VIII. A Commemoration of the Incarnation of our Lord, whereby we have recovered all these things.
St. Anselm The Devotions of Saint Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury What have I done? As thou sayest this, smite upon thy breast, utter thy voice in groaning, pour forth thy tears. For if thou weepest not now, when wilt thou weep? If the turning away of the face of God from thee because of thy sins stir thee not to sorrow, let at least the greatness of the torments of hell, which these same sins of thine have provoked, break the hardness of thy heart.
Return then, return, thou wanderer from the right way, unto thy heart, draw thy foot back out of hell, that thou mayest be able to escape the evil things which thou hast deserved and win back the good things whereof thou art justly deprived. For if thou have respect to those things which are evil in thee, thou wilt find that thou hast lost all the good things which He had bestowed upon thee.
Thou must therefore ever turn thine eyes upon the evils within thee, and especially upon those whereof thy conscience most seriously accuseth thee, that He may turn away His eyes from them.
For if thou by a worthy purpose of amendment dost turn away thy sins, He turneth away from them the eyes of His vengeance; but if thou forgettest them, He remembereth them.
VIII A Commemoration of the Incarnation of our Lord, whereby we have recovered all these things.
THEREFORE, that thou mayest be delivered thence, hear the mercies of thy Redeemer toward thee.
Thou wast indeed blinded by the fault of thine original sin and couldest not behold the excellency of thy Creator. Encompassed by the cloud of thy sins thou wentest on still in darkness and, driven by the swift waves of the flood of thine offences, wast being swept down into everlasting night.
And, behold, thy Redeemer anointed thy blinded eyes with the salve of His incarnation, so that thou, who couldest not look upon God in His glory in the secret place of His majesty, mightest look upon God appearing in the form of a man, and beholding Him acknowledge Him, and acknowledging
Him love Him, and loving Him do thine utmost with all thy might to come unto His glory. He was made flesh that He might call thee back to the things of the spirit. He was made a partaker of thy changeableness that He might make thee a partaker of His unchangeableness. He condescended to thy lowliness that He might exalt thee unto His high loftiness. He was born of a pure virgin that He might heal the corruption of thy sinful nature. He was circumcised that He might teach man to cut off from himself all the superfluity of sinful lusts. He was presented in the temple and received by the holy widow,96 that He might admonish His faithful servants to be continually in the house of God and to endeavour by the practice of holy living to be worthy to receive Him. He was taken
Anna (Luke ii. 37).
St. Anselm The Devotions of Saint Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury into His arms and glorified by the aged Simeon, that He might show forth His love towards gravity of life and ripeness in righteousness. He was baptized that He might sanctify the sacrament of our baptism.97 In the river Jordan as He bowed Himself to receive baptism at the hand of John, He heard the voice of the Father, and received the Holy Ghost coming upon Him in the form of a dove, that He might teach us that we should abide in humility of mind, and therein be honoured by the word of the Father in heaven coming unto us, whereof it is said that His communication is with the simple,98 and glorified by the presence of the Holy Ghost, who resteth upon the lowly. For Jordan signifieth humility; since, being interpreted, Jordan is their descent.99 And He was baptized by the hand of John, whose name signifieth the grace of God,100 that whatsoever we receive of God, we should ascribe it to that grace and not to our own deservings. After fasting forty days He overcame the devil and his temptations, and was glorified by the ministry of angels, thereby teaching us in the whole time of this present life by refusing the delights of things temporal to trample under our feet the world with the prince thereof, and so to be escorted by the protection of angels. By day He abode with the people preaching the kingdom of God, and edifying the multitudes by His wonderful works and by His words. By night he went into a mountain, and gave Himself to prayer, teaching us, as the season requireth, sometimes by word and deed to show forth, according to our ability, to our neighbours among whom we live, the way of life; sometimes, entering into the stillness of our
soul and ascending the mountain of virtue, to breathe the sweet air of heavenly contemplation and without fainting to direct our thoughts to things above. He was transfigured in the mount before Peter, James, and John, instructing us thereby that if we study like Peter, whose name is by interpretation acknowledging,101 humbly to acknowledge our weakness, to supplant our sinful nature
(for supplanter is the meaning of James102), and in faith to submit ourselves to the grace of God
(which is the signification of John103), we shall to our happiness ascend the mount of heaven, there to behold the glory of Jesus, He Himself our King being also our guide thither. In Bethany, which
That is, by the baptism in the river Jordan did sanctify water to the mystical washing away of sin.
Prov. iii. 32, according to the Vulgate.
According to St Jerome, Liber de Nominibus Hebraicis (de Genesi).
According to St Jerome in the same work (de Actibus Apostolorum).
According to St Jerome, Lib. de Hebr. Nom. (de Evang. Lucae).
James = Jacob. See Gen. xxv. 26, xxvii. 36. St Jerome, Lib. de Hebr. Nom. (de Evang. Matt.).
According to St Jerome in the same work (de Actibus Apostolorum).