Cur Deus Homo

I HAVE been often and most earnestly requested by many, both personally and by letter,

2 that I would hand down in writing the proofs of a certain doctrine of our faith, which I

3 am accustomed to give to inquirers; for they say that these proofs gratify them, and are

4 considered sufficient. This they ask, not for the sake of attaining to faith by means of

5 reason, but that they may be gladdened by understanding and meditating on those things

6 which they believe; and that, as far as possible, they may be always ready to convince any

7 one who demands of them a reason of that hope which is in us. And this question, both

8 infidels are accustomed to bring up against us, ridiculing Christian simplicity as absurd;

9 and many believers ponder it in their hearts; for what cause or necessity, in sooth, God

10 became man, and by his own death, as we believe and affirm, restored life to the world;

11 when he might have done this, by means of some other being, angelic or human, or merely by

12 his will. Not only the learned, but also many unlearned persons interest themselves in

13 this inquiry and seek for its solution. Therefore, since many desire to consider this

14 subject, and, though it seem very difficult in the investigation, it is yet plain to all

15 in the solution, and attractive for the value and beauty of the reasoning; although what

16 ought to be sufficient has been said by the holy fathers and their successors, yet I will

17 take pains to disclose to inquirers what God has seen fit to lay open to me. And since

18 investigations, which are carried on by question and answer, are thus made more plain to

19 many, and especially to less quick minds, and on that account are more gratifying, I will

20 take to argue with me one of those persons who agitate this subject; one, who among the

21 rest impels me more earnestly to it, so that in this way Boso may question and Anselm

22 reply.

CHAPTER II · How those things which are to be said should be received.

4 ** *Boso.* ** As the right order requires us to believe the deep things of

5 Christian faith before we undertake to discuss them by reason; so to my mind it appears a

6 neglect if, after we are established in the faith, we do not seek to understand what we

7 believe. Therefore, since I thus consider myself to hold the faith of our redemption, by

8 the prevenient grace of God, so that, even were I unable in any way to understand what I

9 believe, still nothing could shake my constancy; I desire that you I should discover to

10 me, what, as you know, many besides myself ask, for what necessity and cause God, who is

11 omnipotent, should have assumed the littleness and weakness of human nature for the sake

12 of its renewal?

13 ** *Anselm.* ** . You ask of me a thing which is above me, and therefore I tremble

14 to take in hand subjects too lofty for me, lest, when some one may have thought or even

15 seen that I do not satisfy him, he will rather believe that I am in error with regard to

16 the substance of the truth, than that my intellect is not able to grasp it.

17 ** *Boso.* ** You ought not so much to fear this, because you should call to

18 mind, on the other hand, that it often happens in the discussion of some question that God

19 opens what before lay concealed; and that you should hope for the grace of God, because if

20 you liberally impart those things which you have freely received, you will be worthy to

21 receive higher things to which you have not yet attained.

22 ** *Anselm.* ** . There is also another thing on account of which I think this

23 subject can hardly, or not at all, be discussed between us comprehensively; since, for

24 this purpose, there is required a knowledge of Power and Necessity and Will and certain

25 other subjects which are so related to one another that none of them can be fully examined

26 without the rest; and so the discussion of these topics requires a separate labor, which,

27 though not very easy, in my opinion, is by no means useless; for ignorance of these

28 subjects makes certain things difficult, which by acquaintance with them become easy.

29 ** *Boso.* ** You can speak so briefly with regard to these things, each in its

30 place, that we may both have all that is requisite for the present object, and what

31 remains to be said we can put off to another time.

32 ** *Anselm.* ** . This also much disinclines me from your request, not only that

33 the subject is important, but as it is of a form fair above the sons of men, so is it of a

34 wisdom fair above the intellect of men. On this account, I fear, lest, as I am wont to be

35 incensed against sorry artists, when I see our Lord himself painted in an unseemly figure;

36 so also it may fall out with me if I should undertake to exhibit so rich a theme in rough

37 and vulgar diction.

38 ** *Boso.* ** Even this ought not to deter you, because, as you allow any one to

39 talk better if he can, so you preclude none from writing more elegantly if your language

40 does not please him. But, to cut you off from all excuses, you are not to fulfil this

41 request of mine for the learned but for me, and those asking the same thing with me.

42 ** *Anselm.* ** . Since I observe your earnestness and that of those who desire

43 this thing with you, out of love and pious zeal, I will try to the best of my ability with

44 the assistance of God and your prayers, which, when making this request, you have often

45 promised me, not so much to make plain what you inquire about, as to inquire with you. But

46 I wish all that I say to be received with this understanding, that, if I shall have said

47 anything which higher authority does not corroborate, though I appear to demonstrate it by

48 argument, yet it is not to be received with any further confidence, than as so appearing

49 to me for the time, until God in some way make a clearer revelation to me. But if I am in

50 any measure able to set your inquiry at rest, it should be concluded that a wiser than I

51 will be able to do this more fully; nay, we must understand that for all that a man can

52 say or know still deeper grounds of so great a truth lie concealed.

53 ** *Boso.* ** Suffer me, therefore, to make use of the words of infidels; for it

54 is proper for us when we seek to investigate the reasonableness of our faith to propose

55 the objections of those who are wholly unwilling to submit to the same faith, without the

56 support of reason. For although they appeal to reason because they do not believe, but we,

57 on the other hand, because we do believe; nevertheless, the thing sought is one and the

58 same. And if you bring up anything in reply which sacred authority seems to oppose, let it

59 be mine to urge this inconsistency until you disprove it. *

60 **Anselm.* ** . Speak on according to your pleasure.

CHAPTER III · Objections of infidels and replies of believers.

7 ** *Boso.* ** Infidels ridiculing our simplicity charge upon us that we do

8 injustice and dishonor to God when we affirm that he descended into the womb of a virgin,

9 that he was born of woman, that he grew on the nourishment of milk and the food of men;

10 and, passing over many other things which seem incompatible with Deity, that he endured

11 fatigue, hunger, thirst, stripes and crucifixion among thieves.

12 ** *Anselm.* ** . We do no injustice or dishonor to God, but give him

13 thanks with all the heart, praising and proclaiming the ineffable height of his

14 compassion. For the more astonishing a thing it is and beyond expectation, that he has

15 restored us from so great and deserved ills in which we were, to so great and unmerited

16 blessings which we had forfeited; by so much the more has he shown his more exceeding love

17 and tenderness towards us. For did they but carefully consider bow fitly in this way human

18 redemption is secured, they would not ridicule our simplicity, but would rather join with

19 us in praising the wise beneficence of God. For, as death came upon the human race by the

20 disobedience of man, it was fitting that by man's obedience life should be restored. And,

21 as sin, the cause of our condemnation, had its origin from a woman, so ought the author of

22 our righteousness and salvation to be born of a woman. And so also was it proper that the

23 devil, who, being man's tempter, had conquered him in eating of the tree, should be

24 vanquished by man in the suffering of the tree which man bore. Many other things also, if

25 we carefully examine them, give a certain indescribable beauty to our redemption as thus

26 procured.

CHAPTER IV · How these things appear not decisive to infidels, and merely like so

10 many pictures.

11 ** *Boso.* ** These things must be admitted to be beautiful, and like so many

12 pictures; but, if they have no solid foundation, they do not appear sufficient to

13 infidels, as reasons why we ought to believe that God wished to suffer the things which we

14 speak of. For when one wishes to make a picture, he selects something substantial to paint

15 it upon, so that his picture may remain. For no one paints in water or in air, because no

16 traces of the picture remain in them. Wherefore, when we hold up to infidels these

17 harmonious proportions which you speak of as so many pictures of the real thing, since

18 they do not think this belief of ours a reality, but only a fiction, they consider us, as

19 it were, to be painting upon a cloud. Therefore the rational existence of the truth first

20 be shown, I mean, the necessity, which proves that God ought to or could have condescended

21 to those things which we affirm. Afterwards, to make the body of the truth, so to speak,

22 shine forth more clearly, these harmonious proportions, like pictures of the body, must be

23 described. *

24 **Anselm.* ** . Does not the reason why God ought to do the things we

25 speak of seem absolute enough when we consider that the human race, that work of his so

26 very precious, was wholly ruined, and that it was not seemly that the purpose which God

27 had made concerning man should fall to the ground; and, moreover, that this purpose could

28 not be carried into effect unless the human race were delivered by their Creator himself?

CHAPTER V · How the redemption of man could not be effected by any other being but

13 God.

14 ** *Boso.* ** If this deliverance were said to be effected somehow by any other

15 being than God (whether it were an angelic or a human being), the mind of man would

16 receive it far more patiently. For God could have made some man without sin, not of a

17 sinful substance, and not a descendant of any man, but just as he made Adam, and by this

18 man it should seem that the work we speak of could have been done.

19 ** *Anselm.* ** . Do you not perceive that, if any other being should rescue man

20 from eternal death, man would rightly be adjudged as the servant of that being? Now if

21 this be so, he would in no wise be restored to that dignity which would have been his had

22 he never sinned. For he, who was to be through eternity only the servant of God and an

23 equal with the holy angels, would now be the servant of a being who was not God, and whom

24 the angels did not serve.

CHAPTER VI · How infidels find fault with us for saying that God has redeemed us by his death, and

16 thus has shown his love towards us, and that he came to overcome the devil for us.

17 ** *Boso.* ** This they greatly wonder at, because we call this redemption a

18 release. For, say they, in what custody or imprisonment, or under whose power were you

19 held, that God could not free you from it, without purchasing your redemption by so many

20 sufferings, and finally by his own blood? And when we tell them that he freed us from our

21 sins, and from his own wrath, and from hell, and from the power of the devil, whom he came

22 to vanquish for us, because we were unable to do it, and that he purchased for us the

23 kingdom of heaven; and that, by doing all these things, he manifested the greatness of his

24 love towards us; they answer: If you say that God, who, as you believe, created the

25 universe by a word, could not do all these things by a simple command, you contradict

26 yourselves, for you make him powerless. Or, if you grant that he could have done these

27 things in some other way, but did not wish to, how can you vindicate his wisdom, when you

28 assert that he desired, without any reason, to suffer things so unbecoming? For these

29 things which you bring up are all regulated by his will; for the wrath of God is nothing

30 but his desire to punish. If, then, be does not desire to punish the sins of men, man is

31 free from his sins, and from the wrath of God, and from hell, and from the power of the

32 devil, all which things are the sufferings of sin; and, what he had lost by reason of

33 these sins, he now regains. For, in whose power is hell, or the devil? Or, whose is the

34 kingdom of heaven, if it be not his who created all things? Whatever things, therefore,

35 you dread or hope for, all lie subject to his will, whom nothing can oppose. If, then, God

36 were unwilling to save the human race in any other way than that you mention, when he

37 could have done it by his simple will, observe, to say the least, how you disparage his

38 wisdom. For, if a man without motive should do, by severe toil, a thing which he could

39 have done in some easy way, no one would consider him a wise man. As to your statement

40 that God has shown in this way how much he loved you, there is no argument to support

41 this, unless it be proved that he could not otherwise have saved man. For, if he could not

42 have done it otherwise, then it was, indeed, necessary for him to manifest his love in

43 this way. But now, when he could have saved man differently, why is it that, for the sake

44 of displaying his love, he does and suffers the things which you enumerate? For does he

45 not show good angels how much he loves them, though he suffer no such things as these for

46 them? As to what you say of his coming to vanquish the devil for you, with what meaning

47 dare you allege this? Is not the omnipotence of God everywhere enthroned? How is it, then,

48 that God must needs come down from heaven to vanquish the devil? These are the objections

49 with which infidels think they can withstand us.

CHAPTER VII · How the devil had no justice on his side against man; and why it was, that he seemed to

19 have had it, and why God could have freed man in this way.

20 MOREOVER, I do not see the force of that argument, which we are wont to make use of,

21 that God, in order to save men, was bound, as it were, to try a contest with the devil in

22 justice, before he did in strength, so that, when the devil should put to death that being

23 in whom there was nothing worthy of death, and who was God, he should justly lose his

24 power over sinners; and that, if it were not so, God would have used undue force against

25 the devil, since the devil had a rightful ownership of man, for the devil had not seized

26 man with violence, but man had freely surrendered to him. It is true that this might well

27 enough be said, if the devil or man belonged to any other being than God, or were in the

28 power of any but God. But since neither the devil nor man belong to any but God, and

29 neither can exist without the exertion of Divine power, what cause ought God to try with

30 his own creature ( *de suo, in suo* ), or what should he do but punish his servant, who

31 had seduced his fellow-servant to desert their common Lord and come over to himself; who,

32 a traitor, had taken to himself a fugitive; a thief, had taken to himself a fellow-thief,

33 with what he had stolen from his Lord. For when one was stolen from his Lord by the

34 persuasions of the other, both were thieves. For what could be more just than for God to

35 do this? Or, should God, the judge of all, snatch man, thus held, out of the power of him

36 who holds him so unrighteously, either for the purpose of punishing him in some other way

37 than by means of the devil, or of sparing him, what injustice would there be in this? For,

38 though man deserved to be tormented by the devil, yet the devil tormented him unjustly.

39 For man merited punishment, and there was no more suitable way for him to be punished than

40 by that being to whom he had given his consent to sin. But the infliction of punishment

41 was nothing meritorious in the devil; on the other hand, he was even more unrighteous in

42 this, because he was not led to it by a love of justice, but urged on by a malicious

43 impulse. For he did not do this at the command of God, but God's inconceivable wisdom,

44 which happily controls even wickedness, permitted it. And, in my opinion, those who think

45 that the devil has any right in holding man, are brought to this belief by seeing that man

46 is justly exposed to the tormenting of the devil, and that God in justice permits this;

47 and therefore they suppose that the devil rightly inflicts it. For the very same thing,

48 from opposite points of view, is sometimes both just unjust, and hence, by those who do

49 not carefuIIy inspect the matter, is deemed wholly just or wholly unjust. Suppose, for

50 example, that one strikes an innocent person unjustly, and hence justly deserves to beaten

51 himself; if, however, the one who was beaten, though he ought not to avenge himself, yet

52 does strike the person who beat him, then he does it unjustly. And hence this violence on

53 the part of the man who returns the blow is unjust, because he ought not to avenge

54 himself; but as far as he who received the blow is concerned, it is just, for since he

55 gave a blow unjustly, he justly deserves to receive one in return. Therefore, from

56 opposite views, the same action is both just and unjust, for it may chance that one person

57 shall consider it only just, and another only unjust. So also the devil is said to torment

58 men justly, because God in justice permits this, and man in justice suffers it. But when

59 man is said to suffer justly, it is not meant that his just suffering is inflicted by the

60 hand of justice itself, but that he is punished by the just judgment of God. But if that

61 written decree is brought up, which the Apostle says was made against us, and cancelled by

62 the death of Christ; and if any one thinks that it was intended by this decree that the

63 devil, as if under the writing of a sort of compact, should justly demand sin and the

64 punishment of sin, of man, before Christ suffered, as a debt for the first sin to which he

65 tempted man, so that in this way he seems to prove his right over man, I do not by any

66 means think that it is to be so understood. For that writing is not of the devil, because

67 it is called the writing of a decree of the devil, but of God. For by the just judgment of

68 God it was decreed, and, as it were, confirmed by writing, that, since man had sinned, he

69 should not henceforth of himself have the power to avoid sin or the punishment of sin; for

70 the spirit is out-going and not returning ( *est enim spiritus vadens et non rediens* );

71 and he who sins ought not to escape with impunity, unless pity spare the sinner, and

72 deliver and restore him. Wherefore we ought not to believe that, on account of this

73 writing, there can be found any justice on the part of the devil in his tormenting man. In

74 fine, as there is never any injustice in a good angel, so in an evil angel there can be no

75 justice at all. There was no reason, therefore, as respects the devil, why God should not

76 make use of as own power against him for the liberation of man.

CHAPTER VIII · How, althougth the acts of Christ's condescension which we speak of do not belong to

22 his divinity, it yet seems improper to infidels that these things should be said of him

23 even as a man; and why it appears to them that this man did not suffer death of his own

24 will.

25 ** *Anselm.* ** . The will of God ought to be a sufficient reason for us, when he

26 does anything, though we cannot see why he does it. For the will of God is never

27 irrational.

28 ** *Boso.* ** That is very true, if it be granted that God does wish the thing in

29 question; but many will never allow that God does wish anything if it be inconsistent with

30 reason.

31 ** *Anselm.* ** . What do you find inconsistent with reason, in our confessing

32 that God desired those things which make up our belief with regard to his incarnation?

33 ** *Boso.* ** This in brief: that the Most High should stoop to things so lowly,

34 that the Almighty should do a thing with such toil.

35 ** *Anselm.* ** . They who speak thus do not understand our belief. For we affirm

36 that the Divine nature is beyond doubt impassible, and that God cannot at all be brought

37 down from his exaltation, nor *toil* in anything which he wishes to effect. But we

38 say that the Lord Jesus Christ is very God and very man, one person in two natures, and

39 two natures in one person. When, therefore, we speak of God as enduring any humiliation or

40 infirmity, we do not refer to the majesty of that nature, which cannot suffer; but to the

41 feebleness of the human constitution which he assumed. And so there remains no ground of

42 objection against our faith. For in this way we intend no debasement of the Divine nature,

43 but we teach that one person is both Divine and human. In the incarnation of God there is

44 no lowering of the Deity; but the nature of man we believe to be exalted.

45 ** *Boso.* ** Be it so; let nothing be referred to the Divine nature, which is

46 spoken of Christ after the manner of human weakness; but how will it ever be made out a

47 just or reasonable thing that God should treat or suffer to be treated in such a manner,

48 that man whom the Father called his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased, and whom the

49 Son made himself? For what justice is there in *his* suffering death for the sinner,

50 who was the most just of all men? What man, if he condemned the innocent to free the

51 guilty, would not himself be judged worthy of condemnation? And so the matter seems to

52 return to the same incongruity which is mentioned above. For if he could not save sinners

53 in any other way than by condemning the just, where is his omnipotence? If, however, he

54 could, but did not wish to, how shall we sustain his wisdom and justice?

55 ** *Anselm.* ** . God the Father did not treat that man as you seem to suppose,

56 nor put to death the innocent for the guilty. For the Father did not compel him to suffer

57 death, or even allow him to be slain, against his will, but of his own accord he endured

58 death for the salvation of men.

59 ** *Boso.* ** Though it were not against his will, since he agreed to the will of

60 the Father; yet the Father seems to have bound him, as it were, by his injunction. For it

61 is said that Christ "humbled himself, being made obedient to the Father even unto

62 death, and that the death of the cross. For which cause God also has highly exalted

63 him;" and that "he learned obedience from the things which he suffered;"

64 and that God spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all." And likewise the

65 Son says: "I came not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me." And

66 when about to suffer, he says; "As the Father has given me commandment, so I

67 do." Again: "The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it? "

68 And, at another time : "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;

69 nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will ." And again: "Father, if this cup

70 may not pass from me except I drink it, your will be done." In all these passages it

71 would rather appear that Christ endured death by the constraint of obedience, than by the

72 inclination of his own free will.

CHAPTER IX · How it was of his own accord that he died, and what this means: "he was made

25 obedient even unto death; " and: "for which cause God has highly exalted

26 him;" and: "I came not to do my own will; " and: "he spared not his

27 own Son;" and: "not as I will, but as you will ."

