St. Anselm

by Sidney Norton Deane, B. A.

  St. Anselm

  St. Anselm

  Sidney Norton Deane, B. A.

  1873 Press

  First Published 1903

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

  Published in the United States by 1873 Press, New York.

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  Book Design by Ericka O'Rourke, Elm Design

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  ISBN 0-594-04103-1

  Contents

  Introduction

  Proslogium

  Preface

  I. Exhortation of the mind to the contemplation of God

  II. Truly there is a God, although the fool hath said in his heart, etc

  III. God cannot be conceived not to exist

  IV. How the fool has said in his heart what cannot be conceived

  V. God is whatever it is better to be than not to be; and he, as the only self-existent being, creates all things from nothing

  VI. How God is sensible (sensibilis) although he is not a body

  VII. How he is omnipotent, although there are many things of which he is not capable

  VIII. How he is compassionate and passionless

  IX. How God is supremely just

  X. How he justly punishes and justly spares the wicked.

  XI. How all the ways of God are compassion and truth; and yet God is just in all his ways

  XII. God is the very life whereby he lives

  XIII. How he alone is uncircumscribed and eternal

  XIV. How and why God is seen and yet not seen by those who seek him

  XV. He is greater than can be conceived

  XVI. This is the unapproachable light wherein he dwells

  XVII. In God is harmony, etc

  XVIII. God is life, wisdom, eternity, and every true good

  XIX. He does not exist in place or time, but all things exist in him

  XX. He exists before all things and transcends all things, even the eternal things

  XXI. Is this the age of the age, or ages of ages

  XXII. He alone is what he is and who he is

  XXIII. This good is equally Father, and Son and Holy Spirit

  XXIV. Conjecture as to the character and the magnitude of this good

  XXV. What goods, and how great, belong to those who enjoy this good

  XXVI. Is this joy which the Lord promises made full

  Monologium

  Preface

  I. There is a being which is best, and greatest, and highest of all existing beings

  II. The same subject continued

  III. There is a certain Nature through which whatever is exists, etc.

  IV. The same subject continued

  V. Just as this Nature exists through itself, and other beings through it, so it derives existence from itself, and other beings from it

  VI. This Nature was not brought into existence with the help of any external cause, yet it does not exist through nothing, or derive existence from nothing.

  VII. In what way all other beings exist through this Nature and derive existence from it

  VIII. How it is to be understood that this Nature created all things from nothing

  IX. Those things which were created from nothing had an existence before their creation in the thought of the Creator

  X. This thought is a kind of expression of the thoughts created (locutio rerum), like the expression which an artisan forms in his mind for what he intends to make

