On Loving God
Dedication
To the illustrious Lord Haimeric, Cardinal Deacon of the Roman Church, and Chancellor: Bernard, called Abbot of Clairvaux, wisheth long life in theLord and death in the Lord.
Hitherto you have been wont to seek prayers from me, not the solving of problems; although I count myself sufficient for neither. My profession shows that, if not my conversation; and to speak truth, I lack the diligence and the ability that are most essential. Yet I am glad that you turn again for spiritual counsel, instead of busying yourself about carnal matters: I only wish you had gone to some one better equipped than I am. Still, learned and simple give the same excuse and one can hardly tell whether it comes from modesty or from ignorance, unless obedience to the task assigned shall reveal. So, take from my poverty what I can give you, lest I should seem to play the philosopher, by reason of my silence. Only, I do not promise to answer other questions you may raise. This one, as to loving God, I will deal with as He shall teach me; for it is sweetest, it can be handled most safely, and it will be most profitable. Keep the others for wiser men.
- Chapter 1 - Why we should love God and the measure of that love
- Chapter 2 - On Loving God
- Chapter 3 - What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God
- Chapter 4 - Of those who find comfort in the recollection of God, or are the fittest for His Love
- Chapter 5 - Of the Christian's debt of love, how great it is
- Chapter 6 - A brief summary
- Chapter 7 - Of love toward God not without reward
- Chapter 8 - Of the first degree of love: wherein man loves God for self's sake
- Chapter 9 - Of the second and third degrees of love
- Chapter 10 - Of the fourth degree of love: wherein man does not even love self save for God's sake
- Chapter 11 - Of the attainment of this perfection of love only at the resurrection
- Chapter 12 - Of love: out of a letter to the Carthusians
- Chapter 13 - Of the law of self-will and desire, of slaves and hirelings
- Chapter 14 - Of the law of the love of sons
- Chapter 15 - Of the four degrees of love, and of the blessed state of the heavenly fatherland