28 ** *Anselm.* ** . It seems to me that you do not rightly understand the difference

29 between what he did at the demand of obedience, and what he suffered, not demanded by

30 obedience, but inflicted on him, because he kept his obedience perfect.

31 ** *Boso.* ** I need to have you explain it more clearly.

32 ** *Anselm.* ** . Why did the Jews persecute him even unto death?

33 ** *Boso.* ** For nothing else, but that, in word and in life, he invariably

34 maintained truth and justice.

35 ** *Anselm.* ** . I believe that God demands this of every rational being, and

36 every being owes this in obedience to God.

37 ** *Boso.* ** We ought to acknowledge this.

38 ** *Anselm.* ** . That man, therefore, owed this obedience to God the Father,

39 humanity to Deity; and the Father claimed it from him.

40 ** *Boso.* ** There is no doubt of this.

41 Anselin. Now you see what he did, under the demand of obedience.

42 ** *Boso.* ** Very true, and I see also what infliction he endured, because he

43 stood firm in obedience. For death was inflicted on him for his perseverance in obedience

44 and he endured it; but I do not understand how it is that obedience did not demand this.

45 ** *Anselm.* ** . Ought man to suffer death, if he had never sinned, or should God

46 demand this of him?

47 ** *Boso.* ** It is on this account that we believe that man would not have been

48 subject to death, and that God would not have exacted this of him; but I should like to

49 hear the reason of the thing from you.

50 ** *Anselm.* ** . You acknowledge that the intelligent creature was made holy, and

51 for this purpose, viz., to be happy in the enjoyment of God.

52 ** *Boso.* ** Yes.

53 ** *Anselm.* ** . You surely will not think it proper for God to make his creature

54 miserable without fault, when he had created him holy that he might enjoy a state of

55 blessedness. For it would be a miserable thing for man to die against his will.

56 ** *Boso.* ** It is plain that, if man had not sinned, God ought not to compel

57 him to die. *

58 **Anselm.* ** . God did not, therefore, compel Christ to die; but he

59 suffered death of his own will, not yielding up his life as an act of obedience, but on

60 account of his obedience in maintaining holiness; for he held out so firmly in this

61 obedience that he met death on account of it. It may, indeed be said, that the Father

62 commanded him to die, when he enjoined that upon him on account of which he met death. It

63 was in this sense, then, that "as the Father gave him the commandment, so he did, and

64 the cup which He gave to him, he drank; and he was made obedient to the Father, even unto

65 death;" and thus "he learned obedience from the things which he suffered,"

66 that is, how far obedience should be maintained. Now the word "didicit," which

67 is used, can be understood in two ways.For either "didicit" is written for this:

68 he caused others to learn; or it is used, because he did learn by experience what he had

69 an understanding of before. Again, when the Apostle had said: "he humbled himself,

70 being made obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross," be added:

71 "wherefore God also has exalted him and given him a name, which is above every

72 name." And this is similar to what David said: "he drank of the brook in the

73 way, therefore did he lift up the head." For it is not meant that he could not have

74 attained his exaltation in any other way but by obedience unto death; nor is it meant that

75 his exaltation was conferred on him, only as a reward of his obedience (for he himself

76 said before he suffered, that all things had been committed to him by the Father, and that

77 all things belonging to the Father were his); but the expression is used because he had

78 agreed with the Father and the Holy Spirit, that there was no other way to reveal to the

79 world the height of his omnipotence, than by his death. For if a thing do not take place,

80 except on condition of something else, it is not improperly said to occur by reason of

81 that thing. For if we intend to do a thing, but mean to do something else first by means

82 of which it may be done; when the first thing which we wish to do is done, if the result

83 is such as we intended, it is properly said to be on account of the other; since that is

84 now done which caused the delay; for it had been determined that the first thing should

85 not be done without the other. If, for instance, I propose to cross a river only in a

86 boat, though I can cross it in a boat or on horseback, and suppose that I delay crossing

87 because the boat is gone; but if afterwards I cross, when the boat has returned, it may be

88 properly said of me: the boat was ready, and therefore he crossed. And we not only use

89 this form of expression, when it is by means of a thing which we desire should take place

90 first, but also when we intend to do something else, not by means of that thing, but only

91 after it. For if one delays taking food because he has not to-day attended the celebration

92 of mass; when that has been done which he wished to do first, it is not improper to say to

93 him: now take food, for you have now done that for which you delayed taking food. Far

94 less, therefore, is the language strange, when Christ is said to be exalted on this

95 account, because he endured death; for it was through this, and after this, that he

96 determined to accomplish his exaltation. This may be understood also in the same way as

97 that passage in which it is said that our Lord increased in wisdom, and in favor with God;

98 not that this was really the case, but that he deported himself as if it were so. For he

99 was exalted after his death, as if it were really on account of that. Moreover, that

100 saying of his: "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent

101 me," is precisely like that other saying: "My doctrine is not mine ;" for

102 what one does not have of himself, but of God, he ought not to call his own, but God's.

103 Now no one has the truth which he teaches, or a holy will, of himself, but of God. Christ,

104 therefore, came not to do his own will, but that of the Father; for his holy will was not

105 derived from his humanity, but from his divinity. For that sentence: "God spared not

106 his own Son, but gave him up for us all," means nothing more than that he did not

107 rescue him. For there are found in the Bible many things like this. Again, when he says:

108 "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will,

109 but as you will ;" and "If this cup may not pass from me, except I drink it,

110 your will be done;" he signifies by his own will the natural desire of safety, in

111 accordance with which human nature shrank from the anguish of death. But he speaks of the

112 will of the Father, not because the Father preferred the death of the Son to his life; but

113 because the Father was not willing to rescue the human race, unless man were to do even as

114 great a thing as was signified in the death of Christ. Since reason did not demand of

115 another what he could not do, therefore, the Son says that he desires his own death. For

116 he preferred to suffer, rather than that the human race should be lost; as if he were to

117 say to the Father: "Since you do not desire the reconciliation of the world to take

118 place in any other way, in this respect, I see that you desirest my death; let your will,

119 therefore, be done, that is, let my death take place, so that the world may be reconciled

120 to you." For we often say that one desires a thing, because he does not choose

121 something else, the choice of which would preclude the existence of that which he is said

122 to desire; for instance, when we say that he who does not choose to close the window

123 through which the draft is admitted which puts out the light, wishes the light to be

124 extinguished. So the Father desired the death of the Son, because he was not willing that

125 the world should be saved in any other way, except by man's doing so great a thing as that

126 which I have mentioned. And this, since none other could accomplish it, availed as much

127 with the Son, who so earnestly desired the salvation of man, as if the Father had

128 commanded him to die; and, therefore, "as the Father gave him commandment, so he did,

129 and the cup which the Father gave to him he drank, being obedient even unto death."

CHAPTER X · Likewise on the same topics; and how otherwise they can be correctly

28 explained.

29 IT is also a fair interpretation that it was by that same holy will by which the son

30 wished to die for the salvation of the world, that the Father gave him commandment (yet

31 not by compulsion), and the cup of suffering, and spared him not, but gave him up for us

32 and desired his death; and that the Son himself was obedient even unto death, and learned

33 obedience from the things which he suffered. For as with regard to that will which led him

34 to a holy life, he did not have it as a human being of himself, but of the Father; so also

35 that will by which he desired to die for the accomplishment of so great good, he could not

36 have had but from the Father of lights, from whom is every good and perfect gift. And as

37 the Father is said to draw by imparting an inclination, so there is nothing improper in

38 asserting that he moves man. For as the Son says of the Father: "No man cometh to me

39 except the Father draw him," he might as well have said, except he move him. In like

40 manner, also, could he have declared: "No man layeth down his life for my sake,

41 except the Father move or draw him." For since a man is drawn or moved by his will to

42 that which he invariably chooses, it is not improper to say that God draws or moves him

43 when he gives him this will. And in this drawing or impelling it is not to be understood

44 that there is any constraint, but a free and grateful clinging to the holy will which has

45 been given. If then it cannot be denied that the Father drew or moved the Son to death by

46 giving him that will; who does not see that, in the same manner, he gave him commandment

47 to endure death of his own accord and to take the cup, which he freely drank. And if it is

48 right to say that the Son spared not himself, but gave himself for us of his own will, who

49 will deny that it is right to say that the Father, of whom he had this will, did not spare

50 him but gave him up for us, and desired his death? In this way, also, by following the

51 will received from the Father invariably, and of his own accord, the Son became obedient

52 to Him, even unto death; and learned obedience from the things which he suffered; that is,

53 be learned how great was the work to be accomplished by obedience. For this is real and

54 sincere obedience when a rational being, not of compulsion, but freely, follows the will

55 received from God. In other ways, also, we can properly explain the Father's desire that

56 the Son should die, though these would appear sufficient. For as we say that he desires a

57 thing who causes another to desire it; so, also, we say that he desires a thing who

58 approves of the desire of another, though he does not cause that desire. Thus when we see

59 a man who desires to endure pain with fortitude for the accomplishment of some good

60 design; though we acknowledge that we wish to have him endure that pain, yet we do not

61 choose, nor take pleasure in, his suffering, but in his choice. We are, also, accustomed

62 to say that he who can prevent a thing but does not, desires the thing which he does not

63 prevent. Since, therefore, the will of the Son pleased the Father, and be did not prevent

64 him from choosing, or from fulfilling his choice, it is proper to say that he wished the

65 Son to endure death so piously and for so great an object, though he was not pleased with

66 his suffering. Moreover, he said that the cup must not pass from him, except he drank it,

67 not because he could not have escaped death had he chosen to; but because, as has been

68 said, the world could not otherwise be saved; and it was his fixed choice to stiffer

69 death, rather than that the world should not be saved. It was for *this* reason,

70 also, that he used those words, viz., to teach the human race that there was no other

71 salvation for them but by his death; and not to show that he had no power at all to avoid

72 death. For whatsoever things are said of him, similar to these which have been mentioned,

73 they are all to be explained in accordance with the belief that he died, not by

74 compulsion, but of free choice. For he was omnipotent, and it is said of him, when he was

75 offered up, that he desired it. And he says himself: "I lay down my life that I may

76 take it again; no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay

77 it down, and I have power to take it again." A man cannot, therefore, be properly

78 said to have been driven to a thing which he does of his own power and will.

79 ** *Boso.* ** But this simple fact, that God allows him to be so treated, even if

80 he were willing, does not seem becoming for such a Father in respect to such a Son.

81 ** *Anselm.* ** . Yes, it is of all things most proper that such a Father should

82 acquiesce with such a Son in his desire, if it be praiseworthy as relates to the honor of

83 God, and useful for man's salvation, which would not otherwise be effected.

84 ** *Boso.* ** The question which still troubles us is, how the death of the Son

85 can be proved reasonable and necessary. For otherwise, it does not seem that the Son ought

86 to desire it, or the Father compel or permit it. For the question is, why God could not

87 save man in some other way, and if so, why he wished to do it in this way? For it both

88 seems unbecoming for God to have saved man in this way; and it is not clear how the death

89 of the Son avails for the salvation of man. For it is a strange thing if God so delights

90 in, or requires, the blood of the innocent, that he neither chooses, nor is able, to spare

91 the guilty without the sacrifice of the innocent.

92 ** *Anselm.* ** . Since, in this inquiry, you take the place of those who are

93 unwilling to believe anything not previously proved by reason, I wish to have it

94 understood between us that we do not admit anything in the least unbecoming to be ascribed

95 to the Deity, and that we do not reject the *smallest* reason if it be not opposed by

96 a greater. For as it is impossible to attribute anything in the least unbecoming to God;

97 so any reason, however small, if not overbalanced by a greater, has the force of

98 necessity.

99 ** *Boso.* ** In this matter, I accept nothing more willingly than that this

100 agreement should be preserved between us in common.

101 ** *Anselm.* ** . The question concerns only the incarnation of God, and those

102 things which we believe with regard to his taking human nature.

103 ** *Boso.* ** It is so.

104 ** *Anselm.* ** . Let us suppose, then, that the incarnation of God, and the

105 things that we affirm of him as man, had never taken place; and be it agreed between us

106 that man was made for happiness, which cannot be attained in this life, and that no being

107 can ever arrive at happiness, save by freedom from sin, and that no man passes this life

108 without sin. Let us take for granted, also, the other things, the belief of which is

109 necessary for eternal salvation.

110 ** *Boso.* ** I grant it; for in these there is nothing which seems unbecoming or

111 impossible for God.

112 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore, in order that man may attain happiness, remission of

113 sin is necessary.

114 *

115 **Boso.* ** We all hold this.

CHAPTER XI · What it is to sin, and to make satisfaction for sin.

31 ** *Anselm.* ** . We must needs inquire, therefore, in what manner God puts away

32 men's sins; and, in order to do this more plainly, let us first consider what it is to

33 sin, and what it is to make satisfaction for sin.

34 ** *Boso.* ** It is yours to explain and mine to listen.

35 ** *Anselm.* ** . If man or angel always rendered to God his due, he would never

36 sin.

37 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot deny that.

38 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore to sin is nothing else than not to render to God his

39 due.

40 ** *Boso.* ** What is the debt which we owe to God?

41 ** *Anselm.* ** . Every wish of a rational creature should be subject to the will

42 of God.

43 ** *Boso.* ** Nothing is more true.

44 ** *Anselm.* ** . This is the debt which man and angel owe to God, and no one who

45 pays this debt commits sin; but every one who does not pay it sins. This is justice, or

46 uprightness of will, which makes a being just or upright in heart, that is, in will; and

47 this is the sole and complete debt of honor which we owe to God, and which God requires of

48 us. For it is such a will only, when it can be exercised, that does works pleasing to God;

49 and when this will cannot be exercised, it is pleasing of itself alone, since without it

50 no work is acceptable. He who does not render this honor which is due to God, robs God of

51 his own and dishonors him; and this is sin. Moreover, so long as he does not restore what

52 he has taken away, he remains in fault; and it will not suffice merely to restore what has

53 been taken away, but, considering the contempt offered, he ought to restore more than he

54 took away. For as one who imperils another's safety does not enough by merely restoring

55 his safety, without making some compensation for the anguish incurred; so he who violates

56 another's honor does not enough by merely rendering honor again, but must, according to

57 the extent of the injury done, make restoration in some way satisfactory to the person

58 whom he has dishonored. We must also observe that when any one pays what he has unjustly

59 taken away, he ought to give something which could not have been demanded of him, had he

60 not stolen what belonged to another. So then, every one who sins ought to pay back the

61 honor of which he has robbed God; and this is the satisfaction which every sinner owes to

62 God.

63 ** *Boso.* ** Since we have determined to follow reason in all these things, I am

64 unable to bring any objection against them, although you somewhat startle me.

CHAPTER XII · Whether it were proper for God to put away sins by compassion alone,

34 without any payment of debt.

35 ** *Anselm.* ** . Let us return and consider whether it were proper for God to put

36 away sins by compassion alone, without any payment of the honor taken from him.

37 ** *Boso.* ** I do not see why it is not proper.

38 ** *Anselm.* ** . To remit sin in this manner is nothing else than not to punish;

39 and since it is not right to cancel sin without compensation or punishment; if it be not

40 punished, then is it passed by undischarged.

41 ** *Boso.* ** What you say is reasonable.

42 ** *Anselm.* ** . It is not fitting for God to pass over anything in his kingdom

43 undischarged.

44 ** *Boso.* ** If I wish to oppose this, I fear to sin.

45 ** *Anselm.* ** . It is, therefore, not proper for God thus to pass over sin

46 unpunished.

47 ** *Boso.* ** Thus it follows.

48 ** *Anselm.* ** . There is also another thing which follows if sin be passed by

49 unpunished, viz., that with God there will be no difference between the guilty and the not

50 guilty; and this is unbecoming to God.

51 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot deny it.

52 ** *Anselm.* ** . Observe this also. Every one knows that justice to man is

53 regulated by law, so that, according to the requirements of law, the measure of award is

54 bestowed by God.

55 ** *Boso.* ** This is our belief.

56 ** *Anselm.* ** . But if sin is neither paid for nor punished, it is subject to no

57 law.

58 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot conceive it to be otherwise.

59 ** *Anselm.* ** . Injustice, therefore, if it is cancelled by compassion alone, is

60 more free than justice, which seems very inconsistent. And to these is also added a

61 further incongruity, viz., that it makes injustice like God. For as God is subject to no

62 law, so neither is injustice.

63 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot withstand your reasoning. But when God commands us in

64 every case to forgive those who trespass against us, it seems inconsistent to enjoin a

65 thing upon us which it is not proper for him to do himself.

66 ** *Anselm.* ** . There is no inconsistency in God's commanding us not to take

67 upon ourselves what belongs to Him alone. For to execute vengeance belongs to none but Him

68 who is Lord of all; for when the powers of the world rightly accomplish this end, God

69 himself does it who appointed them for the purpose.

70 ** *Boso.* ** You have obviated the difficulty which I thought to exist; but

71 there is another to which I would like to have your answer. For since God is so free as to

72 be subject to no law, and to the judgment of no one, and is so merciful as that nothing

73 more merciful can be conceived; and nothing is right or fit save as he wills; it seems a

74 strange thing for us to say that be is wholly unwilling or unable to put away an injury

75 done to himself, when we are wont to apply to him for indulgence with regard to those

76 offences which we commit against others.

77 ** *Anselm.* ** . What you say of God's liberty and choice and compassion is true;

78 but we ought so to interpret these things as that they may not seem to interfere with His

79 dignity. For there is no liberty except as regards what is best or fitting; nor should

80 that be called mercy which does anything improper for the Divine character. Moreover, when

81 it is said that what God wishes is just, and that what He does not wish is unjust, we must

82 not understand that if God wished anything improper it would be just, simply because he

83 wished it. For if God wishes to lie, we must not conclude that it is right to lie, but

84 rather that he is not God. For no will can ever wish to lie, unless truth in it is

85 impaired, nay, unless the will itself be impaired by forsaking truth. When, then, it is

86 said: "If God wishes to lie," the meaning is simply this: "If the nature of

87 God is such as that he wishes to lie;" and, therefore, it does not follow that

88 falsehood is right, except it be understood in the same manner as when we speak of two

89 impossible things: "If this be true, then that follows; because neither *this* nor *that* is true;" as if a man should say: "Supposing water to be dry,

90 and fire to be moist;" for neither is the case. Therefore, with regard to these

91 things, to speak the whole truth: If God desires a thing, it is right that he should

92 desire that which involves no unfitness. For if God chooses that it should rain, it is

93 right that it should rain; and if he desires that any man should die, then is it right

94 that he should die. Wherefore, if it be not fitting for God to do anything unjustly, or

95 out of course, it does not belong to his liberty or compassion or will to let the sinner

96 go unpunished who makes no return to God of what the sinner has defrauded him.

97 ** *Boso.* ** You remove from me every possible objection which I had thought of

98 bringing against you.

99 ** *Anselm.* ** . Yet observe why it is not fitting for God to do this.

100 ** *Boso.* ** I listen readily to whatever you say.

CHAPTER XIII · How nothing less was to be endured, in the order of things, than that the creature

37 should take away the honor due the Creator and not restore what he takes away.

