving man standing
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: with his mouth open to the wind, inhaling drafts of air,
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: as if in hope of gratifying his hunger, you would
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: think him lunatic. But it is no less foolish to
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: imagine that the soul can be satisfied with worldly things,
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: which only inflate it without feeding it. What have spiritual
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: gifts to do with carnal appetites or carnal with spiritual
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: praise the Lord O my soul, who satisfieth thy mouth
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: with good things. He bestows bounty immeasurable. He provokes THEE
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: to good He preserves THEE in goodness, He prevents, he sustains,
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: He fills THEE. He moves THEE to longing. And it
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: is he for whom thou longest. I have said already
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: that the motive for loving God is God himself, and
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: I spoke truly, for He is as well the efficient
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: cause as the final object of our love. He gives
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: THEE occasion for love. He creates the affection, He brings
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: the desire to good effect. He is such that love
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: to him is a natural doo, and so hope in
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: him is natural, since our present love would be vain,
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: did we not hope to love him perfectly? Some day
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: our love is prepared and rewarded by his. He loves
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: us first out of his great tenderness, then we are
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: bound to repay him with love, and we are permitted
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: to cherish exultant hopes in him. He is rich unto
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: all that call upon him, Yet he has no gift
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: for them better than himself. He gives himself as prize
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: and reward. He is the refreshment of holy soul, the
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: ransom of those in captivity. The Lord is good unto
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: them that wait for him. What will he be then
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: to those who gain his presence? But here is a
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: paradox that no one can seek the Lord who has
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: not already found him. It is thy willow God to
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: be found, that thou mayst be sought, to be sought,
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: that thou mayest the more truly be found. But though
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: thou canst be sought and found, thou canst not be forestalled.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: For if we say, early, shall my prayer come before thee,
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: Yet doubtless all prayer would be lukewarm unless it was
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: animated by Thine inspiration. We have spoken of the consummation
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: of love towards God. Now to consider whence such love begins.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter seven. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: or to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Kirsten
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: Ferrari on Loving God by Saint Bernard of Clervo, Chapter
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: eight of the First Degree of Love, wherein man loves
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: God for selfs sake. Love is one of the four
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: natural affections, which it is needless to name, since every
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: one knows them. And because love is natural, it is
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: only right to love the author of nature first of all.
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: Hence comes the first and great commandment, Thou shalt love
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: the Lord thy God. But nature is so frail and
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: weak that necessity compels her to love herself first. And
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: this is carnal love, wherewith man loves himself first and selfishly.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: As it is written, that was not first which is spiritual,
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: This is not as the precept ordains, but as nature directs.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: No man ever yet hated his own flesh. But if,
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: as is likely, this same love should grow excessive, and,
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: refusing to be contained within the restraining banks of necessity,
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: should overflow into the fields of voluptuousness, then a command
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: checks the flood, as if by a dike. Thou shalt
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: love thy neighbor as thyself. And this is right, for
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: he who shares our nature should share our love itself
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: the fruit of nature. Wherefore, if a man find it
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: a burden, I will say, not only to relieve his
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: brother's needs, but to minister to his brother's pleasures. Let
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: him mortify those same affections in himself, lest he become
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: a transgressor. He may cherish himself as tenderly as he chooses,
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: if only he remembers to show the same indulgence to
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: his neighbor. This is the curb of temperance imposed on
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: thee O man by the law of life and conscience.
