CHAPTER XVII
SAINT BERNARD
of censure ?
Therefore when his fault is pointed out to him, it is not removed but grows worse.
So if , when he is reproved, you see him incline his heart to wicked words, you may know that he has sunk to the eighth degree, which is called defence of wrong-doing.
CHAPTER XVII
The eighth degree Defence of wrong-doing.
(The opposite of the fifth degree of humility a humble and straightforward disclosure of sins and evil thoughts.) There are many ways in which defence is made for sin.
A man either says 'I did it not' or 'I no doubt did it, but I acted rightly in so doing', or 'I may have acted wrongly but not to a serious extent,' or, 'If I was seriously wrong, I had no bad intention'.
If, however, he, like Adam and Eve, is proved to be guilty, he attempts to excuse himself on the ground that he was tempted by some one else.
But if a man unblushingly defends even open sins, will he ever humbly disclose to the Abbot the hidden evil thoughts which come into his mind ?
CHAPTER XVIII
The ninth degree Dishonest confession.
(The opposite of the fourth degree of humility, willing endurance of hardship as a matter of obedience.) But although defences of this kind are considered so wrong that they are called by the PropKet evil
DEGREES OF PRIDE
words/ a false and perverse confession is mucK more dangerous than even a brazen and stubborn defence.
For there are some who, when they are reproved for rather conspicuous offences, and know that no excuse which they may offer will be accepted, have recourse to a more cunning form of defence they reply by a deceitful confession.
For there is, as it is written, one that humbleth
himself wickedly and his interior is full of deceit.
The countenance is downcast the body is prostrate.
Tfiey exact from themselves, if they are able to do so, some tears.
They interrupt their speech by sighs and intersperse their words with groans.
A man of this description not only offers no excuse for the offences with which he is charged, but himself even exaggerates his guilt.
He does this that you, when you hear him make a further accusation against himself of some impossible or inconceivable crime, may be disposed to disbelieve even that of which you thought him guilty and thus, from the fact that he makes a confession which you fully believe to be false, some doubt may be thrown on that which you held to be almost certain.
And when these men make a statement the acceptance of which they do not desire, by their confession they excuse, and by 1 Ps. cxli. (Vulg. cxl) 4.
2 Ecclus. xix. 23.
The Douai version here correctly renders the Vulgate, which is acurately quoted by St.
Bernard.
The A. V. following the Greek of the Septuagint, gives quite a different sense', and one that has no connexion with the subject of this chapter
SAINT BERNARD
their disclosures they conceal, their fault.
Their confession sounds praiseworthy in the mouth, but wickedness is hidden in the heart ; so that he who hears may think that the confession is made with more humility than accuracy, and may apply to them that Scriptural saying, The righteous man at the beginning of his speech is his own accuser.
For in the sight of men they would rather be thought wanting in truthfulness than in humility while in the sight of God they are lacking in both.
But if their guilt is so clear that by no subterfuge can it be entirely concealed, they nevertheless adopt the tone, though not the spirit of repentance, and by this means remove the mark, though not the reality of their guilt, as they make up for ignoring an open offence by the credit of a public confession.
A fine sort of humility is this, in which pride seeks to array itself, that it may not lose caste !
But this double-dealing is soon detected by the Abbot, unless he is to some extent imposed upon by this haughty humility, and thus induced to pass over the fault or postpone the penalty.
The 2 and distress furnace trieth the potter's vessels, reveals the real penitent.
For the man who is truly penitent does no shrink from the trouble of 1 Prov. xviii. 17.
The quotation is again from the Old Latin which differs from the Vulgate ' The just is first accuser of himself ' and still more widely from the A. V.
2 Ecclus. xxvii. 6.
DEGREES OF PRIDE
Whatever is prescribed to him on repentance. account of the fault which he detests, he accepts
And with submissive and silent acquiescence. if through this very obedience unexpected hardships arise, and he thereby sustains injuries that were not intended, he does not give up, so that lie may show that lie has his place in the fourth degree of humility.
But he whose confession is unreal, when he is confronted with a slight rebuke, or trifling penalty, is unable either to feign humility or to conceal his dissimulation.
He murmurs, gnashes his teeth and loses his temper, and it becomes clear that, so far from standing in the fourth degree of humility, he has fallen into the ninth degree of pride, which from the above description of it, may well be called sham confession.
How great, think you, must be the proud man's consternation when his deceit is detected, liis pardon forfeited, and his fault not condoned?
He is at last found out and condemned by all and the general indignation is all the greater when men see how erroneous was their former judgment of him.
It is then the duty of the Abbot to be less ready to pardon him, because the forgiveness of one would be an offence to all.
' Cp.
St. Bernard's words in his treatise ; On Conversion '
' Even the severity of repentance should not deter you.
For the sufferings of this time are not comparable to the guilt of the past, which is put away, or to the gracious 'consolation of the present, which is given, or to the glory of the future which is promised to us.'
(xxi, sect.
17).
2 These words are a quotation almost verbatim from cap 7 of the Rule of St. Benedict.
SAINT BERNARD
CHAPTER XIX
The tenth degree Rebellion.
(The opposite of the third degree of humility Obedient submission to superiors.) Unless by a merciful intervention of Providence this man quietly accepts the unanimous verdict a thing which it is very difficult for such persons to do he soon becomes shameless and defiant, and more hopelesly degenerate, and sinks through rebellion into the tenth degree, so that he who had hitherto by his conceit treated his brethren with veiled discourtesy, now by his disobedience shows open contempt for authority.
For it should be observed that all the degrees which I have divided into twelve may be arranged in three groups ; in the first six there is disrespect to the brethren, in the four that follow defiance of authority, while the last two show complete contempt for God.
And it should also be noted that, just as the first two degrees in the ascending scale of humility must be attained before entering the community so the last downward steps in pride, which are their counterpart, cannot be taiEen wKilst in it.
That the first two degrees must be previously passed, the language of the Rule makes clear.
For it says that 'The third degree is tKat anyone for love of God should submit witH entire
DEGREES OF PRIDE
Therefore if this obedience to his superior. submission, which beyond doubt is made when the novice enters the convent, is assigned to the third degree, the necessary presumption is that the two preceding degrees have been passed.
Therefore when a monk scorns alike the .harmony of the brethren and the decision of his ruler, what more can he do in the monastery except cause scandal?
CHAPTER XX
Eleventh degree Freedom to sin.
(The opposite of the second degree of humility Forbearance to press personal desire. ) So after the tenth degree which has been described as 'rebellion' the man is at once caught in the eleventh.
He then enters those paths which are attractive to men, at the end of which (unless God shall perchance have interposed some barrier for his protection) he will be plunged into the nethermost hell that is into contempt of God.
For the wicked man when he is come into the
The eleventh' depth of evils, contemneth. degree may be called freedom to sin, since in it a monk, who sees that he has now neither a ruler to fear nor brethren to respect, can safely and freely give full play to his own desires, whieK
[ Rule ', cap.
2 Prov. xviii. 3 (Old Latin).