38 ** *Anselm.* ** . In the order of things, there is nothing less to be endured than

39 that the creature should take away the honor due the Creator, and not restore what he has

40 taken away.

41 ** *Boso.* ** Nothing is more plain than this.

42 ** *Anselm.* ** . But there is no greater injustice suffered than that by which so

43 great an evil must be endured.

44 ** *Boso.* ** This, also, is plain.

45 ** *Anselm.* ** . I think, therefore, that you will not say that God ought to

46 endure a thing than which no greater injustice is suffered, viz., that the creature should

47 not restore to God what he has taken away.

48 ** *Boso.* ** No; I think it should be wholly denied.

49 ** *Anselm.* ** . Again, if there is nothing greater or better than God, there is

50 nothing more just than supreme justice, which maintains God's honor in the arrangement of

51 things, and which is nothing else but God himself.

52 ** *Boso.* ** There is nothing clearer than this.

53 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore God maintains nothing with more justice than the honor

54 of his own dignity.

55 ** *Boso.* ** I must agree with you.

56 ** *Anselm.* ** . Does it seem to you that he wholly preserves it, if he allows

57 himself to be so defrauded of it as that he should neither receive satisfaction nor punish

58 the one defrauding him.

59 ** *Boso.* ** I dare not say so.

60 Anselni. Therefore the honor taken away must be repaid, or punishment must follow;

61 otherwise, either God will not be just to himself, or he will be weak in respect to both

62 parties; and this it is impious even to think of.

63 ** *Boso.* ** I think that nothing more reasonable can be said.

CHAPTER XIV · How the honor of God exists in the punishment of the wicked.

40 ** *Boso.* ** But I wish to hear from you whether the punishment of the sinner is

41 an honor to God, or how it is an honor. For if the punishment of the sinner is not for

42 God's honor when the sinner does not pay what he took away, but is punished, God loses his

43 honor so that he cannot recover it. And this seems in contradiction to the things which

44 have been said. *

45 **Anselm.* ** . It is impossible for God to lose his honor; for either

46 the sinner pays his debt of his own accord, or, if he refuse, God takes it from him. For

47 either man renders due submission to God of his own will, by avoiding sin or making

48 payment, or else God subjects him to himself by torments, even against man's will, and

49 thus shows that he is the Lord of man, though man refuses to acknowledge it of his own

50 accord. And here we must observe that as man in sinning takes away what belongs to God, so

51 God in punishing gets in return what pertains to man. For not only does that belong to a

52 man which he has in present possession, but also that which it is in his power to have.

53 Therefore, since man was so made as to be able to attain happiness by avoiding sin; if, on

54 account of his sin, he is deprived of happiness and every good, he repays from his own

55 inheritance what he has stolen, though he repay it against his will. For although God does

56 not apply what he takes away to any object of his own, as man transfers the money which he

57 has taken from another to his own use; yet what he takes away serves the purpose of his

58 own honor, for this very reason, that it is taken away. For by this act he shows that the

59 sinner and all that pertains to him are under his subjection.

CHAPTER XV · Whether God suffers his honor to be violated even in the least degree.

43 ** *Boso.* ** What you say satisfies me. But there is still another point which I

44 should like to have you answer. For if, as you make out, God ought to sustain his own

45 honor, why does he allow it to be violated even in the least degree? For what is in any

46 way made liable to injury is not entirely and perfectly preserved.

47 ** *Anselm.* ** . Nothing can be added to or taken from the honor of God. For this

48 honor which belongs to him is in no way subject to injury or change. But as the individual

49 creature preserves, naturally or by reason, the condition belonging, and, as it were,

50 allotted to him, he is said to obey and honor God; and to this, rational nature, which

51 possesses intelligence, is especially bound. And when the being chooses what he ought, he

52 honors God; not by bestowing anything upon him, but because he brings himself freely under

53 God's will and disposal, and maintains his own condition in the universe, and the beauty

54 of the universe itself, as far as in him lies. But when he does not choose what he ought,

55 he dishonors God, as far as the being himself is concerned, because he does not submit

56 himself freely to God's disposal. And he disturbs the order and beauty of the universe, as

57 relates to himself, although he cannot injure nor tarnish the power and majesty of God.

58 For if those things which are held together in the circuit of the heavens desire to be

59 elsewhere than under the heavens, or to be further removed from the heavens, there is no

60 place where they can be but under the heavens, nor can they fly from the heavens without

61 also approaching them. For both whence and whither and in what way they go, they are still

62 under the heavens; and if they are at a greater distance from one part of them, they are

63 only so much nearer to the opposite part. And so, though man or evil angel refuse to

64 submit to the Divine will and appointment, yet he cannot escape it; for if he wishes to

65 fly from a will that commands, he falls into the power of a will that punishes. And if you

66 ask whither he goes, it is only under the permission of that will; and even this wayward

67 choice or action of his becomes subservient, under infinite wisdom, to the order and

68 beauty of the universe before spoken of. For when it is understood that God brings good

69 out of many forms of evil, then the satisfaction for sin freely given, or if this be not

70 given, the exaction of punishment, hold their own place and orderly beauty in the same

71 universe. For if Divine wisdom were not to insist upon things, when wickedness tries to

72 disturb the right appointment, there would be, in the very universe which God ought to

73 control, an unseemliness springing from the violation of the beauty of arrangement, and

74 God would appear to be deficient in his management. And these two things are not only

75 unfitting, but consequently impossible; so that satisfaction or punishment must needs

76 follow every sin.

77 ** *Boso.* ** You have relieved my objection.

78 ** *Anselm.* ** . It is then plain that no one can honor or dishonor God, as he is

79 in himself; but the creature, as far as he is concerned, appears to do this when he

80 submits or opposes his will to the will of God.

81 ** *Boso.* ** I know of nothing which can be said against this.

82 ** *Anselm.* ** . Let me add something to it.

83 ** *Boso.* ** Go on, until I am weary of listening.

CHAPTER XVI · The reason why the number of angels who fell must be made up from men.

46 ** *Anselm.* ** . It was proper that God should design to make up for the number

47 of angels that fell, from human nature which he created without sin.

48 ** *Boso.* ** This is a part of our belief, but still I should like to have some

49 reason for it.

50 ** *Anselm.* ** . You mistake me, for we intended to discuss only the incarnation

51 of the Deity, and here you are bringing in other questions.

52 ** *Boso.* ** Be not angry with me; "for the Lord loveth a cheerful

53 giver;" and no one shows better how cheerfully he gives what he promises, than he who

54 gives more than he promises; therefore, tell me freely what I ask.

55 ** *Anselm.* ** . There is no question that intelligent nature, which finds its

56 happiness, both now and forever, in the contemplation of God, was foreseen by him in a

57 certain reasonable and complete number, so that there would be an unfitness in its being

58 either less or greater. For either God did not know in what number it was best to create

59 rational beings, which is false; or, if he did know, then he appointed such a number as he

60 perceived was most fitting. Wherefore, either the angels who fell were made so as to be

61 within that number; or, since they were out of that number, they could not continue to

62 exist, and so fell of necessity. But this last is an absurd idea.

63 ** *Boso.* ** The truth which you set forth is plain.

64 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore, since they ought to be of that number, either their

65 number should of necessity be made up, or else rational nature, which was foreseen as

66 perfect in number, will remain incomplete. But this cannot be.

67 ** *Boso.* ** Doubtless, then, the number must be restored.

68 ** *Anselm.* ** . But this restoration can only be made from human beings,

69 since there is no other source.

CHAPTER XVII · How other angels cannot take the place of those who fell.

49 ** *Boso.* ** Why could not they themselves be restored, or other angels

50 substituted for them?

51 ** *Anselm.* ** . When you shall see the difficulty of our restoration, you will

52 understand the impossibility of theirs. But other angels cannot be substituted for them on

53 this account (to pass over its apparent inconsistency with the completeness of the first

54 creation), because they ought to be such as the former angels would have been, had they

55 never sinned. But the first angels in that case would have persevered without ever

56 witnessing the punishment of sin; which, in respect to the others who were substituted for

57 them after their fall, was impossible. For two beings who stand firm in truth are not

58 equally deserving of praise, if one has never seen the punishment of sin, and the other

59 forever witnesses its eternal reward. For it must not for a moment be supposed that good

60 angels are upheld by the fall of evil angels, but by their own virtue. For, as they would

61 have been condemned together, had the good sinned with the bad, so, had the unholy stood

62 firm with the holy, they would have been likewise upheld. For, if, without the fall of a

63 part, the rest could not be upheld, it would follow, either that none could ever be

64 upheld, or else that it was necessary for some one to fall, in order by his punishment to

65 uphold the rest; but either of these suppositions is absurd. Therefore, had all stood, all

66 would have been upheld in the same manner as those who stood; and this manner I explained,

67 as well as I could, when treating of the reason why God did not bestow perseverance upon

68 the devil.

69 ** *Boso.* ** You have proved that the evil angels must be restored from

70 the human race; and from this reasoning it appears that the number of men chosen will not

71 be less than that of fallen angels. But show, if you can, whether it will be greater.

CHAPTER XVIII · Whether there will be more holy men than evil angels.

52 ** *Anselm.* ** . If the angels, before any of them fell, existed in that perfect

53 number of which we have spoken, then men were only made to supply the place of the lost

54 angels; and it is plain that their number will not be greater. But if that number were not

55 found in all the angels together, then both the loss and the original deficiency must be

56 made up from men, and more men will be chosen than there were fallen angels. And so we

57 shall say that men were made not only to restore the diminished number, but also to

58 complete the imperfect number.

59 ** *Boso.* ** Which is the better theory, that angels were originally made

60 perfect in number or that they were not?

61 ** *Anselm.* ** . I will state my views.

62 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot ask more of you.

63 ** *Anselm.* ** . If man was created after the fall of evil angels, as some

64 understand the account in Genesis, I do not think that I can prove from this either of

65 these suppositions positively. For it is possible, I think, that the angels should have

66 been created perfect in number, and that afterwards man was created to complete their

67 number when it had been lessened; and it is also possible that they were not perfect in

68 number, because God deferred completing the number, as he does even now, determining in

69 his own time to create man. Wherefore, either God would only complete that which was not

70 yet perfect, or, if it were also diminished, He would restore it. But if the whole

71 creation took place at once, and those days in which Moses appears to describe a

72 successive creation are not to be understood like such days as ours, I cannot see how

73 angels could have been created perfect in number. Since, if it were so, it seems to me

74 that some, either men or angels, would fall immediately, else in heaven's empire there

75 would be more than the complete number required. If, therefore, all things were created at

76 one and the same time, it should seem that angels, and the first two human beings, formed

77 an incomplete number, so that, if no angel fell, the deficiency alone should be made up,

78 but if any fell, the lost part should be restored; and that human nature, which had stood

79 firm, though weaker than that of angels, might, as it were, justify God, and put the devil

80 to silence, if he were to attribute his fall to weakness. And in case human nature fell,

81 much more would it justify God against the devil, and even against itself, because, though

82 made far weaker and of a mortal race, yet, in the elect, it would rise from its weakness

83 to an estate exalted above that from which the devil was fallen, as far as good angels, to

84 whom it should be equal, were advanced after the overthrow of the evil, because they

85 persevered. From these reasons, I am rather inclined to the belief that there was not,

86 originally, that complete number of angels necessary to perfect the celestial state;

87 since, supposing that man and angels were not created at the same time, this is possible;

88 and it would follow of necessity, if they were created at the same time, which is the

89 opinion of the majority, because we read: "He, who liveth forever, created all things

90 at once." But if the perfection of the created universe is to be understood as

91 consisting, not so much in the number of beings, as in the number of natures; it follows

92 that human nature was either made to consummate this perfection, or that it was

93 superfluous, which we should not dare affirm of the nature of the smallest reptile.

94 Wherefore, then, it was made for itself, and not merely to restore the number of beings

95 possessing another nature. From which it is plain that, even had no angel fallen, men

96 would yet have had their place in the celestial kingdom. And hence it follows that there

97 was not a perfect number of angels, even before a part fell; otherwise, of necessity some

98 men or angels must fall, because it would be impossible that any should continue beyond

99 the perfect number.

100 ** *Boso.* ** You have not labored in vain.

101 ** *Anselm.* ** . There is, also, as I think, another reason which supports, in no

102 small degree, the opinion that angels were not created perfect in number.

103 ** *Boso.* ** Let us hear it.

104 ** *Anselm.* ** . Had a perfect number of angels been created, and had man been

105 made only to fill the place of the lost angels, it is plain that, had not some angels

106 fallen from their happiness, man would never have, been exalted to it.

107 ** *Boso.* ** We are agreed.

108 ** *Anselm.* ** . But if any one shall ask: "Since the elect rejoice as much

109 over the fall of angels as over their own exaltation, because the one can never take place

110 without the other; how can they be justified in this unholy joy, or how shall we say that

111 angels are restored by the substitution of men, if they (the angels) would have remained

112 free from this fault, had they not fallen, viz., from rejoicing over the fall of

113 others?" We reply: Cannot men be made free from this fault? nay, how ought they to be

114 happy with this fault? With what temerity, then, do we say that God neither wishes nor is

115 able to make this substitution without this fault!

116 ** *Boso.* ** Is not the case similar to that of the Gentiles who were called

117 unto faith, because the Jews rejected it?

118 ** *Anselm.* ** . No; for had the Jews all believed, yet the Gentiles would have

119 been called; for "in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is

120 accepted of him." But since the Jews despised the apostles, this was the immediate

121 occasion of their turning to the Gentiles.

122 ** *Boso.* ** I see no way of opposing you.

123 ** *Anselm.* ** . Whence does that joy which one has over another's fall seem to

124 arise?

125 ** *Boso.* ** Whence, to be sure, but from the fact that each individual will be

126 certain that, had not another fallen, he would never have attained the place where he now

127 is?

128 ** *Anselm.* ** . If, then, no one had this certainty, there would be no cause for

129 one to rejoice over the doom of another.

130 ** *Boso.* ** So it appears.

131 ** *Anselm.* ** . Think you that any one of them can have this certainty, if their

132 number shall far exceed that of those who fell?

133 ** *Boso.* ** I certainly cannot think that any one would or ought to have it.

134 For how can any one know whether he were created to restore the part diminished, or to

135 make up that which was not yet complete in the number necessary to constitute the state?

136 But all are sure that they were made with a view to the perfection of that kingdom.

137 ** *Anselm.* ** . If, then, there shall be a larger number than that of the fallen

138 angels, no one can or ought to know that he would not have attained this height but for

139 another's fall.

140 ** *Boso.* ** That is true.

141 ** *Anselm.* ** . No one, therefore, will have cause to rejoice over the perdition

142 of another.

143 ** *Boso.* ** So it appears.

144 ** *Anselm.* ** . Since, then, we see that if there are more men elected than the

145 number of fallen angels, the incongruity will not follow which must follow if there are

146 not more men elected; and since it is impossible that there should be anything incongruous

147 in that celestial state, it becomes a necessary fact that angels were not made perfect in

148 number, and that there will be more happy men than doomed angels.

149 ** *Boso.* ** I see not how this can be denied.

150 ** *Anselm.* ** . I think that another reason can be brought to support this

151 opinion.

152 ** *Boso.* ** You ought then to present it.

153 ** *Anselm.* ** . We believe that the material substance of the world must be

154 renewed, and that this will not take place until the number of the elect is accomplished,

155 and that happy kingdom made perfect, and that after its completion there will be no

156 change. Whence it may be reasoned that God planned to perfect both at the same time, in

157 order that the inferior nature, which knew not God, might not be perfected before the

158 superior nature which ought to enjoy God; and that the inferior, being renewed at the same

159 time with the superior, might, as it were, rejoice in its own way; yes, that every

160 creature having so glorious and excellent a consummation, might delight in its Creator and

161 in itself, in turn, rejoicing always after its own manner, so that what the will effects

162 in the rational nature of its own accord, this also the irrational creature naturally

163 shows by the arrangement of God. For we are wont to rejoice in the fame of our ancestors,

164 as when on the birthdays of the saints we delight with festive triumph, rejoicing in their

165 honor. And this opinion derives support from the fact that, had not Adam sinned, God might

166 yet put off the completion of that state until the number of men which he designed should

167 be made out, and men themselves be transferred, so to speak, to an immortal state of

168 bodily existence. For they had in paradise a kind of immortality, that is, a power not to

169 die, but since it was possible for them to die, this power was not immortal, as if,

170 indeed, they had not been capable of death. But if God determined to bring to perfection,

171 at one and the same time, that intelligent and happy state and this earthly and irrational

172 nature; it follows that either that state was not complete in the number of angels before

173 the destruction of the wicked, but God was waiting to complete it by men, when he should

174 renovate the material nature of the world; or that, if that kingdom were perfect in

175 number, it was not in confirmation, and its confirmation must be deferred, even had no one

176 sinned, until that renewal of the world to which we look forward; or that, if that

177 confirmation could not be deferred so long, the renewal of the world must be hastened that

178 both events might take place at the same time. But that God should determine to renew the

179 world immediately after it was made, and to destroy in the very beginning those things

180 which after this renewal would not exist, before any reason appeared for their creation,

181 is simply absurd. It therefore follows that, since angels were not complete in number,

182 their confirmation will not be long deferred on this account, because the renewal of a

183 world just created ought soon to take place, for this is not fitting. But that God should

184 wish to put off their confirmation to the future renewing of the world seems improper,

185 since he so quickly accomplished it in some, and since we know that in regard to our first

186 parents, if they had not sinned as they did, he would have confirmed them, as well as the

187 angels who persevered. For, although not yet advanced to that equality with angels to

188 which men were to attain, when the number taken from among them was complete; yet, had

189 they preserved their original holiness, so as not to have sinned though tempted, they

190 would have been confirmed, with all their offspring, so as never more to sin; just as when

191 they were conquered by sin, they were so weakened as to be unable, in themselves, to live

192 afterwards without sinning. For who dares affirm that wickedness is more powerful to bind

193 a man in servitude, after he has yielded to it at the first persuasion, than holiness to

194 confirm him in liberty when he has adhered to it in the original trial? For as human

195 nature, being included in the person of our first parents, was in them wholly won over to

196 sin (with the single exception of that man whom God being able to create from a virgin was

197 equally able to save from the sin of Adam), so had they not sinned, human nature would

198 have wholly conquered. It therefore remains that the celestial state was not complete in

199 its original number, but must be completed from among men.

200 ** *Boso.* ** What you say seems very reasonable to me. But what shall we think

201 of that which is said respecting God: "He has appointed the bounds of the people

202 according to the number of the children of Israel;" which some, because for the

203 expression "children of Israel" is found sometimes "angels of God,"

204 explain in this way, that the number of elect men taken should be understood as equal to

205 that of good angels?

