51. TO THE MONKS HERLUIN,: Gundulf, And Maurice.
The Letters of St. Anselm
51. TO THE MONKS HERLUIN,
GUNDULF, AND MAURICE.
Anselm assures the monks of Bee who are at Canterbury of his fraternal and paternal love, and although they have Archbishop Lanfranc as their spiritual guide he encourages them to persevere faithfully in their monastic way of life in order to be among the chosen few.
TO HIS DEAREST FELLOW-MONKS, BROTHERS AND FRIENDS
HERLUIN, GUNDULF, AND MAURICE1: BROTHER ANSELM WISHES
THAT, RISING FROM VIRTUE TO VIRTUE THEY MAY REACH CHRIST,
THE SUPREME VIRTUE OF GOD.
SINCE YOU ARE EQUALLY INTENT on one purpose and since what I desire for you differs not at all, I link you together in the greeting of a single letter. If you remember, beloved friends, that I always longed to see how you were when you were present you will know well enough that I long to hear from you frequently now that you are absent.
Since, as your conscience is my witness, I wanted to pour out —I do not say expend—from my heart a brother's love to all of you, and moreover a father's love to one of you,2 no interval of earth or water lying between us can cut off my affection for you. Therefore, although you have the counsel and advice of our reverend lord and father the arch bishop,3 and close at hand that constant private meditation which your profession imposes on you, as well as the fre quent mutual conversations inflamed by religious fervor which suffice to help your well-kindled enthusiasm to progress daily for the better: nonetheless, untiring love de mands that you not be deprived of our exhortations, whatever their worth, even though you are far away and not in need of them.
I admonish and entreat you, therefore, dearest friends, that there be nothing to distract your minds from their watchfulness. May they carefully investigate what they daily gain by advancing lest—which God forbid—they lose it by falling back. As, in the case of virtue, it is more difficult to
The Letters of St. Anselm gain by effort something which has been lacking than it is to lose it by idleness, so it is more difficult to recover what has been lost by negligence than to acquire what one has not yet been known to possess. Therefore, dearly beloved, always consider what is past as nothing, so you do not fail to hold on to those virtues you have attained; and even if you are unable, through infirmity, to add anything to them, always strive to do so by persistent effort. By the word of Truth we are all assured that among the many called, few are chosen;4 but since Truth was silent about this we are all ignorant about how few there are. Therefore, anyone who does not already live as one of the few must either amend his way of life and join the few, or he must surely fear condemnation. But indeed anyone who considers him self already among the few should not immediately rely on the certainty of being chosen. In fact, since none of us knows to how small a number the chosen are reduced, nobody therefore knows whether he is already among the few who are chosen, even if he lives just like one of the few among the many called. Therefore, let nobody, by looking over his shoulder, consider himself ahead of many others on the path to the heavenly home. But he should look steadily forward and consider diligently whether he is already proceeding at the same pace as those whose election no one doubts.
See to it, therefore, dearest friends, that the fear of God which you experience does not cool down under any pretext; but let it always grow daily more fervent, as if fanned by your untiring zeal until, transformed, it shines brightly for you into eternal safety.5
Farewell, my dearly beloved friends. And I ask you through the fraternal charity you owe me, pray as you are used to doing even more fervently, lest I, who exhort you towards perfection, make a miserable failure of the course on which I once set out and which I have now almost completed.6 c. 1074/75.