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: Lest thou shouldst follow thine own lusts to destruction, or
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: become enslaved by those passions which are the enemies of
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: thy true welfare. Far better divide thine enjoyments with thy
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: neighbor than with these enemies. And if after the counsel
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: of the son of Sirac, thou goest not after thy desires,
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: but refrainest thyself from thine appetites. If, according to the
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: Apostolic precept, having food and raiment, thou art therewith content,
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: then thou wilt find it easy to abstain from fleshly
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: lusts which war against the soul, and to divide with
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: thy neighbors what thou hast refused to thine own desires.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: That is, a temperate and righteous love, which practices self
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: denial in order to minister to a brother's necessity. So
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: our selfish love grows truly social when it includes our
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: neighbors in its circle. But if thou art reduced to
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: want by such benevolence, what then, what indeed, except to
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: pray with all confidence unto Him who giveth to all
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: men liberally, and upbraideth not, who openeth his hand and
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: filleth all things living with plensciousness. For doubtless, he that
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: giveth to most men more than they need, will not
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: fail thee as to the necessaries of life. Even as
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: he hath promised, seek ye the Kingdom of God, and
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: all these things will be added. Unto ye, God freely
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: promises all things needful to those who deny themselves for
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: love of their neighbors, and to bear the yoke of
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: modesty and sobriety, rather than to let sin reign in
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: our mortal body. That is, indeed, to seek the Kingdom
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: of God, and to implore his aid against the tyranny
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: of sin. It is surely justice to share our natural
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: gifts with those who share our nature. But if we
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: are to love our neighbors as we ought, we must
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: have regard to God also, for it is only in
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: God that we can pay that debt of love. Aright Now,
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: a man cannot love his neighbor in God except he
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: loved God himself. Wherefore we must love God first in
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: order to love our neighbors in him. This, too, like
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: all good things, is the Lord's doing that we should
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: love him, for he hath endowed us with the possibility
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: of love. He who created nature sustains it. Nature is
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: so constituted that its maker is its protector forever. Without him,
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: Nature could not have begun to be. Without him, it
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: could not subsist at all. That we might not be
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: ignorant of this or vainly attribute to ourselves the beneficence
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: of our creator. God has determined, in the depths of
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: his wise counsel, that we should be subject to tribunations.
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: So when man's strength fails and God comes to his aid,
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: it is meet and right that man rescued by God's
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: hand should glorify him. As it is written, call upon
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: me in the time of trouble, So will I hear THEE,
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: and thou shalt praise me. In such wise, man, animal
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: and carnal by nature, and loving only himself, begins to
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: love God by reason of that very self love, since
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: he learns that in God he can accomplish all things
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: that are good, and that without God he can do nothing.
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: End of chapter eight. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: or to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Kirsten
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: Ferrari On Loving God by Saint Bernard of Clervaux, Chapter
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: nine of the Second and Third Degrees of Love. So, then,
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: in the beginning, man loves God not for God's sake
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: but for his own. It is something for him to
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: know how little he can do by himself, and how
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: much by God's help, and in that knowledge to order
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: himself rightly towards God his sure support. But when tribulations,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: recurring again and again, constrain him to turn to God
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: for unfailing help, would not even a heart as hard
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: as iron, as cold as marble be softened by the
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: goodness of such a savior. So that he with love
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: God not altogether selfishly, but because he is God, Let
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: frequent troubles drive us to frequent supplications, and surely, tasting,
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: we must see how gracious the Lord is. Thereupon, his goodness,
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: once realized, draws us to love him unselfishly, yet more
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: than our own needs impel us to love him selfishly.
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: Even as the Samaritans told the woman who announced that
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: it was Christ who was at the well, now we
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ,
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: the Savior of the world. We likewise bear the same
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: witness to our own fleshly nature, saying, no longer do
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: we love God because of our necessity, but because we
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: have tasted and seen how gracious the Lord is. Our
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: temporal wants have a speech of their own, proclaiming the
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: benefits they have received from God's favor. Once this is recognized,
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: it will not be hard to fulfill the commandment touching
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: love to our neighbors. For whosoever loves God aright loves
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: all God's creatures. Such love is pure and finds no burden.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: In the precept bidding us purify our souls in obeying
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: loving as he ought. He counts that command only just.
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: Such love is thankworthy, since it is spontaneous, pure, since
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: it is shown not in word nor tongue, but in
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: deed and truth, just since it repays what it has received.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: Whoso loves in this fashion loves even as he is loved,
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: and seeks no more his own but the things which
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: are Christ's, even as Jesus sought not his own welfare
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: but ours, or rather ourselves. Such was the Psalmist's love
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: when he sang, O give thanks unto the Lord, for
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: he is gracious. Whosoever praises God for his essential goodness,
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: and not merely because of the benefits he has bestowed,
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: does really love God for God's sake, and not selfishly.