206 ** *Anselm.* ** . This is not discordant with the previous opinion, if it be not

207 certain that the number of angels who fell is the same as that of those who stood. For if

208 there be more elect than evil angels, and elect men must needs be substituted for the evil

209 angels, and it is possible for them to equal the number of the good angels, in that case

210 there will be more holy men than evil angels. But remember with what condition I undertook

211 to answer your inquiry, viz., that if I say anything not upheld by greater authority,

212 though I appear to demonstrate it, yet it should be received with no further certainty

213 than as my opinion for the present, until God makes some clearer revelation to me. For I

214 am sure that, if I say anything which plainly opposes the Holy Scriptures, it is false;

215 and if I am aware of it, I will no longer hold it. But if, with regard to subjects in

216 which opposite opinions may be held without hazard, as that, for instance, which we now

217 discuss; for if we know not whether there are to be more men elected than the number of

218 the lost angels, and incline to either of these opinions rather than the other, I think

219 the soul is not in danger; if, I say, in questions like this, we explain the Divine words

220 so as to make them favor different sides, and there is nowhere found anything to decide,

221 beyond doubt, the opinion that should be held, I think there is no censure to be given. As

222 to the passage which you spoke of: "He has determined the bounds of the people (or

223 tribes) according to the number of the angels of God;" or as another translation has

224 it: "according to the number of the children of Israel;" since both translations

225 either mean the same thing, or are different, without contradicting each other, we may

226 understand that good angels only are intended by both expressions, "angels of

227 God," and "children of Israel," or that elect men only are meant, or that

228 both angels and elect men are included, even the whole celestial kingdom. Or by angels of

229 God may be understood holy angels only, and by children of Israel, holy men only; or, by

230 children of Israel, angels only, and by angels of God, holy men. If good angels are

231 intended in both expressions, it is the same as if only "angels of God" had been

232 used; but if the whole heavenly kingdom were included, the meaning is, that a people, that

233 is, the throng of elect men, is to be taken, or that there will be a people in this stage

234 of existence, until the appointed number of that kingdom, not yet completed, shall be made

235 up from among men. But I do not now see why angels only, or even angels and holy men

236 together, are meant by the expression "children of Israel"; for it is not

237 improper to call holy men "children of Israel," as they are called "sons of

238 Abraham." And they can also properly be called "angels of God," because

239 they imitate the life of angels, and they are promised in heaven a likeness to and

240 equality with angels, and all who live holy lives are angels of God. Therefore the

241 confessors or martyrs are so called; for he who declares and bears witness to the truth,

242 he is a messenger of God, that is, his angel. And if a wicked man is called a devil, as

243 our Lord says of Judas, because they are alike in malice; why should not a good man be

244 called an angel, because he follows holiness? Wherefore I think we may say that God has

245 appointed the bounds of the people according to the number of elect men, because men will

246 exist and there will be a natural increase among them, until the number of elect men is

247 accomplished; and when that occurs, the birth of men, which takes place in this life, will

248 cease. But if by "angels of God" we only understand holy angels, and by

249 "children of Israel " only holy men; it may be explained in two ways: that

250 "God has appointed the bounds of the people according to the number of the angels of

251 God," viz., either that so great a people, that is, so many men, will be taken as

252 there are holy angels of God, or that a people will continue to exist upon earth, until

253 the number of angels is completed from among men. And I think there is no other possible

254 method of explanation: "he has appointed the bounds of the people according to the

255 number of the children of Israel," that is, that there will continue to be a people

256 in this stage of existence, as I said above, until the number of holy men is completed.

257 And we infer from either translation that as many men will be taken as there were angels

258 who remained steadfast. Yet, although lost angels must have their ranks filled by men, it

259 does not follow that the number of lost angels was equal to that of those who persevered.

260 But if any one affirms this, he will have to find means of invalidating the reasons given

261 above, which prove, I think, that there was not among angels, before the fall, that

262 perfect number before mentioned, and that there are more men to be saved than the number

263 of evil angels.

264 ** *Boso.* ** I by no means regret that I urged you to these remarks about

265 the angels, for it has not been for nought. Now let us return from our digression.

CHAPTER XIX · How man cannot be saved without satisfaction for sin.

55 ** *Anselm.* ** . It was fitting for God to fill the places of the fallen angels

56 from among men.

57 ** *Boso.* ** That is certain.

58 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore there ought to be in the heavenly empire as many men

59 taken as substitutes for the angels as would correspond with the number whose place they

60 shall take, that is, as many as there are good angels now; otherwise they who fell will

61 not be restored, and it will follow that God either could not accomplish the good which he

62 begun, or he will repent of having undertaken it; either of which is absurd.

63 ** *Boso.* ** Truly it is fitting that men should be equal with good angels.

64 ** *Anselm.* ** . Have good angels ever sinned?

65 ** *Boso.* ** No.

66 ** *Anselm.* ** . Can you think that man, who has sinned, and never made

67 satisfaction to God for his sin, but only been suffered to go unpunished, may become the

68 equal of an angel who has never sinned?

69 ** *Boso.* ** These words I can both think of and utter, but can no more perceive

70 their meaning than I can make truth out of falsehood.

71 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore it is not fitting that God should take sinful man

72 without an atonement, in substitution for lost angels; for truth will not suffer man thus

73 to be raised to an equality with holy beings.

74 ** *Boso.* ** Reason shows this.

75 ** *Anselm.* ** . Consider, also, leaving out the question of equality with the

76 angels, whether God ought, under such circumstances, to raise man to the same or a similar

77 kind of happiness as that which he had before he sinned.

78 ** *Boso.* ** Tell your opinion, and I will attend to it as well as I can.

79 ** *Anselm.* ** . Suppose a rich man possessed a choice pearl which had never been

80 defiled, and which could not be taken from his hands without his permission; and that he

81 determined to commit it to the treasury of his dearest and most valuable possessions.

82 ** *Boso.* ** I accept your supposition.

83 ** *Anselm.* ** . What if he should allow it to be struck from his hand and cast

84 in the mire, though he might have prevented it; and afterwards taking it all soiled by the

85 mire and unwashed, should commit it again to his beautiful and loved casket; will you

86 consider him a wise man?

87 ** *Boso.* ** How can I? for would it not be far better to keep and preserve his

88 pearl pure, than to have it polluted?

89 ** *Anselm.* ** . Would not God be acting like this, who held man in paradise, as

90 it were in his own hand, without sin, and destined to the society of angels, and allowed

91 the devil, inflamed with envy, to cast him into the mire of sin, though truly with man's

92 consent? For, had God chosen to restrain the devil, the devil could not have tempted man.

93 Now I say, would not God be acting like this, should he restore man, stained with the

94 defilement of sin, unwashed, that is, without any satisfaction, and always to remain so;

95 should He restore him at once to paradise, from which he had been thrust out?

96 ** *Boso.* ** I dare not deny the aptness of your comparison, were God to do

97 this, and therefore do not admit that he can do this. For it should seem either that be

98 could not accomplish what he designed, or else that be repented of his good intent,

99 neither of which things is possible with God.

100 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore, consider it settled that, without satisfaction, that

101 is, without voluntary payment of the debt, God can neither pass by the sin unpunished, nor

102 can the sinner attain that happiness, or happiness like that, which he had before he

103 sinned; for man cannot in this way be restored, or become such as he was before he sinned.

104 ** *Boso.* ** I am wholly unable to refute your reasoning. But what say you to

105 this: that we pray God, "put away our sins from us," and every nation prays the

106 God of its faith to put away its sins. For, if we pay our debt, why do we pray God to put

107 it away? Is not God unjust to demand what has already been paid? But if we do not make

108 payment, why do we supplicate in vain that he will do what he cannot do, because it is

109 unbecoming?

110 ** *Anselm.* ** . He who does not pay says in vain: "Pardon"; but he who

111 pays makes supplication, because prayer is properly connected with the payment; for God

112 owes no man anything, but every creature owes God; and, therefore, it does not become man

113 to treat with God as with an equal. But of this it is not now needful for me to answer

114 you. For when you think why Christ died, I think you will see yourself the answer to your

115 question.

116 ** *Boso.* ** Your reply with regard to this matter suffices me for the

117 present. And, moreover, you have so clearly shown that no man can attain happiness in sin,

118 or be freed from sin without satisfaction for the trespass, that, even were I so disposed,

119 I could not doubt it.

CHAPTER XX · That satisfaction ought to be proportionate to guilt; and that man is of

58 himself unable to accomplish this.

59 ** *Anselm.* ** . Neither, I think, will you doubt this, that satisfaction should

60 be proportionate to guilt.

61 ** *Boso.* ** Otherwise sin would remain in a manner exempt from control ( *inordinatum* ),

62 which cannot be, for God leaves nothing uncontrolled in his kingdom. But this is

63 determined, that even the smallest unfitness is impossible with God.

64 ** *Anselm.* ** . Tell me, then, what payment you make God for your sin?

65 ** *Boso.* ** Repentance, a broken and contrite heart, self-denial, various

66 bodily sufferings, pity in giving and forgiving, and obedience.

67 ** *Anselm.* ** . What do you give to God in all these?

68 ** *Boso.* ** Do I not honor God, when, for his love and fear, in heartfelt

69 contrition I give up worldly joy, and despise, amid abstinence and toils, the delights and

70 ease of this life, and submit obediently to him, freely bestowing my possessions in giving

71 to and releasing others?

72 ** *Anselm.* ** . When you render anything to God which you owe him, irrespective

73 of your past sin, you should not reckon this as the debt which you owe for sin. But you

74 owe God every one of those things which you have mentioned. For, in this mortal state,

75 there should be such love and such desire of attaining the true end of your being, which

76 is the meaning of prayer, and such grief that you have not yet reached this object, and

77 such fear lest you fail of it, that you should find joy in nothing which does not help you

78 or give encouragement of your success. For you do not deserve to have a thing which you do

79 not love and desire for its own sake, and the want of which at present, together with the

80 great danger of never getting it, causes you no grief. This also requires one to avoid

81 ease and worldly pleasures such as seduce the mind from real rest and pleasure, except so

82 far as you think suffices for the accomplishment of that object. But you ought to view the

83 gifts which you bestow as a part of your debt, since you know that what you give comes not

84 from yourself, but from him whose servant both you are and he also to whom you give. And

85 nature herself teaches you to do to your fellow servant, man to man, as you would be done

86 by; and that he who will not bestow what he has ought not to receive what he has not. Of

87 forgiveness, indeed, I speak briefly, for, as we said above, vengeance in no sense belongs

88 to you, since you are not your own, nor is he who injures you yours or his, but you are

89 both the servants of one Lord, made by him out of nothing. And if you avenge yourself upon

90 your fellow servant, you proudly assume judgment over him when it is the peculiar right of

91 God, the judge of all. But what do you give to God by your obedience, which is not owed

92 him already, since he demands from you all that you are and have and can become?

93 ** *Boso.* ** Truly I dare not say that in all these things I pay any portion of

94 my debt to God.

95 ** *Anselm.* ** . How then do you pay God for your transgression?

96 ** *Boso.* ** If in justice I owe God myself and all my powers, even when I do

97 not sin, I have nothing left to render to him for my sin.

98 ** *Anselm.* ** . What will become of you then? How will you be saved?

99 ** *Boso.* ** Merely looking at your arguments, I see no way of escape. But,

100 turning to my belief, I hope through Christian faith, "which works by love,"

101 that I may be saved, and the more, since we read that if the sinner turns from his

102 iniquity and does what is right, all his transgressions shall be forgotten.

103 ** *Anselm.* ** . This is only said of those who either looked for Christ before

104 his coming, or who believe in him since he has appeared. But we set aside Christ and his

105 religion as if they did not exist, when we proposed to inquire whether his coming were

106 necessary to man's salvation.

107 ** *Boso.* ** We did so.

108 ** *Anselm.* ** . Let us then proceed by reason simply.

109 ** *Boso.* ** Though you bring me into straits, yet I very much wish you

110 to proceed as you have begun.

CHAPTER XXI · How great a burden sin is.

61 ** *Anselm.* ** . Suppose that you did not owe any of those things which you have

62 brought up as possible payment for your sin, let us inquire whether they can satisfy for a

63 sin so small as one look contrary to the will of God.

64 ** *Boso.* ** Did I not hear you question the thing, I should suppose that a

65 single repentant feeling on my part would blot out this sin.

66 ** *Anselm.* ** . You have not as yet estimated the great burden of sin.

67 ** *Boso.* ** Show it me then.

68 ** *Anselm.* ** . If you should find yourself in the sight of God, and one said to

69 you: "Look thither;" and God, on the other hand, should say: "It is not my

70 will that you should look;" ask your own heart what there is in all existing things

71 which would make it right for you to give that look contrary to the will of God.

72 ** *Boso.* ** I can find no motive which would make it right; unless, indeed I am

73 so situated as to make it necessary for me either to do this, or some greater sin.

74 ** *Anselm.* ** . Put away all such necessity, and ask with regard to this sin

75 only whether you can do it even for your own salvation.

76 ** *Boso.* ** I see plainly that I cannot.

77 ** *Anselm.* ** . Not to detain you too long; what if it were necessary either

78 that the whole universe, except God himself, should perish and fall back into nothing, or

79 else that you should do so small a thing against the will of God?

80 ** *Boso.* ** When I consider the action itself, it appears very slight; but when

81 I view it as contrary to the will of God, I know of nothing so grievous, and of no loss

82 that will compare with it; but sometimes we oppose another's will without blame in order

83 to preserve his property, so that afterwards he is glad that we opposed him.

84 ** *Anselm.* ** . This is in the case of man, who often does not know what is

85 useful for him, or cannot make up his loss; but God is in want of nothing, and, should all

86 things perish, can restore them as easily as he created them.

87 ** *Boso.* ** I must confess that I ought not to oppose the will of God even to

88 preserve the whole creation.

89 ** *Anselm.* ** . What if there were more worlds as full of beings as this?

90 ** *Boso.* ** Were they increased to an infinite extent, and held before me in

91 like manner, my reply would be the same.

92 ** *Anselm.* ** . You cannot answer more correctly, but consider, also, should it

93 happen that you gave the look contrary to God's will, what payment you can make for this

94 sin?

95 ** *Boso.* ** I can only repeat what I said before.

96 ** *Anselm.* ** . So heinous is our sin whenever we knowingly oppose the will of

97 God even in the slightest thing; since we are always in his sight, and he always enjoins

98 it upon us not to sin.

99 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot deny it.

100 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore you make no satisfaction unless you restore something

101 greater than the amount of that obligation, which should restrain you from committing the

102 sin.

103 ** *Boso.* ** Reason seems to demand this, and to make the contrary wholly

104 impossible.

105 ** *Anselm.* ** . Even God cannot raise to happiness any being bound at all by the

106 debt of sin, because He ought not to.

107 ** *Boso.* ** This decision is most weighty.

108 ** *Anselm.* ** . Listen to an additional reason which makes it no less difficult

109 for man to be reconciled to God.

110 ** *Boso.* ** This alone would drive me to despair, were it not for the

111 consolation of faith.

112 ** *Anselm.* ** . But listen.

113 ** *Boso.* ** Say on.

CHAPTER XXII · What contempt man brought upon God, when he allowed himself to be conquered by the

64 devil; for which be can make no satisfaction.

65 ** *Anselm.* ** . Man being made holy was placed in paradise, as it were in the

66 place of God, between God and the devil, to conquer the devil by not yielding to his

67 temptation, and so to vindicate the honor of God and put the devil to shame, because that

68 man, though weaker and dwelling upon earth, should not sin though tempted by the devil,

69 while the devil, though stronger and in heaven, sinned without any to tempt him. And when

70 man could have easily effected this, he, without compulsion and of his own accord, allowed

71 himself to be brought over to the will of the devil, contrary to the will and honor of

72 God.

73 ** *Boso.* ** To what would you bring me?

74 ** *Anselm.* ** . Decide for yourself if it be not contrary to the honor of God

75 for man to be reconciled to Him, with this calumnious reproach still heaped upon God;

76 unless man first sball have honored God by overcoming the devil, as he dishonored him in

77 yielding to the devil. Now the victory ought to be of this kind, that, as in strength and

78 immortal vigor, he freely yielded to the devil to sin, and on this account justly incurred

79 the penalty of death; so, in his weakness and mortality, which he had brought upon

80 himself, he should conquer the devil by the pain of death, while wholly avoiding sin. But

81 this cannot be done, so long as from the deadly effect of the first transgression, man is

82 conceived and born in sin.

83 ** *Boso.* ** Again I say that the thing is impossible, and reason approves what

84 you say.

85 ** *Anselm.* ** . Let me mention one thing more, without which man's

86 reconciliation cannot be justly effected, and the impossibility is the same.

87 ** *Boso.* ** You have already presented so many obligations which we ought to

88 fulfil, that nothing which you can add will alarm me more.

89 ** *Anselm.* ** . Yet listen.

90 ** *Boso.* ** I will.

CHAPTER XXIII · What man took from God by his sin, which he has no power to repay.

67 ** *Anselm.* ** . What did man take from God, when he allowed himself to be

68 overcome by the devil?

69 ** *Boso.* ** Go on to mention, as you have begun, the evil things which can be

70 added to those already shown for I am ignorant of them.

71 ** *Anselm.* ** . Did not man take from God whatever He had purposed to do for

72 human nature?

73 ** *Boso.* ** There is no denying that.

74 ** *Anselm.* ** . Listen to the voice of strict justice; and judge according to

75 that whether man makes to God a real satisfaction for his sin, unless, by overcoming the

76 devil, man restore to God what he took from God in allowing himself to be conquered by the

77 devil; so that, as by this conquest over man the devil took what belonged to God, and God

78 was the loser, so in man's victory the devil may be despoiled, and God recover his right.

79 ** *Boso.* ** Surely nothing can be more exactly or justly conceived.

80 ** *Anselm.* ** . Think you that supreme justice can violate this justice?

81 ** *Boso.* ** I dare not think it.

82 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore man cannot and ought not by any means to receive from

83 God what God designed to give him, unless he return to God everything which he took from

84 him; so that, as by man God suffered loss, by man, also, He might recover His loss. But

85 this cannot be effected except in this way: that, as in the fall of man all human nature

86 was corrupted, and, as it were, tainted with sin, and God will not choose one of such a

87 race to fill up the number in his heavenly kingdom; so, by man's victory, as many men may

88 be justified from sin as are needed to complete the number which man was made to fill. But

89 a sinful man can by no means do this, for a sinner cannot justify a sinner.

90 ** *Boso.* ** There is nothing more just or necessary; but, from all these

91 things, the compassion of God and the hope of man seems to fail, as far as regards that

92 happiness for which man was made.

93 ** *Anselm.* ** . Yet wait a little.

94 ** *Boso.* ** Have you anything further?

CHAPTER XXIV · How, as long as man does not restore what he owes God, he cannot be

70 happy, nor is he excused by want of power.

71 ** *Anselm.* ** . If a man is called unjust who does not pay his fellow-man a

72 debt, much more is he unjust who does not restore what he owes God.

73 ** *Boso.* ** If he can pay and yet does not, he is certainly unjust. But if he

74 be not able, wherein is he unjust?

75 ** *Anselm.* ** . Indeed, if the origin of his inability were not in himself,

76 there might be some excuse for him. But if in this very impotence lies the fault, as it

77 does not lessen the sin, neither does it excuse him from paying what is due. Suppose one

78 should assign his slave a certain piece of work, and should command him not to throw

79 himself into a ditch, which he points out to him and from which he could not extricate

80 himself; and suppose that the slave, despising his master's command and warning, throws

81 himself into the ditch before pointed out, so as to be utterly unable to accomplish the

82 work assigned; think you that his inability will at all excuse him for not doing his

83 appointed work?

