Bonaventure

Quaestio II. Utrum, crescente caritate, timor decrescat.

Secundo quaeritur de timore gratuito quantum ad eius diminutionem, et est quaestio, utrum, crescente caritate, timor decrescat. Et quod sic, videtur:

1. Primo ex auctoritate beati Ioannis in primae canonicae quarto capitulo¹: Perfecta caritas foras mittit timorem; super quod dicit Augustinus: « Quantum caritas crescit, tantum timor decrescit; et quantum illa fit interior, tantum ille pellitur foras; maior caritas, minor timor »; sed constat, quod hoc non potest intelligi de timore servili, quia ille non stat cum caritate: ergo quantum caritas crescit, tantum timor gratuitus decrescit.

2. Item, quanto quis magis amat, tanto magis sperat; et quanto magis sperat, tanto minus timet: ergo quanto plus crescit in caritate, tanto magis decrescit in timore².

3. Item, quanto magis crescit caritas, tanto strictius et fortius homo alligatur Deo; et quanto strictius se sentit alligatum, tanto minus timet separari: si ergo timor gratuitus est ille, quo quis timet separari a Deo; quanto³ caritas magis intenditur, tanto timor magis remittitur.

4. Item, crescente amore, crescit gustus et delectatio; sed quanto plus crescit delectatio, tanto minuitur poena: si ergo timor poenam habet⁴, videtur, quod quantum caritas crescit, tantum necesse sit, timorem decrescere.

Sed contra: 1. Augmentata causa, augmentatur effectus⁵; sed fides et amor causant timorem gratuitum: ergo fide et caritate crescente, necesse est, pariter et timorem crescere.

2. Item, quanto magis aliquis amat aliquid, tanto magis dolet, si illud amiserit⁶; sed sicut dolor est de bono amisso, sic timor est de futuro, ne amittatur: ergo quanto aliquis magis amat aliquid, tanto magis timet, ne amittat illud: ergo crescente caritate, necesse est, timorem crescere.

3. Item, quanto quis maiorem caritatem habet, tanto humilior est — quia « quanto sumus a tumore superbiae inaniores, tanto sumus dilectione pleniores », sicut dicit Augustinus⁷ — sed crescente humilitate, crescit timor Dei: ergo a primo, crescente caritate, necesse est, timorem Dei crescere.

4. Item, quanto aliquis maioris caritatis est, tanto sollicitior est, ut serviat Deo et ne faciat aliquid, quod Deum offendat, iuxta illud Michaeae sexto⁸: Indicabo tibi, homo, quid Deus requirat a te; et post: Et sollicitum ambulare cum Domino Deo tuo; sed quanto maior est sollicitudo vitandi culpam, tanto maior est timoris abundantia: ergo etc.

Conclusio. Timor gratuitus, crescente caritate, decrescit quoad actum, quo cor sollicitatur ex consideratione suae fragilitatis; sed crescit quoad actum, quo humiliatur ex consideratione suae parvitatis et divinae magnitudinis.

Respondeo: Ad praedictorum intelligentiam est notandum, quod hic, sicut in praecedentibus⁹, diversi diversa sentiunt.

Quidam enim volunt dicere, quod est loqui de timore quantum ad habitum et quantum ad usum. Si loquamur de ipso quantum ad habitum, verum est, quod crescente caritate, crescit, propter hoc quod habitus gratuiti sunt aequales¹⁰. Si vero loquamur quantum ad usum, sic dixerunt, quod crescente caritate, decrescit timor; quia quanto magis viget in nobis usus caritatis, tanto minus viget usus timoris. Et illud per experientiam est manifestum. Nam homo in principio conversionis multa ex timore facit; sed cum gustavit spiritum devotionis et dulcedinis, quae est in amore, approximans ad statum perfectionis, iam ad bene operandum magis trahitur liberalitate amoris, quam stimuletur¹¹ poenalitate timoris. — Sed in hoc modo dicendi videntur duo opposita implicari. Si enim magnitudo habitus attenditur et dignoscitur penes magnitudinem actus et usus, decrescente dono quantum ad usum, videtur, quod necesse sit, ipsum decrescere quantum ad habitum; aut si crescit quantum ad habitum, videtur, quod necesse sit, ipsum crescere quantum ad usum et actum.