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: The Psalmist was not speaking of such love when he said,
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: so long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: speak good of thee. The third degree of love we
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: have now seen is to love God on his own account,
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: solely because he is God. End of Chapter nine. This
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: dot org recorded by Kirsten Ferrari On Loving God by
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: Saint Bernard of Clervaux, Chapter ten of the Fourth Degree
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: of Love, wherein man does not even love's self save
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: for God's sake, how blame us it is he who
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: reaches the fourth degree of love, wherein one loves himself
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: only in God, Thy righteousness standeth like the strong mountains,
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: O God, such love as this is God's hill, in
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: the which it pleaseth him to dwell. Who shall ascend
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: into the hill of the Lord. O that I had
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: wings like a dove, for then I would fly away
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: and be at rest, As Salem is his tabernacle and
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: his dwelling in Zion. Woe is to me that I
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: am constrained to dwell with me sac When shall this
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: flesh and blood, this earthen vessel, which is my soul's tabernacle,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: attain THERETO? When shall my soul, rapt with divine love
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: and altogether self forgetting yea become like a broken vessel
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: yearn holy for God and joined unto the Lord, be
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: one spirit with him? When shall she exclaim my flesh
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: and my heart faileth? But God is the strength of
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: my heart and my poor forever, I would count him
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: blessed and holy to whom such rapture has been vouchsafed
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: in this mortal life. For even an instant to lose thyself,
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: as if thou wert emptied and lost and swallowed up
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: in God, is no human love. It is celestial. But
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: if sometimes a poor mortal feels that heavenly joy for
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: a rapturous moment, then this wretched life envies his happiness.
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: The malice of daily trifles disturbs him, This body of
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: death weighs him down. The needs of the flesh are imperative,
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: the weakness of corruption fails him. And above all, brotherly
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: love calls him back to duty. Alas that voice summons
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: him to re enter his own round of existence. And
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: he must ever cry out lamentably, O Lord, I am oppressed,
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: undertake for me, and again, O wretched man that I am,
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: who shall deliver me from this body of death. Seeing
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: that the scripture saith, God has made all for his
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: own glory, surely his creatures ought to conform themselves as
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: much as they can to his will. In Him. Should
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: all our affections center, so that in all things We
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: should seek only to do His will, not to please ourselves,
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: and real happiness will come not in gratifying our desires
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: or in gaining transient pleasure, but in accomplishing God's will
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: for us. Even as we pray every day, thy will
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: be done in earth as it is in heaven. O
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: chaste and holy love, Oh sweet and gracious affection, Oh
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: pure and cleansed purpose, thoroughly washed and purged from any
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: admixture of selfishness, and sweetened by contact with the divine will.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: To reach this state is to become godlike. As a
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: drop of water poured into wine loses itself and takes
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: the color and savor of wine, or as a bar
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: of iron heated red hot becomes like fire itself forgetting
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: its own nature, or as the air radiant with sun
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: beams seems not so much to be illuminated as to
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: be light itself. So in the Saints, all human affections
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: melt away by some unspeakable transmutation into the will of God.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: For how could God be all in all if anything
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: merely human remained in man? The substance will endure, but
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: in another beauty, a higher power, a greater glory. When
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: will that be who will see who possess it? When
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: shall I come to appear before the presence of God?
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: My heart hath talked of THEE seek ye my face,
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: thy face, Lord? Will I seek? Lord? Thinkest thou that
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: I even I shall see Thy holy temple in this life?