84 ** *Boso.* ** By no means, but will rather increase his crime, since he brought

85 his inability upon himself. For doubly has he sinned, in not doing what he was commanded

86 to do and in doing what he was forewarned not to do.

87 ** *Anselm.* ** . Just so inexcusable is man, who has voluntarily brought upon

88 himself a debt which he cannot pay, and by his own fault disabled himself, so that he can

89 neither escape his previous obligation not to sin, nor pay the debt which be has incurred

90 by sin. For his very inability is guilt, because he ought not to have it; nay, he ought to

91 be free from it; for as it is a crime not to have what he ought, it is also a crime to

92 have what he ought not. Therefore, as it is a crime in man not to have that power which he

93 received to avoid sin, it is also a crime to have that inability by which he can neither

94 do right and avoid sin, nor restore the debt which he owes on account of his sin. For it

95 is by his own free action that he loses that power, and falls into this inability. For not

96 to have the power which one ought to have, is the same thing as to have the inability

97 which one ought not to have. Therefore man's inability to restore what he owes to God, an

98 inability brought upon himself for that very purpose, does not excuse man from paying; for

99 the result of sin cannot excuse the sin itself.

100 ** *Boso.* ** This argument is exceedingly weighty, and must be true.

101 ** *Anselm.* ** . Man, then, is unjust in not paying what he owes to God.

102 ** *Boso.* ** This is very true; for he is unjust, both in not paying, and in not

103 being able to pay.

104 ** *Anselm.* ** . But no unjust person shall be admitted to happiness; for as that

105 happiness is complete in which there is nothing wanting, so it can belong to no one who is

106 not so pure as to have no injustice found in him.

107 ** *Boso.* ** I dare not think otherwise.

108 ** *Anselm.* ** . He, then, who does not pay God what he owes can never be happy.

109 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot deny that this is so.

110 ** *Anselm.* ** . But if you choose to say that a merciful God remits to the

111 suppliant his debt, because he cannot pay; God must be said to dispense with one of two

112 things, viz., either this which man ought voluntarily to render but cannot, that is, an

113 equivalent for his sin, a thing which ought not to be given up even to save the whole

114 universe besides God; or else this, which, as I have before said, God was about to take

115 away from man by punishment, even against man's will, viz., happiness. But if God gives up

116 what man ought freely to render, for the reason that man cannot repay it, what is this but

117 saying that God gives up what he is unable to obtain? But it is mockery to ascribe such

118 compassion to God. But if God gives up what he was about to take from unwilling man,

119 because man is unable to restore what he ought to restore freely, He abates the punishment

120 and makes man happy on account of his sin, because he has what he ought not to have. For

121 he ought not to have this inability, and therefore as long as he has it without atonement

122 it is his sin. And truly such compassion on the part of God is wholly contrary to the

123 Divine justice, which allows nothing but punishment as the recompense of sin. Therefore,

124 as God cannot be inconsistent with himself, his compassion cannot be of this nature.

125 ** *Boso.* ** I think, then, we must look for another mercy than this.

126 ** *Anselm.* ** . But suppose it were true that God pardons the man who does not

127 pay his debt because he cannot.

128 ** *Boso.* ** I could wish it were so.

129 ** *Anselm.* ** . But while man does not make payment, he either wishes to

130 restore, or else he does not wish to. Now, if he wishes to do what he cannot, he will be

131 needy, and if he does not wish to, he will be unjust.

132 ** *Boso.* ** Nothing can be plainer.

133 ** *Anselm.* ** . But whether needy or unjust, he will not be happy.

134 ** *Boso.* ** This also is plain.

135 ** *Anselm.* ** . So long, then, as he does not restore, he will not be happy.

136 ** *Boso.* ** If God follows the method of justice, there is no escape for the

137 miserable wretch, and God's compassion seems to fail.

138 ** *Anselm.* ** . You have demanded an explanation; now hear it. I do not deny

139 that God is merciful, who preserveth man and beast, according to the multitude of his

140 mercies. But we are speaking of that exceeding pity by which he makes man happy after this

141 life. And I think that I have amply proved, by the reasons given above, that happiness

142 ought not to be bestowed upon any one whose sins have not been wholly put away; and that

143 this remission ought not to take place, save by the payment of the debt incurred by sin,

144 according to the extent of sin. And if you think that any objections can be brought

145 against these proofs, you ought to mention them.

146 ** *Boso.* ** I see not how your reasons can be at all invalidated.

147 ** *Anselm.* ** . Nor do I, if rightly understood. But even if one of the whole

148 number be confirmed by impregnable truth, that should be sufficient. For truth is equally

149 secured against all doubt, if it be demonstrably proved by one argument as by many.

150 ** *Boso.* ** Surely this is so. But how, then, shall man be saved, if he neither

151 pays what he owes, and ought not to be saved without paying? Or, with what face shall we

152 declare that God, who is rich in mercy above human conception, cannot exercise this

153 compassion?

154 ** *Anselm.* ** . This is the question which you ought to ask of those in whose

155 behalf you are speaking, who have no faith in the need of Christ for man's salvation, and

156 you should also request them to tell how man can be saved without Christ. But, if they are

157 utterly unable to do it, let them cease from mocking us, and let them hasten to unite

158 themselves with us, who do not doubt that man can be saved through Christ; else let them

159 despair of being saved at all. And if this terrifies them, let them believe in Christ as

160 we do, that they may be saved.

161 ** *Boso.* ** Let me ask you, as I have begun, to show me how a man is

162 saved by Christ.

CHAPTER XXV · How man's salvation by Christ is necessarily possible.

73 ** *Anselm.* ** . Is it not sufficiently proved that man can be saved by Christ,

74 when even infidels do not deny that man can be happy somehow, and it has been sufficiently

75 shown that, leaving Christ out of view, no salvation can be found for man? For, either by

76 Christ or by some one else can man be saved, or else not at all. If, then, it is false

77 that man cannot be saved all, or that he can be saved in any other way, his salvation must

78 necessarily be by Christ.

79 ** *Boso.* ** But what reply will you make to a person who perceives that man

80 cannot be saved in any other way, and yet, not understanding how he can be saved by

81 Christ, sees fit to declare that there cannot be any salvation either by Christ or in any

82 other way?

83 ** *Anselm.* ** . What reply ought to be made to one who ascribes impossibility to

84 a necessary truth, because he does not understand how it can be?

85 ** *Boso.* ** That he is a fool.

86 ** *Anselm.* ** . Then what he says must be despised.

87 ** *Boso.* ** Very true; but we ought to show him in what way the thing is true

88 which he holds to be impossible.

89 ** *Anselm.* ** . Do you not perceive, from what we have said above, that it is

90 necessary for some men to attain to felicity? For, if it is unfitting for God to elevate

91 man with any stain upon him, to that for which he made him free from all stain, lest it

92 should seem that God had repented of his good intent, or was unable to accomplish his

93 designs; far more is it impossible, on account of the same unfitness, that no man should

94 be exalted to that state for which he was made. Therefore, a satisfaction such as we have

95 above proved necessary for sin, must be found apart from the Christian faith, which no

96 reason can show; or else we must accept the Christian doctrine. For what is clearly made

97 out by absolute reasoning ought by no means to be questioned, even though the method of it

98 be not understood.

99 ** *Boso.* ** What you say is true.

100 ** *Anselm.* ** . Why, then, do you question further?

101 ** *Boso.* ** I come not for this purpose, to have you remove doubts from my

102 faith, but to have you show me the reason for my confidence. Therefore, as you have

103 brought me thus far by your reasoning, so that I perceive that man as a sinner owes God

104 for his sin what he is unable to pay, and cannot be saved without paying; I wish you would

105 go further with me, and enable me to understand, by force of. reasoning, the fitness of

106 all those things which the Catholic faith enjoins upon us with regard to Christ, if we

107 hope to be saved; and how they avail for the salvation of man, and how God saves man by

108 compassion; when he never remits his sin, unless man shall have rendered what was due on

109 account of his sin. And, to make your reasoning the clearer, begin at the beginning, so as

110 to rest it upon a strong foundation. *

111 **Anselm.* ** . Now God help me, for you do not spare me in the least,

112 nor consider the weakness of my skill, when you enjoin so great a work upon me. Yet I will

113 attempt it, as I have begun, not trusting in myself but in God, and will do what I can

114 with his help. But let us separate the things which remain to be said from those which

115 have been said, by a new introduction, lest by their unbroken length, these things become

116 tedious to one who wishes to read them.

117 # BOOK SECOND

118 .

CHAPTER I · How man was made holy by God, so as to be happy in the enjoyment of God.

76 ** *Anselm.* ** . It ought not to be disputed that rational nature was made

77 holy by God, in order to be happy in enjoying Him. For to this end is it rational, in

78 order to discern justice and injustice, good and evil, and between the greater and the

79 lesser good. Otherwise it was made rational in vain. But God made it not rational in vain.

80 Wherefore, doubtless, it was made rational for this end. In like manner is it proved that

81 the intelligent creature received the power of discernment for this purpose, that he might

82 hate and shun evil, and love and choose good, and especially the greater good. For else in

83 vain would God have given him that power of discernment, since man's discretion would be

84 useless unless he loved and avoided according to it. But it does not befit God to give

85 such power in vain. It is, therefore, established that rational nature was created for

86 this end, viz., to love and choose the highest good supremely, for its own sake and

87 nothing else; for if the highest good were chosen for any other reason, then something

88 else and not itself would be the thing loved. But intelligent nature cannot fulfil this

89 purpose without being holy. Therefore that it might not in vain be made rational, it was

90 made, in order to fulfil this purpose, both rational and holy. Now, if it was made holy in

91 order to choose and love the highest good, then it was made such in order to follow

92 sometimes what it loved and chose, or else it was not. But if it were not made holy for

93 this end, that it might follow what it loves and chooses, then in vain was it made to love

94 and choose holiness; and there can be no reason why it should be ever bound to follow

95 holiness. Therefore, as long as it will be holy in loving and choosing the supreme good,

96 for which it was made, it will be miserable; because it will be impotent despite of its

97 will, inasmuch as it does not have what it desires. But this is utterly absurd. Wherefore

98 rational nature was made holy, in order to be happy in enjoying the supreme good, which is

99 God. Therefore man, whose nature is rational, was made holy for this end, that he might be

100 happy in enjoying God.

CHAPTER II · How man would never have died, unless he had sinned.

79 ** *Anselm.* ** . Moreover, it is easily proved that man was so made as not

80 to be necessarily subject to death; for, as we have already said, it is inconsistent with

81 God's wisdom and justice to compel man to suffer death without fault, when he made him

82 holy to enjoy eternal blessedness. It therefore follows that had man never sinned he never

83 would have died.

CHAPTER III · How man will rise with the same body which he has in this world.

82 ** *Anselm.* ** . From this the future resurrection of the dead is clearly proved.

83 For if man is to be perfectly restored, the restoration should make him such as he would

84 have been had he never sinned.

85 ** *Boso.* ** It must be so.

86 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore, as man, had he not sinned, was to have been

87 transferred with the same body to an immortal state, so when he shall be restored, it must

88 properly be with his own body as he lived in this world.

89 ** *Boso.* ** But what shall we say to one who tells us that this is right enough

90 with regard to those in whom humanity shall be perfectly restored, but is not necessary as

91 respects the reprobate?

92 ** *Anselm.* ** . We know of nothing more just or proper than this, that as man,

93 had he continued in holiness, would have been perfectly happy for eternity, both in body

94 and in soul; so, if he persevere in wickedness, he sball be likewise completely miserable

95 forever. *

96 **Boso.* ** You have promptly satisfied me in these matters.

CHAPTER IV · How God will complete, in respect to human nature, what he has begun.

85 ** *Anselm.* ** . From these things, we can easily see that God will either

86 complete what he has begun with regard to human nature, or else he has made to no end so

87 lofty a nature, capable of so great good. Now if it be understood that God has made

88 nothing more valuable than rational existence capable of enjoying him; it is altogether

89 foreign from his character to suppose that he will suffer that rational existence utterly

90 to perish.

91 ** *Boso.* ** No reasonable being can think otherwise.

92 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore is it necessary for him to perfect in human nature

93 what he has begun. But this, as we have already said, cannot be accomplished save by a

94 complete expiation of sin, which no sinner can effect for himself.

95 ** *Boso.* ** I now understand it to be necessary for God to complete what he has

96 begun, lest there be an unseemly falling off from his design.

CHAPTER V · How, although the thing may be necessary, God may not do it by a compulsory necessity;

88 and what is the nature of that necessity which removes or lessens gratitude, and what

89 necessity increases it.

90 ** *Boso.* ** But if it be so, then God seems as it were compelled, for the sake

91 of avoiding what is unbecoming, to secure the salvation of man. How, then, can it be

92 denied that he does it more on his own account than on ours? But if it be so, what thanks

93 do we owe him for what he does for himself? How shall we attribute our salvation to his

94 grace, if he saves us from necessity?

95 ** *Anselm.* ** . There is a necessity which takes away or lessens our gratitude

96 to a benefactor, and there is also a necessity by which the favor deserves still greater

97 thanks. For when one does a benefit from a necessity to which he is unwillingly subjected,

98 less thanks are due him, or none at all. But when he freely places himself under the

99 necessity of benefiting another, and sustains that necessity without reluctance, then he

100 certainly deserves greater thanks for the favor. For this should not be called necessity

101 but grace, inasmuch as he undertook or maintains it, not with any constraint, but freely.

102 For if that which to-day you promise of your own accord you will give to-morrow, you do

103 give to-morrow with the same willingness; though it be necessary for you, if possible, to

104 redeem your promise, or make yourself a liar; notwithstanding, the recipient of your favor

105 is as much indebted for your precious gift as if you had not promised it, for you were not

106 obliged to make yourself his debtor before the time of giving it: just so is it when one

107 undertakes, by a vow, a design of holy living. For though after his vow he ought

108 necessarily to perform, lest he suffer the judgment of an apostate, and, although he may

109 be compelled to keep it even unwillingly, yet, if he keep his vow cheerfully, he is not

110 less but more pleasing to God than if he had not vowed. For he has not only given up the

111 life of the world, but also his personal liberty, for the sake of God; and he cannot be

112 said to live a holy life of necessity, but with the same freedom with which he took the

113 vow. Much more, therefore, do we owe all thanks to God for completing his intended favor

114 to man; though, indeed, it would not be proper for him to fail in his good design, because

115 wanting nothing in himself he begun it for our sake and not his own. For what man was

116 about to do was not hidden from God at his creation; and yet by freely creating man, God

117 as it were bound himself to complete the good which he had begun. In fine, God does

118 nothing by necessity, since he is not compelled or restrained in anything. And when we say

119 that God does anything to avoid dishonor, which he certainly does not fear, we must mean

120 that God does this from the necessity of maintaining his honor; which necessity is after

121 all no more than this, viz., the immutability of his honor, which belongs to him in

122 himself, and is not derived from another; and therefore it is not properly called

123 necessity. Yet we may say, although the whole work which God does for man is of grace,

124 that it is necessary for God, on account of his unchangeable goodness, to complete the

125 work which he has begun.

126 ** *Boso.* ** I grant it.

CHAPTER VI · How no being, except the God-man, can make the atonement by which man is

91 saved.

92 ** *Anselm.* ** . But this cannot be effected, except the price paid to God for

93 the sin of man be something greater than all the universe besides God.

94 ** *Boso.* ** So it appears.

95 ** *Anselm.* ** . Moreover, it is necessary that he who can give God anything of

96 his own which is more valuable than all things in the possession of God, must be greater

97 than all else but God himself.

98 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot deny it.

99 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore none but God can make this satisfaction.

100 ** *Boso.* ** So it appears.

101 ** *Anselm.* ** . But none but a man ought to do this, other wise man does not

102 make the satisfaction.

103 ** *Boso.* ** Nothing seems more just.

104 ** *Anselm.* ** . If it be necessary, therefore, as it appears, that the heavenly

105 kingdom be made up of men, and this cannot be effected unless the aforesaid satisfaction

106 be made, which none but God can make and none but man ought to make, it is necessary for

107 the God-man to make it.

108 ** *Boso.* ** Now blessed be God! we have made a great discovery with regard to

109 our question. Go on, therefore, as you have begun. For I hope that God will assist you.

110 ** *Anselm.* ** . Now must we inquire how God can become man.

CHAPTER VII · How necessary it is for the same being to be perfect God and perfect

94 man.

95 ** *Anselm.* ** . The Divine and human natures cannot alternate, so that the

96 Divine should become human or the human Divine; nor can they be so commingled as that a

97 third should be produced from the two which is neither wholly Divine nor wholly human.

98 For, granting that it were possible for either to be changed into the other, it would in

99 that case be only God and not man, or man only and not God. Or, if they were so commingled

100 that a third nature sprung from the combination of the two (as from two animals, a male

101 and a female of different species, a third is produced, which does not preserve entire the

102 species of either parent, but has a mixed nature derived from both), it would neither be

103 God nor man. Therefore the God-man, whom we require to be of a nature both human and

104 Divine, cannot be produced by a change from one into the other, nor by an imperfect

105 commingling of both in a third; since these things cannot be, or, if they could be, would

106 avail nothing to our purpose. Moreover, if these two complete natures are said to be

107 joined somehow, in such a way that one may be Divine while the other is human, and yet

108 that which is God not be the same with that which is man, it is impossible for both to do

109 the work necessary to be accomplished. For God will not do it, because he has no debt to

110 pay; and man will not do it, because he cannot. Therefore, in order that the God-man may

111 perform this, it is necessary that the same being should perfect God and perfect man, in

112 order to make this atonement. For he cannot and ought not to do it, unless he be very God

113 and very man. Since, then, it is necessary that the God-man preserve the completeness of

114 each nature, it is no less necessary that these two natures be united entire in one

115 person, just as a body and a reasonable soul exist together in every human being; for

116 otherwise it is impossible that the same being should be very God and very man.

117 ** *Boso.* ** All that you say is satisfactory to me.

CHAPTER VIII · How it behoved God to take a man of the race of Adam, and born of a

97 woman.

98 ** *Anselm.* ** . It now remains to inquire whence and how God shall assume human

99 nature. For he will either take it from Adam, or else he will make a new man, as he made

100 Adam originally. But, if he makes a new man, not of Adam's race, then this man will not

101 belong to the human family, which descended from Adam, and therefore ought not to make

102 atonement for it, because he never belonged to it. For, as it is right for man to make

103 atonement for the sin of man, it is also necessary that he who makes the atonement should

104 be the very being who has sinned, or else one of the same race. Otherwise, neither Adam

105 nor his race would make satisfaction for themselves. Therefore, as through Adam and Eve

106 sin was propagated among all men, so none but themselves, or one born of them, ought to

107 make atonement for the sin of men. And, since they cannot, one born of them must fulfil

108 this work. Moreover, as Adam and his whole race, had he not sinned, would have stood firm

109 without the support of any other being, so, after the fall, the same race must rise and be

110 exalted by means of itself. For, whoever restores the race to its place, it will certainly

111 stand by that being who has made this restoration. Also, when God created human nature in

112 Adam alone, and would only make woman out of man, that by the union of both sexes there

113 might be increase, in this he showed plainly that he wished to produce all that he

114 intended with regard to human nature from man alone. Wherefore, if the race of Adam be

115 reinstated by any being not of the same race, it will not be restored to that dignity

116 which it would have had, had not Adam sinned, and so will not be completely restored; and,

117 besides, God will seem to have failed of his purpose, both which suppositions are

118 incongruous: It is, therefore, necessary that the man by whom Adam's race shall be

119 restored be taken from Adam.

