Bonaventure

Capitulum III.

Partis primae membrum II. Ostenditur vanitas rerum quoad varietatem in tempore, et hoc tribus articulis.

Omnia tempus habent etc. Supra egit de vanitate rerum ostendens, in iis esse variabilitatem ratione motus; hic secundo vult ostendere vanitatem quantum ad determinationem et varietatem in tempore¹. Et quia ostendit mutabilitatem rerum et varietatem non ad ipsarum contemptum, secundum quod sunt opera Dei, sed secundum quod amantur a nobis; ideo in hac parte ostendit primo temporum varietatem; secundo reprehendit nostram curiositatem, ibi: Quid habet amplius homo; tertio ostendit divinorum operum perpetuitatem, ibi: Et didici, quod opera Dei.

Art. 1. De varietate et mutabilitate rerum in tempore tum generaliter tum specialiter.

Prima pars habet duas, quia primo agit de varietate et mutabilitate rerum in tempore generaliter, secundo specialiter, inducendo et probando, ibi: Tempus nascendi.

Proponitur et probatur generaliter varietas et mutabilitas rerum in tempore.

(Vers. 1.). Proponit igitur generaliter dicens: Omnia tempus habent, id est temporis varietatem, quia ad Romanos octavo²: « Vanitati subiecta est creatura non volens ». Et suis spatiis transeunt universa sub sole, quantum ad praefixi temporis determinationem; Sapientiae undecimo: « Omnia in numero, pondere et mensura disposuisti »; primae ad Corinthios septimo: « Praeterit figura huius mundi »; et maxime hoc temporis spatio sibi praefixo; Iob decimo quarto: « Constituisti terminos eius, qui praeteriri non poterunt ».

Quaestiones

I. Hic est quaestio de hoc quod dicit: Omnia tempus habent.

1. Instantia est: quoniam « substantiae spirituales, ut dicit Hieronymus³, nec loco nec tempore continentur ».

2. Item, omne, quod est in tempore et habet tempus, est corporale⁴; sed substantiae spirituales sunt incorporales: ergo non sunt in tempore nec habent tempus.

Quod autem sint in tempore, videtur: 1. Quia dicit Augustinus ad Dardanum⁵: « Substantia spiritualis increata non movetur per tempus nec per locum; substantia spiritualis creata movetur per tempus, sed non per locum; corporalis creata per tempus et locum ».

2. Item, quod est in loco est in tempore; sed « solus Deus est incircumscriptibilis », ut dicit Damascenus⁶, ergo solus est intemporalis: ergo omnia alia tempus habent.

Respondeo: dicendum ad hoc, quod ista distributio est accommoda, sicut, quando dicitur: caelum tegit omnia, intelligitur de his quae sunt sub caelo⁷; et ideo non est ferenda instantia in substantia spirituali. — Si autem velimus distributionem extendere, dicemus, quod tempus dicitur tripliciter: communiter et proprie et magis proprie. Communiter, secundum quod dicit mensuram exitus de non-esse ad esse; et hoc modo est in omnibus, quia omnia initium habuerunt. Et hoc videtur littera innuere, quia ipse dicit, quod omnia tempus habent, sed non, quod omnia transeant nisi sub sole. — Alio modo proprie, prout importat variationem sive in substantia, sive in affectione; et sic adhuc substantia spiritualis habet tempus quantum ad mutationem affectuum. — Tertio modo magis proprie, prout est mensura excellens; et sic est corruptibilium, et non omnium.

p. 29 Quod ergo quaeritur, utrum substantiae spirituales habeant tempus; solvendum, quod primo modo habeant quantum ad substantiam; secundo modo, quantum ad aliquas affectiones; tertio modo non habent¹. — Et per hoc solvuntur contrarietates utriusque partis.

II. Quaeritur de secunda parte propositionis: Et suis spatiis transeunt universa sub sole, utrum transeant elementa. — Quod sic, videtur.

1. Apocalypsis vigesimo primo²: Vidi caelum novum et terram novam: ergo vetus transierat.

2. Item, primae Ioannis secundo³: Transit mundus et concupiscentia eius; et Matthaei vigesimo quarto⁴: Caelum et terra transibunt.

Contra: Sunt de constitutione universi: ergo cum universum maneat, manifestum est, quod etiam elementa.

Respondeo: dicendum, quod aliquid transire suo spatio est tripliciter: vel quantum ad corruptionem secundum totam substantiam, sicut corrumpuntur animalia bruta; vel quoad corruptionem sui secundum partem, sicut elementa generantur et corrumpuntur in suis terminis, in quibus se tangunt⁵; vel transire, hoc est a statu corruptibilitatis ad statum alium transmutari, et hoc modo mundus iste sensibilis innovabitur. — Quod ergo dicitur hic, quod suis spatiis transeunt, altero istorum trium modorum intelligitur.