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: I think we cannot fully and perfectly obey that precept.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: and with all thy mind. For here the heart must
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: take thought for the body, and the soul must energize
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: the flesh, and the strength must guard itself from impairment,
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: and by God's favor, must seek to increase. It is
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: therefore impossible to offer up all our being to God,
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: to yearn altogether for His face, so long as we
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: must accommodate our purposes and aspirations to these fragile, sickly
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: bodies of ours. Wherefore, the soul may hope to possess
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: the fourth degree of love, or rather to be possessed
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: by it, only when it has been clothed upon with
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: that spiritual and immortal body, which will be perfect, peaceful, lovely,
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: and in everything wholly subjected to the spirit, and to
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: this degree no human effort can attain. It is in
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: God's power to give it to whom he wills. Then
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: the soul will easily reach that highest stage, because no
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: lusts of the flesh will retard its eager entrance into
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: the joy of its Lord, and no troubles will disturb
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: its peace. May we not think that the Holy martyrs
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: enjoyed this grace in some degree, at least before they
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: laid down their victorious bodies. Surely that was immeasurable strength
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: of love which enraptured their souls, enabling them to laugh
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: at fleshly torments and to yield their lives gladly. But
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: even though the frightful pain could not destroy their peace
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: of mind, it must have impaired somewhat its perfection. End
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: of chapter ten. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Kirsten Ferrari
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: on Loving God by saying Bernard of Clavo, chapter eleven,
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: of the attainment of this perfection of love only at
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: the resurrection, What of the souls already released from their bodies.
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: We believe that they are overwhelmed in that vast sea
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: of eternal light and of luminous eternity. But no one
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: denies that they still hope and desire to receive their
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: bodies again. Whence it is plain that they are not
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: yet wholly transformed, and that something of self remains yet unsurrendered.
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: Not until death is swallowed up in victory and perennial
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: light overflows the uttermost bounds of darkness. Not until celestial
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: glory clothes our bodies can our souls be freed entirely
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: from self and give themselves up to God. For until then,
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: souls are bound to bodies, if not by a vital
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: connection of sense, still by natural affection, so that without
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: their bodies they cannot attain to their perfect consummation, nor
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: would they if they could. And although there is no
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: defect in the soul itself before the restoration of its body,
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: since it has already attained to the highest state of
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: which it is by itself capable, yet the spirit would
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: not yearn for reunion with the flesh if without the
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: flesh it could be consummated and finally right dear in
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: But if their death is precious, what must such a
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: life as theirs be? No wonder that the body shall
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: seem to add fresh glory to the spirit. For though
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: it is weak and mortal, it has availed not a
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: little for mutual help. How truly he spoke who said,
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: all things work together for good to them that love God.
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: The body is a help to the soul that loves God,
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: even when it is ill, even when it is dead,
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: and all the more when it is raised from the dead,
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: for illness is an aid to penitence. Death is the
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: gate of rest, and the resurrection will bring conselation. So rightly,
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: the soul would not be perfected without the body, since
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: she recognizes that in every condition it has been needful
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: to her good. The flesh, then, is a good and
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: faithful comrade for a good soul, since even when it
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: is a burden, it assists. When the help ceases, the
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: burden ceases too, And when once more the assistance begins,
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: there is no longer a burden. The first state is
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: toilsome but fruitful, The second is idle but not monotonous.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: The third is glorious. Hear how the bridegroom in Canticules
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: bids us to this threefold progress. Eat O, friends, drink YEA,
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: drink abundantly, ye beloved. He offers food to those who
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: are laboring with bodily toil. Then he calls the resting
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: souls whose bodies are laid aside to drink, And finally
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: he urges those who have resumed their bodies to drink abundantly. Surely,
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: those he styles beloved must overflow with charity, and that
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: is the difference between them and the others, whom he
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: calls not beloved but friends. Those who yet grown in
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: the body are dear to him according to the love
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: that they have. Those released from the bonds of flesh
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: are dearer because they have become readier and abler to
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: love than hitherto. But beyond either of these classes are
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: those whom he calls beloved, for they have received the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: second garment, that is their glorified bodies, so that now
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: nothing of self remains to hinder or disturb them, and
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: they yield themselves eagerly and entirely to loving God. This
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: cannot be so with the others, for the first have
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: the weight of the body to bear, and the second
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: desires the body again with something of selfish expectation. At first,
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: then the faithful soul eats her bread, but alas in
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: the sweat of her face, dwelling in the flesh, she
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: walks as yet by faith, which must work through love.
