Chapter XIV
DING» EO Vein. G «GO D he who will not submit to God's sweet rule shall suffer the bitter tyranny of self: but he who wears the easy yoke and light burden of love'" will escape the intolerable weight of his own self-will. Wondrously and justly does that eternal law retain rebels in subjection, so that they are unable to escape. They are subject to God's power, yet deprived of happiness with Him, unable to dwell with God in light and rest and glory everlasting, O Lord my God, "why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?" Then freed from the weight of my own will, I can breathe easily under the light burden of love. I shall not be coerced by fear, nor allured by mercenary desires; for I shall be led by the Spirit of God, that free Spirit whereby Your sons are led, which bear witness with my spirit that I am among the children of God.'*' So shall I be under that law which is Yours; and as You are, so shall I be in the world. Whosoever does what the apostle bids, "Owe no man anything, but to love one another," *' are doubtless even in this life conformed to God's likeness: they are neither slaves nor hirelings but sons.
Chapter XIV
OF THE LAW OF THE LOVE OF SONS
Now the children have their law, even though it is written, "The law is not made for a righteous man."""' For it must be remembered that there is one law having to do with the spirit of servitude, given to fear, and another with the spirit of liberty, given in tenderness. The children are not constrained by the first, yet they could not exist without the "Mt 11:30.
'Rom 13:8.
Ib "aq, 'Tm 1:9.
'Rom 8:16, | 43 |
SAINT BERNARD OF
CLAIRVAUX
second: even as St. Paul writes, "You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, F ather."'*" And again to show that that same righteous man was not under the law, he says: "To them that are under the law, I became as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ)."'* So it is rightly said, not that the righteous do not have a law, but,
"The law is not made for a righteous man," that is, it is not imposed on rebels but freely given to those willingly obedient, by Him whose goodness established it. Wherefore the Lord says meekly: "Take My yoke upon you," which may be paraphrased thus: "I do not force it on you, if you are reluctant; but if you will you may bear it. Otherwise it will be weariness, not rest, that you shall find for your souls."
Love is a good and pleasant law; it is not only easy to bear, but it makes the laws of slaves and hirelings tolerable; not destroying but completing them; as the Lord says: "I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill.""* It tempers the fear of the slave, it regulates the desires of the hireling, it mitigates the severity of each. Love is never without fear, but it is godly fear. Love is never without desire, but it is lawful desire.
So love perfects the law of service by infusing devotion; it perfects the law of wages by restraining covetousness. Devotion mixed with fear does not destroy it, but purges it. Then the burden of fear which was intolerable while it was only servile, becomes tolerable; and the fear itself remains ever pure and filial.
For though we read: "Perfect love casts out 'PRom 8:15.
"81 Cor 9:20ff.
"AM 5:17,
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