In this brief work the author aims at proving in a single argument the existence of God, and whatsoever we believe of God. — The difficulty of the task. — The author writes in the person of one who contemplates God, and seeks to understand what he be- lieves. To this work he had given this title: Faith Seeking Understanding. He finally named it Proslogium, — that is, A Discourse.
After I had published, at the solicitous entreaties of certain brethren, a brief work (the Monologiutii) as an example of meditation on the grounds of faith, in the person of one who investigates, in a course of silent reasoning with himself, matters of which he is igno- rant; considering that this book was knit together by the linking of many arguments, I began to ask myself whether there might be found a single argument which would require no other for its proof than itself alone; and alone would suffice to demonstrate that God truly exists, and that there is a supreme good requiring nothing else, which all other things require for their existence and well-being; and whatever we believe regarding the divine Being.
Although I often and earnestly directed my thought to this end, and at some times that which I sought ANSKLM.
v ust within my roach, while again it ,.u!:i.y mental vision, at last in despair I .v*.-j.isc. as if from the search for a thing .'. -.^-l L»c found. But when I wished to ex- ..:o^ht altogether, lest, by busying my ^: v:rpose, it should keep me from other i \v;i:ch I might be successful; then more ..v^h I was unwilling and shunned it, it .■;cc itself upon me, with a kind of impor- . ^uo o.iy. when I was exceedingly wearied ;,.;s importunity, in the very conflict of :.>,:>e proof of which I had despaired .•., >o::»at I eagerly embraced the thoughts .» >w»e:*uously repelling. lr%.: a out ore, that what I rejoiced to have...::v.t in writing, be welcome to some .. *..« \e».y matter, and of some others, I...:v following treatise, in the person of ..w*:o lift his mind to the contemplation...-*v\k> 10 understand what he believes.
either this work nor the other, which ^.;v^ e, Reserved to be called a book, or to...: aw author; and yet I thought they v v »v-.*.: soith without some title by which .v.o son. invite one into whose hands ivuis.il. I accordingly gave each v-.xt nv.jiht be known as, An Ex- ■ o.> o«.\ th;- lirouv.ds of Faith, and its Vv\.^ I' ■..,:; i s:.ir.v::rc. But, after o.»,v. 1*\,.v..;:\y ur.vUr:::ese titles, i.■ * >; v*\.;..\ Hv.sio. ihe reverend w-. w. o o.-.Ssh/o.^^s:':.e apostolic ..,,s\:. v..e:o t:is e::ect on his .\ -o. %i.osv\ iv. \ v..;:r.c:^:::ese writi\'.i PROSLOGIUM.
ings. And that this might be done more fitly, I named the first, Monologium, that is, A Soliloquy; but the second, Proslogium, that is, A Discourse.
CHAPTER I.
Exhortation of the mind to the contemplation of God. — It casts aside cares, and excludes all thoughts save that of God, that it may seek Him. Man was created to see God. Man by sin lost the blessedness for which he was made, and found the misery for which he was not made. He did not keep this good when he could keep it easily. Without God it is ill with us. Our labors and attempts are in vain without God. Man cannot seek God, unless God himself teaches him; nor find him, unless he reveals himself. God created man in his image, that he might be mindful of him, think of him, and love him. The believer does not seek to understand, that he may be- jife. lieveJbut he believes that he may understand!] for unless he believed he would not understand.
Up now, slight man! flee, for a little while, thy occupations; hide thyself, for a time, from thy dis- turbing thoughts. Cast aside, now, thy burdensome cares, and put away thy toilsome business. Yield room for some little time to God; and rest for a little time in him. Enter the inner chamber of thy mind; shut out all thoughts save that of God, and such as * can aid thee in seeking him; close thy door and seek him. Speak now, my whole heart! speak now to God, saying, I seek thy face; thy face, Lord, will I seek (Psalms xxvii. 8). And come thou now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and how it may seek thee, where and how it may find thee.
