Sermon 54 on the Song of Songs — Bernard of Clairvaux
How Again by Mountains Are Signified Angels and Men, and by Hills Demons. Likewise on the Threefold Fear by Which Each One Ought to Fear, Lest He Lose the Grace of Working Well Received from God.
1. On the same chapter which was treated in yesterday's sermon [or, day], I am about to speak also another understanding which I have reserved for today: do you examine it, and choose what is better. There is no need to repeat what came before, which I do not think has slipped your mind in so short a time. If it has, however, what was said has been written down and taken down with a stylus, just as the other sermons, so that what has perhaps slipped away may easily be recovered. Therefore receive these other things. "Behold, he comes," she says, "leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills" (Song 2:8). She speaks of the Bridegroom: who indeed leaped upon the mountains at that time, when, sent by the Father to preach good tidings to the poor, he did not disdain to perform the office of Angels, being made the Angel of great counsel, he who was the Lord. He descended to the earth by himself, who was accustomed to delegate others: by himself the Lord made known his salvation, by himself in the sight of the nations he revealed his justice (Ps 97:2). Since, therefore, all are, according to Paul's declaration, ministering spirits, sent for service on account of those who receive the inheritance of salvation (Heb 1:14); he who was above them was made among them as one of them, concealing the injury, heaping up the grace. But hear him: "I came," he says, "not to be served, but to serve, and to give my life for many" (Mt 20:28). Which indeed no one else has been found to have done, so that all who have been seen to minister, he himself has surpassed in devoted and faithful services. A good minister, who ministered his flesh as food, his blood as drink, his soul as a price. Good indeed, who, eager in spirit, fervent in charity, devoted in piety, not only leaps upon the mountains, but also bounds over the hills, that is, surpasses and conquers them in the eagerness of his ministering, inasmuch as God his God anointed him with the oil of gladness beyond his companions (Ps 44:8): in which indeed he singularly exulted as a giant to run his course. And so he bounded over Gabriel, and arrived before him at the Virgin, the same archangel bearing witness, when he said: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28). What? Him whom you just left in heaven, now you find in a womb. How? He flew and flew ahead upon the wings of the winds. You are vanquished, O archangel: he who sent you before him has bounded over you.
2. Or certainly he was leaping upon the mountains, when in angels he appeared of old to the fathers: which indeed seems to agree more properly with the letter. For he does not say, "leaping onto the mountains"; but, "upon the mountains," so that he himself may seem to leap in them, who makes and gives them to leap; just as he speaks in the prophets, works in the just, when he bestows words on the former, and works on the latter. Add that some of them bore his person, so that each one of them spoke, not as an angel, but as the Lord. For example, that angel who was speaking with Moses said, not, "I am of the Lord," but, "I am the Lord," and repeated this very frequently. He was leaping therefore upon the mountains, that is, in the angels, in whom he both spoke and exhibited his presence to men. For he was leaping to men, but in angels, not in himself; not in his own nature, but in a subject creature. For he who leaps goes from place to place: which does not apply to God. Therefore upon the mountains, that is, in the angels, he leaped, who could not in himself; and he leaped all the way to the hills, that is, the patriarchs and prophets, and the other spiritual men of the earth. But he bounded over the hills also, since he deigned not only to speak and appear in angels to great and spiritual men, but also to some of the people, and even to some women as well. Or by hills he means the aerial powers, which are no longer counted among the mountains, for the reason that they have flowed down from the height of virtues through pride; nor yet do they subside to the low places of the valleys, or to the valleys of the humble through repentance. Of these I believe that saying in the psalms was spoken: "The mountains melted like wax before the face of the Lord" (Ps 96:5). These swollen and barren hills, therefore, as though placed in the middle between the mountains of the perfect and the valleys of the penitent, he has beyond doubt bounded over, who leaps upon the mountains; and passing by and despising them he descends to the valleys, that the valleys may abound with grain. But they on the other hand are condemned to eternal dryness and barrenness, as you have the prophet's imprecation upon them: "Neither dew," he says, "nor rain descend upon you." And that you may know that under the figure of the mountains of Gilboa he speaks of the angels who transgressed, "Where," he says, "many wounded fell" (2 Sam 1:21). How many on these cursed mountains have fallen from the army of Israel from the beginning, and fall daily! Of whom you also have in the same prophet, when he says to the Lord: "Like the wounded sleeping in tombs, whom you remember no more, and they have been cast out from your hand" (Ps 87:6).
