Short Treatises: On Loving God, On the Steps of Humility and Pride, and On Grace and Free Will (Sanctified Souls Heritage Editions: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux)

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153), first abbot of Clairvaux and the most compelling voice of his age, was named by later ages the Mellifluous Doctor for the sweetness of his teaching, above all on the love of God. This volume gathers three of his short treatises, each complete and unabridged.

In On Loving God he answers why God is to be loved and in what measure, and traces the soul through the four degrees of love. In On the Steps of Humility and Pride he charts the ascent of humility and the descent of pride along a ladder of twelve degrees, drawn from the Rule of Saint Benedict.

In On Grace and Free Will he weighs, with care and precision, what belongs to the grace of God and what to the freedom of the human will. The volume is a compilation of these three short works.