Lord, if thou art not here, where shall I seek thee, being absent? But if thou art everywhere, why do I not see thee present? Truly thou dwellest in unap- 4 ANSELM.
proachable light. But where is unapproachable light, ~ or how shall I come to it? Or who shall lead me to that light and into it, that I may see thee in it? Again, by what marks, under what form, shall I seek thee? I have never seen thee, O Lord, my God; I do not know thy form. What, O most high Lord, shall this man do, an exile far from thee? What shall thy ser- vant do, anxious in his love of thee, and cast out afar from thy face? He pants to see thee, and thy face is too far from him. He longs to come to thee, and thy dwelling-place is inaccessible. He is eager to find - thee, and knows not thy place. He desires to seek thee, and does not know thy face. Lord, thou art my God, and thou art my Lord, and never have I seen thee. It is thou that hast made me, and hast made me anew, and hast bestowed upon me all the blessings I enjoy; and not yet do I know thee. FinaUy, I was " created to see thee, and not yet have I done that for which I was made.
O wretched lot of man, when he hath lost that for which he was made! O hard and terrible fate! Alas, what has he lost, and what has he found? What has departed, and what remains? He has lost the blessed- ' ness for which he was made, and has found the misery for which he was not made. That has departed with- out which nothing is happy, and that remains which, in itself, is only miserable. Man once did eat the bread of angels, for which he hungers now; he eateth now the bread of sorrows, of which he knew not then. Alas! for the mourning of all mankind, for the uni- versal lamentation of the sons of Hades! He choked with satiety, we sigh with hunger. He abounded, we beg. He possessed in happiness, and miserably for- sook his possession; we suffer want in unhappiness, PROSLOGIUM. 5 and feel a miserable longing, and alas! we remain empty.
Why did he not keep for us, when he could so easily, that whose lack we should feel so heavily? Why did he shut us away from the light, and cover us over with darkness? With what purpose did he rob us of life, and inflict death upon us? Wretches that we are, whence have we been driven out; whither are we driven on? Whence hurled? Whither con- signed to ruin? From a native country into exile, from the vision of God into our present blindness, from the joy of immortality into the bitterness and horror of death. Miserable exchange of how great a good, for how great an evil! Heavy loss, heavy grief heavy all our fate!
But alas! wretched that I am, one of the sons of Eve, far removed from God! What have I under- taken? What have I accomplished? Whither was I striving? How far have I come? To what did I as- pire? Amid what thoughts am I sighing? I sought blessings, and lo! confusion. I strove toward God, and I stumbled on myself. I sought calm in privacy, and I found tribulation and grief, in my inmost thoughts. I wished to smile in the joy of my mind, and I am compelled to frown by the sorrow of my heart. Gladness was hoped for, and lo! a source of frequent sighs!
And thou too, O Lord, how long? How long, O Lord, dost thou forget us; how long dost thou turn thy face from us? When wilt thou look upon us, and hear us? When wilt thou enlighten our eyes, and show us thy face? When wilt thou restore thyself to us? Look upon us, Lord; hear us, enlighten us, re- veal thyself to us. Restore thyself to us, that it may li 5 ANSELM.
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be well with us, — thyself, without whom it is so ill with us. Pity our toilings and strivings toward thee, since we can do nothing without thee. Thou dost in- vite us; do thou help us. I beseech thee, O Lord, that I may not lose hope in sighs, but may breathe anew in hope. Lord, my heart is made bitter by its desolation; sweeten thou it, I beseech thee, with thy consolation. Lord, in hunger I began to seek thee; I beseech thee that I may not cease to hunger for thee. In hunger I have come to thee; let me not go unfed. I have come in poverty to the Rich, in misery to the Compassionate; let me not return empty and de- spised. And if, before I eat, I sigh, grant, even after sighs, that which I may eat. Lord, I am bowed down and can only look downward; raise me up that I may look upward. My iniquities have gone over my head; they overwhelm me; and, like a heavy load, they weigh me down. Free me from them; unburden me, that the pit of iniquities may not close over me.