3. It is therefore not surprising, if these remain barren and unfruitful, not heavenly mountains, but aerial hills, upon which neither dew nor rain descends; since the author of grace and the bestower of blessings bounds over them, and descends to the valleys, that he may drench with heavenly rain the humble who are upon the earth, and they may bear fruit in patience, fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold (Mt 13:8, 23; Lk 8:15). And so he visited the earth, and made it drunk: he multiplied to enrich it (Ps 64:10). He visited the earth, not the air, because the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord (Ps 32:5). And so, "He worked salvation in the midst of the earth" (Ps 73:12); did he also in the midst of the air? This against Origen, who with a shameless lie crucifies the Lord of glory anew in the air for the sake of demons, while Paul, conscious of this mystery, affirms that "rising from the dead he dies no more, death shall have dominion over him no more" (Rom 6:9).
4. But not only did he visit the earth, who bounded over the air, but also heaven, as Scripture says: "O Lord, in heaven is your mercy, and your truth reaches to the clouds" (Ps 35:6). For up to the clouds is the heaven which the holy angels inhabit, whom the Bridegroom did not bound over, but leaps in them, so that he imprints upon them two certain footprints of his feet, mercy and truth: concerning which footprints of the Lord I recall having discussed more fully in earlier sermons (Sermon 6). But from the clouds and below is the habitation of demons in this lowest and murky air; in whom the Bridegroom does not leap, but bounds over them and passes by, and they retain in themselves no footprint of God passing through. For how is there truth in the devil, of whom in the Gospels this judgment of the Truth stands, that he did not stand in the truth, but was a liar from the beginning? But neither would anyone call him merciful, who is equally convicted by that same truth of the Gospel to have been a murderer from the beginning (Jn 8:44). But as the master of the household, so also are his household members. Beautifully therefore the Church, singing of the Bridegroom, that he dwells on high and looks upon the lowly things in heaven and on earth (Ps 112:5-6), makes absolutely no mention of those spirits of pride who dwell in the air, since God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (Jas 4:6).
5. She sees him therefore leaping upon the mountains and bounding over the hills, according to the imprecation of David who says: "All the mountains that are round about him," that is, round about Gilboa, "let the Lord visit; but from Gilboa let him pass by" (2 Sam 1:21). For the devil, who is designated by Gilboa, has mountains on either side which the Lord visits: above the angels, below men. For as his punishment he has received by lot a place in this air, midway between heaven and earth, having fallen from heaven, so that he may see and envy, and be tormented by that very envy, as Scripture says: "The sinner shall see and be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth and waste away" (Ps 111:10). How wretched, when he looks up at the heavens, in which he beholds innumerable mountains shining with divine brightness, resounding with divine praises, lofty in glory, abounding in grace! How much more wretched, when he looks down upon the earth, having likewise very many mountains from the people of God's possession, solid in faith, lofty in hope, spacious in charity, adorned with virtues, filled with the fruits of good works, from the dew of heaven as from the leap of the Bridegroom taking daily blessing! With how much grief and rancor, do we think, does that one most greedy for glory look upon these mountains around him so glorious, while he looks down upon himself and his own in contrast as uncultivated, dark, barren of all goods, so that he feels himself to be the reproach of men and angels, he who reproached all, according to that in the Psalms: "This dragon which you formed to make sport of him" (Ps 103:26).
6. And this because, on account of their own pride, the Bridegroom bounds over them, leaping upon the mountains that are round about him, as a fountain ascending from the midst of paradise, irrigating all things, and filling every creature with blessing. Blessed are they who from the torrent of this pleasure are deemed worthy to drink from time to time, or even rarely, in whom, even if it does not flow continuously, at least through certain hours the water of wisdom and the fountain of life leaps, so that there may be made in them also a fountain of water leaping unto eternal life. And indeed the rush of this river gladdens the city of God, assuredly perpetually and abundantly. But upon our mountains that are on earth, would that from time to time, as if by a kind of flooding, he would not disdain to give certain leaps, by which, being sufficiently irrigated, they too might distill even rare drops for us, who are the valleys, lest we remain altogether dry and barren! Misery, and want, and altogether a mighty famine in that region which is never moistened by any such leaps or instillings, the fountain of wisdom flowing past and bounding over it: "And because they did not have wisdom," he says, "they perished on account of their foolishness" (Bar 3:28).