Propterea est et alius modus dicendi, quod, sicut prius¹² dictum est, timor gratuitus dividi habet in initialem et filialem. Et cum quaeritur: utrum, crescente caritate, decrescat timor; responderi potest, quod verum est de quodam timore, et falsum de alio. De timore, inquam, initiali verum est, quia quodam modo communicat cum servili in hoc, quod formidat poenam; de filiali vero non est verum, quia quanto quis maioris caritatis est, tanto magis refugit divinam offensam et cum Deo sollicitius ambulat, iuxta illud Apostoli¹³: Qui se existimat stare videat, ne cadat. — Sed adhuc illud non videtur omnino satisfacere; quoniam timor filialis, quo quis timet Deum offendere, poenam habet, et multum affligitur anima in illa formidine; beatus autem Ioannes dicit, quod perfecta caritas foras mittit timorem propter annexam poenalitatem.

Et propterea potest adhuc aliter dici, quod duplex est usus ipsius timoris gratuiti: unus, inquam, quo cor hominis sollicitatur¹⁴ ex consideratione suae fragilitatis; alius, quo humiliatur ex consideratione suae parvitatis et divinae magnitudinis. Et primus usus minuitur, cum caritas perficitur, quia confidentia consurgit ex perfectione caritatis, ut iam homo dicat illud Apostoli ad Romanos octavo¹⁵: Quis nos separabit a caritate Christi etc.? Alius vero usus crescit, caritate crescente, sicut et timoris habitus; unde quanto aliquis plus habet de spiritu amoris, tanto plus habet de spiritu timoris, quia tanto magis elongatur a spiritu superbiae sive tumoris, secundum quod dicit Augustinus.

Et per hoc patet responsio ad quaestionem propositam; patet etiam responsio ad obiecta. Rationes enim ad utramque partem inductae verum concludunt, quia quantum ad diversas vias procedunt, sicut patet de rationibus, quae ad primam partem inducuntur, quae ostendunt, timorem minui, caritate crescente. Procedunt enim de timore quantum ad usum, qui habet poenam, hoc est quantum ad illum usum, quo quis sollicitatur, ne pro sua fragilitate cadat in culpam et pro sua culpa deiiciatur in poenam, sicut patet in¹⁶ discurrendo per singulas. — Rationes autem, quae ad oppositum adducuntur, procedunt de timore secundum illum usum, secundum quem perfectae caritati est consonus; et verum est, quod crescit quantum ad illum, sicut patet in primis tribus rationibus.

Ad illud tamen quod ultimo obiicitur, quod crescente caritate, crescit sollicitudo; dicendum, quod non omnis sollicitudo est ex timore. Sollicitudo enim, qua quis suspenditur animo, ut semper placeat Deo et faciat quae sunt Deo accepta¹⁷, magis procedit ex amore quam ex timore. — Sed si ulterius obiiciat, quia non solum talis est sollicitus, ut placeat, sed etiam est sollicitus, ne offendat; dicendum, quod illa sollicitudo est prudentiae¹⁸ et diligentiae, quae, etsi habeat affectum timoris annexum, in viris tamen perfectis propter securitatem, quam ex perfectione amoris concipiunt, non ita viget, sicut in imperfectis, loquendo simpliciter, nisi forte dispensative et ad tempus. Aliquando enim viri perfectissimi ex consideratione divinorum iudiciorum ex intimis visceribus concutiuntur.

Et ex hoc posset adhuc elici praeter praedictos modos alius modus dicendi, quod usus alicuius habitus potest dici dupliciter crescere, vel decrescere: vel motus intensione, vel actuum numerositate. Et cum dicitur, quod crescente caritate, timor decrescit quantum ad usum sollicitudinis de casu; hoc non intelligitur de intensione, sed magis motuum¹⁹ numerositate; quia non adeo indiget vir perfectus sollicitari, secundum quod imperfectus, quia habet, unde magis timeat, tum ratione culpae praeteritae, ne forte non sit indulta, tum ratione futurae, ne ex fragilitate et defectu amoris cadat. — In hoc igitur stat summa totius responsionis, qualitercumque varietur modus dicendi, quod timor gratuitus, crescente caritate, uno modo crescit, alio modo decrescit etiam quantum ad usum²⁰.

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Question II. Whether, as charity grows, fear decreases.

Secondly there is inquiry concerning gratuitous fear as regards its diminution, and the question is: whether, as charity grows, fear decreases. And that it does so, seems [to follow]:

1. First, from the authority of blessed John in the fourth chapter of the first canonical [epistle]¹: Perfect charity casts out fear; on which Augustine says: "As much as charity grows, by so much does fear decrease; and as much as the former becomes interior, by so much is the latter driven outside; the greater the charity, the lesser the fear"; but it is established that this cannot be understood of servile fear, since that does not stand together with charity: therefore as much as charity grows, by so much does gratuitous fear decrease.