120 ** *Boso.* ** If we follow reason, as we proposed to do, this is the necessary

121 result.

122 ** *Anselm.* ** . Let us now examine the question, whether the human nature taken

123 by God must be produced from a father and mother, as other men are, or from man alone, or

124 from woman alone. For, in whichever of these three modes it be, it will be produced from

125 Adam and Eve, for from these two is every person of either sex descended. And of these

126 three modes, no one is easier for God than another, that it should be selected on this

127 account.

128 ** *Boso.* ** So far, it is well.

129 ** *Anselm.* ** . It is no great toil to show that that man will be brought into

130 existence in a nobler and purer manner, if produced from man alone, or woman alone, than

131 if springing from the union of both, as do all other men.

132 ** *Boso.* ** I agree with you.

133 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore must he be taken either from man alone, or woman

134 alone.

135 ** *Boso.* ** There is no other source.

136 ** *Anselm.* ** . In four ways can God create man, viz., either of man and woman,

137 in the common way; or neither of man nor woman, as he created Adam; or of man without

138 woman, as he made Eve; or of woman without man, which thus far he has never done.

139 Wherefore, in order to show that this last mode also under his power, and was reserved for

140 this very purpose, what more fitting than that he should take that man whose origin we are

141 seeking from a woman without a man? Now whether it be more worthy that he be born of a

142 virgin, or one not a virgin, we need not discuss, but must affirm, beyond all doubt, that

143 the God-man should be born of a virgin.

144 ** *Boso.* ** Your speech gratifies my heart.

145 ** *Anselm.* ** . Does what we have said appear sound, or is it unsubstantial as a

146 cloud, as you have said infidels declare?

147 ** *Boso.* ** Nothing can be more sound.

148 ** *Anselm.* ** . Paint not, therefore, upon baseless emptiness, but upon solid

149 truth, and tell how clearly fitting it is that, as man's sin and the cause of our

150 condemnation sprung from a woman, so the cure of sin and the source of our salvation

151 should also be found in a woman. And that women may not despair of attaining the

152 inheritance of the blessed, because that so dire an evil arose from woman, it is proper

153 that from woman also so great a blessing should arise, that their hopes may be revived.

154 Take also this view. If it was a virgin which brought all evil upon the race, it is much

155 more appropriate that a virgin should be the occasion of all good. And this also. If

156 woman, whom God made from man alone, was made of a virgin ( *de virgine* ), it is

157 peculiarly fitting for that man also, who shall spring from a woman, to be born of a woman

158 without man. Of the pictures which can be superadded to this, showing that the God-man

159 ought to be born of a virgin, we will say nothing. These are sufficient. *

160 **Boso.* ** They are certainly very beautiful and reasonable.

CHAPTER IX · How of necessity the Word only can unite in one person with man.

100 ** *Anselm.* ** . Now must we inquire further, in what person God, who exists in

101 three persons, shall take upon himself the nature of man. For a plurality of persons

102 cannot take one and the same man into a unity of person. Wherefore in one person only can

103 this be done. But, as respects this personal unity of God and man, and in which of the

104 Divine persons this ought to be effected, I have expressed myself, as far as I think

105 needful for the present inquiry, in a letter on the Incarnation of the Word, addressed to

106 my lord, the Pope Urban.

107 ** *Boso.* ** Yet briefly glance at this matter, why the person of the Son should

108 be incarnated rather than that of the Father or the Holy Spirit.

109 ** *Anselm.* ** . If one of the other persons be incarnated, there will be two

110 sons in the Trinity, viz., the Son of God, who is the Son before the incarnation, and he

111 also who, by the incarnation, will be the son of the virgin; and among the persons which

112 ought always to be equal there will be an inequality as respects the dignity of birth. For

113 the one born of God will have a nobler birth than he who is born of the virgin. Likewise,

114 if the Father become incarnate, there will be two grandsons in the Trinity; for the

115 Father, by assuming humanity, will be the grandson of the parents of the virgin, and the

116 Word, though having nothing to do with man, will yet be the grandson of the virgin, since

117 he will be the son of her son. But all these things are incongruous and do not pertain to

118 the incarnation of the Word. And there is yet another reason which renders it more fitting

119 for the Son to become incarnate than the other persons. It is, that for the Son to pray to

120 the Father is more proper than for any other person of the Trinity to supplicate his

121 fellow. Moreover, man, for whom he was to pray, and the devil, whom he was to vanquish,

122 have both put on a false likeness to God by their own will. Wherefore they have sinned, as

123 it were, especially against the person of the Son, who is believed to be the very image of

124 God. Wherefore the punishment or pardon of guilt is with peculiar propriety ascribed to

125 him upon whom chiefly the injury was inflicted. Since, therefore, infallible reason has

126 brought us to this necessary conclusion, that the Divine and human natures must unite in

127 one person, and that this is evidently more fitting in respect to the person of the Word

128 than the other persons, we determine that God the Word must unite with man in one person.

129 ** *Boso.* ** The way by which you lead me is so guarded by reason that I cannot

130 deviate from it to the right or left.

131 ** *Anselm.* ** . It is not I who lead you, but he of whom we are speaking,

132 without whose guidance we have no power to keep the way of truth.

CHAPTER X · How this man dies not of debt; and in what sense he can or cannot sin;

103 and how neither he nor an angel deserves praise for their holiness, if it is impossible

104 for them to sin.

105 ** *Anselm.* ** . We ought not to question whether this man was about to die as a

106 debt, as all other men do. For, if Adam would not have died had he not committed sin, much

107 less should this man suffer death, in whom there can be no sin, for he is God.

108 ** *Boso.* ** Let me delay you a little on this point. For in either case it is

109 no slight question with me whether it be said that he can sin or that he cannot. For if it

110 be said that he cannot sin, it should seem hard to be believed. For to say a word

111 concerning him, not as of one who never existed in the manner we have spoken hitherto, but

112 as of one whom we know and whose deeds we know; who, I say, will deny that he could have

113 done many things which we call sinful? For, to say nothing of other things, how shall we

114 say that it was not possible for him to commit the sin of lying? For, when he says to the

115 Jews, of his Father: "If I say that I know him not, I shall be a liar, like unto

116 you," and, in this sentence, makes use of the words : "I know him not," who

117 says that he could not have uttered these same four words, or expressing the same thing

118 differently, have declared, "I know him not?" Now had he done so, he would have

119 been a liar, as he himself says, and therefore a sinner. Therefore, since he could do

120 this, he could sin.

121 ** *Anselm.* ** . It is true that he could say this, and also that he could not

122 sin.

123 ** *Boso.* ** How is that?

124 ** *Anselm.* ** . All power follows the will. For, when I say that I can speak or

125 walk, it is understood, if I choose. For, if the will be not implied as acting, there is

126 no power, but only necessity. For, when I say that I can be dragged or bound unwillingly,

127 this is not my power, but necessity and the power of another; since I am able to be

128 dragged or bound in no other sense than this, that another can drag or bind me. So we can

129 say of Christ, that he could lie, so long as we understand, if he chose to do so. And,

130 since he could not lie unwillingly and could not wish to lie, none the less can it be said

131 that he could not lie. So in this way it is both true that he could and could not lie.

132 ** *Boso.* ** Now let us return to our original inquiry with regard to that man,

133 as if nothing were known of him. I say, then, if he were unable to sin, because, according

134 to you, he could not wish to sin, he maintains holiness of necessity, and therefore he

135 will not be holy from free will. What thanks, then, will he deserve for his holiness? For

136 we are accustomed to say that God made man and angel capable of sinning on this account,

137 that, when of their own free will they maintained holiness, though they might have

138 abandoned it, they might deserve commendation and reward, which they would not have done

139 had they been necessarily holy.

140 ** *Anselm.* ** . Are not the angels worthy of praise, though unable to commit

141 sin?

142 ** *Boso.* ** Doubtless they are, because they deserved this present inability to

143 sin from the fact that when they could sin they refused to do so.

144 ** *Anselm.* ** . What say you with respect to God, who cannot sin, and yet has

145 not deserved this, by refusing to sin when he had the power? Must not he be praised for

146 his holiness?

147 ** *Boso.* ** I should like to have you answer that question for me; for if I say

148 that he deserves no praise, I know that I speak falsely. If, on the other hand, I say that

149 he does deserve praise, I am afraid of invalidating my reasoning with respect to the

150 angels.

151 ** *Anselm.* ** . The angels are not to be praised for their holiness because they

152 could sin, but because it is owing to themselves, in a certain sense, that now they cannot

153 sin. And in this respect are they in a measure like God, who has, from himself, whatever

154 he possesses. For a person is said to give a thing, who does not take it away when he can;

155 and to do a thing is but the same as not to prevent it, when that is in one's power. When,

156 therefore, the angel could depart from holiness and yet did not, and could make himself

157 unholy yet did not, we say with propriety that he conferred virtue upon himself and made

158 himself holy. In this sense, therefore, has he holiness of himself (for the creature

159 cannot have it of himself in any other way), and, therefore, should be praised for his

160 holiness, because he is not holy of necessity but freely; for that is improperly called

161 necessity which involves neither compulsion nor restraint. Wherefore, since whatever God

162 has he has perfectly of himself, he is most of all to be praised for the good things which

163 he possesses and maintains not by any necessity, but, as before said, by his own infinite

164 unchangeableness. Therefore, likewise, that man who will be also God since every good

165 thing which he possesses comes from himself, will be holy not of necessity but

166 voluntarily, and, therefore, will deserve praise. For, though human nature will have what

167 it has from the Divine nature, yet it will likewise have it from itself, since the two

168 natures will be united in one person.

169 ** *Boso.* ** You have satisfied me on this point; and I see clearly that it is

170 both true that he could not sin, and yet that he deserves praise for his holiness. But now

171 I think the question arises, since God could make such a man, why he did not create angels

172 and our first parents so as to be incapable of sin, and yet praiseworthy for their

173 holiness?

174 ** *Anselm.* ** . Do you know what you are saying?

175 ** *Boso.* ** I think I understand, and it is therefore I ask why he did not make

176 them so.

177 ** *Anselm.* ** . Because it was neither possible nor right for any one of them to

178 be the same with God, as we say that man was. And if you ask why he did not bring the

179 three persons, or at least the Word, into unity with men at that time, I answer: Because

180 reason did not at all demand any such thing then, but wholly forbade it, for God does

181 nothing without reason.

182 ** *Boso.* ** I blush to have asked the question. Go on with what you have to

183 say.

184 ** *Anselm.* ** . We must conclude, then, that he should not be subject to death,

185 inasmuch as he will not be a sinner.

186 ** *Boso.* ** I must agree with you.

CHAPTER XI · How Christ dies of his own power, and how mortality does not inhere in

106 the essential nature of man.

107 ** *Anselm.* ** . Now, also, it remains to inquire whether, as man's nature is, it

108 is possible for that man to die?

109 ** *Boso.* ** We need hardly dispute with regard to this, since he will be really

110 man, and every man is by nature mortal.

111 ** *Anselm.* ** . I do not think mortality inheres in the essential nature of man,

112 but only as corrupted. Since, had man never sinned, and had his immortality been

113 unchangeably confirmed, he would have been as really man; and, when the dying rise again,

114 incorruptible, they will no less be really men. For, if mortality was an essential

115 attribute of human nature, then he who was immortal could not be man. Wherefore, neither

116 corruption nor incorruption belong essentially to human nature, for neither makes nor

117 destroys a man; but happiness accrues to him from the one, and misery from the other. But

118 since all men die, mortality is included in the definition of man, as given by

119 philosophers, for they have never even believed in the possibility of man's being immortal

120 in all respects. And so it is not enough to prove that that man ought to be subject to

121 death, for us to say that he will be in all respects a man.

122 ** *Boso.* ** Seek then for some other reason, since I know of none, if you do

123 not, by which we may prove that he can die.

124 ** *Anselm.* ** . We may not doubt that, as he will be God, he will possess

125 omnipotence.

126 ** *Boso.* ** Certainly.

127 ** *Anselm.* ** . He can, then, if he chooses, lay down his life and take it

128 again.

129 ** *Boso.* ** If not, he would scarcely seem to be omnipotent.

130 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore is he able to avoid death if he chooses, and also to

131 die and rise again. Moreover, whether he lays down his life by the intervention of no

132 other person, or another causes this, so that he lays it down by permitting it to be

133 taken, it makes no difference as far as regards his power.

134 ** *Boso.* ** There is no doubt about it.

135 ** *Anselm.* ** . If, then, he chooses to allow it, he could be slain; and if he

136 were unwilling to allow it, he couId not be slain.

137 ** *Boso.* ** To this we are unavoidably brought by reason.

138 Anselm. Reason has also taught us that the gift which he

139 presents to God, not of debt but freely, ought to be something greater than anything in

140 the possession of God.

141 ** *Boso.* ** Yes.

142 Anselm. Now this can neither be found beneath him nor above

143 him.

144 ** *Boso.* ** Very true.

145 ** *Anselm.* ** . In himself, therefore, must it be found.

146 ** *Boso.* ** So it appears.

147 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore will he give himself, or something pertaining to

148 himself.

149 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot see how it should be otherwise.

150 ** *Anselm.* ** . Now must we inquire what sort of a gift this should be? For he

151 may not give himself to God, or anything of his, as if God did not have what was his own.

152 For every creature belongs to God.

153 ** *Boso.* ** This is so.

154 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore must this gift be understood in this way, that he

155 somehow gives up himself, or something of his, to the honor of God, which he did not owe

156 as a debtor.

157 ** *Boso.* ** So it seems from what has been already said.

158 ** *Anselm.* ** . If we say that he will give himself to God by obedience, so as,

159 by steadily maintaining holiness, to render himself subject to his will, this will not be

160 giving a thing not demanded of him by God as his due. For every reasonable being owes his

161 obedience to God.

162 ** *Boso.* ** This cannot be denied.

163 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore must it be in some other way that he gives himself, or

164 something belonging to him, to God.

165 ** *Boso.* ** Reason urges us to this conclusion.

166 ** *Anselm.* ** . Let us see whether, perchance, this may be to give up his life

167 or to lay down his life, or to deliver himself up to death for God's honor. For God will

168 not demand this of him as a debt; for, as no sin will be found, he ought not to die, as we

169 have already said.

170 ** *Boso.* ** Else I cannot understand it.

171 ** *Anselm.* ** . But let us further observe whether this is according to reason.

172 ** *Boso.* ** Speak you, and I will listen with pleasure.

173 ** *Anselm.* ** . If man sinned with ease, is it not fitting for him to atone with

174 difficulty? And if he was overcome by the devil in the easiest manner possible, so as to

175 dishonor God by sinning against him, is it not right that man, in making satisfaction for

176 his sin, should honor God by conquering the devil with the greatest possible difficulty?

177 Is it not proper that, since man has departed from God as far as possible in his sin, he

178 should make to God the greatest possible satisfaction?

179 ** *Boso.* ** Surely, there is nothing more reasonable.

180 ** *Anselm.* ** . Now, nothing can be more severe or difficult for man to do for

181 God's honor, than to suffer death voluntarily when not bound by obligation; and man cannot

182 give himself to God in any way more truly than by surrendering himself to death for God's

183 honor.

184 ** *Boso.* ** All these things are true.

185 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore, he who wishes to make atonement for man's sin should

186 be one who can die if he chooses.

187 ** *Boso.* ** I think it is plain that the man whom we seek for should not only

188 be one who is not necessarily subject to death on account of his omnipotence, and one who

189 does not deserve death on account of his sin, but also one who can die of his own free

190 will, for this will be necessary.

191 ** *Anselm.* ** . There are also many other reasons why it is peculiarly

192 fitting for that man to enter into the common intercourse of men, and maintain a likeness

193 to them, only without sin. And these things are more easily and clearly manifest in his

194 life and actions than they can possibly be shown to be by mere reason without experience.

195 For who can say how necessary and wise a thing it was for him who was to redeem mankind,

196 and lead them back by his teaching from the way of death and destruction into the path of

197 life and eternal happiness, when he conversed with men, and when he taught them by

198 personal intercourse, to set them an example himself of the way in which they ought to

199 live? But how could he have given this example to weak and dying men, that they should not

200 deviate from holiness because of injuries, or scorn, or tortures, or even death, had they

201 not been able to recognise all these virtues in himself?

CHAPTER XII · How, though he share in our weakness, he is not therefore miserable.

109 ** *Boso.* ** All these things plainly show that he ought to be mortal and to

110 partake of our weaknesses. But all these things are our miseries. Will he then be

111 miserable?

112 ** *Anselm.* ** . No, indeed! For as no advantage which one has apart from his

113 choice constitutes happiness, so there is no misery in choosing to bear a loss, when the

114 choice is a wise one and made without compulsion. *

115 **Boso.* ** Certainly, this must be allowed.

CHAPTER XIII · How, along with our other weaknesses, he does not partake of our

112 ignorance.

113 ** *Boso.* ** But tell me whether, in this likeness to men which he ought to

114 have, he will inherit also our ignorance, as he does our other infirmities?

115 ** *Anselm.* ** . Do you doubt the omnipotence of God?

116 ** *Boso.* ** No! but, although this man be immortal in respect to his Divine

117 nature, yet will he be mortal in his human nature. For why will he not be like them in

118 their ignorance, as he is in their mortality?

119 ** *Anselm.* ** . That union of humanity with the Divine person will not be

120 effected except in accordance with the highest wisdom; and, therefore, God will not take

121 anything belonging to man which is only useless, but even a hindrance to the work which

122 that man must accomplish. For ignorance is in no respect useful, but very prejudicial. How

123 can he perform works, so many and so great, without the highest wisdom? Or, how will men

124 believe him if they find him ignorant? And if he be ignorant, what will it avail him? If

125 nothing is loved except as it is known, and there be no good thing which he does not love,

126 then there can be no good thing of which be is ignorant. But no one perfectly understands

127 good, save he who can distinguish it from evil; and no one can make this distinction who

128 does not know what evil is. Therefore, as he of whom we are speaking perfectly comprehends

129 what is good, so there can be no evil with which he is unacquainted. Therefore must he

130 have all knowledge, though he do not openly show it in his intercourse with men.

131 ** *Boso.* ** In his more mature Years, this should seem to he as you say; but,

132 in infancy, as it will not be a fit time to discover wisdom, so there will be no need, and

133 therefore no propriety, in his having it.

134 ** *Anselm.* ** . Did not I say that the incarnation will be made in wisdom? But

135 God will in wisdom assume that mortality, which he makes use of so widely, because for so

136 great an object. But he could not wisely assume ignorance, for this is never useful, but

137 always injurious, except when an evil will is deterred from acting, on account of it. But,

138 in him an evil desire never existed. For if ignorance did no harm in any other respect,

139 yet does it in this, that it takes away the good of knowing. And to answer your question

140 in a word: that man, from the essential nature of his being, will be always full of God;

141 and, therefore, will never want the power, the firmness or the wisdom of God.

142 ** *Boso.* ** Though wholly unable to doubt the truth of this with respect

143 to Christ, yet, on this very account, have I asked for the reason of it. For we are often

144 certain about a thing, and yet cannot prove it by reason.

