121. To Henry.
The Letters of St. Anselm 2. Anselm was away from Bee on his second visit of England; see Epp
108, 118.
3. Cf. Mt 12:34.
4. Cf. Ps 33:9.
5. 1 Jn 2:17.
6. consanguines/conspirituales.
7. For the extraordinary passion and the desire of unification and iden tification, see Southern, Anselm, 72-73; W. Frohlich, 'Anselm's Weltbild as revealed in his letters', Anselm Studies 2 (1988) 483-525; B.P.
McGuire, Friendship and Community: The Monastic Experience, 350-1250.
(Kalamazoo, 1988).
121. TO HENRY.
Writing from England Anselm tries to persuade Henry to make his monastic profession soon. He does this by demonstrating that a monk can more certainly win his salvation than a man living in the world and loving both God and the world.
TO HIS LORD, BROTHER, AND FRIEND, HENRY: BROTHER ANSELM,
STYLED ABBOT OF BEC, WISHING HIM THE PERFECTION AND
ACHIEVEMENT OF HIS GOOD WILL.
BLESSED BE GOD IN HIS GIFTS and holy in all his works A He permits your love to achieve so much of our desire for which you have gone away; and we pray that he may deign to accomplish what is still lacking in our vow and your reward. I am sending our advice on this matter through our brothers.
With regard to the grace and favor of the Duke, about which you wrote to me: I am very glad and give thanks for it to God, to him, and to you. This I plan to do through a letter to him when your messenger returns to him, as I heard this had been decided. And since I do not know whether this ought to be done before I return2 please send me his first name and the names of his wife and children as soon as you can. For I remember only his name, that he is called Vitalis.
By its uprightness your love, so dear to me, has so adhered itself to me that my heart desires the very same
The Letters of St. Anselm
for you as for myself, and for this reason I have already con ceived a great hope from your discourse. My mind cannot rest until this same desire of mine about you is satisfied.
Although no discourse can satisfy me until God has fulfilled what I desire, then, I am going to mention only a few things about this matter because of our intimate friendship—since
I do not speak to someone who is ignorant.
Ponder, therefore, dear friend: however much of the world's glory you may acquire, what would be the end, and in the end what would be the fruit, what would be the re ward? And on the other hand, [ponder] what awaits those who trample the glory of the world under foot. If you say,
'not only monks reach salvation,' it is true. But who are more certain [to do so], who higher? Those who strive to love God alone or those who want to couple love of God and love of the world at the same time? But perhaps some one may say that there is also danger in a community of monks. O why does the person who says this not consider what he says? O rational nature, but, since there is danger everywhere, is it rational advice which says that you choose to remain where the danger is greater? Moreover, if some one who endeavors to love God alone keeps his intention to the end, his salvation is certain. But if someone who wishes to love the world does not abandon his intention before the end, his salvation is either non-existent or doubt ful or of a lesser degree. Surely someone who does not choose to pursue that good when he perceives it to be more certain and better, proves clearly that he does not love what is good at all, or he loves it only a little.
But many say: God is more angered at the monk who sins than at others, because he falls from a loftier commitment.
This is true as long as he is in sin. But surely God receives the penitent monk more kindly and more tenderly if he returns to his commitment than [he does] the non-monk who has not even reached this commitment. For even after serious sin, the man whose commitment, both before and afterwards, is such that he cannot have a greater, pleases
The Letters of St. Anselm God more than someone who, either before or after a simi lar sin, neither wishes nor intends to do better, because he is unable to do it. If, therefore, it is better for the innocent and the penitent to come and to return to monastic life rather than to stay away, why do you delay? If you are snatched away from this life before [taking this step], the loss incurred is irreparable.3
I could tell you much, dearest friend, about the sublimity and moral certainty, the tranquility and the joy of monastic life if this letter did not already exceed its limits. Hurry there fore, towards so great a good because you will not reach the supreme good more successfully by any other means.
I have seen many who promised this and then delayed it, whom death carried off so they were able neither to com plete the affairs holding them back nor to begin what they had promised. I greatly fear this about you, but may God avert it from you. My dearest friend, farewell and do not delay.
Spring 1086 NOTES 1. Ps 144:17.
2. For Anselm's second visit to England, see Epp 108, 118.
3. This issue is more fully dealt with in 'Liber Anselmi Archiepiscopi de humanis moribus per similitudines', chap. 82, 83, in Memorials of St Anselm, ed. R.W. Southern and F.S. Schmitt (London, 1969) 71-73.