Articles liés à The History Of The Church Of Christ, Volume 2
Présentation de l'éditeur
Bernard, abbot of Clairval. As the general scene of our history still continues dark and gloomy, let us stick close to the splendid object. At least I would wish to exhibit a just estimate of the life, character, and writings of this renowned saint. For the subject may not only throw a considerable light on the religion and manners of this century, but will also illustrate that connexion between Christian doctrine and practice, which it is the principal design of this work to explore from age to age. There was a time when Bernard was idolized throughout Europe; while he lived, his word was a law ;and, for ages after his death, he was scarcely thought to have been capable either of fault or mistake. But the public taste has long since deviated into the other extreme, and it will behove me to say a few words, with a view to combat that power of prejudice, by which most minds are apt to be carried down the torrent of fashion. Bernard was doubtless a very ardent champion of the popes of Rome; I mean, of their office, not of their personal cha was the evil of the times. His austerities have, with nauseous punctuality, been recited by his panegyrists. They might have spared their accounts, as they themselves confess that he afterwards owned he was in error, both in injuring his own health, and in exacting too much of labour and sufferings from his disciples. Nor is the sincerity of Bernard to be doubted, either in his juvenile zeal, or in his candid and frank confession of his faultsf. He even accused himself of sacrilege, because by his indiscreet excesses he had rendered himself almost unfit to serve God and the Church. And though the weakness of his frame continued till death, as the consequence of the injuries which his body had received by his austerities, he seems to have taken some care of health in the latter part of his life. But the strongest prejudices
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