Bonaventure

DISTINCTIO XXIV.

Cap. I. Quomodo intelligitur quod scriptum est: Ut, cum factum fuerit, credatis.

Hic quaeritur, si fides tantum de non visis est: quomodo Veritas Apostolis ait^p506-1: Nunc dico vobis, priusquam fiat, ut, cum factum fuerit, credatis? ubi innui videtur, quod fides illis fuerit de factis et visis. — Super quo Augustinus movet quaestionem et absolvit, ita inquiens: «Quid sibi vult: ut, cum factum fuerit, credatis? Haec est laus fidei, si quod creditur non videtur. Nam et Thomas, cui dictum est: Quia vidisti me, credidisti, non hoc credidit, quod vidit. Cernebat enim et tangebat carnem viventem, quam viderat morientem, et credebat Deum in carne ipsa latentem. Credebat ergo mente quod non videbat per hoc, quod sensibus corporis apparebat. Si vero dicuntur credi quae videntur, sicut dicit unusquisque oculis suis credidisse; non ipsa est quae in nobis aedificatur fides, sed ex rebus, quae videntur, agitur in nobis, ut ea credantur, quae non videntur». — Ex his aperte intelligitur, quod proprie fides non apparentium est; nec illa est fides, qua in Christo aedificamur, qua dicimus usitata locutione, nos ea credere, quae videmus. Alibi tamen dicit Augustinus^p506-2, fidem esse de rebus praesentibus; quod erit in futuro, cum per speciem Deum praesentem contemplabimur; quae tamen non proprie dicitur fides, sed veritas. «Est, inquit, fides, qua creduntur ea quae non videntur; sed tamen est etiam fides rerum, quando non verbis, sed rebus ipsis praesentibus creditur; quod erit, cum per speciem manifestam se contemplandam Sanctis praebebit Dei sapientia». — Sed non proprie haec dicitur fides, immo fidei merces, ad quam credendo pervenietur^p506-3, ut ex fide verborum transeat iustus in fidem rerum.

Cap. II. Si Petrus habuit fidem passionis, quando vidit hominem illum pati.

Si vero quaeritur, utrum Petrus fidem passionis habuerit, cum hominem Christum oculis pati cernebat; dicimus, eum fidem passionis habuisse, non in eo quod credebat, hominem pati, quia hoc videbat, sed in eo quod credebat, Deum esse qui patiebatur. Non enim virtus fidei erat, quod credebatur homo pati et mori, quod Iudaeus cernens credebat; sed quod credebatur Deus esse qui patiebatur. Unde Augustinus^p506-4 super illum Psalmi locum: Respondit ei in via virtutis suae: «Laus fidei est, non quia credit hominem illum mortuum, quod et paganus credit, sed quia credit eum glorificatum et verum Deum». Credit igitur fides Deum mortuum, et hominem glorificatum. Non igitur fuit Petro fides credere, hominem illum mori, quod^p506-5 oculis cernebat, sed credere, Deum esse qui moriebatur. Nec nobis etiam fides in hoc meretur, quod credimus hominem illum mortuum, quod et Iudaeus credit, sed quia credimus, hominem-Deum mortuum esse.

Cap. III. Si aliqua sciuntur, quae creduntur.

Post haec quaeri solet, cum fides sit de non apparentibus et non visis, utrum etiam sit de incognitis tantum. Si enim de incognitis tantum est, de his videtur esse tantum, quae ignorantur. — Sed sciendum est, quod cum visio alia sit interior, alia exterior, non est fides de subiectis exteriori visioni; est tamen de his quae visu interiori utcumque capiuntur. Et quaedam utique^p506-6 sic capiuntur, ut intelligantur, etsi

