sentiments of this holy personage concerning this subject, and so equally remote was he from the delusive pride of the Perfectionist, and the flagitious negligence of the Antinomian. I shall conclude this review of Bernard's works, with a short extract*, which expresses the foundation of his Christian hopes; and it is that, in which all real Christians, in all ages, will cordially concur with him." I consider three things, in which all my hope consists, the love of adoption, the truth of the promise, and the power of performance. Let my foolish heart murmur as much as it please, and say, Who art thou, and how great is that glory, or by what merits dost thou expect to obtain it? I will confidently answer, I know whom I have believed, and I am certain, that he hath adopted me in love; that he is true in promise; that he is powerful to fulfil it; for he can do what he pleaseth. This is the threefold cord, which is not easily broken, which being let down to us from our heavenly country to earth, I pray that we may firmly hold, and may he himself lift us up, and draw us completely to the glory of God, who is blessed for ever. CENT. XII. С НА Р. V. DEATH AND CHARACTER OF BERNARD. He No one of the antient fathers seems to have had so * De Evang. Serm. 3. CHAP. V. CHAP. V. illiberal censures of others. Even the fictitious miracles, of which the wretched accounts of his biographers are full, indirectly asperse his character, and by no uncommon association of ideas, seem to detract all credibility from the best attested narratives of his piety and virtue. While then Papists represent him as an angel, and Protestants as a narrow bigot, or a furious zealot, those who know nothing more of him than what they have learned from the prejudice of opposite extremes, are tempted to think him an object worthy of contempt, if not of detestation. The great Roman historian, in a beautiful fragment preserved to us concerning the death of Cicero, observes, that to celebrate his character, as it deserves, a Cicero himself should be found as panegyrist*. A somewhat similar observation may be made concerning Bernard; and happily his voluminous writings, which have escaped the ravages of time, vindicate his reputation, and exhibit him to us with faithfulness and accuracy. It was necessary to be brief in my extracts; else much more numerous proofs of his genuine piety, humility, and charity, than those which the reader hath already seen, might have been adduced. Nor have I concealed his superstitious turn of mind, and the unhappy prejudices, which induced him to censure some of those, of whom "the world was not worthy," and with whose true character he was unacquainted. He was deeply tinged with a predilection for the Roman hierarchy; he had imbibed most of those errors of his time, which were not directly subversive of the Gospel; and the monastic character, which, accord ing to the spirit of the age, appeared to be the greatest glory, seems to have much eclipsed his real virtues, and prevented his progress in true evangedical wisdom. * Cicerone quidem laudatore opus esset. Liv. fragm. CHARACTER AND DEATH OF BERNARD. But if we strip him of the ascetic vest, and consider the interior endowments, he will appear to have been no mean or ordinary character. His learning was moderate; but his understanding was solid, and his judgment seldom erred in subjects or cases, where the prejudices of the age did not warp the imagination. His genius was truly sublime, his temper sanguine, his mind active and vigorous. The love of God appears to have taken deep root in his soul, and seems to have been always steady, though always ardent. His charity was equal to his zeal; and his tenderness and compassion to Christian brethren went hand in hand with his severity against the heretical, the profane, and the vicious. In humility, he was truly admirable; he scarce seems to have felt a glimpse of pleasure on account of the extravagant praises every where bestowed upon him. His heart felt dependance on Christ, and his heavenly affections were incontestably strong. He united much true Christian knowledge with much superstition; and this can hardly be accounted for on any other supposition, than that he was directed by air influence truly divine. For there is not an essential doctrine of the Gospel, which he did not embrace with zeal, defend by argument, and adorn by life. Socinianism in particular, under God, was by his means nipped in the bud, and prevented from thriving in the Christian world. Such was Bernard, who is generally called the last of the fathers. 415 CENT. XIL. 1153 The accounts of his death, considered as compo- Death of sitions, are no less disgusting to a taste of tolerable Bernard. correctness, than those of his life. While his friends A. D. admired him as an angel, he felt himself, by nature, a sinful fallen creature. He was about sixty-three years old, when he died of a disease in the stomach. A letter, which he dictated to a friend, a very few days before his decease, is worthy of our attention, as a genuine monument of that simplicity, modesty, and piety, which had adorned his conversation. "I CHAP. V. received your love, with affection, I cannot say with pleasure; for what pleasure can there be to a person in circumstances replete with bitterness? To eat nothing solid, is the only way to preserve myself tolerably easy. My sensitive powers admit of no further pleasure. Sleep hath departed from my eyes, and prevented the least intermission of my pain. Stomachic weakness is, as it were, the sum total of my afflictions. By day and night I receive a small portion of liquids. Every thing solid, the stomach rejects. The very scanty supply, which I now and then receive, is painful; but perfect emptiness would be still more so. If now and then I take in a larger quantity, the effect is most distressing. My legs and feet are swoln, as in a dropsy. In the midst of these afflictions, that I may hide nothing from an anxious friend, in my inner man-I speak as a vulgar person-the spirit is ready, though the flesh be weak. Pray ye to the Saviour, who willeth not the death of sinner, that he would not delay my timely exit, but that still he would guard it. Fortify with your prayers a poor unworthy creature, that the enemy who lies in wait may find no place where he may fix his tooth, and inflict a wound. These words I have dictated, but in such a manner, that ye may know my affection by a hand well known to you "Such were the dying circumstances of this excellent Saint. So peculiarly were they disposed, that they seemed to rebuke the ignorant admiration of his friends; and thus, through faith and patience, did he, at length, inherit the promisest. * Vol. II. p. 1170. Many miracles are ascribed to Bernard by the Romish Church. He is looked on as the last of the holy Fathers; and is said to have founded 160 monasteries. CHAP. VI. GENERAL STATE OF THE CHURCH IN THIS CENTURY. XII. THIS may, in a great measure, be collected, so far CENT. as the Latin Church is concerned, from the copious account which has been given of Bernard. Of the Greek Church hardly any thing occurs which properly falls within the design of this history. Superstition, idolatry, frivolous contentions, and metaphysical niceties, attended with a lamentable want of true piety and virtue, form almost the whole of the religious phenomena in the east. In this chaos of the Church, I can only mention a few facts and circumstances, which may throw some lights on its general state; and they shall be such as have not been considered in the history of Bernard, nor directly relate to the Waldenses, whose affairs commenced in the latter part of this century, but will deserve a distinct narration. 1 the taking Crusaders, lem by the A. D. Just at the close of the foregoing century, pope Death of Urban* held a synod of one hundred and fifty Urban, and bishops, in order to promote the Crusades, and ex- of Jerusahorted the Christian world to concur in supporting the same cause. He died in the year 1099, and Jerusalem was taken by the crusaders in the same 1099. yeart. The pale of the visible Church was extended by the conquests of the western warriors, and several episcopal Sees were again formed in regions, whence the light of the Gospel had first arisen to bless mankind. But these were of short duration; and, what is much more material to be observed, while they continued, they gave no evidence, that I can find, of * This pope, viz. Urban II. held the famous council here mentioned, at Clermont in Auvergne, A. D. 1095, for the recovery of the Holy Land. † Baronius, Cent. XII. VOL. III. EE |