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: As faith without works is dead, so work itself is
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: food for her. Even as our Lord saith, my meat
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: is to do the will of Him that sent me.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: When the flesh is laid aside, she eats no more
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: the bread of carefulness, but is allowed to drink deeply
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: of the wine of love, as if after a repast.
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: But the wine is not yet unmingled. Even as the
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: bridegroom saith. In another place, I have drunk my wine
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: with my milk, For the soul mixes with the wine
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: of God's love, the milk of natural affection that is
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: the desire for her body and its glorification. She glows
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: with the wine of holy love, which she has drunk.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: But she is not yet all on fire, for she
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: has tempered the potency of that wine with milk. The
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: unmingled wine would enrapture the soul and make her wholly
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: unconscious of self. But here is no such transport, for
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: she is still desirous of her body. When that desire
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: is appeased, when the one lack is supplied, What should
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: hinder her them from yielding herself utterly to God, losing
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: her own likeness, and being made like unto him. At
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: last she attains to that chalice of the heavenly wisdom
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: of which it is written, my cup shall be full.
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: Now indeed she is refreshed with the abundance of the
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: House of God, where all selfish carking care is done
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: away with, and where forever save she drinks the fruit
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: of the vine, new and pure with Christ in the
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: kingdom of his Father. It is wisdom who spreads this
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: threefold supper, where all the repast is love. Wisdom who
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: feeds the toilers, who gives drink to those who rest,
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: who floods with rapture those that reign with Christ. Even
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: as at an earthly banquet, custom and nature serve meat
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: first and then wine. So here, before death, while we
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: are still in mortal flesh, we eat the labors of
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: our hands. We swallow with an effort the food so gained.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: But after death we shall begin eagerly to drink in
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: the spiritual life, and finally reunited to our bodies and
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: rejoicing in the fullness of delight, we shall be refreshed
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: with immortality. This is what the bridegroom means when he saith, eat,
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: O friends, drink yea drink abundantly, O beloved, eat before death,
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: begin to drink after death, drink abundantly after the resurrection.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: Rightly are they called beloved who have drunk abundantly of love?
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: Rightly do they drink abundantly? Who are worthy to be
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: brought to the marriage supper of the lamb, eating and
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: drinking at his table in his kingdom. At that supper
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: he shall present to himself a glorious church, not having
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Then truly shall
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: he refresh his beloved. Then he shall give them drink
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: of his pleasures as out of the river, while the
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: bridegroom clasps the bride in tender pure embrace. Then the
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: rivers of the flood thereof shall make glad the city
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: of God. And this refers to the Son of God himself,
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: who will come forth and serve them, even as he
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: hath promised, so that in that day the righteous shall
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: be glad and rejoice before God. They shall also be
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: merry and joyful. Here indeed is appeasement without weariness here
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: never quenched thirst for knowledge without distress. Here eternal and
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: infinite desire, which knows no want. Here. Finally is that
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: sober inebriation, which comes not from drinking new wine, but
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: from enjoying God. The fourth degree of love is attained
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: forever when we love God only and supremely, when we
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: do not even love ourselves except for God's sake, so
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: that He himself is the reward of them that love him,
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: the everlasting reward of an everlasting love. End of chapter eleven.
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Kirsten Ferrari On Loving God
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: by Saint Bernard of Clervaut, Chapter twelve of Love out
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: of a letter to the Carthusians. I remember writing a
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: letter to the Holy Carthusian Brethren, wherein I discussed these
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: degrees of love and spoke of charity. In other words,
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: although not in another sense than here, it may be
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: well to repeat a portion of that letter, since it
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: is easier to copy than to dictate anew to love
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: our neighbor's welfare as much as our own. That is true,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: And sincere charity out of a pure heart, and of
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. Whosoever loves his
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: own prosperity only is proved thereby not to love good
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: for its own sake, since he loves it on his
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: own account. And so he cannot sing with the psalmist, Oh,
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: give thanks unto the Lord, for he is gracious. Such
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: a man would praise God not because he is goodness,
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: or because he has been good to him. He could
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: take to himself the reproach of the same writer. So
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: long as thou doest well unto him, he will speak
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: good of thee. One praises God because he is mighty,
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: another because he is gracious, yet another solely because he
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: is essential goodness. The first is a slave and fears
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: for himself. The second is greedy, desiring further benefits. But
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: the third is a son who honors his father, he
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: who fears he who profits. Are both concerned about self interest.