non, ut in futuro; quaedam autem non, quia, cum fides sit ex auditu non modo exteriori, sed interiori, non potest esse de eo quod omnino ignoratur; quae ipsa ad sensum corporis non pertinet, ut Augustinus in tertio decimo libro de Trinitate^p507-1 tradit dicens: «Quamvis ex auditu fides in nobis sit, non tamen ad eum sensum corporis pertinet, qui dicitur auditus, quia non est sonus; nec ad ullum sensum corporis, quoniam cordis est res ista, non corporis». Quaedam ergo fide creduntur, quae intelliguntur naturali ratione; quaedam vero, quae non intelliguntur. Unde Propheta^p507-2: Nisi credideris, non intelliges. Quod Augustinus^p507-3 aperte distinguit: «Alia sunt, inquit, quae nisi intelligamus, non credimus; alia, quae nisi credamus, non intelligemus». Nemo tamen potest credere in Deum, nisi aliquid intelligat, cum fides sit ex auditu praedicationis. Idem in libro de Trinitate^p507-4: «Certa fides utcumque inchoat cognitionem; cognitio vero certa non perficitur nisi post hanc vitam». Ambrosius quoque ait: «Ubi fides, non statim cognitio; ubi cognitio est, fides praecedit». — Ex his apparet, aliqua credi, quae non intelliguntur vel sciuntur, nisi prius credantur; quaedam vero intelligi aliquando, etiam antequam credantur. Nec tamen sic intelliguntur modo, ut in futuro scientur; et nunc etiam per fidem, qua mundantur corda, amplius intelliguntur, quia, nisi per fidem diligatur Deus, non mundatur cor ad eum sciendum. Unde Augustinus in octavo libro de Trinitate^p507-8: «Quid est Deum scire, nisi eum mente conspicere firmeque percipere? Sed et priusquam valeamus perspicere et percipere Deum, sicut percipitur a mundis cordibus; nisi per fidem diligatur, non poterit cor mundari, quo ad eum videndum^p507-6 sit aptum». — Ecce hic aperte habes, quia non potest sciri Deus, nisi prius credendo diligatur^p507-7. — Supra autem dictum est, quod nemo potest credere in Deum, nisi aliquid intelligatur. Unde colligitur, non posse sciri et intelligi credenda quaedam, nisi prius credantur; et quaedam non credi, nisi prius intelligantur; et ipsa per fidem amplius intelligi^p507-5; nec ea quae prius creduntur, quam intelligantur, penitus ignorantur, cum fides sit ex auditu; ignorantur tamen ex parte, quia non sciuntur. Creditur ergo quod ignoratur, sed non penitus, sicut etiam amatur quod ignoratur. Unde Augustinus: «Sciri aliquid, et non diligi potest; diligi vero quod nescitur, quaero, utrum possit. Si non potest, nemo diligit Deum, antequam sciat». Ubi autem sunt illa tria: fides, spes, caritas, nisi in animo credente quod nondum scit, et sperante et amante quod credit? Amatur ergo et quod ignoratur, sed tamen creditur.

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Cap. I. How that which is written is to be understood: That, when it shall have come to pass, you may believe.

Here it is asked, if faith is only of things not seen: how the Truth says to the Apostles^p506-1: Now I tell you, before it comes to pass, that, when it shall have come to pass, you may believe? where it seems to be intimated that faith was for them of things done and seen. — Concerning which Augustine raises a question and resolves it, saying thus: «What does it mean: that, when it shall have come to pass, you may believe? This is the praise of faith, if what is believed is not seen. For Thomas also, to whom it was said: Because you have seen me, you have believed, did not believe this, which he saw. For he saw and touched living flesh, which he had seen dying, and he believed God hidden in that very flesh. He believed therefore with the mind what he did not see, through that which appeared to the senses of the body. But if the things that are seen are said to be believed, as each one says he believed with his own eyes; it is not that very faith which is built up in us, but from the things which are seen, it is brought about in us that those things be believed which are not seen». — From these things it is plainly understood that faith is properly of things not apparent; nor is that the faith by which we are built up in Christ, by which we say, in customary speech, that we believe the things which we see. Yet elsewhere Augustine says^p506-2 that faith is of things present; which will be in the future, when through vision we shall contemplate God present; which, however, is not properly called faith, but truth. «There is, he says, a faith by which the things that are not seen are believed; but yet there is also a faith of things, when belief is given not by words, but by the very things present; which will be when, through manifest vision, the wisdom of God will offer itself to be contemplated by the Saints». — But this is not properly called faith, but rather the reward of faith, to which one will come by believing^p506-3, so that from the faith of words the just man may pass over into the faith of things.