CHAPTER XIV · How his death outweighs the number and greatness of our sins.

115 ** *Boso.* ** Now I ask you to tell me how his death can outweigh the number and

116 magnitude of our sins, when the least sin we can think of you have shown to be so

117 monstrous that, were there an infinite number of worlds as full of created existence as

118 this, they could not stand, but would fall back into nothing, sooner than one look should

119 be made contrary to the just will of God.

120 ** *Anselm.* ** . Were that man here before you, and you knew who he was, and it

121 were told you that, if you did not kill him, the whole universe, except God, would perish,

122 would you do it to preserve the rest of creation?

123 ** *Boso.* ** No! not even were an infinite number of worlds displayed before me.

124 ** *Anselm.* ** . But suppose you were told: "If you do not kill him, all the

125 sins of the world will be heaped upon you."

126 ** *Boso.* ** I should answer, that I would far rather bear all other sins, not

127 only those of this world, past and future, but also all others that can be conceived of,

128 than this alone. And I think I ought to say this, not only with regard to killing him, but

129 even as to the slightest injury which could be inflicted on him.

130 ** *Anselm.* ** . You judge correctly; but tell me why it is that your heart

131 recoils from one injury inflicted upon him as more heinous than all other sins that can be

132 thought of, inasmuch as all sins whatsoever are committed against him?

133 ** *Boso.* ** A sin committed upon his person exceeds beyond comparison all the

134 sins which can be thought of, that do not affect his person.

135 ** *Anselm.* ** . What say you to this, that one often suffers freely certain

136 evils in his person, in order not to suffer greater ones in his property?

137 ** *Boso.* ** God has no need of such patience, for all things lie in subjection

138 to his power, as you answered a certain question of mine above.

139 ** *Anselm.* ** . You say well; and hence we see that no enormity or multitude of

140 sins, apart from the Divine person, can for a moment be compared with a bodily injury

141 inflicted upon that man.

142 ** *Boso.* ** This is most plain.

143 ** *Anselm.* ** . How great does this good seem to you, if the destruction of it

144 is such an evil?

145 ** *Boso.* ** If its existence is as great a good as its destruction is an evil,

146 then is it far more a good than those sins are evils which its destruction so far

147 surpasses.

148 ** *Anselm.* ** . Very true. Consider, also, that sins are as hateful as they are

149 evil, and that life is only amiable in proportion as it is good. And, therefore, it

150 follows that that life is more lovely than sins are odious.

151 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot help seeing this.

152 ** *Anselm.* ** . And do you not think that so great a good in itself so lovely,

153 can avail to pay what is due for the sins of the whole world?

154 ** *Boso.* ** Yes! it has even infinite value.

155 ** *Anselm.* ** . Do you see, then, how this life conquers all sins, if it be

156 given for them?

157 ** *Boso.* ** Plainly.

158 ** *Anselm.* ** . If, then, to lay down life is the same as to suffer

159 death, as the gift of his life surpasses all the sins of men, so will also the suffering

160 of death.

CHAPTER XV · How this death removes even the sins of his murderers.

118 ** *Boso.* ** This is properly so with regard to all sins not affecting the

119 person of the Deity. But let me ask you one thing more. If it be as great an evil to slay

120 him as his life is a good, how can his death overcome and destroy the sins of those who

121 slew him? Or, if it destroys the sin of any one of them, how can it not also destroy any

122 sin committed by other men? For we believe that many men will be saved, and a vast many

123 will not be saved.

124 ** *Anselm.* ** . The Apostle answers the question when he says: "Had they

125 known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory." For a sin knowingly

126 committed and a sin done ignorantly are so different that an evil which they could never

127 do, were its full extent known, may be pardonable when done in ignorance. For no man could

128 ever, knowingly at least, slay the Lord; and, therefore, those who did it in ignorance did

129 not rush into that transcendental crime with which none others can be compared. For this

130 crime, the magnitude of which we have been considering as equal to the worth of his life,

131 we have not looked at as having been ignorantly done, but knowingly; a thing which no man

132 ever did or could do.

133 ** *Boso.* ** You have reasonably shown that the murderers of Christ can obtain

134 pardon for their sin.

135 ** *Anselm.* ** . What more do you ask? For now you, see how reason of necessity

136 shows that the celestial state must be made up from men, and that this can only be by the

137 forgiveness of sins, which man can never have but by man, who must be at the same time

138 Divine, and reconcile sinners to God by his own death. Therefore have we clearly found

139 that Christ, whom we confess to be both God and man, died for us; and, when this is known

140 beyond all doubt, all things which he says of himself must be acknowledged as true, for

141 God cannot lie, and all he does must be received as wisely done, though we do not

142 understand the reason of it.

143 ** *Boso.* ** What you say is true; and I do not for a moment doubt that

144 his words are true, and all that he does reasonable. But I ask this in order that you may

145 disclose to me, in their true rationality, those things in Christian faith which seem to

146 infidels improper or impossible; and this, not to strengthen me in the faith, but to

147 gratify one already confirmed by the knowledge of the truth itself.

CHAPTER XVI · How God took that man from a sinful substance, and yet without sin; and

121 of the salvation of Adam and Eve.

122 ** *Boso.* ** As, therefore, you have disclosed the reason of those things

123 mentioned above, I beg you will also explain what I am now about to ask. First, then, how

124 does God, from a sinful substance, that is, of human species, which was wholly tainted by

125 sin, take, a man without sin, as an unleavened lump from that which is leavened? For,

126 though the conception of this man be pure, and free from the sin of fleshly gratification,

127 yet the virgin herself, from whom he sprang, was conceived in iniquity, and in sin did her

128 mother bear her, since she herself sinned in Adam, in whom all men sinned.

129 ** *Anselm.* ** . Since it is fitting for that man to be God, and also the

130 restorer of sinners, we doubt not that he is wholly without sin; yet will this avail

131 nothing, unless he be taken without sin and yet of a sinful substance. But if we cannot

132 comprehend in what manner the wisdom of God effects this, we should be surprised, but with

133 reverence should allow of a thing of so great magnitude to remain hidden from us. For the

134 restoring of human nature by God is more wonderful than its creation; for either was

135 equally easy for God; but before man was made he had not sinned so that he ought not to be

136 denied existence But after man was made he deserved, by his sin, to lose his existence

137 together with its design; though he never has wholly lost this, viz., that he should be

138 one capable of being punished, or of receiving God's compassion. For neither of these

139 things could take effect if he were annihilated. Therefore God's restoring man is more

140 wonderful than his creating man, inasmuch as it is done for the sinner contrary to his

141 deserts; while the act of creation was not for the sinner, and was not in opposition to

142 man's deserts. How great a thing it is, also, for God and man to unite in one person,

143 that, while the perfection of each nature is preserved, the same being may be both God and

144 man! Who, then, will dare to think that the human mind can discover how wisely, how

145 wonderfully, so incomprehensible a work has been accomplished?

146 ** *Boso.* ** I allow that no man can wholly discover so great a mystery in this

147 life, and I do not desire you to do what no man can do, but only to explain it according

148 to your ability. For you will sooner convince me that deeper reasons lie concealed in this

149 matter, by showing some one that you know of, than if, by saying nothing, you make it

150 appear that you do not understand any reason.

151 ** *Anselm.* ** . I see that I cannot escape your importunity; but if I have any

152 power to explain what you wish, let us thank God for it. But if not, let the things above

153 said suffice. For, since it is agreed that God ought to become man, no doubt He will not

154 lack the wisdom or the power to effect this without sin.

155 ** *Boso.* ** This I readily allow.

156 ** *Anselm.* ** . It was certainly proper that that atonement which Christ made

157 should benefit not only thosed who lived at that time but also others. For, suppose there

158 were a king against whom all the people of his provinces had rebelled, with but a single

159 exception of those belonging to their race, and that all the rest were irretrievably under

160 condemnation. And suppose that he who alone is blameless had so great favor with the king,

161 and so deep love for us, as to be both able and willing to save all those who trusted in

162 his guidance; and this because of a certain very pleasing service which he was about to do

163 for the king, according to his desire; and, inasmuch as those who are to be pardoned

164 cannot all assemble upon that day, the king grants, on account of the greatness of the

165 service performed, that whoever, either before or after the day appointed, acknowledged

166 that he wished to obtain pardon by the work that day accomplished, and to subscribe to the

167 condition there laid down, should be freed from all past guilt; and, if they sinned after

168 this pardon, and yet wished to render atonement and to be set right again by the efficacy

169 of this plan, they should again be pardoned, only provided that no one enter his mansion

170 until this thing be accomplished by which his sins are removed. In like manner, since all

171 who are to be saved cannot be present at the sacrifice of Christ, yet such virtue is there

172 in his death that its power is extended even to those far remote in place or time. But

173 that it ought to benefit not merely those present is plainly evident, because there could

174 not be so many living at the time of his death as are necessary to complete the heavenly

175 state, even if all who were upon the earth at that time were admitted to the benefits of

176 redemption. For the number of evil angels which must be made up from men is greater than

177 the number of men at that time living. Nor may we believe that, since man was created,

178 there was ever a time when the world, with the creatures made for the use of man, was so

179 unprofitable as to contain no human being who had gained the object for which he was made.

180 For it seems unfitting that God should even for a moment allow the human race, made to

181 complete the heavenly state, and those creatures which he made for their use, to exist in

182 vain.

183 ** *Boso.* ** You show by correct reasoning, such as nothing can oppose, that

184 there never was a time since man was created when there has not been some one who was

185 gaining that reconciliation without which every man was made in vain. So that we rest upon

186 this as not only proper but also necessary. For if this is more fit and reasonable than

187 that at any time there should be no one found fulfilling the design for which God made

188 man, and there is no further objection that can be made to this view, then it is necessary

189 that there always be some person partaking of this promised pardon. And, therefore, we

190 must not doubt that Adam and Eve obtained part in that forgiveness, though Divine

191 authority makes no mention of this.

192 ** *Anselm.* ** . It is also incredible that God created them, and unchangeably

193 determined to make all men from them, as many as were needed for the celestial state, and

194 yet should exclude these two from this design.

195 ** *Boso.* ** Nay, undoubtedly we ought to believe that God made them for this

196 purpose, viz., to belong to the number of those for whose sake they were created.

197 ** *Anselm.* ** . You understand it well. But no soul, before the death of Christ,

198 could enter the heavenly kingdom, as I said above, with regard to the palace of the king.

199 ** *Boso.* ** So we believe.

200 ** *Anselm.* ** . Moreover, the virgin, from whom that man was taken of whom we

201 are speaking, was of the number of those who were cleansed from their sins before his

202 birth, and he was born of her in her purity.

203 ** *Boso.* ** What you say would satisfy me, were it not that he ought to be pure

204 of himself, whereas he appears to have his purity from his mother and not from himself. *

205 **Anselm.* ** . Not so. But as the mother's purity, which he partakes,

206 was only derived from him, he also was pure by and of himself.

CHAPTER XVII · How he did not die of necessity, though he could not be born, except as

124 destined to suffer death.

125 ** *Boso.* ** Thus far it is well. But there is yet another matter that needs to

126 be looked into. For we have said before that his death was not to be a matter of

127 necessity; yet now we see that his mother was purified by the power of his death, when

128 without this he could not have been born of her. How, then, was not his death necessary,

129 when he could not have been, except in view of future death? For if he were not to die,

130 the virgin of whom he was born could not be pure, since this could only be effected by

131 true faith in his death, and, if she were not pure, he could not be born of her. If,

132 therefore, his death be not a necessary consequence of his being born of the virgin, he

133 never could have been born of her at all; but this is an absurdity.

134 ** *Anselm.* ** . If you had carefully noted the remarks made above, you would

135 easily have discovered in them, I think, the answer to your question.

136 ** *Boso.* ** I see not how.

137 ** *Anselm.* ** . Did we not find, when considering the question whether he would

138 lie, that there were two senses of the word *power* in regard to it, the one

139 referring to his disposition, the other to the act itself; and that, though having the

140 power to lie, he was so constituted by nature as not to wish to lie, and, therefore,

141 deserved praise for his holiness in maintaining the truth?

142 ** *Boso.* ** It is so.

143 ** *Anselm.* ** . In like manner, with regard to the preservation of his life,

144 there is the power of preserving and the power of wishing to preserve it. And when the

145 question is asked whether the same God-man could preserve his life, so as never to die, we

146 must not doubt that he always had the power to preserve his life, though he could not wish

147 to do so for the purpose of escaping death. And since this disposition, which forever

148 prevents him from wishing this, arises from himself, he lays down his life not of

149 necessity, but of free authority.

150 ** *Boso.* ** But those powers were not in all respects similar, the power to lie

151 and the power to preserve his life. For, if he wished to lie, he would of course be able

152 to; but, if he wished to avoid the other, he could no more do it than he could avoid being

153 what he is. For he became man for this purpose, and it was on the faith of his coming

154 death that he could receive birth from a virgin, as you said above.

155 ** *Anselm.* ** . As you think that he could not lie, or that his death was

156 necessary, because be could not avoid being what he was, so you can assert that he could

157 not wish to avoid death, or that he wished to die of necessity, because he could not

158 change the constitution of his being; for he did not become man in order that he should

159 die, any more than for this purpose, that he should wish to die. Wherefore, as you ought

160 not to say that he could not help wishing to die, or that it was of necessity that he

161 wished to die, it is equally improper to say that he could not avoid death, or that he

162 died of necessity.

163 ** *Boso.* ** Yes, since dying and wishing to die are included in the same mode

164 of reasoning, both would seem to fall under a like necessity.

165 ** *Anselm.* ** . Who freely wished to become man, that by the same unchanging

166 desire he should suffer death, and that the virgin from whom that man should be born might

167 be pure, through confidence in the certainty of this?

168 ** *Boso.* ** God, the Son of God.

169 ** *Anselm.* ** . Was it not above shown, that no desire of God is at all

170 constrained; but that it freely maintains itself in his own unchangeableness, as often as

171 it is said that he does anything necessarily?

172 ** *Boso.* ** It has been clearly shown. But we see, on the other hand, that what

173 God unchangeably wishes cannot avoid being so, but takes place of necessity. Wherefore, if

174 God wished that man to die, he could but die.

175 ** *Anselm.* ** . Because the Son of God took the nature of man with this desire,

176 viz., that he should suffer death, you prove it necessary that this man should not be able

177 to avoid death.

178 ** *Boso.* ** So I perceive.

179 ** *Anselm.* ** . Has it not in like manner appeared from the things which we have

180 spoken that the Son of God and the man whose person he took were so united that the same

181 being should be both God and man, the Son of God and the son of the virgin?

182 ** *Boso.* ** It is so.

183 ** *Anselm.* ** . Therefore the same man could possibly both die and avoid death.

184 ** *Boso.* ** I cannot deny it.

185 ** *Anselm.* ** . Since, then, the will of God does nothing by any necessity, but

186 of his own power, and the will of that man was the same as the will of God, he died not

187 necessarily, but only of his own power.

188 ** *Boso.* ** To your arguments I cannot object; for neither your propositions

189 nor your inferences can I invalidate in the least. But yet this thing which I have

190 mentioned always recurs to my mind: that, if he wished to avoid death, he could no more do

191 it than he could escape existence. For it must have been fixed that he was to die, for had

192 it not been true that he was about to die, faith in his coming death would not have

193 existed, by which the virgin who gave him birth and many others also were cleansed from

194 their sin. Wherefore, if he could avoid death, he could make untrue what was true.

195 ** *Anselm.* ** . Why was it true, before he died, that he was certainly to die?

196 ** *Boso.* ** Because this was his free and unchangeable desire.

197 ** *Anselm.* ** . If, then, as you say, he could not avoid death because he was

198 certainly to die, and was on this account certainly to die because it was his free and

199 unchangeable desire, it is clear that his inability to avoid death is nothing else but his

200 fixed choice to die.

201 ** *Boso.* ** This is so; but whatever be the reason, it still remains certain

202 that he could not avoid death, but that it was a necessary thing for him to die.

203 ** *Anselm.* ** . You make a great ado about nothing, or, as the saying is, you

204 stumble at a straw.

205 ** *Boso.* ** Are you not forgetting my reply to the excuses you made at

206 the beginning of our discussion, viz., that you should explain the subject, not as to

207 learned men, but to me and my fellow inquirers? Suffer me, then, to question you as my

208 slowness and dullness require, so that, as you have begun thus far, you may go on to

209 settle all our childish doubts.

CHAPTER XVIII · (a) .

127 [This and the succeeding chapter are numbered differently in the

128 different editions of Anselm's texts.]

129 How, with God there is neither necessity nor impossibility, and what is a coercive

130 necessity, and what one that is not so.

131 ** *Anselm.* ** . We have already said that it is improper to affirm of God that

132 he does anything, or that he cannot do it, of necessity. For all necessity and

133 impossibility is under his control. But his choice is subject to no necessity nor

134 impossibility. For nothing is necessary or impossible save as He wishes it. Nay, the very

135 choosing or refusing anything as a necessity or an impossibility is contrary to truth.

136 Since, then, he does what he chooses and nothing else, as no necessity or impossibility

137 exists before his choice or refusal, so neither do they interfere with his acting or not

138 acting, though it be true that his choice and action are immutable. And as, when God does

139 a thing, since it has been done it cannot be undone, but must remain an actual fact;

140 still, we are not correct in saying that it is impossible for God to prevent a past action

141 from being what it is. For there is no necessity or impossibility in the case whatever but

142 the simple will of God, which chooses that truth should be eternally the same, for he

143 himself is truth. Also, if he has a fixed determination to do anything, though his design

144 must be destined to an accomplishment before it comes to pass, yet there is no coercion as

145 far as he is concerned, either to do it or not to do it, for his will is the sole agent in

146 the case. For when we say that God cannot do a thing, we do not deny his power; on the

147 contrary, we imply that he has invincible authority and strength. For we mean simply this,

148 that nothing can compel God to do the thing which is said to be impossible for him. We

149 often use an expression of this kind, that a thing can be when the power is not in itself,

150 but in something else; and that it cannot be when the weakness does not pertain to the

151 thing itself, but to something else. Thus we say "Such a man can be bound,"

152 instead of saying, "Somebody can bind him," and, "He cannot be bound,"

153 instead of, "Nobody can bind him." For to be able to be overcome is not power

154 but weakness, and not to be able to be overcome is not weakness but power. Nor do we say

155 that God does anything by necessity, because there is any such thing pertaining to him,

156 but because it exists in something else, precisely as I said with regard to the

157 affirmation that he cannot do anything. For necessity is always either compulsion or

158 restraint; and these two kinds of necessity operate variously by turn, so that the same

159 thing is both necessary and impossible. For whatever is obliged to exist is also prevented

160 from non-existence; and that which is compelled not to exist is prevented from existence.