Be it mine to look up to thy light, even from afar, even from the depths. Teach me to seek thee, and reveal thyself to me, when I seek thee, for I cannot seek thee, except thou teach me, nor find thee, except thou reveal thyself. Let me seek thee in longing, let j me long for thee in seeking; let me find thee in love, / and love thee in finding. Lord, I acknowledge and ** I thank thee that thou hast created me in this thine image, in order that I may be mindful of thee, may conceive of thee, and love thee; but that image has been so consumed and wasted away by vices, and ob- scured by the smoke of wrong-doing, that it cannot achieve that for which it was made, except thou re- new it, and create it anew. I do not endeavor, O Lord, to penetrate thy sublimity, for in no wise do I i PROSLOGIUM. 7 compare my understanding with that; but I long to understand in some degree thy truth, which my heart believes and loves. * For I do not seek to understand v. that I may believe, but I believe in order to under- ■ > Jjt stand. For this also I believe, — that unless I be-, ^ 4 lieved, I should not understand. ^, ^ CHAPTER II.
V* y v° Truly there is a God, although the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
And so, Lord, do thou, who dost give understand- ing to faith, give me, so far as thou knowest it to be profitable, to understand that thou art as we believe; and that thou art that which we believe. And, in- */ ^ deed, we believe that thou art a being than which j v*;i nothing greater can be conceived. Or is there no such ' x nature, since the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God? (Psalms xiv. i). But, at any rate, this very fool, when he hears of this being of which I speak — a being than which nothing greater can be conceived — understands what he hears, and what he understands is in his understanding; although he does not understand<3to exist.
For, it is one thing for an object to be in the un- derstanding, and another to understand that the ob- ject exists. When a painter first conceives of what. ^P he will afterwards perform, he has it in his under- standing, but he does not yet understand it to be, be- \ cause he has not yet performed it. But after he has made the painting, he both has it in his understand- ing, and he understands that it exists, because he has made it.
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Hence, even the fool is convinced that something exists in the understanding, at least, than which noth- ing greater can be conceived. For, when he hears of this, he understands it. And whatever is understood, exists in the understanding. And assuredly that, than . which nothing greater can be conceived, cannot exist • >:" in the understanding alone. For, suppose it exists in \' the understanding alone: then it can be conceived to exist in reality; which is greater. ■\ Therefore, if that, than which nothing greater can v be conceived, exists in the understanding alone, the very being, than which nothing greater can be con- ceived, is one, than which a greater can be conceived. But obviously this is impossible. Hence, there is no doubt that there exists a being, than which nothing greater can be conceived, and it exists both in the understanding and in reality.
CHAPTER III.
God cannot be conceived not to exist. — God is that, than which nothing greater can be conceived. — That which can be con- ceived not to exist is not God.
And it assuredly exists so truly, that it cannot be conceived not to exist. For, it is possible to conceive of a being which cannot be conceived not to exist; and this is greater than one which can be conceived not to exist. Hence, if that, than which nothing greater can be conceived, can be conceived not to ex- ist, it is not that, than which nothing greater can be conceived. But this is an irreconcilable contradiction. There is, then, so truly a being than which nothing greater can be conceived to. exist, that it cannot even PROSLOGIUM. 9 be conceived not to exist; and this being thou art, O Lord, our God.
So truly, therefore, dost thou exist, O Lord, my God, that thou canst not be conceived not to exist; anfi rightly. For, if a mind could conceive of a being better than thee, the creature would rise above the Creator; and this is most absurd. And, indeed, what- ever else there is, except thee alone, can be conceived not to exist. To thee alone, therefore, it belongs to exist more truly than all other beings, and hence in a higher degree than all others. For, whatever else ex- ists does not exist so truly, and hence in a less degree it belongs to it to exist. Why, then, has the fool said in his heart, there is no God (Psalms xiv. i), since it is so evident, to a rational mind, that thou dost exist in the highest degree of all? Why, except that he is dull and a fool?
CHAPTER IV.
