1. Amid the manifold _anxieties_ and _cares_ of my _heart_,[925] by the multitude of which _my soul is sore vexed_,[926] the brothers _coming from a far country_[927] that they may serve the Lord,[928] _thy_ letter, _and thy staff, they comfort me_:[929] the letter, as a proof of good will; the staff, to support my weak body; the brothers, because they serve the Lord _in a humble spirit_.[930] We have received them all, we are pleased with all, _all_ alike _work together for good_.[931] But as to the wish that you have expressed that two of the brothers[932] should be sent to look out a place for you beforehand, having taken counsel with the brothers, we have not thought it meet that they should be _separated one from another[933] until Christ be more fully formed in them_,[934] until they are wholly instructed in _the battles of the Lord_.[935] When therefore they have been taught in the school of the Holy Spirit, when they have been _endued with power from on high_,[936] then at length the sons shall return to their father that they may _sing the Lord's song_, not now _in a strange land_,[937] but in their own. 2. But do you yourselves in the mean time, according to _the wisdom given you_[938] by the Lord, look out beforehand and _prepare_ beforehand _a place for them_,[939] like the places which you have seen here, apart from the commotions of the world. _For the time is at hand_[940] when, by the operation of the grace of God, we shall bring forth for you _new men_ out of the _old_.[941] _Blessed be the Name of the Lord for ever,[942] of whose only gift it cometh that_[943] I have sons in common with you, whom your preaching _planted_ and our exhortation _watered_, but _God gave the increase_.[944] We beseech your holiness to _preach the word of the Lord_[945] so that you may _give knowledge of salvation unto His people_.[946] _For_ a double _necessity is laid upon you_,[947] both from your office as legate and your duty as bishop. Finally, since _in many things we offend all_,[948] and, being often thrown among the men of this age, we are much besmirched with the dust of the world, I commend myself to your prayers and to those of your companions, that in His fountain of mercy Jesus Christ, himself the fountain of pity, may deign to wash and cleanse us, who said to Peter, _If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me._[949] And, indeed, I not only earnestly entreat this of you, but also require it as in some sense the payment of a debt, since I cry to the Lord for you, if the prayer of a sinner can do anything. Farewell in the Lord. II To Malachy. 1141 _or_ 1142.[950] (Epistle 356.) To Malachy, by the grace of God bishop, legate of the Apostolic See, Brother Bernard, called to be abbot of Clairvaux, if the prayer of a sinner can do anything, and if the devotion of a poor man is of any advantage.