CHAPTER IV
DEGREES OF HUMILITY
compassion, but added to it the later.
He did not alter He augmented it, as it is written, Men and beasts thou wilt preserve, O God, O how hast thou multiplied thy mercy, O God.
CHAPTER IV
The first degree of Truth self-scrutiny reveals to us our own evil case.
But let us resume the thread of our argument.
If then He in whose nature there was no sadness, made Himself sad in order that He might have personal experience of something of the existence of which He was already aware, how much more is it your duty, I will not say to alter, but to recognize your condition, which is indeed a pitiable one and thus to learn compassion o which you could otherwise have no knowledge?
For it may well happen that by dwelling on the shortcomings of your neighbour without sufficient attention to your own, you may be moved not to pity but to anger not to assist but to condemn, and so to destroy in a spirit of wrath, rather than to restore in a spirit of meekness.
Ye who are
saith the Apostle, instruct such an one spiritual, 1 Ps. sxxvi. 6, 7 (xxxv. 7, 8, Vulg.).
2 Gal. vi.
' instruct ' is no doubt the right translation of the word (instruite] used in the Vulgate from which St.
Bernard quotes it.
But it does not adequately render the Greek word KaTapTtteT here used by St. Paul. The meaning of that word is
'repair' or 'correct'. The usual sense of instruere in theVulgate (except perhaps in 2 Tim. iii. 17) is that of the English word
' instruct'.
St. Bernard, however, seems to have -used it intuitively, perhaps, for he knewno Greek in the sense of the word used by St. Paul.
SAINT BERNARD
in the spirit of meekness.
The counsel aye, the command of the Apostle is that you should aid your ailing brother in the same kindly spirit in which you would wish to be helped when you are ailing.
And to show how it is possible to be forbearing towards a wrong-doer, he says, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.
And please to note how well the disciple of Truth follows the sequence of the Master.
In the Beatitudes, to which I have already referred, the 'merciful' are named before the 'pure in heart', as are the 'meek' before the 'merciful'.
And the Apostle when he exhorted those who were spiritual to restore such as were carnal, added in the spirit of meekness.
For the reformation of the brethren is the mark of the merciful, and a spirit of meekness that of the humble.
He says in effect that no one who is not himself meek can be reckoned among the merciful.
Note that the Apostle here clearly asserts exactly what I said just now that I would establish, viz., that truth must be sought in ourselves before we can look for it in others, for he says consider thyself by which he means, think how easily you may be tempted how liable you are to sin so that by self-scrutiny you may be made humble and may thus come to the aid of others in a spirit of meekness.
If, however, you heed not the warning of the Apostle, tremble before the rebuke of the Master.
Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye and
DEGREES OF HUMILITY
thus shall thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Pride in the mind is like a thick heavy beam in the eye, whose excessive size is due not to health but to vanity, to swelling rather than to strength.
It so darkens the mental vision as to hide the truth.
If then it has taken hold of your mind, you will be unable to see yourself as you really are, or to appreciate either your actual or possible condition, but you will fancy that you are or will become just what you would like to be.
For what is pride if not as a certain holy man
defines it 'appreciation of one's own goodness'.
If this be so, we may say, on the other hand, that humility is the disparagement of our own goodness.
For love and hatred alike ignore the verdict of truth.
Would you like to hear what that'
3 not as 'I hate' verdict is?
As I hear so I judge, or 'I love' nor as 'I fear'.
There is the judgment of hate, such as that which said We have a law and according to our la^v he ought to die.* And there is the judgment of fear like that one If we let him alone so the Romans will come and take
But there is a away our place and nation. judgment of love, as that of David on the son who 1 Matt. vii. 5.
2 The reference is probably to St.
Augustine's commentary on Genesis, book xi, cap. xiv. 18.
' Envy is not the cause of pride, but pride the cause of envy.
For as pride is the love of one's own. excellence, envy is the dislike of another's happiness which clearly may arise therefrom.'
3 John v. 30.
* John xix. 7. s John xi. 48.
SAINT BERNARD
would have slain his father, Spare the boy Absalom.
And I know that it is a rule of human law, which is binding alike in ecclesiastical and in civil actions, that personal friends of the litigants shall not be -allowed to take part in the proceedings lest through their affection for their friends they may be misled or may mislead others.
And if affection for a friend leads you to extenuate or even to conceal his guilt, how much more will selfesteem preclude an unfavourable verdict upon yourself?
So the man who is really anxious to discover the truth about himself must remove the beam of pride which prevents him from seeing the light, and must propose in his heart to ascend by steps by which he may scrutinize his inmost self, and from the twelfth degree of humility may pass on to the first degree of truth.
But when a man has found truth in himself or rather has found himself in truth so that he can say, I have believed and therefore have I spoken, but I have been humbled exceedingly, 5 he may rise to a high spiritual level in order that truth may be held up, and may say in his ecstasy, Every man is a liar.
Do you not suppose that this was the trend of 1 2 Sam. (2 Kings, Vulg.) xviii. 5.
The quotation is from the old Latin version, of St. Bernard's acquaintance with which there are several traces in his writings.
2 By Roman Law persons closely related to the litigants were not allowed to give evidence in law-suits much less to serve on the Roman equivalent for the jury.
(See note in Select Treatises.) 3 Ps. cxvi. 10
(cxv. 10, Vulg.) 'humbled ' here refers rather to suffering or affliction than to moral or spiritual humiliation.
DEGREES OF HUMILITY
Do not you think that the David's thought? prophet felt as did the Lord, as did the Apostles, and as we do who come after them and share their feelings ?
I believed, says this man, in Truth who says, He that followeth me walketh not in dark-
I therefore showed my faith by following, and expressed it by confessing.
And by conness. fessing what?
The truth which I discovered through faith.
But afterwards I believed unto righteousness and made confession unto salvation.
3 that is entirely.
He I was humbled exceedingly, appears to mean by this since I was not asKamed of the fact that the truth which I discerned in myself bore witness against me, I carried humility to its utmost extent.
For this word 'exceedingly
, as in the passage, He may mean 'completely
shall delight exceedingly in his commandments.* But some one may urge that 'exceedingly
is here used for 'in a high degree
, not for 'completely
and that the commentators seem to uphold this interpretation.
Even if this be so, there is nothing 1 Ps. cxvi. (Vulg. cxv ) n.
'Excess'
(the rendering of the Dotiai version) is here better than the ' haste ' of A.V. Excessus is a word of which St. Bernard was very fond.
It really means going outside certain limits, and in the Vulgate usually but not always denotes a state of ecstasy or temporary rapture The thought is of one who has gone out of himself, and entered a'higher sphere as did St. Paul on an occasion to which we shall refer presently.
The state of mind, however, of the Psalmist who it must be remembered was not David, but a post-exilian writer was less spiritual than that of St. Paul.
Probably the ' confusion ' or 1 rashness ' by which Bishop Perowne renders the Hebrew word (Ps. ii, 334) is as good a translation as any.
2 Johnviii. 12.
3 Ps. cxvi. (Vulg. cxv) 10.
4 Ps. cxii. (Vulg, cxi) 1.