De lege propriae voluntatis et cupiditatis, servorum et mercenariorum.
The Self-Made Law of the Slave and the Hireling
The slave and the hireling each live by a law of their own making—one by neglecting God, the other by loving something else more—yet neither escapes the eternal law of God.
Now the slave and the hireling have a law — not one from the Lord, but one they made for themselves: the one by failing to love God, the other by loving something else more. They have, I say, a law — not the Lord's, but their own; yet one that is still subject to the law of the Lord. And indeed each person was able to make a law for themselves; yet they were not able to withdraw it from the unchanging order of the eternal law. I would say, then, that each person made a law for themselves whenever they preferred their own will to the common and eternal law — perversely wanting, in effect, to imitate their Creator: so that just as He is a law unto Himself and a law of His own making, so too would they rule themselves and make their own will into a law for themselves.
The Unbearable Yoke of Self-Will
The self-made law of Adam's children is a crushing yoke that bends them down toward death and hell, from which only the Lord's help can deliver them.
A heavy and unbearable yoke, alas, upon all the sons of Adam! Bending and bowing down our necks, so much so that our life has drawn near to hell.✦ Unhappy man that I am — who will free me from this body of death?✦ By this yoke I am pressed down and nearly crushed, so that had the Lord not helped me, my soul would have all but dwelt in hell.
A Burden to Oneself: The Inner Groaning
The one who has become a burden to himself reveals that the law he suffers is his own, yet he has not escaped the law of God.
Under this burden, weighed down, he groaned — the one who said, "Why have you set me against yourself, and why have I become a burden to myself?"✦ When he said, "I have become a burden to myself," he showed that the law was his own, made for himself — and that no one other than himself had made it so. But when, speaking to God, he first placed the words "You have set me against yourself," he indicated that he had not escaped the law of God, nevertheless.✦
The Just Sentence of the Eternal Law
God's eternal law justly sets the fugitive against himself, so that whoever refuses the sweet yoke of love must bear the unbearable burden of his own will.
This indeed pertained to the eternal and just law of God: that whoever did not wish to be ruled gently by God would be ruled punitively by himself; and that whoever willingly threw away the sweet yoke and light burden of love would bear, unwilling, the unbearable burden of his own will.✦ In a wondrous and just way, therefore, the eternal law placed its own fugitive as an adversary to himself and kept him subject — since, namely, he did not escape the law of justice according to his merits; nor did he remain with God in his own light, in his own rest, in his own glory, but was subjected to power and removed from happiness.
Prayer for Freedom and the Spirit of Adoption
The chapter closes with a prayer for deliverance from sin, a longing to breathe under the light burden of love as God's child, and the promise that those who owe only love are neither slaves nor hirelings but children.
Lord my God, why do you not take away my sin, and why do you not remove my iniquity?✦ Once the heavy load of my own will has been cast off, let me breathe under the light burden of love — and let me no longer be coerced by servile fear or enticed by mercenary desire. Rather, let me be moved by your Spirit, the Spirit of freedom, by which your children are moved — the Spirit that would bear witness to my spirit that I too am one of your children, since the same law will have been mine as is yours; and just as you are, so may I myself be in this world.✦✦ Those who do what the Apostle says — 'Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another' — are undoubtedly, just as God is, in this world: they are neither slaves nor mercenaries, but children.✦
Read the original Latin
Caeterum servus et mercenarius habent legem, non a Domino, sed quam ipsi sibi fecerunt: ille Deum non amando, iste plus aliud amando. Habent, inquam, legem non Domini, sed suam; illi tamen, quae Domini est, subjectam. Et quidem suam sibi quisque legem facere potuerunt: non tamen eam incommutabili aeternae legis ordini subducere potuerunt. Tunc autem dixerim quemque sibi fecisse suam legem, quando communi et aeternae legi propriam praetulit voluntatem, perverse utique volens suum imitari Creatorem: ut sicut ipse sibi lex, suique juris est, ita is quoque se ipsum regeret, et legem sibi suam faceret voluntatem. Grave utique et importabile jugum super omnes filios Adam, heu! inclinans et incurvans cervices nostras, adeo ut vita nostra inferno appropinquarit. Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus? quo utique premor, et pene opprimor, ita ut nisi quia Dominus adjuvit me, paulo minus habitasset in inferno anima mea.
Sub hoc onere gravatus gemebat qui dicebat: Quare me posuisti contrarium tibi, et factus sum mihimet ipsi gravis? Ubi dixit, Factus sum mihimet ipsi gravis, ostendit quod lex ipse sibi esset, nec alius hoc quam sibi ipse fecisset. Quod autem loquens Deo, praemisit, Posuisti me contrarium tibi; Dei se tamen non effugisse legem indicavit. Hoc quippe ad aeternam justamque Dei legem pertinuit, ut qui a Deo noluit suaviter regi, poenaliter a seipso regeretur: quique sponte jugum suave et onus leve charitatis abjecit, propriae voluntatis onus importabile sustineret invitus. Miro itaque et justo modo aeterna lex fugitivum suum et posuit sibi contrarium, et retinuit subjectum: dum videlicet nec justitiae pro meritis legem evasit; nec tamen cum Deo in sua luce, in sua requie, in sua gloria remansit, subjectus potestati, et submotus felicitati. Domine Deus meus, cur non tollis peccatum meum, et quare non aufers iniquitatem meam? ut abjecta gravi sarcina propriae voluntatis, sub levi onere charitatis respirem; nec jam servili timore coercear, nec mercenaria cupiditate illiciar: sed agar spiritu tuo, spiritu libertatis, quo aguntur filii tui, qui testimonium reddat spiritui meo, quod et ego sim unus ex filiis, dum eadem mihi lex fuerit quae et tibi; et sicut tu es, ita et ipse sim in hoc mundo. Hi siquidem, qui hoc faciunt quod ait Apostolus, Nemini quidquam debeatis, nisi ut invicem diligatis; procul dubio sicut Deus est, et ipsi sunt in hoc mundo: nec servi aut mercenarii sunt, sed filii.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.88.4 — For my soul is sated with troubles, and my life has reached down to Sheol.
- ↩Rom.7.24 — Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
- ↩Job.7.20 — If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O Watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target, so that I have become a burden to myself?" "If I have sinned" better reflects the rhetorical, concessive force in context and avoids making Job sound more confessionally settled than the chapter allows.
- ↩Job.7.20 — If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O Watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target, so that I have become a burden to myself?" "If I have sinned" better reflects the rhetorical, concessive force in context and avoids making Job sound more confessionally settled than the chapter allows.
- ↩Matt.11.30 — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
- ↩Ps.50.3;Ps.52.3 — Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a great tempest rages. Ps.52.3 — You who boast in evil, mighty one—God's steadfast love endures all the day.
- ↩2Cor.3.17 — Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
- ↩Rom.8.15-Rom.8.16 — For you did not receive a spirit of slavery again to fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry, "Abba, Father." Rom.8.16 — The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
- ↩Rom.13.8 — Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves the other has fulfilled the law.
On Loving God companion
Fourteen days is a start. Love grows by daily practice.
Continue with a short daily portion of historic devotion in the free Chosen Portion app.
Bernard argues love of God deepens through repeated, ordinary acts of devotion — the daily portions in Chosen Portion are precisely that repeated practice.
- Finish the plan, then keep a 10-minute daily devotional habit
- Read classics like Bernard's in plain modern English, one portion a day
- Track which of the four degrees you are practicing, week by week