7. "Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills." He leaps in order to bound over, who does not wish to reach all; for God is not well pleased in all. Brothers, if, according to the wisdom of Paul, these things have been written for our correction (1 Cor 10:11), let us observe the discerning and circumspect leaps of the Bridegroom, namely how, both among the Angels and among us, he leaps upon the humble and bounds over the proud: since the exalted Lord looks upon the lowly, and the lofty he knows from afar (Ps 137:6). Let us, I say, attend to these things, so that we may be cautious to prepare ourselves for the saving leaps of the Bridegroom, lest as from the mountains of Gilboa he pass by from us also, if he should see us unworthy of his visitation. Why are you proud, earth and ashes? Even from among the Angels the Lord bounds over, abhorring their pride. Therefore let the rejection of the angels become the correction of men: for it was written for their correction. Let even the evil of the devil work together for my good, and let me wash my hands in the blood of the sinner. How, you ask? Hear. Upon the proud devil certainly a dreadful and fearsome curse is hurled, the prophet David saying in the spirit concerning him under the figure of Gilboa, as was mentioned above: "The mountains," he says, "that are round about him, let the Lord visit, but from Gilboa let him pass by."
8. Indeed when I read this, and turn my eyes upon myself, and look diligently, I find myself infected with that very plague which the Lord abhorred so greatly in the angel that on account of it he turned away from him, while he deigned to honor all the mountains round about him, whether of Angels or of men, with the grace of his visitation; and trembling and quaking I say to myself: If it was thus dealt with the angel, what will become of me, earth and ashes? He swelled with pride in heaven, I upon a dunghill. Who would not consider pride more tolerable in the rich man than in the poor? Woe to me! if such harsh punishment was dealt upon that powerful one because his heart was lifted up, and it did not profit him that pride is recognized as native to the powerful; what must be exacted from me, both wretched and proud? And so I am already paying the penalty, already being beaten most bitterly. Not without cause indeed from yesterday and the day before has this languor of soul invaded me, and this dullness of mind, a certain unaccustomed sluggishness of spirit. I was running well: but behold, a stone of stumbling in the way; I struck against it and fell. Pride was found in me, and the Lord turned away in anger from his servant. Hence this barrenness of my soul, and the poverty of devotion which I suffer. How is it that my heart has so dried up, has curdled like milk, has become like earth without water? I cannot even be moved to tears, so great is the hardness of heart. The psalm has no taste, reading gives no pleasure, prayer brings no delight, I cannot find my accustomed meditations. Where is that intoxication of spirit? Where the serenity of mind, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit? Therefore I am sluggish for manual labor, drowsy at vigils, headlong into anger, obstinate in hatred, more indulgent of tongue and throat, duller and more obtuse for preaching. Alas! The Lord visits all the mountains round about me, but does not draw near to me. Am I not a hill from among those which the Bridegroom bounds over? For I behold one man of singular abstinence, another indeed of admirable patience, another of the greatest humility and meekness, another of great mercy and piety; that one frequently going beyond himself in contemplation, this one knocking at and penetrating the heavens by the urgency of his prayers, and others excelling in other virtues. These, I say, I observe all fervent, all devout, all of one mind in Christ, all abounding in heavenly gifts and grace, as truly spiritual mountains who are visited by the Lord, and frequently receive the Bridegroom leaping in them. But I, who find none of these things in me, what else should I think myself than one of the mountains of Gilboa, whom he passes by in his wrath and indignation, that most kindly visitor of all the rest?
9. Little children, this thought takes away the haughtiness of the eyes, wins grace, and prepares for the leaps of the Bridegroom. These things I have transferred to myself on account of you, that you also may do likewise. Be imitators of me. Which I do not say now of the exercise of virtues, or the discipline of conduct, or the glory of holiness (for indeed of such things I would not rashly claim for myself anything worthy of imitation); but I want you not to spare yourselves, but to accuse your very selves, whenever perhaps you perceive that the grace in you has grown even a little tepid, or that virtue has grown languid, just as I too accuse my own self for such things. To do this is the mark of a man who is a diligent observer of himself, and a searcher of his ways and pursuits, and who in all things always holds the vice of arrogance suspect lest it creep in. In truth I have learned that nothing is equally efficacious for meriting grace, retaining it, and recovering it, as if at all times you be found before God not to savor lofty things, but to fear. "Blessed is the man who is always fearful" (Prov 28:14). Fear therefore when grace has smiled upon you, fear when it has departed, fear when it returns again; and this is to be always fearful. Let these three fears succeed one another in turn in the soul, according as grace is felt either to deign to be present, or to withdraw offended, or to return again appeased. When it is present, fear lest you not work worthily from it: for this the Apostle warns: "See," he says, "that you do not receive the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor 6:1); and to his disciple: "Do not," he says, "neglect the grace that is in you" (1 Tim 4:14); and of himself he said: "Because the grace of God in me was not in vain" (1 Cor 15:10). The man knew, having the counsel of God, that to neglect a gift and not to spend it for that for which it was given redounds to the contempt of the giver; and he judged this to be intolerable pride: and therefore he himself most studiously guarded against this evil, and taught that it should be guarded against. But again a pitfall lurks here, which I do not want to be hidden from you, from which that same spirit of pride, the more dangerously the more secretly, as you have in the psalm, "lies in ambush like a lion in his den" (Ps 10:9). For if he is not able to hinder the action, he tempts the intention, suggesting and persuading that you should arrogate to yourself the effect of grace. Which kind of pride indeed you should not doubt is far more intolerable than that former kind. For what is more hateful than that voice in which certain ones said: "Our hand is exalted, and not the Lord, has done all these things" (Deut 32:27)?
