[249] Ante, Chapter XI., IV.
[250] Proslogion, cap. 24 (Migne 158, col. 239).
“Awaken now, my soul, and rouse all thy mind, and consider, as thou art able, of what nature and how great is that Good (God). For if single goods are objects of delight, consider intently how delightful is that good which contains the joy of all goods; and not such as in things created we have tried, but differing as greatly as differs the Creator from the creature. For if life created is good, how good is the life creatrix! If joyful is the salvation wrought, how joyful is the salvation which wrought all salvation! If lovely is wisdom in the knowledge of things created, how lovely is the wisdom which created all from nothing. In fine, if there are many and great delectations in things delightful, of what quality and greatness is delectation (i.e. the delectation that we take) in Him who made the delights themselves!”
The reader may observe that the word-order of Anselm’s Latin is preserved almost unchanged in the translation.
[251] “Meditatio II.” (Migne 158, col. 722).
“My soul is offended with my life. I blush to live; I fear to die. What then remains for thee, O sinner, save that all thy life thou weepest over all thy life, that it all may lament its whole self. But in this also is my soul miserably wonderful and wonderfully miserable, since it does not grieve as much as it knows itself (i.e. to the full extent of its self-knowledge) but secure, is listless as if it knew not what it may be suffering. O barren soul, what art thou doing? why art thou drowsing, sinner soul? The Day of Judgment is coming, near is the great day of the Lord, near and too swift the day of wrath, (that day!) day of tribulation and distress, day of calamity and misery, day of shades and darkness, day of cloud and whirlwind, day of the trump and the roar! O voice of the day of the Lord—harsh! Why sleepest thou, soul lukewarm and fit to be spewed out?”
[252] Perhaps it may seem questionable to treat Anselm as an Italian, since he left Lombardy when a young man. Undoubtedly his theological interests were affected by his northern environment. But his temperament and language, his diction, his style, seem to me more closely connected with native temperament.
[253] Annals for the year 1077 (Migne 146, col. 1234 sqq.); also in Mon. Germ. Script. iii.
[254] Sermo xvi. (Migne 183, col. 851). The power of this passage keeps it from being hysterical. But the monkish hysteria, without the power, may be found in the writings of St. Bernard’s jackal, William of St. Thierry, printed in Migne, Pat. Lat. 180. Notice his Meditationes, for example; also his De contemplando Deo, printed among St. Bernard’s works (Migne 184, col. 365 sqq.).
[255] Sermo xv. (Migne 183, col. 847). Translated ante, Vol. I., p. 411.