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: Only in the sun is that charity which seeketh not
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: her own. Wherefore I take this saying, the law of
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: the Lord is an undefiled law, converting the soul to
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: be of charity, because charity alone is able to turn
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: the soul away from love of self and of the
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: world to pure love of God. Neither fear nor self
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: interest can convert the soul. They may change the appearance,
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: perhaps even the conduct, but never the object of supreme desire.
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: Sometimes a slave may do God's work, but because he
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: does not toil voluntarily, he remains in bondage. So a
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: mercenary may serve God, but because he puts a price
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: on his service, he is enchained by his own greediness.
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: For where there is self interest, there is isolation. And
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: such isolation is like the dark corner of a room,
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: where dust and rust befoul. Fear is the motive which
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: constrains the slave. Greed binds the selfish man, by which
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: he is tempted when he is drawn away by his
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: own lust and enticed. But neither fear nor self interest
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: is undefiled, nor can they convert the soul. Only charity
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: can convert the soul, freeing it from unworthy motives. Next,
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: I call it undefiled because it never keeps anything back
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: for itself. When a man boasts of nothing as his
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: very own, surely all that he has is God's, and
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: what is God's cannot be unclean. The undefiled law of
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: the Lord is that love which bids men seek not
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: their own but every man another's wealth. It is called
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: the law of the Lord as much because he lives
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: in accordance with it, as because no man has it
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: except by gift from him. Nor is it improper to
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: say that even God God lives by law, when that
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: law is the law of love. For what preserves the
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: glorious and ineffable unity of the Blessed Trinity except love charity.
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: The law of the Lord joins the three persons into
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: the unity of the Godhead and unites the Holy Trinity
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: in the bond of peace. Do not suppose me to
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: imply that charity exists as an accidental quality of deity.
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: For whatever could be conceived as wanting in the divine
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: nature is not God. No, it is the very substance
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: of the Godhead. And my assertion is neither novel nor extraordinary.
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: Since Saint John says God is Love, one may therefore
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: say with truth that love is at once God and
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: the gift of God, essential love, imparting the quality of love.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: Where the word refers to the giver, it is the
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: name of his very being. Where the gift is meant,
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: it is the name of the quality. Love is the
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: eternal law, whereby the universe was created and is ruled.
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: Since all things are ordered in measure and number and weight,
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: and nothing is left outside the realm of law, that
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: universal law cannot itself be without law which is itself.
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: So Love, though it did not create itself, does surely
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: govern itself by its own decree. End of Chapter twelve.
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Kirsten Ferrari On Loving God
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: by Saint Bernard of Clervaux, Chapter thirteen of the Law
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: of Self, Will and Desire of Slaves and Hirelings. Furthermore,
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: the slave and the hireling have a law not from
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: the Lord, but of their own contriving. The one does
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: not love God, the other loves something else more than God.
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: They have a law of their own, not of God.
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: I say, Yet it is subject to the law of
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: the Lord. For though they can make laws for themselves,
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: they cannot supplant the changeless order of the eternal law.
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: Each man is a law unto himself when he sets
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: up his will against the universal law, perversely striving to
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: rival his creator, to be wholly independent, making his will
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: his only law. What a heavy and burdensome yoke upon
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: all the sons of Adam, bowing down our necks, so
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: that our life draweth nigh unto Hell, O wretched man
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: of this death? I am weighed down. I am almost overwhelmed,
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: so that if the Lord had not helped me, it
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: had not failed. But my soul had been put to silence.
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: Job was groaning under this law when he lamented. Why
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: that I am a burden to myself? He was a
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: burden to himself through the law which was of his
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: own devising. Yet he could not escape God's law, for
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: he was set as a mark against God. The eternal
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: law of righteousness ordains that he who will not submit
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: to God's sweet rule shall suffer the bitter tyranny of self.