Cap. II. Whether Peter had faith of the Passion, when he saw that man suffer.

But if it be asked whether Peter had faith of the Passion, when he beheld with his eyes the man Christ suffering; we say that he had faith of the Passion, not in that he believed the man to suffer, because he saw this, but in that he believed God to be the one who was suffering. For it was not the virtue of faith that the man was believed to suffer and die, which a Jew beholding believed; but that God was believed to be the one who was suffering. Hence Augustine^p506-4 on that place of the Psalm: He answered him in the way of his strength: «It is the praise of faith, not because it believes that man dead, which even a pagan believes, but because it believes him glorified and true God». Faith therefore believes God dead, and man glorified. It was not therefore faith for Peter to believe that the man died, which^p506-5 he beheld with his eyes, but to believe that God was the one who was dying. Nor does faith in this earn merit for us, that we believe that man dead, which a Jew also believes, but because we believe that the man-God died.

Cap. III. Whether some things are known, which are believed.

After these things it is wont to be asked, since faith is of things not apparent and not seen, whether it is also only of things unknown. For if it is only of things unknown, it seems to be only of those things which are not known. — But it must be known that, since one vision is interior, another exterior, faith is not of things subject to the exterior vision; yet it is of those things which are in some way grasped by the interior sight. And certain things indeed^p506-6 are so grasped that they are understood, even if

not as in the future; but certain things are not, because, since faith is from hearing not only exterior but interior, it cannot be of that which is wholly unknown; which itself does not pertain to the sense of the body, as Augustine in the thirteenth book on the Trinity^p507-1 hands down, saying: «Although faith is in us from hearing, yet it does not pertain to that sense of the body which is called hearing, because it is not sound; nor to any sense of the body, since this matter belongs to the heart, not to the body». Some things therefore are believed by faith, which are understood by natural reason; but some, which are not understood. Hence the Prophet^p507-2: Unless you believe, you will not understand. Which Augustine^p507-3 plainly distinguishes: «There are some things, he says, which unless we understand, we do not believe; others, which unless we believe, we shall not understand». Yet no one can believe in God, unless he understands something, since faith is from the hearing of preaching. The same in the book on the Trinity^p507-4: «A sure faith in some way begins knowledge; but a sure knowledge is not perfected except after this life». Ambrose also says: «Where there is faith, there is not at once knowledge; where there is knowledge, faith precedes». — From these things it appears that some things are believed, which are not understood or known, unless they are first believed; but some are understood at some time, even before they are believed. Yet they are not so understood now, as they will be known in the future; and even now, through faith, by which hearts are cleansed, they are more understood, because, unless God be loved through faith, the heart is not cleansed for knowing him. Hence Augustine in the eighth book on the Trinity^p507-8: «What is it to know God, except to behold him with the mind and firmly to perceive him? But even before we are able to look upon and perceive God, as he is perceived by clean hearts; unless he be loved through faith, the heart will not be able to be cleansed, so as to be^p507-6 fit for seeing him». — Behold, here you have it plainly, that God cannot be known, unless he be first loved by believing^p507-7. — But it was said above that no one can believe in God, unless something be understood. Hence it is gathered that certain things to be believed cannot be known and understood, unless they are first believed; and that certain things are not believed, unless they are first understood; and that these very things are more understood through faith^p507-5; nor are those things which are first believed, before they are understood, wholly unknown, since faith is from hearing; yet they are unknown in part, because they are not known. Therefore what is unknown is believed, but not wholly, just as also what is unknown is loved. Hence Augustine: «That something be known and not loved is possible; but whether what is not known can be loved, I ask. If it cannot, no one loves God before he knows him». But where are those three: faith, hope, charity, except in a mind believing what it does not yet know, and hoping for and loving what it believes? Therefore even what is unknown is loved, but yet it is believed.

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