political condition of the time had not brought constant appeals for
help to him, his duty to the Church would have made him a public
character. For the work of his life which was perhaps most congenial
to him was the defence of the doctrine of the Church against heretical
teachers. He has been called "the last of the Fathers," and his whole
conception and methods were those of the great Christian writers of
the early centuries. To the great saint self-discipline through
obedience to the ordinances of the Church was the cure for all evil
suggestions of the human heart; while as for the intellect, its duty
was to believe the revealed faith as propounded by the authorities of
the Church. Like St. Augustine, Bernard did not despise learning; but
he would confine the term to the study of religion. Secular learning
was for the most part not only a waste of precious time, but an actual
snare of the devil. Thus Bernard stood for all that was most
uncompromising in the theological attitude of the time. Speculative
discussion was an abomination; for the end of conversation was
spiritual edification, not the advancement of knowledge; and what to
strong minds might be mental gymnastics, in the case of weaker
brethren caused the undermining of their faith. Against heretics of
the commoner sort, such as the Petrobrusians, who impugned the whole
system of the Church and appealed to the mere words of Scripture,
there was only one line to be taken. But Bernard was no persecutor.
During his preaching of the Crusade a monk perverted the popular
excitement to an attack upon the Jews in the cities of the Rhineland:
Bernard peremptorily interfered and crushed the rival preacher.
Similarly with heretics. He trusted to his preaching--attested, as it
was commonly supposed, by miracles--to convince the people; while the
leaders when captured were subjected to monastic discipline.

[Sidenote: Abailard.]