How the fool has said in his heart what cannot be conceived. — A thing may be conceived in two ways: (i) when the word sig- nifying it is conceived; (2) when the thing itself is understood As far as the word goes, God can be conceived not to exist; in reality he cannot.
But how has the fool said in his heart what he could not conceive; or how is it that he could not conceive what he said in his heart? since it is the same to say in the heart, and to conceive.
But, if really, nay, since really, he both conceived, because he said in his heart; and did not say in his heart, because he could not conceive; there is more than one way in which a thing is said in the heart or conceived. For, in- one sense, an object is conceived, 1 -\ IO ANSCLM.
when the word signifying it is conceived; and in an- other, when the very entity, which the object is, is understood.
In the former sense, then, God can be conceived not to exist; but in the latter, not at all. For no one who understands what fire and water are can conceive fire to be water, in accordance with the nature of the facts themselves, although this is possible according to the words. So, then, no one who understands what God is can conceive that God does not exist; although he says these words in his heart, either without any. or with some foreign, signification. For, God is that " than which a greater cannot be conceived. And he who thoroughly understands this, assuredly under- stands that this being so truly exists, that not even' in concept can it be non-existent. Therefore, he who understands that God so exists, cannot conceive that he does not exist.
I thank thee, gracious Lord, I thank thee; be- cause what I formerly believed by thy bounty, I now so understand by thine illumination, that if I were un- willing to believe that thou dost exist, I should not be able not to understand this to be true.
CHAPTER V.
God is whatever it is better to be than not to be; and he, as the only self-existent being, creates all things from nothing.
What art thou, then, Lord God, than whom noth- ing greater can be conceived? But what art thou, (except that which, as the highest of all beings, alone % exists through itself, and creates all other things from < nothing? For, whatever is not this is less than a thing ' which can be conceived of. But this cannot be con- PROSLOGIUM. II *J , ceived of thee. What good, therefore, does the su- q A> » jJ preme Good lack, through which every good is?. ^T Therefore, thou art just, truthful, blessed, and whatXl f v, / ever it is better to be than not to be. For it is better" * «-£" to be just than not just; better to be blessed than not..■> 7 blessed. v^ t- CHAPTER VI.
How God is sensible (senstbth's) although he is not a body.— God is sensible, omnipotent, compassionate, passionless; for it is better to be these than not be. He who in any way knows, is not improperly said in some sort to feel.
But, although it is better for thee to be sensible, omnipotent, compassionate, passionless, than not to be these things; how art thou sensible, if thou art not a body; or omnipotent, if thou hast not all powers; or at once compassionate and passionless? For, if only corporeal things are sensible, since the senses encompass a body and are in a body, how art thou sensible, although thou art not a body, but a supreme Spirit, who is superior to body? But, if feeling is/ only cognition, or for the sake of cognition, — for he who feels obtains knowledge in accordance with the proper functions of his senses; as through sight, of colors; through taste, of flavors, — whatever in any way cognises is not inappropriately said, in some sort, to feel.
Therefore, O Lord, although thou art not a body, yet thou art truly sensible in the highest degree in re- spect of this, that thou dost cognise all things in the highest degree; and not as an animal cognises, through a corporeal sense.
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CHAPTER VII.
, How he is omnipotent, although there are many things of which he is not capable. — To be capable of being corrupted, or of lying, is not power, but impotence. God can do nothing by virtue of impotence, and nothing has power against him.
But how art thou omnipotent, if thou art not capable of all things? Or, if thou canst not be cor- rupted, and canst not lie, nor make what is true, false — as, for example, if thou shouldst make what has been done not to have been done, and the like — how art thou capable of all things? Or else to be capable of these things is not power, but impotence. For, he who is capable of these things is capable of what is not for his good, and of what he ought not to do; and the more capable of them he is, the more power have adversity and perversity against him; and the less has he himself against these.
r He, then, who is thus capable is so not by power, but by impotence. For, he is not said to be able be-j \ cause he is able of himself, but because his impotence!
