“Bernard’s faith in God found an expression in connection with this, which was lovingly remembered.
He bade a monk go on the market-day and buy some salt, at a village not distant, admitting at the same time that he had no money with which to pay for it.
To the monk’s remonstrance that if he went empty-handed he should return in like condition the abbot replied, “Be not afraid; He who has the treasure will be with thee and will supply the things for which I send.”
When the incredulous monk returned, having obtained in an unforeseen way much more than he had gone for, Bernard only said to him:
“I tell thee, my son, that nothing is so necessary to a Christian man as faith. Have faith and it will be well with thee all the days of thy life.”
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) in Bernard of Clairvaux: The Times, The Man, and His Work, ed. by Richard Salter Storrs (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1893) 227. Cf. Vita, iv. lib. ii. coll. 2498-2499.