What contempt man brought upon God, when he allowed himself to be conquered by the devil; for which he can make no satisfaction.
Anselm. Man being made holy was placed in paradise,
as it were in the place of God, between God and the devil, to conquer the devil
by not yielding to his temptation, and so to vindicate the honor of God and put
the devil to shame, because that man, though weaker and dwelling upon earth,
should not sin though tempted by the devil, while the devil, though stronger
and in heaven, sinned without any to tempt him. And when man could have easily
effected this, he, without
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Boso. To what would you bring me?
Anselm. Decide for yourself if it be not contrary to the honor of God for man to be reconciled to Him, with this calumnious reproach still heaped upon God; unless man first shall have honored God by overcoming the devil, as he dishonored him in yielding to the devil. Now the victory ought to be of this kind, that, as in strength and immortal vigor, he freely yielded to the devil to sin, and on this account justly incurred the penalty of death; so, in his weakness and mortality, which he had brought upon himself, he should conquer the devil by the pain of death, while wholly avoiding sin. But this cannot be done, so long as from the deadly effect of the first transgression, man is conceived and born in sin.
Boso. Again I say that the thing is impossible, and reason approves what you say.
Anselm. Let me mention one thing more, without which man's reconciliation cannot be justly effected, and the impossibility is the same.
Boso. You have already presented so many obligations which we ought to fulfil, that nothing which you can add will alarm me more.
Anselm. Yet listen.
Boso. I will.
What man took from God by his sin, which he has no power to repay.
Anselm. What did man take from God, when he allowed himself to be overcome by the devil?
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Boso. Go on to mention, as you have begun, the evil things which can be added to those already shown for I am ignorant of them.
Anselm. Did not man take from God whatever He had purposed to do for human nature?
Boso. There is no denying that.
Anselm. Listen to the voice of strict justice; and judge according to that whether man makes to God a real satisfaction for his sin, unless, by overcoming the devil, man restore to God what he took from God in allowing himself to be conquered by the devil; so that, as by this conquest over man the devil took what belonged to God, and God was the loser, so in man's victory the devil may be despoiled, and God recover his right.
Boso. Surely nothing can be more exactly or justly conceived.
Anselm. Think you that supreme justice can violate this justice?
Boso. I dare not think it.
Anselm. Therefore man cannot and ought not by any means to receive from God what God designed to give him, unless he return to God everything which he took from him; so that, as by man God suffered loss, by man, also, He might recover His loss. But this cannot be effected except in this way: that, as in the fall of man all human nature was corrupted, and, as it were, tainted with sin, and God will not choose one of such a race to fill up the number in his heavenly kingdom; so, by man's victory, as many men may be justified from sin as are needed to complete the number which man was made to fill. But a sinful man can by no means do this, for a sinner cannot justify a sinner.
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Boso. There is nothing more just or necessary; but, from all these things, the compassion of God and the hope of man seems to fail, as far as regards that happiness for which man was made.
Anselm. Yet wait a little.
Boso. Have you anything further?