CHAPTER XII

BUT certainly whatsoever Thou art, this Thou art by reason of nothing else outside of Thyself.²⁶²⁶   St Anselm means that there is this difference between God and us: if one of us is living or wise or good we partake of a life or wisdom or a goodness which is not ourselves: we are said to have life or wisdom or goodness, not to be life or wisdom or goodness: we may cease to have them or partake of them, and then we are living or wise or good no longer. But with God this is not so; there is no such distinction between Him and His life or wisdom or goodness; He is that life or wisdom or goodness, in virtue of which He is said to be living or wise or good. Thou therefore art the life whereby Thou livest; and that wisdom whereby Thou art wise; and that very goodness, whereby Thou art good both to the good and also to the evil; and so with the rest of Thine attributes.