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: But he who wears the easy yoke and light burden
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: of love will escape the intolerable weight of his own self.
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: Will wondrously and justly does that eternal law retain rebels
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: in subjection, so that they are unable to escape. They
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: are subject to God's power, yet deprived of happiness with him,
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: unable to dwell with God in light and rest and
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: glory everlasting. O, my Lord God, why dost thou not
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity? Then, freed
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: from the weight of mine own will, I can breathe
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: ese under the light burden of love. I shall not
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: be coerced by fear, nor allured by mercenary desires. For
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: I shall be led by the spirit of God, that
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: free spirit whereby thy sons are led, which beareth witness
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: with my spirit that I am among the children of God.
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: So shall I be under that law which is Thine,
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: And as thou art, so shall I be. In the world.
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: Whosoever do what the apostle bids, owe no man anything
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: but to love one another, are doubtless, even in this life,
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: conformed to God's likeness. They are neither slaves nor hirelings,
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: but sons end of chapter thirteen. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: Kirsten Ferrariri On Loving God by Saint Bernard of Clervaux,
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen of the Law of the Love of Sons.
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: Now the children have their law, even though it is
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: written the law is not made for a righteous man.
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: For it must be remembered that there is one law
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: having to do with the spirit of servitude given to fear,
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: and another with the spirit of liberty given in tenderness.
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: The children are not constrained by the first, yet they
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: could not exist without the second. Even as Saint Paul writes,
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: but you have received the spirit of adoption. Whereby we
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: cry abba Father, and again to show that the same
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: righteous man was not under the law, he says, to
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: them that are under the law, I became as under
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: the law, that I might gain them that are under
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: the law, to them that are without law, as without law,
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  Speaker 1: being not without law to God, but under the law
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  Speaker 1: to Christ. So it is rightly said, not that the
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: righteous do not have a law. But the law is
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: not made for a righteous man. That is, it is
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  Speaker 1: not imposed on rebels, but freely given to those willingly
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  Speaker 1: obedient by him whose goodness established it. Wherefore, the Lord
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: Saith meekly take my yoke upon you, which may be paraphrased. Thus,
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: I do not force it on you if you are reluctant,
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: but if you will, you may bear it. Otherwise it
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: will be weariness, not rest, that you shall find for
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  Speaker 1: your souls. Love is a good and pleasant law. It
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: is not only easy to bear, but makes the laws
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: of slaves and hirelings tolerable, not destroying but completing them.
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  Speaker 1: As the Lord Saith, I am not come to destroy
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  Speaker 1: the law, but to fulfill it. Tempers the fear of
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: the slave, It regulates the desires of the hireling. It
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: mitigates the severity of each. Love is never without fear,
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  Speaker 1: but it is godly fear. Love is never without desire,
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  Speaker 1: but it is lawful desire. So love perfects the law
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  Speaker 1: of service by infusing devotion. It perfects the law of
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: wages by restraining covetousness. Devotion mixed with fear does not
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  Speaker 1: destroy it, but purges it. Then the burden of fear,
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  Speaker 1: which was intolerable while it was only servile, becomes tolerable,
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  Speaker 1: and the fear itself remains ever pure and filial. For
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: though we read perfect love casteth out fear, we understand
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  Speaker 1: by that the suffering which is never absent from servile fear,
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: the cause being put for the effect. As often elsewhere,
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: so too, self interest is restrained within due bounds when
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: love supervenes, For then it rejects evil things altogether, prefers
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: better things to those merely good, and cares for the
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: good only on account of the better. In like manner,
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: by God's grace, it will come about that man will
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: love his body and all things pertaining to his body
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: for the sake of his soul. He will love his
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: soul for God's sake, and he will love God for
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: himself alone. End of chapter fourteen. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: Kirsten Ferrari On Loving God by Saint Bernard of Clervaut,
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen of the Four Degrees of Love and of
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: the Blessed State of the heavenly fatherland. Nevertheless, since we
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: are carnal and are born of the lust of the flesh,
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: it must be that our desire and our love shall
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: have its beginning in the flesh, but rightly guided by
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: the grace of God, through these degrees, it will have
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: its consummation in the spirit. For that was not first
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: that which is spiritual. And we must bear the image
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: of the earthly first before we can bear the image
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: of the heavenly. At first, a man loves himself for
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: his own sake, that is the flesh, which can appreciate
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: nothing beyond itself. Next, he perceives that he cannot exist
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: by himself, and so begins by faith to seek after
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: God and to love Him as something necessary to his
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: own welfare. That is the second degree, to love God,
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: not for God's sake, but selfishly. But when he has
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: learned to worship God and to seek him aright, meditating
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: on God, reading God's word, praying, and obeying his commandments,
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: he comes gradually to know what God is and find
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: him altogether lovely. So, having tasted and seen how gracious
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: the Lord is, he advances to the third degree, when
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: he loves God not merely as his benefactor, but as God.