2. Quod rursus obiicitur: Transit mundus et concupiscentia eius, determinatio solvit, scilicet mundus, prout est occasio voluptatis.

1. Quod dicitur: Vidi caelum novum; Glossa⁶: « id est innovatum ».

2. Quod dicitur in Matthaeo: Caelum et terra transibunt; Glossa exponit: transibunt, a forma mutabili ad immutabilem.

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Chapter III.

Member II of the first part. The vanity of things is shown as to their variety in time, and this in three articles.

All things have their time etc. Above he treated of the vanity of things, showing that there is in them variability by reason of motion; here secondly he wishes to show their vanity as to their determination and variety in time¹. And because he shows the mutability and variety of things not to their contempt, according as they are the works of God, but according as they are loved by us; therefore in this part he shows first the variety of times; secondly he reproves our curiosity, there: What hath a man more; thirdly he shows the perpetuity of the divine works, there: And I have learned that the works of God.

Art. 1. On the variety and mutability of things in time, both generally and specially.

The first part has two, for first he treats of the variety and mutability of things in time generally, secondly specially, by inducing and proving, there: A time to be born.

The variety and mutability of things in time is proposed and proved in general.

(V. 1.). He proposes, therefore, generally, saying: All things have their time, that is, the variety of time, because to the Romans, the eighth chapter²: « The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly ». And in their own spaces all things pass under the sun, as to the determination of the time appointed beforehand; Wisdom, the eleventh chapter: « Thou hast ordered all things in number, weight and measure »; the first to the Corinthians, the seventh chapter: « The fashion of this world passeth away »; and most of all within this space of time appointed to it; Job, the fourteenth chapter: « Thou hast appointed his bounds, which cannot be passed ».

Questions

I. Here is a question concerning that which he says: All things have their time.

1. There is an instance against it: since « spiritual substances, as Jerome says³, are contained neither by place nor by time ».

2. Likewise, everything that is in time and has time is corporeal⁴; but spiritual substances are incorporeal: therefore they are not in time nor have they time.

But that they are in time, it seems: 1. Because Augustine says to Dardanus⁵: « Uncreated spiritual substance is not moved through time nor through place; created spiritual substance is moved through time, but not through place; created corporeal substance through time and place ».

2. Likewise, what is in place is in time; but « God alone is uncircumscribable », as Damascene says⁶, therefore he alone is untemporal: therefore all other things have time.

I respond: it must be said to this, that that distribution is an accommodated one, just as, when it is said: heaven covers all things, it is understood of those things which are under heaven⁷; and therefore the instance is not to be pressed in the case of spiritual substance. — But if we wish to extend the distribution, we shall say that time is spoken of in three ways: commonly and properly and more properly. Commonly, according as it states the measure of the going forth from non-being to being; and in this way it is in all things, since all things had a beginning. And this the letter seems to hint, since he himself says that all things have their time, but not that all things pass except under the sun. — In another way properly, inasmuch as it implies variation either in substance or in affection; and thus even spiritual substance has time as to the change of its affections. — In a third way more properly, inasmuch as it is an excelling measure; and thus it belongs to corruptible things, and not to all.

p. 29 That, therefore, which is asked, whether spiritual substances have time; it is to be solved that in the first way they do have it as to substance; in the second way, as to certain affections; in the third way they do not have it¹. — And through this the contrarieties of both sides are solved.

II. There is a question concerning the second part of the proposition: And in their own spaces all things pass under the sun, whether the elements pass away. — That they do, it seems.

1. The Apocalypse, the twenty-first chapter²: I saw a new heaven and a new earth: therefore the old had passed away.

2. Likewise, the first of John, the second chapter³: The world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof; and Matthew, the twenty-fourth chapter⁴: Heaven and earth shall pass away.

On the contrary: They belong to the constitution of the universe: therefore, since the universe remains, it is manifest that the elements also remain.

I respond: it must be said that for a thing to pass in its own space is threefold: either as to corruption according to the whole substance, as brute animals are corrupted; or as to the corruption of itself according to a part, as the elements are generated and corrupted in their own boundaries, in which they touch one another⁵; or to pass, that is, to be transmuted from the state of corruptibility to another state, and in this way this sensible world will be made new. — What therefore is said here, that in their own spaces they pass, is understood in one or other of those three ways.

2. As to what is objected again: The world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof, the determination solves it, namely the world inasmuch as it is the occasion of pleasure.

1. As to what is said: I saw a new heaven; the Gloss⁶: « that is, made new ».

2. As to what is said in Matthew: Heaven and earth shall pass away; the Gloss expounds: they shall pass away, from a mutable form to an immutable one.

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