\gives something else power over him. Or, by a figure of speech, just as many words are improperly applied, as when we use "to be" for "not to be," and "to do" for what is really "not to do," or "to do noth- ing." For, often we say to a man who denies the existence of something: "It is as you say it to be/' though it might seem more proper to say, "It is not, as you say it is not." In the same way, we say: "This man sits just as that man does," or, "This man rests just as that man does"; although to sit is not to do anything, and to rest is to do nothing.
So, then, when one is said to have the power of PROSLOGIUM. 13 doing or experiencing what is not for his good, or what he ought not to do, impotence is understood in the word power. For, the more he possesses this power, the more powerful are adversity and perversity against him, and the more powerless is he against them.
Therefore, O Lord, our God, the more truly art I AXAiin,!.-,« ' thou omnipotent, since thou art capable of nothing' through impotence, and nothing has power against thee.
CHAPTER VIII.
How he is compassionate and passionless. God is compassionate, in terms of our experience, because we experience the effect of compassion. God is not compassionate, in terms of his own being, because he does not experience the feeling {affec- tus) of compassion.
But how art thou compassionate, and, at the same time, passionless? For, if thou art passionless, thou dost not feel sympathy; and if thou dost not feel sympathy, thy heart is not wretched from sympathy for the wretched; but this it is to be compassionate. But if thou art not compassionate, whence cometh so)- great consolation to the wretched? How, then, arT thou compassionate and not compassionate, O Lord, unless because thou art compassionate in terms oi\ our experience, and not compassionate in terms of f thy being.
Truly, thou art so in terms of our experience, but thou art not so in terms of thine own. For, when thou beholdest us in our wretchedness, we experience the effect of compassion, but thou dost not experience the feeling. Therefore, thou art both compassionate, because thou dost save the wretched, and spare those ANSELM.
who sin against thee; and not compassionate, because thou art affected by no sympathy for wretchedness.
CHAPTER IX.
How the all- just and supremely just God spares the wicked, and justly pities the wicked. He is better who is good to the righteous and the wicked than he who is good to the righteous alone. Although God is supremely just, the source of his compassion is hidden. God is supremely compassionate, be- cause he is supremely just. He saveth the just, because jus- tice goes with them; he frees sinners by the authority of jus- tice. God spares the wicked out of justice; for it is just that God, than whom none is better or more powerful, should be good even to the wicked, and should make the wicked good. If God ought not to pity, he pities unjustly. But this it is impious to suppose. Therefore, God justly pities.
(. But how dost thou spare the wicked, if thou art all just and supremely just? For how, being all just and supremely just, dost thou aught that is not just? Or, what justice is that to give him who merits eter- nal death everlasting life? How, then, gracious Lord, good to the righteous and the wicked, canst thou save the wicked, if this is not just, and thou dost not aught that is not just? Or, since thy goodness is incompre- hensible, is this hidden in the unapproachable light wherein thou dwellest? Truly, in the deepest and most secret parts of thy goodness is hidden the foun- tain whence the stream of thy compassion flows.
For thou art all just and supremely just, yet thou art kind even to the wicked, even because thou art all supremely good. For thou wouldst be less good if thou wert not kind to any wicked being. For, he i who is good, both to the righteous and the wicked, ;f is better than he who is good to the wicked alone; PROSLOGIUM. 15 and he who is good to the wicked, both by punishing? and sparing them, is better than he who is good by j punishing them alone. Therefore, thou art compas-^ sionate, because thou art all supremely good. And, although it appears why thou dost reward the good with goods and the evil with evils; yet this, at least, is most wonderful, why thou, the all and supremely just, who lackest nothing, bestowest goods on the wicked and on those who are guilty toward thee.
The depth of thy goodness, O God! The source of thy compassion appears, and yet is not clearly seen! We see whence the river flows, but the spring whence it arises is not seen. For, it is from the abun- dance of thy goodness that thou art good to those who sin against thee; and in the depth of thy good- ness is hidden the reason for this kindness.