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: Surely he must remain long in this state, And I
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: know not whether it would be possible to make further
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: progress in this life to that fourth degree and perfect condition,
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 1: wherein man loves himself solely for God's sake. Let any
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: who have attained it so far bear record. I confess
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: it seems beyond my powers. Doubtless it will be reached
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: when the good and faithful servant shall have entered into
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: the joy of his Lord and been satisfied with the
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: plenteousness of God's house. For then in wondrous wise he
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: will forget himself, and as if delivered fro himself, he
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: will grow Holy God's joined unto the Lord. He will
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: then be one spirit with him. This was what the
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: prophet meant, I think when he said, I will go
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: forth in the strength of the Lord God, and will
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: make mention of thy righteousness. Only surely he knew that
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: when he should go forth in the spiritual strength of
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: the Lord, he would have been freed from the infirmities
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: of the flesh, and would have nothing carnal to think of,
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: but would be wholly filled in his spirit with the
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: righteousness of the Lord. In that day, the members of
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: Christ can say of themselves what Saint Paul testified concerning
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: their head. Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: yet now henceforth know we him no more. None shall
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: thereafter know Himself after the flesh. For the flesh and
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Not that there
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: will be no true substance of the flesh, but all
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: carnal needs will be taken away, and the love of
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: the flesh will be swallowed up in the love of
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: the Spirit, so that our weak human affections will be
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: made divinely strong. Then the net of charity, which as
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: it is drawn through the great and wide sea, doth
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: not cease to gather everyvery kind of fish, will be
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: drawn to the shore, and the bad will be cast away,
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 1: while only the good will be kept. In this life.
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: The net of all, including love, gathers every kind of
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: fish into its wide folds, becoming all things to all men,
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: sharing adversity or prosperity, rejoicing with them that do rejoice,
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 1: and weeping with them that weep. But when the net
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: is drawn to shore, whatever causes pain will be rejected
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: like the bad fish, while only what is pleasant and
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: joyous will be kept. Do you not recall how Saint
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: Paul's said, who is weak and I am not weak?
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: Who is offended and I burn not? And yet weakness
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: and offense were far from him. So too he bewailed
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: many which had sinned already and had not repented, though
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: he was neither the sinner nor the penitent. But there
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: is a city made glad by the rivers of the
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: flood of grace, and whose gaits the Lord loveth more
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: than all the dwellings of jacob In it is no
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: place for lamentation over those condemned to everlasting fire prepared
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: for the devil and his angels. In these earthly dwellings,
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: though men may rejoice, yet they still have other battles
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: to fight, other mortal perils to undergo. But in the
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: heavenly Fatherland, no sorrow nor sadness can enter. As it
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: is written, the habitation of all rejoicing ones is in Me,
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: and again everlasting joy shall be unto them. Nor could
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: they recall things piteous, for then they will make mention
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: of God's righteousness. Only accordingly There will be no need
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: for the exercise of compassion, for no misery will be
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: there to inspire pity. End of Chapter fifteen, End of
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 1: Unloving God by Saint Bernard of Clavo