They Were Exceedingly Concerned When This Religious
Foundation Began To Be Enriched By Its First Lord And Patron, Hugh
De Lacy, {62} And By The Lands And Ecclesiastical Benefices
Conferred Upon It By The Bounty Of Others Of The Faithful:
From
their predilection to poverty, they rejected many offers of manors
and churches; and being situated in a wild spot, they would not
suffer the thick and wooded parts of the valley to be cultivated and
levelled, lest they should be tempted to recede from their
heremitical mode of life.
But whilst the establishment of the mother church increased daily in
riches and endowments, availing herself of the hostile state of the
country, a rival daughter sprang up at Gloucester, under the
protection of Milo, earl of Hereford; as if by divine providence,
and through the merits of the saints and prayers of those holy men
(of whom two lie buried before the high altar), it were destined
that the daughter church should be founded in superfluities, whilst
the mother continued in that laudable state of mediocrity which she
had always affected and coveted. Let the active therefore reside
there, the contemplative here; there the pursuit of terrestrial
riches, here the love of celestial delights; there let them enjoy
the concourse of men, here the presence of angels; there let the
powerful of this world be entertained, here let the poor of Christ
be relieved; there, I say, let human actions and declamations be
heard, but here let reading and prayers be heard only in whispers;
there let opulence, the parent and nurse of vice, increase with
cares, here let the virtuous and golden mean be all-sufficient. In
both places the canonical discipline instituted by Augustine, which
is now distinguished above all other orders, is observed; for the
Benedictines, when their wealth was increased by the fervour of
charity, and multiplied by the bounty of the faithful, under the
pretext of a bad dispensation, corrupted by gluttony and indulgence
an order which in its original state of poverty was held in high
estimation. The Cistercian order, derived from the former, at first
deserved praise and commendation from its adhering voluntarily to
the original vows of poverty and sanctity: until ambition, the
blind mother of mischief, unable to fix bounds to prosperity, was
introduced; for as Seneca says, "Too great happiness makes men
greedy, nor are their desires ever so temperate, as to terminate in
what is acquired:" a step is made from great things to greater, and
men having attained what they did not expect, form the most
unbounded hopes; to which the poet Ovid thus alludes.
"Luxuriant animi rebus plerumque secundis,
Nec facile est aequa commoda mente pati;
And again:
"Creverunt opes et opum furiosa cupido,
Et eum possideant plurima, plura petunt."
And also the poet Horace:
" - scilicet improbae
Crescunt divitiae, tamen
Curtae nescio quid semper abest rei.
Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam
Majorumque fames."
To which purpose the poet Lucan says:
" - O vitae tuta facultas
Pauperis, angustique lares, o munera nondum
Intellecta Deum!"
And Petronius:
Non bibit inter aquas nec poma fugacia carpit
Tantalus infelix, quem sua vota premunt.
Divitis hic magni facies erit, omnia late
Qui tenet, et sicco concoquit ore famem."
The mountains are full of herds and horses, the woods well stored
with swine and goats, the pastures with sheep, the plains with
cattle, the arable fields with ploughs; and although these things in
very deed are in great abundance, yet each of them, from the
insatiable nature of the mind, seems too narrow and scanty.
Therefore lands are seized, landmarks removed, boundaries invaded,
and the markets in consequence abound with merchandise, the courts
of justice with law-suits, and the senate with complaints.
Concerning such things, we read in Isaiah, "Woe unto them that join
house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place,
that they be placed alone in the midst of the earth."
If therefore, the prophet inveighs so much against those who proceed
to the boundaries, what would he say to those who go far beyond
them? From these and other causes, the true colour of religion was
so converted into the dye of falsehood, that manners internally
black assumed a fair exterior:
"Qui color albus erat, nunc est contrarius albo."
So that the scripture seems to be fulfilled concerning these men,
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravenous wolves." But I am inclined to think this
avidity does not proceed from any bad intention. For the monks of
this Order (although themselves most abstemious) incessantly
exercise, more than any others, the acts of charity and beneficence
towards the poor and strangers; and because they do not live as
others upon fixed incomes, but depend only on their labour and
forethought for subsistence, they are anxious to obtain lands,
farms, and pastures, which may enable them to perform these acts of
hospitality. However, to repress and remove from this sacred Order
the detestable stigma of ambition, I wish they would sometimes call
to mind what is written in Ecclesiasticus, "Whoso bringeth an
offering of the goods of the poor, doth as one that killeth the son
before his father's eyes;" and also the sentiment of Gregory, "A
good use does not justify things badly acquired;" and also that of
Ambrose, "He who wrongfully receives, that he may well dispense, is
rather burthened than assisted." Such men seem to say with the
Apostle, "Let us do evil that good may come." For it is written,
"Mercy ought to be of such a nature as may be received, not
rejected, which may purge away sins, not make a man guilty before
the Lord, arising from your own just labours, not those of other
men." Hear what Solomon says; "Honour the Lord from your just
labours." What shall they say who have seized upon other men's
possessions, and exercised charity? "O Lord! in thy name we have
done charitable deeds, we have fed the poor, clothed the naked, and
hospitably received the stranger:" to whom the Lord will answer; "Ye
speak of what ye have given away, but speak not of the rapine ye
have committed; ye relate concerning those ye have fed, and remember
not those ye have killed." I have judged it proper to insert in
this place an instance of an answer which Richard, king of the
English, made to Fulke, {63} a good and holy man, by whom God in
these our days has wrought many signs in the kingdom of France.
This man had among other things said to the king; "You have three
daughters, namely, Pride, Luxury, and Avarice; and as long as they
shall remain with you, you can never expect to be in favour with
God." To which the king, after a short pause, replied:
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