For, although thou dost reward the good with goods and the evil with evils, out of goodness, yet this the concept of justice seems to demand. But, when thou dost bestow goods on the evil, and it is known that the supremely Good hath willed to do this, we wonder why the supremely Just has been able to will this.
O compassion, from what abundant sweetness and what sweet abundance dost thou well forth to us! O boundless goodness of God, how passionately should sinners love thee! For thou savest the just, because justice goeth with them; but sinners thou dost free by the authority of justice. Those by the help of their deserts; these, although their deserts oppose. Those by acknowledging the goods thou hast granted; these by pardoning the evils thou hatest. O bound- less goodness, which dost so exceed all understand- ing, let that compassion come upon me, which pro- 1 6 ANSELM.
ceeds from thy so great abundance! Let it flow upon me, for it wells forth from thee. Spare, in mercy; avenge not, in justice.
For, though it is hard to understand how thy com- passion is not inconsistent with thy justice; yet we must believe that it does not oppose justice at all, because it flows from goodness, which is no goodness without justice; nay, that it is in true harmony with justice. For, if thou art compassionate only because \ thou art supremely good, and supremely good only < because thou art supremely just, truly thou art com- passionate even because thou art supremely just. Help me, just and compassionate God, whose light I seek; help me to understand what I say.
Truly, then, thou art compassionate even because thou art just. Is, then, thy compassion born of thy justice? And dost thou spare the wicked, therefore, out of justice? If this is true, my Lord, if this is true, teach me how it is. Is it because it is just, that thou shouldst be so good that thou canst not be conceived better; and that thou shouldst work so powerfully that thou canst not be conceived more powerful? For what can be more just than this? Assuredly it could not be that thou shouldst be good only by requiting (retribuendo) and not by sparing, and that thou shouldst make good only those who are not good, and not the wicked also. In this way, therefore, it is just that thou shouldst spare the wicked, and make good souls of evil.
Finally, what is not done justly ought not to be done; and what ought not to be done is done un- justly. If, then, thou dost not justly pity the wicked, thou oughtest not to pity them. And, if thou oughtest not to pity them, thou pityest them unjustly. And if PROSLOGIUM. 17 Jt is impious to suppose this, it is right to believe that thou justly pityest the wicked.
CHAPTER X.
**ovr he justly punishes and justly spares the wicked. — God, in sparing the wicked, is just, according to his own nature, be- cause he does what is consistent with his goodness; but he is not just, according to our nature, because he does not inflict the punishment deserved.
But it is also just that thou shouldst punish the w icked. For what is more just than that the good,* should receive goods, and the evil, evils? How, then, 1S it just that thpu shouldst punish the wicked, and, at the same time, spare the wicked? Or, in one way, ^°st thou justly punish, and, in another, justly spare theim? For, when thou punishest the wicked, it is ^ Just, because it is consistent with their deserts; and / yk^», on the other hand, thou sparest the wicked, it [ ls J vxst, not because it is compatible with their deserts, ' bu * because it is compatible with thy goodness. > for, in sparing the wicked, thou art as just, ac- cor *^iing to thy nature, but not according to ours, as ^^ la art compassionate, according to our nature, and no ^ according to thine; seeing that, as in saving us, w ^Om it would be just for thee to destroy, thou art ^ co *>c*passionate, not because thou feelest an affection yP&^ctuni), but because we feel the effect (effecturn); so thou art just, not because thou requites t us as we ^ e ^erve, but because thou dost that which becomes *"^« as the supremely good Being. In this way, therefore, without contradiction thou dost justly pun- ish and justly spare.
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CHAPTER XI.
How all the ways of God are compassion and truth; and yet God is just in all his ways. — We cannot comprehend why, of the wicked, he saves these rather than those, through his supreme goodness; and condemns those rather than these, through his supreme justice.