  XI. The analogy, however, between the expression of the Creator and the expression of the artisan is very complete

  XII. This expression of the supreme Being is the supreme Being

  XIII. As all things were created through the supreme Being, so all live through it

  XIV. This Being is in all things, and throughout all

  XV. What can or cannot be stated concerning the substance of this Being

  XVI. For this Being it is the same to be just that it is to be justice

  XVII. It is simple in such a way that all things that can be said of its essence are one and the same in it

  XVIII. It is without beginning and without end

  XIX. In what sense nothing existed before or will exist after this Being

  XX. It exists in every place and at every time

  XXI. It exists in no place or time

  XXII. How it exists in every place and time, and in none

  XXIII. How it is better conceived to exist everywhere than in every place

  XXIV. How it is better understood to exist always than at every time

  XXV. It cannot suffer change by any accidents

  XXVI. How this Being is said to be substance

  XXVII. It is not included among substances as commonly treated, yet it is a substance and an indivisible spirit

  XXVIII. This Spirit exists simply, and created beings are not comparable with him

  XXIX. His expression is identical with himself, and consubstantial with him

  XXX. This expression does not consist of more words than one, but is one Word

  XXXI. This Word itself is not the likeness of created beings, but the reality of their being

  XXXII. The supreme Spirit expresses himself by a coeternal Word

  XXXIII. He utters himself and what he creates by a single consubstantial Word

  XXXIV. How he can express the created world by his Word

  XXXV. Whatever has been created is in his Word and knowledge, life and truth

  XXXVI. In how incomprehensible a way he expresses or knows the objects created by him

  XXXVII. Whatever his relations to his creatures, this relation his Word also sustains

  XXXVIII. It cannot be explained why they are two, although they must be so

  XXXIX. This Word derives existence from the supreme Spirit by birth

  XL. He is most truly a parent, and that Word his offspring

  XLI. He most truly begets, and it is most truly begotten

  XLII. It is the property of the one to be most truly progenitor and Father, and of the other to be begotten and Son

  XLIII. Consideration of the common attributes of both and the individual properties of each

  XLIV. How one is the essence of the other

  XLV. The Son may more appropriately be called the essence of the Father, than the Father the essence of the son

  XLVI. How some of these truths which are thus expounded may also be conceived of in another way

  XLVII. The Son is the intelligence of intelligence and the truth of truth

  XLVIII. How the Son is the intelligence or wisdom of memory or the memory of the Father and of memory

  XLIX. The supreme Spirit loves himself

  L. The same love proceeds equally from Father and Son

  LI. Each loves himself and the other with equal love.

  LII. This love is as great as the supreme Spirit himself

  LIII. This Love is identical with the supreme Spirit, and yet it is itself with the Father and the Son one spirit

  LIV. It proceeds as a whole from the Father, and as a whole from the Son, and yet does not exist except as one love

  LV. This love is not their Son

  LVI. Only the Father begets and is unbegotten; only the Son is begotten; only love neither begotten nor unbegotten

  LVII. This love is uncreated and creator, as are Father and Son; it may be called the Spirit of Father and Son

  LVIII. As the Son is the essence or wisdom of the Father in the sense that he has the same essence or wisdom that the Father has; so likewise the Spirit is the essence and wisdom etc. of Father and Son

  LIX. The Father and the Son and their Spirit exist equally the one in the other

  LX. To none of th
ese is another necessary that he may remember, conceive, or love

  LXI. Yet there are not three, but one Father and one Son and one Spirit

  LXII. How it seems that of these three more sons than one are born

  LXIII. How among them there is only one Son of one Father, that is, one Word, and that from the Father alone

  LXIV. Though this truth is inexplicable, it demands belief

  LXV. How real truth may be reached in the discussion of an ineffable subject

  LXVI. Through the rational mind is the nearest approach to the supreme Being

  LXVII. The mind itself is the mirror and image of that Being

  LXVIII. The rational creature was created in order that it might love this Being

  LXIX. The soul that ever loves this Essence lives at some time in true blessedness

  LXX. This Being gives itself in return to the creature that loves it, that that creature may be eternally blessed

  LXXI. The soul that despises this being will be eternally miserable

  LXXII. Every human soul is immortal. And it is either forever miserable, or at some time truly blessed.

  LXXIII. No soul is unjustly deprived of the supreme good, and every effort must be directed toward that good

  LXXIV. The supreme Being is to be hoped for

  LXXV. We must believe in this Being, that is, by believing we must reach for it

  LXXVI. We should believe in Father and Son and in their Spirit equally, and in each separately, and in the three at once

  LXXVII. What is living and what dead faith

  LXXVIII. The supreme Being may in some sort be called Three

  LXXIX. The Essence itself is God, who alone is lord and ruler of all

  Appendix

  In Behalf of the Fool

  An answer to the argument of Anselm in the Proslogium. By Gaunilon

  Anselm's Apologetic

  I. A general refutation of Gaunilon's argument. It is shown that a being than which a greater cannot be conceived exists in reality

  II. The argument is continued. It is shown that a being than which a greater is inconceivable can be conceived, and also in so far, exists

  III. A criticism of Gaunilon's example, in which he tries to show that in this way the real existence of a lost island might be inferred from the fact of its being conceived

  IV. The difference between the possibility of conceiving of non-existence, and understanding non-existence

  V. A particular discussion of certain statements of Gaunilon's

  VI. A discussion of Gaunilon's argument, that any unreal beings can be understood in the same way, and would, to that extent, exist

  VII. In answer to another objection; that the supremely great being may be conceived not to exist, just as by the fool God is conceived not to exist

  VIII. The example of the picture, treated in Gaunilon's third chapter, is examined.—From what source a notion may be formed of the supremely great being of which Gaunilon inquired in his fourth chapter

  IX. The possibility of understanding and conceiving of the supremely great being. The argument advanced against the fool is confirmed

  X. The certainty of the foregoing argument.—The conclusion of the book

  Cur Deus Homo

  Book First

  Preface

  I.The question on which the whole work rests

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

  III. Objections of infidels and replies of believers

  IV. How these things appear not decisive to infidels, and merely like so many pictures

  V. How the redemption of man could not be effected by any other being but God

  VI. How infidels find fault with us for saying that God has redeemed us by his death, etc

  VII. How the devil had no justice on his side against man

  VIII. How, although the acts of Christ's condescension which we speak of do not belong to his divinity, it yet seems improper to infidels that these things should be said of him even as a man, etc

  IX. How it was of his own accord that he died

  X. On the same topics

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

  XII. Whether it were proper for God to put away sins by compassion alone, without any payment of debt

  XIII. How nothing less was to be endured, in the order of things, than that the creature should take away the honor due the Creator, etc