161 So that whatever exists from necessity cannot avoid existence, and it is impossible for a

162 thing to exist which is under a necessity of nonexistence, and *vice versa* . But when

163 we say with regard to God, that anything is necessary or not necessary, we do not mean

164 that, as far as he is concerned, there is any necessity either coercive or prohibitory,

165 but we mean that there is a necessity in everything else, restraining or driving them in a

166 particular way. Whereas we say the very opposite of God. For, when we affirm that it is

167 necessary for God to utter truth, and never to lie, we only mean that such is his

168 unwavering disposition to maintain the truth that of necessity nothing can avail to make

169 him deviate from the truth, or utter a lie. When, then, we say that that man (who, by the

170 union of persons, is also God, the Son of God) could not avoid death, or the choice of

171 death, after he was born of the virgin, we do not imply that there was in him any weakness

172 with regard to preserving or choosing to preserve his life, but we refer to the

173 unchangeableness of his purpose, by which he freely became man for this design, viz., that

174 by persevering in his wish he should suffer death. And this desire nothing could shake.

175 For it would be rather weakness than power if he could wish to lie, or deceive, or change

176 his disposition, when before he had chosen that it should remain unchanged. And, as I said

177 before, when one has freely determined to do some good action, and afterwards goes on to

178 complete it, though, if unwilling to pay his vow, he could be compelled to do so, yet we

179 must not say that he does it of necessity, but with the same freedom with which he made

180 the resolution. For we ought not to say that anything is done, or not done, by necessity

181 or weakness, when free choice is the only agent in the case. And, if this is so with

182 regard to man, much less can we speak of necessity or weakness in reference to God; for he

183 does nothing except according to his choice, and his will no force can drive or restrain.

184 For this end was accomplished by the united natures of Christ, viz., that the Divine

185 nature should perform that part of the work needful for man's restoration which the human

186 nature could not do; and that in the human should be manifested what was inappropriate to

187 the Divine. Finally, the virgin herself, who was made pure by faith in him, so that he

188 might be born of her, even she, I say, never believed that he was to die, save of his own

189 choice. For she knew the words of the prophet, who said of him: "He was offered of

190 his own will." Therefore, since her faith was well founded, it must necessarily turn

191 out as she believed. And, if it perplexes you to have me say that it is necessary,

192 remember that the reality of the virgin's faith was not the cause of his dying by his own

193 free will; but, because this was destined to take place, therefore her faith was real. If,

194 then, it be said that it was necessary for him to die of his single choice, because the

195 antecedent faith and prophecy were true, this is no more than saying that it must be

196 because it was to be. But such a necessity as this does not compel a thing to be, but only

197 implies a necessity of its existence. There is an antecedent necessity which is the cause

198 of a thing, and there is also a subsequent necessity arising from the thing itself. Thus,

199 when the heavens are said to revolve, it is an antecedent and efficient necessity, for

200 they must revolve. But when I say that you speak of necessity, because you are speaking,

201 this is nothing but a subsequent and inoperative necessity. For I only mean that it is

202 impossible for you to speak and not to speak at the same time, and not that some one

203 compels you to speak. For the force of its own nature makes the heaven revolve; but no

204 necessity obliges you to speak. But wherever there is an antecedent necessity, there is

205 also a subsequent one; but not vice versa. For we can say that the heaven revolves of

206 necessity, because it revolves; but it is not likewise true that, because you speak, you

207 do it of necessity. This subsequent necessity pertains to everything, so that we say:

208 Whatever has been, necessarily has been. Whatever is, must be. Whatever is to be, of

209 necessity will be. This is that necessity which Aristotle treats of (" *de

210 propositionibus singularibus et futuris* "), and which seems to destroy any

211 alternative and to ascribe a necessity to all things. By this subsequent and imperative

212 necessity, was it necessary (since the belief and prophecy concerning Christ were true,

213 that he would die of his own free will), that it should be so. For this he became man; for

214 this he did and suffered all things undertaken by him; for this he chose as he did. For

215 therefore were they necessary, because they were to be, and they were to be because they

216 were, and they were because they were; and, if you wish to know the real necessity of all

217 things which he did and suffered, know that they were of necessity, because he wished them

218 to be. But no necessity preceded his will. Wherefore if they were not save by his will,

219 then, had he not willed they would not have existed. So then, no one took his life from

220 him, but he laid it down of himself and took it again; for he had power to lay it down and

221 to take it again, as he himself said.

222 ** *Boso.* ** You have satisfied me that it cannot be proved that he was

223 subjected to death by any necessity; and I cannot regret my importunity in urging you to

224 make this explanation.

225 ** *Anselm.* ** . I think we have shown with sufficient clearness how it was that

226 God took a man without sin from a sinful substance; but I would on no account deny that

227 there is no other explanation than this which we have given, for God can certainly do what

228 human reason cannot grasp. But since this appears adequate, and since in search of other

229 arguments we should involve ourselves in such questions as that of original sin, and how

230 it was transmitted by our first parents to all mankind, except this man of whom we are

231 speaking; and since, also, we should be drawn into various other questions, each demanding

232 its own seperate consideration; let us be satisfied with this account of the matter, and

233 go on to complete our intended work.

234 ** *Boso.* ** As you choose; but with this condition that, by the help of God,

235 you will sometime give this other explanation, which you owe me, as it were, but which now

236 you avoid discussing.

237 ** *Anselm.* ** . Inasmuch as I entertain this desire myself, I will not refuse

238 you; but because of the uncertainty of future events, I dare not promise you, but commend

239 it to the will of God. But say now, what remains to be unravelled with regard to the

240 question which you proposed in the first place, and which involves many others with it?

241 ** *Boso.* ** The substance of the inquiry was this, why God became man, for the

242 purpose of saving men by his death, when he could have done it in some other way. And you,

243 by numerous and positive reasons, have shown that the restoring of mankind ought not to

244 take place, and could not, without man paid the debt which he owed God for his sin. And

245 this debt was so great that, while none but man must solve the debt, none but God was able

246 to do it; so that he who does it must be both God and man. And hence arises a necessity

247 that God should take man into unity with his own person; so that he who in his own nature

248 was bound to pay the debt, but could not, might be able to do it in the person of God. In

249 fine, you have shown that that man, who was also God, must be formed from the virgin, and

250 from the person of the Son of God, and that he could be taken without sin, though from a

251 sinful substance. Moreover, you have clearly shown the life of this man to have been so

252 excellent and so glorious as to make ample satisfaction for the sins of the whole world,

253 and even infinitely more. It now, therefore, remains to be shown how that payment is made

254 to God for the sins of men.

CHAPTER XVIII · (b.)

130 How Christ's life is paid to God for the sins of men, and in what sense Christ ought,

131 and in what sense he ought not, or was not bound, to suffer.

132 ** *Anselm.* ** . If he allowed himself to be slain for the sake of justice, he

133 did not give his life for the honor of God?

134 ** *Boso.* ** It should seem so, but I cannot understand, although I do not doubt

135 it, how he could do this reasonably. If I saw how he could be perfectly holy, and yet

136 forever preserve his life, I would acknowledge that he freely gave, for the honor of God,

137 such a gift as surpasses all things else but God himself, and is able to atone for all the

138 sins of men.

139 ** *Anselm.* ** . Do you not perceive that when he bore with gentle patience the

140 insults put upon him, violence and even crucifixion among thieves that he might maintain

141 strict holiness; by this he set men an example that they should never turn aside from the

142 holiness due to God on account of personal sacrifice? But how could he have done this, had

143 he, as he might have done, avoided the death brought upon him for such a reason?

144 ** *Boso.* ** But surely there was no need of this, for many persons before his

145 coming, and John the Baptist after his coming but before his death, had sufficiently

146 enforced this example by nobly dying for the sake of the truth.

147 ** *Anselm.* ** . No man except this one ever gave to God what he was not obliged

148 to lose, or paid a debt he did not owe. But he freely offered to the Father what there was

149 no need of his ever losing, and paid for sinners what he owed not for himself. Therefore

150 he set a much nobler example, that each one should not hesitate to give to God, for

151 himself, what he must at any rate lose before long, since it was the voice of reason; for

152 he, when not in want of anything for himself and not compelled by others, who deserved

153 nothing of him but punishment, gave so precious a life, even the life of so illustrious a

154 personage, with such willingness.

155 ** *Boso.* ** You very nearly meet my wishes; but suffer me to make one inquiry,

156 which you may think foolish, but which, nevertheless, I find no easy thing to answer. You

157 say that when he died he gave what he did not owe. But no one will deny that it was better

158 for him, or that so doing he pleased God more than if he had not done it. Nor will any one

159 say that he was not bound to do what was best to be done, and what he knew would be more

160 pleasing to God. How then can we affirm that he did not owe God the thing which he did,

161 that is, the thing which he knew to be best and most pleasing to God, and especially since

162 every creature owes God all that he is and all that he knows and all that he is capable

163 of?

164 ** *Anselm.* ** . Though the creature has nothing of himself, yet when God grants

165 him the liberty of doing or not doing a thing, he leaves the alternative with him, so

166 that, though one is better than the other, yet neither is positively demanded. And,

167 whichever he does, it may be said that he ought to do it; and if he takes the better

168 choice, he deserves a reward; because he renders freely what is his own. For, though

169 celibacy be better than marriage, yet neither is absolutely enjoined upon man; so that

170 both he who chooses marriage and he who prefers celibacy, may be said to do as they ought.

171 For no one says that either celibacy or marriage ought not to be chosen; but we say that

172 what a man esteems best before taking action upon any of these things, this he ought to

173 do. And if a man preserves his celibacy as a free gift offered to God, he looks for a

174 reward. When you say that the creature owes God what he knows to be the better choice, and

175 what he is able to do, if you mean that he owes it as a debt, without implying any command

176 on the part of God, it is not always true. Thus, as I have already said, a man is not

177 bound to celibacy as a debt, but ought to marry if be prefers it. And if you are unable to

178 understand the use of this word " *debere* ," when no debt is implied, let me

179 inform you that we use the word " *debere* " precisely as we sometimes do the

180 words " *posse* , " and " *non posse* , " and also " *necessitas* ,"

181 when the ability, etc., is not in the things themselves, but in something else. When, for

182 instance, we say that the poor ought to receive alms from the rich, we mean that the rich

183 ought to bestow alms upon the poor. For this is a debt not owed by the poor but by the

184 rich. We also say that God ought to be exalted over all, not because there is any

185 obligation resting upon him, but because all things ought to be subject to him. And he

186 wishes that all creatures should be what they ought; for what God wishes to be ought to

187 be. And, in like manner, when any creature wishes to do a thing that is left entirely at

188 his own disposal, we say that he ought to do it, for what he wishes to be ought to be. So

189 our Lord Jesus, when he wished, as we have said, to suffer death, ought to have done

190 precisely what he did; because he ought to be what he wished, and was not bound to do

191 anything as a debt. As he is both God and man, in connection with his human nature, which

192 made him a man, he must also have received from the Divine nature that control over

193 himself which freed him from all obligation, except to do as he chose. In like manner, as

194 one person of the Trinity, he must have had whatever he possessed of his own right, so as

195 to be complete in himself, and could not have been under obligations to another, nor have

196 need of giving anything in order to be repaid himself.

197 ** *Boso.* ** Now I see clearly that he did not give himself up to die for the

198 honor of God, as a debt; for this my own reason proves, and yet he ought to have done what

199 he did.

200 ** *Anselm.* ** . That honor certainly belongs to the whole Trinity; and, since he

201 is very God, the Son of God, he offered himself for his own honor, as well as for that of

202 the Father and the Holy Spirit; that is, he gave his humanity to his divinity, which is

203 one person of the Triune God. But, though we express our idea more definitely by clinging

204 to the precise truth, yet we may say, according to our custom, that the Son freely gave

205 himself to the Father. For thus we plainly affirm that in speaking of one person we

206 understand the whole Deity, to whom as man he offered himself. And, by the names of Father

207 and Son, a wondrous depth of devotion is excited in the hearts of the hearers, when it is

208 said that the Son supplicates the Father on our behalf.

209 ** *Boso.* ** This I readily acknowledge.

CHAPTER XIX · How human salvation follows upon his death.

133 ** *Anselm.* ** . Let us now observe, if we can, how the salvation of men rests on

134 this.

135 ** *Boso.* ** This is the very wish of my heart. For, although I think I

136 understand you, yet I wish to get from you the close chain of argument.

137 ** *Anselm.* ** . There is no need of explaining how precious was the gift which

138 the Son freely gave.

139 ** *Boso.* ** That is clear enough already.

140 ** *Anselm.* ** . But you surely will not think that he deserves no reward, who

141 freely gave so great a gift to God.

142 ** *Boso.* ** I see that it is necessary for the Father to reward the Son; else

143 he is either unjust in not wishing to do it, or weak in not being able to do it; but

144 neither of these things can be attributed to God.

145 ** *Anselm.* ** . He who rewards another either gives him something which he does

146 not have, or else remits some rightful claim upon him. But anterior to the great offering

147 of the Son, all things belonging to the Father were his, nor did he ever owe anything

148 which could be forgiven him. How then can a reward be bestowed on one who needs nothing,

149 and to whom no gift or release can be made?

150 ** *Boso.* ** I see on the one hand a necessity for a reward, and on the other it

151 appears impossible; for God must necessarily render payment for what he owes, and yet

152 there is no one to receive it.

153 ** *Anselm.* ** . But if a reward so large and so deserved is not given to him or

154 any one else, then it will almost appear as if the Son had done this great work in vain.

155 ** *Boso.* ** Such a supposition is impious.

156 ** *Anselm.* ** . The reward then must be bestowed upon some one else, for it

157 cannot be upon him.

158 ** *Boso.* ** This is necessarily so.

159 ** *Anselm.* ** . Had the Son wished to give some one else what was due to him,

160 could the Father rightfully prevent it, or refuse to give it to the other person?

161 ** *Boso.* ** No! but I think it would be both just and necessary that the gift

162 should be given by the Father to whomsoever the Son wished; because the Son should be

163 allowed to give away what is his own, and the Father cannot bestow it at all except upon

164 some other person.

165 ** *Anselm.* ** . Upon whom would he more properly bestow the reward accruing from

166 his death, than upon those for whose salvation, as right reason teaches, he became man;

167 and for whose sake, as we have already said, he left an example of suffering death to

168 preserve holiness? For surely in vain will men imitate him, if they be not also partakers

169 of his reward. Or whom could he more justly make heirs of the inheritance, which he does

170 not need, and of the superfluity of his possessions, than his parents and brethren? What

171 more proper than that, when he beholds so many of them weighed down by so heavy a debt,

172 and wasting through poverty, in the depth of their miseries, he should remit the debt

173 incurred by their sins, and give them what their transgressions had forfeited?

174 ** *Boso.* ** The universe can hear of nothing more reasonable, more sweet, more

175 desirable. And I receive such confidence from this that I cannot describe the joy with

176 which my heart exults. For it seems to me that God can reject none who come to him in his

177 name.

178 ** *Anselm.* ** . Certainly not, if he come aright. And the Scriptures, which rest

179 on solid truth as on a firm foundation, and which, by the help of God, we have somewhat

180 examined, -- the Scriptures, I say, show us how to approach in order to share such favor,

181 and how we ought to live under it.

182 ** *Boso.* ** And whatever is built on this foundation is founded on an immovable

183 rock. *

184 **Anselm.* ** . I think I have nearly enough answered your inquiry,

185 though I might do it still more fully, and there are doubtless many reasons which are

186 beyond me and which mortal ken does not reach. It is also plain that God had no need of

187 doing the thing spoken of, but eternal truth demanded it. For though God is said to have

188 done what that man did, on account of the personal union made; yet God was in no need of

189 descending from heaven to conquer the devil, nor of contending against him in holiness to

190 free mankind. But God demanded that man should conquer the devil, so that he who had

191 offended by sin should atone by holiness. As God owed nothing to the devil but punishment,

192 so man must only make amends by conquering the devil as man had already been conquered by

193 him. But whatever was demanded of man, he owed to God and not to the devil.

CHAPTER XX · How great and how just is God's compassion.

136 Now we have found the compassion of God which appeared lost to you when we were

137 considering God's holiness and man's sin; we have found it, I say, so great and so

138 consistent with his holiness, as to be incomparably above anything that can be conceived.

139 For what compassion can excel these words of the Father, addressed to the sinner doomed to

140 eternal torments and having noway of escape: "Take my only begotten Son and make him

141 an offering for yourself;" or these words of the Son: "Take me, and ransom your

142 souls." For these are the voices they utter, when inviting and leading us to faith in

143 the Gospel. Or can anything be more just than for him to remit all debt since he has

144 earned a reward greater than all debt, if given with the love which he deserves.

CHAPTER XXI · How it is impossible for the devil to be reconciled.

139 IF you carefully consider the scheme of human salvation, you will perceive the

140 reconciliation of the devil, of which you made inquiry, to be impossible. For, as man

141 could not be reconciled but by the death of the God-man, by whose holiness the loss

142 occasioned by man's sin should be made up; so fallen angels cannot be saved but by the

143 death of a God-angel who by his holiness may repair the evil occasioned by the sins of his

144 companions. And as man must not be restored by a man of a different race, though of the

145 same nature, so no angel ought to be saved by any other angel, though all were of the same

146 nature, for they are not like men, all of the same race. For all angels were not sprung

147 from one, as all men were. And there is another objection to their restoration, viz ,

148 that, as they fell with none to plot their fall, so they must rise with none to aid them;

149 but this is impossible. But otherwise they cannot be restored to their original dignity.

150 For, had they not sinned, they would have been confirmed in virtue without any foreign

151 aid, simply by the power given to them from the first. And, therefore, if any one thinks

152 that the redemption of our Lord ought to be extended even to the fallen angels, he is

153 convinced by reason, for by reason he has been deceived. And I do not say this as if to

154 deny that the virtue of his death far exceeds all the sins of men and angels, but because

155 infallible reason rejects the reconciliation of the fallen angels.

CHAPTER XXII · How the truth of the Old and New Testament is shown in the things which

142 have been said.

143 ** *Boso.* ** All things which you have said seem to me reasonable and

144 incontrovertible. And by the solution of the single question proposed do I see the truth

145 of all that is contained in the Old and New Testament. For, in proving that God became man

146 by necessity, leaving out what was taken from the Bible, viz., the remarks on the persons

147 of the Trinity, and on Adam, you convince both Jews and Pagans by the mere force of

148 reason. And the God-man himself originates the New Testament and approves the Old. And, as

149 we must acknowledge him to be true, so no one can dissent from anything contained in these

150 books.

151 ** *Anselm.* ** . If we have said anything that needs correction, I am willing to

152 make the correction if it be a reasonable one. But, if the conclusions which we have

153 arrived at by reason seem confirmed by the testimony of the truth, then ought we to

154 attribute it, not to ourselves, but to God, who is blessed forever. --

155 Amen.

156 ---

157 >

158 Source.

159 >

160 St. Anselm: *Proslogium; Monologium: An Appendix In Behalf Of The Fool By Gaunilo;

161 > And Cur Deus Homo* , Translated From The Latin By Sidney Norton Deane, B. A. With An

162 > Introduction, Bibliography, And Reprints Of The Opinions Of Leading Philosophers And

163 > Writers On The Ontological Argument, (Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Company,, 1903,

164 > reprinted 1926)

165 >

166 Etext (with permission) from the Christian Classics

167 > Ethereal Library, here modernized in some spellings.

168 ---

169 >

170 This text is part of the Internet

171 > Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and

172 > copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.

173 >

174 Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright.

175 > Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational

176 > purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No

177 > permission is granted for commercial use.

178 >

179 © Paul Halsall, August 1998

180 > [email protected]

181 ---