10. If therefore one must fear while grace remains; what if it has departed? Must one not fear much more then? Certainly much more; because where grace fails you, you yourself fail. Hear indeed what the giver of grace says. "Without me," he says, "you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). Fear therefore when grace is withdrawn, as one about to fall immediately; fear and tremble, with God angry at you, as you feel; fear, because your guard has left you. Nor should you doubt that pride is the cause, even if it does not appear, even if you are conscious of nothing in yourself. For what you do not know, God knows; and he who judges you is he himself. But neither is he who commends himself approved, but he whom God commends (2 Cor 10:18). Does God commend you when he deprives you of grace? Or does he who gives grace to the humble (Jas 4:6) take away from the humble what was given? Therefore the privation of grace is the proof of pride. Although, however, sometimes grace is withdrawn, or held back, not for pride that already exists, but for that which would exist if grace were not withdrawn. You have a clear testimony of this from the Apostle, who endured the goads of his flesh unwillingly, not because he was being exalted, but lest he be exalted (2 Cor 12:7). But whether already existing or not yet, pride will nevertheless always be the cause of grace withdrawn.
11. Now if grace, having been reconciled, should return, much more must one fear then, lest perhaps it happen that one suffers a relapse, according to that word from the Gospel: "Behold, you have been made well; go and sin no more, lest something worse befall you" (Jn 5:14). You hear that to relapse is worse than to fall in the first place. Therefore as the danger increases, let fear also increase. Blessed are you, if you have filled your heart with this threefold fear, so that you fear indeed for grace received, more for grace lost, far more for grace recovered. Do this, and you will be a water jar at the banquet of Christ, filled to the brim, containing indeed measures, not only two, but also three, that you may merit the blessing of Christ, which may convert your waters into the wine of gladness, and perfect charity may cast out fear (1 Jn 4:18).
12. What I say is of this nature. Fear is water, because it cools from the heat of carnal desires. "The beginning," he says, "of wisdom is the fear of the Lord" (Ps 110:10); and you have: "The water of saving wisdom gave him to drink" (Sir 15:3). If fear is wisdom, and wisdom is water; fear is water; and so: "The fear of the Lord," he says, "is a fountain of life" (Prov 14:7). Moreover the water jar is your mind. "Containing each," he says, "two or three measures." Three measures, three fears. "And they filled them," he says, "to the brim" (Jn 2:6-7). Not one fear, not two either, but all three together fill to the brim. At all times fear God, and from your whole heart, and you will have filled your water jar to the brim. God loves an undivided offering, a full affection, a perfect sacrifice. Take care therefore to bring a full water jar to the heavenly wedding feast, so that of you too it may be said: "Because he filled him with the spirit of the fear of the Lord" (Isa 11:3). He who fears thus neglects nothing. For how would negligence enter into fullness? Otherwise that which can still receive something more is not full. By the same reasoning one cannot simultaneously both fear thus and savor lofty things. For there is no room to admit pride when one is filled with the fear of the Lord. And so it is to be understood concerning the other vices as well, because all must necessarily be excluded by the fullness of fear. Then at length, if you have feared fully, if perfectly, charity will give flavor to your waters at the blessing of the Lord. For without charity, fear has punishment. And indeed charity is wine, which gladdens the heart of man (Ps 103:15). But perfect charity casts out fear, so that where water had been, wine may begin to be, to the praise and glory of the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is God blessed above all things forever. Amen.
Translated from the Latin by AI. Source: Migne, Patrologia Latina 183.