III. A Prayer to Christ for my friends.
St. Anselm The Devotions of Saint Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury of them that die. Come, most holy Spirit, come and have mercy upon me, and fit me to receive
Thee: and graciously grant to me that my littleness may be pleasing to Thy greatness, my weakness to Thy strength, according to the multitude of Thy mercies, through Jesus Christ my Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with the Father in the Unity that is of Thee, world without end. Amen.
III A Prayer to Christ for my friends.198
O SWEET and gracious Lord Jesus Christ, who hast shown unto us such charitable love as no man hath greater, nor can any man have so great; Thou who didst not deserve to die,199 and yet didst lay down Thy life in Thy goodness for Thy servants, and didst pray even for Thy murderers,200 that Thou mightest make them Thy brethren and sharers in Thy righteousness, and reconcile them to Thy merciful Father and to Thyself; Thou, O Lord, who didst show this great charity to Thine enemies, didst also command Thy friends to show the like. O good Lord, with what affection shall
I call to mind Thine inestimable charity? What reward shall I give201 for Thine unspeakable benefit?
For the sweetness of Thy grace exceedeth all affection, and the greatness of Thy benefit surpasseth all reward. What reward then shall I give unto Him who created me, and created me anew? What reward shall I give unto Him that had mercy upon me and redeemed me? O Lord, Thou art my God, my goods are nothing unto Thee.202 The whole world is Thine and all that is therein.203 What reward
This is the 23rd Prayer in Gerberon's edition.
In the famous treatise on the Atonement called Cur Deus Homo, or Why God became Man, St Anselm makes much of the thought that the man Christ, being free alike from original and from actual sin, discharged in dying no debt of nature, but did something over and above what was required of Him (namely, a righteous life) and offered to God something which indeed belonged to God already, as does everything which He created, but which God did not exact, and could thus be reckoned as a satisfaction for the sins of others. To this thought he here refers, saying that Christ owed no debt which was paid by Him in dying.
Luke xxiii. 34.
Ps. cxvi. 11.
Ps. xvi. 2.
Ps. l. 12.
St. Anselm The Devotions of Saint Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury shall I, who am poor and needy,204 who am a worm,205 who am dust and ashes,206 give unto my God, except to obey His commandment from my heart. And this is Thy commandment. That we love another.207
O Thou that art good as man, as God, as Lord, as friend, as whatsoever Thou art, Thy humble,
Thy despicable servant desires to obey this Thy commandment. Thou knowest, O Lord, that I am in love with that love which Thou commandest.208 I seek that love, I follow after it, for the sake thereof I, thy poor and needy209 servant knock and cry out at the door of Thy mercy. And in so far forth as I have already received the sweet alms of Thy free bounty, and love all men in Thee and for Thy sake, though not as I ought, nor as I would, I entreat Thee to show mercy to all men.
Nevertheless, as there are some the love of whom Thy loving-kindness hast in an especial manner more intimately impressed upon my heart, I do more ardently wish them well and desire more earnestly to pray for them. Very great is Thy servant's longing210 to pray for them, O good
God: yet he is afraid to appear in the company of his loved ones, because he is guilty before Thee.
For with what countenance shall I, who am not worthy to ask pardon for myself, presume to entreat
Thy favour for others? And I who anxiously seek others to pray for me, with what confidence can
I pray for them? What shall I do, Lord God, what shall I do? Thou biddest me pray for them, and my love desires to pray for them, yet while my conscience cries out that I should tremble for my own sins, I am afraid to speak for others. Shall I then disobey Thy bidding, because I have done what Thou hast forbidden? Nay rather, since I have presumed to do what Thou hast forbidden, I will embrace that which Thou hast commanded, if perchance obedience may treat my presumption, if perchance charity may cover the multitude of my sins.211
Ps. xl. 20.
Ps. xxii. 6.
Gen. xviii. 27.
John xv. 12.
The elaborate phrase of Anselm here, quia dilectionem quam jubes amo, amorem diligo, caritatem concupisco, using a number of synonyms for love which we can scarcely parallel in English, I have not attempted to translate closely.
Ps. xl. 20.
Here too I have not kept closely to the original which repeats the word Vult, wishes, three times.
1 Peter iv. 8.