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

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

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

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

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

  XIX. How man cannot be saved without satisfaction for sin

  XX. That satisfaction ought to be proportionate to guilt

  XXI. How great a burden sin is

  XXII. What contempt man brought upon God when he allowed himself to be conquered by the devil

  XXIII. What man took from God by his sin

  XXIV. How, as long as man does not restore what he owes God, he cannot be happy

  XXV. How man's salvation by Christ is necessarily possible

  Book Second

  I. How man was made holy by God, so as to be happy in the enjoyment of God

  II. How man would never have died, unless he had sinned

  III. How man will rise with the same body which he has in this world

  IV. How God will complete, in respect to human nature, what he has begun

  V. How, although the thing may be necessary, God may no do it by a compulsory necessity

  VI. How no being, except the God-man, can make the atonement by which man is saved

  VII. How necessary it is for the same being to be perfect God and perfect man

  VIII. How it behooved God to take a man of the race of Adam, and born of a woman

  XIX. How of necessity the Word only can unite in one person with man

  X. How this man dies not of debt; and in what sense he can or cannot sin

  XI. How Christ dies of his own power

  XII. How, though he share in our weakness, he is not therefore miserable

  XIII. How, along with our other weaknesses, he does not partake of our ignorance

  XIV. How his death outweighs the number and greatness of our sins

  XV. How his death removes even the sins of his murderers

  XVI. How God took that man from a sinful substance, and yet without sin; and of the salvation of Adam and Eve

  XVII. How he did not die of necessity though he could not be born, except as destined to suffer death

  XVIIIa. How with God there is neither necessity nor impossibility

  XVIIIb. How Christ's life is paid to God for the sins of men

  XIX. How human salvation follows upon his death

  XX. How great and how just is God's compassion

  XXI. How it is impossible for the devil to be reconciled

  XXII. How the truth of the Old and New Testament is shown in the things which have been said

  Introduction

  THE present volume of St. Anselm's most important philosophical and theological writings contains: (1) The Proslogium (2) the Monologium, (3) the Cur Deus Homo, and (4) by way of historical complement, an Appendix to the Monologium entitled In Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilon, a monk of Marmoutiers. The Proslogium (which, though subsequent in point of time to the Monologium, is here placed first, as containing the famous ontological argument), the Monologium and the Appendix thereto were translated by Mr. Sidney Norton Deane, of New Haven, Conn.; the Cur Deus Homo was rendered by James Gardiner Vose, formerly of Milton, Conn., and later of Providence, R. I., and published in 1854 and 1855 in the Bibliotheca Sacra, then issued at Andover, Mass., by Warren F. Draper. The thanks of the reading public are due to all these gentlemen for their gratuitous labors in
behalf of philosophy.

  Welch's recent book Anselm and His Work, by its accessibility, renders any extended biographical notice of Anselm unneccessary. We append, therefore, merely a few brief paragraphs from Weber's admirable History of Philosophy on Anselm's position in the world of thought, and we afterwards add (this, at the suggestion of Prof. George M. Duncan, of Yale University) a series of quotations regarding Anselm's most characteristic contribution to philosophy—the ontological argument—from Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibnitz, Kant, Hegel, Dorner, Lotze, and Professor Flint. A bibliography also has been compiled. Thus the work will give full material and indications for the original study of one of the greatest exponents of Christian doctrine.

  Anselm's Philosophy

  (After Weber1)

  "The first really speculative thinker after Scotus is St. Anselmus, the disciple of Lanfranc. He was born at Aosta (1033), entered the monastery of Bec in Normandy (1060), succeeded Lanfranc as Abbot (1078), and as Archbishop of Canterbury (1093). He died in 1109. He left a great number of writings, the most important of which are: the Dialogus de grammatico, the Monologium de divinitatis essential sive Exemplum de ratione fidei, the Proslogium sive Fides quœrens intellectum, the De veritate, the De fide trinitatis, and the Cur Deus Homo?

  "The second Augustine, as St. Anselmus had been called, starts out from the same principle as the first; he holds that faith precedes all reflection and all discussion concerning religious things. The unbelievers, he says, strive to understand because they do not believe; we, on the contrary, strive to understand because we believe. They and we have the same object in view; but inasmuch as they do not believe, they cannot arrive at their goal, which is to understand the dogma. The unbeliever will never understand. In religion faith plays the part played by experience in the understanding of the things of this world. The blind man cannot see the light, and therefore does not understand it; the deaf-mute, who has never perceived sound, cannot have a clear idea of sound. Similarly, not to believe means not to perceive, and not to perceive means not to understand. Hence, we do not reflect in order that we may believe; on the contrary, we believe in order that we may arrive at knowledge. A Christian ought never to doubt the beliefs and teachings of the Holy Catholic Church. All he can do is to strive, as humbly as possible, to understand her teachings by believing them, to love them, and resolutely to observe them in his daily life. Should he succeed in understanding the Christian doctrine, let him render thanks to God, the source of all intelligence! In case he fails, that is no reason why he should obstinately attack the dogma, but a reason why he should bow his head in worship. Faith ought not merely to be the starting-point,—the Christian's aim is not to depart from faith but to remain in it,—but also the fixed rule and goal of thought, the beginning, the middle, and the end of all philosophy.