But, is there any reason why it is not also just, according to thy nature, O Lord, that thou shouldst punish the wicked? Surely it is just that thou shouldst be so just that thou canst not be conceived more just; and this thou wouldst in no wise be if thou didst only render goods to the good, and not evils to the evil. For, he who requiteth both good and evil according to their deserts is more just than he who so requites the good alone. It is, therefore, just, according to thy nature, O just and gracious God, both when thou dost punish and when thou sparest.
Truly, then, all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth (Psalms xxv. 10); and yet the Lord is right- eous in all his ways (Psalms cxlv. 17). And assuredly without inconsistency: For, it is not just that those whom thou dost will to punish should be saved, and that those whom thou dost will to spare should be condemned. For that alone is just which thou dost will; and that alone unjust which thou dost not will. So, then, thy compassion is born of thy justice.
For it is just that thou shouldst be so good that thou art good in sparing also; and this may be, the reason why the supremely Just can will goods tor the /evil. But if it can be comprehended in any way why thou canst will to save the wicked, yet by no consid- eration can we comprehend why, of those wljp, are PROSLOGIUM. 19 alike wicked, thou savest some rather than others,^ through supreme goodness; and why thou dost con- j> demn the latter rather than the former, through su-J preme justice.
So, then, thou art truly sensible (sensibilis), om-) nipotent, compassionate, and passionless, as thou artf living, wise, good, blessed, eternal: and whatever it/ is better to be than not to be.
CHAPTER XII.
God is the very life whereby he lives; and so of other like attri- butes.
o< But undoubtedly, whatever thou art, thou art through nothing else than thyself. Therefore, thou j <&* art the very life whereby thou livest; and the wisdom? v wherewith thou art wise; and the very goodness x /^ whereby thou art good to the righteous and the ' - wicked; and so of other like attributes.
CHAPTER XIII.
How he alone is uncircumscribed and eternal, although other spirits are uncircumscribed and eternal. — No place and time contain God. But he is himself everywhere and always. He alone not only does not cease to be, but also does not begin to be.
But everything that is in any way bounded by place or time is less than that which no law of place s or time limits. Since, then, nothing is greater than") thou, no place or time contains thee; but thou artj everywhere and always. And since this can be said of thee alone, thou alone art uncircumscribed and eternal. How is it, then, that other spirits also are"; said to be uncircumscribed and eternal?
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Assuredly thou art alone eternal; for thou alone among all beings not only dost not cease to be, but also dost not begin to be.
But how art thou alone uncircumscribed? Is it that a created spirit, when compared with thee, is circumscribed, but when compared with matter, un- circumscribed? For altogether circumscribed is that which, when it is wholly in one place, cannot at the same time be in another. And this is seen to be true ^oF corporeal things alone. But uncircumscribed is that which is, as a whole, at the same time every- where. And this is understood to be true of thee .alone. But circumscribed, and, at the same time, Aincircumscribed is that which, when it is anywhere as . a whole, can at the same time be somewhere else as a \whole, and yet not everywhere. And this is recog- nised as true of created spirits. For, if the soul were not as a whole in the separate members of the body, it would not feel as a whole in the separate members. ' Therefore, thou, Lord, art peculiarly uncircum- scribed and eternal; and yet other spirits also are un- circumscribed and eternal.
CHAPTER XIV.
/ How and why God is seen and yet not seen by those who seek him.
Hast thou found what thou didst seek, my soul? Thou didst seek God. Thou hast found him to be a being which is the highest of all beings, a being than which nothing better can be conceived; that this being is life itself, light, wisdom, goodness, eternal blessedness and blessed eternity; and that it is every- where and always.
PROSLOGIUM. 21 X**or, if thou hast not found thy God, how is he * v ^ being which thou hast found, and which thou ^-^t conceived him to be, with so certain truth and ^ true certainty? But, if thou hast found him, why") ** it that thou dost not feel thou hast found him?/ y hy, O Lord, our God, does not my soul feel thee, ^ it hath found thee? Or, has it not found him whom it found to be light and truth? For how did it under- stand this, except by seeing light and truth? Or, could it understand anything at all of thee, except through thy light and thy truth?