2. Likewise, the more one loves, the more one hopes; and the more one hopes, the less one fears: therefore the more one grows in charity, by so much the more does one decrease in fear².

3. Likewise, the more charity grows, the more tightly and strongly is a man bound to God; and the more tightly he feels himself bound, the less does he fear to be separated: if therefore gratuitous fear is that by which one fears to be separated from God; the more³ charity is intensified, by so much the more is fear remitted.

4. Likewise, as love grows, taste and delight grow; but the more delight grows, by so much is suffering lessened: if therefore fear has suffering⁴, it seems that as much as charity grows, by so much it is necessary that fear decrease.

On the contrary: 1. When the cause is increased, the effect is increased⁵; but faith and love cause gratuitous fear: therefore, as faith and charity grow, it is necessary that fear too grow equally.

2. Likewise, the more anyone loves something, the more he grieves if he should lose it⁶; but just as grief is over a good that has been lost, so fear is over the future, lest it be lost: therefore the more anyone loves something, by so much the more does he fear lest he lose it: therefore, as charity grows, it is necessary that fear grow.

3. Likewise, the greater the charity anyone has, the more humble he is — because "the emptier we are of the swelling of pride, by so much the fuller we are of love," as Augustine says⁷ — but as humility grows, the fear of God grows: therefore, from the first [premise], as charity grows, it is necessary that the fear of God grow.

4. Likewise, the greater anyone's charity, the more solicitous he is to serve God and not to do anything that might offend God, according to that [text] of Micah, chapter six⁸: I will show thee, O man, what God requires of thee; and afterwards: And to walk solicitous with the Lord thy God; but the greater the solicitude for avoiding fault, by so much the greater is the abundance of fear: therefore, etc.

Conclusion. Gratuitous fear, as charity grows, decreases as regards the act by which the heart is made solicitous from the consideration of its own frailty; but it grows as regards the act by which it is humbled from the consideration of its own littleness and of the divine magnitude.

I respond: For the understanding of the foregoing it must be noted that here, as in the preceding [questions]⁹, different [doctors] hold different views.

For some wish to say that one may speak of fear as regards the habit and as regards its use. If we speak of it as regards the habit, it is true that, as charity grows, it grows, because the gratuitous habits are equal¹⁰. But if we speak as regards its use, thus they have said that, as charity grows, fear decreases; because the more the use of charity flourishes in us, by so much the less does the use of fear flourish. And this is manifest by experience. For a man at the beginning of his conversion does many things out of fear; but when he has tasted the spirit of devotion and of the sweetness that is in love, drawing near to the state of perfection, he is now drawn to act well more by the liberality of love than goaded¹¹ by the penal quality of fear. — But in this mode of speaking two opposites seem to be implied. For if the magnitude of the habit is attended to and discerned according to the magnitude of the act and of the use, then, the gift decreasing as regards use, it seems that it is necessary that it decrease as regards the habit; or if it grows as regards the habit, it seems that it is necessary that it grow as regards use and act.

Therefore there is also another mode of speaking, namely that, as was said before¹², gratuitous fear has to be divided into initial and filial. And when it is asked whether, as charity grows, fear decreases; it can be answered that it is true of a certain fear, and false of another. Of fear, I say, of the initial it is true, because it communicates in a certain manner with the servile in this, that it dreads punishment; but of the filial it is not true, because the greater anyone's charity, by so much the more does he shun the divine offense and walk more solicitously with God, according to that [text] of the Apostle¹³: Let him who thinks himself to stand take heed lest he fall. — But this still does not seem to satisfy entirely; since filial fear, by which one fears to offend God, has suffering, and the soul is much afflicted in that dread; yet blessed John says that perfect charity casts out fear on account of the annexed penal quality.

And therefore it can yet be said otherwise, namely that the use of gratuitous fear itself is twofold: one, I say, by which the heart of man is made solicitous¹⁴ from the consideration of its own frailty; the other, by which it is humbled from the consideration of its own littleness and of the divine magnitude. And the first use is lessened when charity is perfected, because confidence arises from the perfection of charity, so that now a man says that [word] of the Apostle to the Romans, chapter eight¹⁵: Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ, etc.? But the other use grows as charity grows, just as does the habit of fear; whence the more anyone has of the spirit of love, by so much the more does he have of the spirit of fear, because by so much the more is he removed from the spirit of pride or swelling, according to what Augustine says.

And by this the response to the proposed question is evident; the response to the objections is also evident. For the reasons adduced for either part conclude truly, because they proceed according to diverse ways, as is evident from the reasons adduced for the first part, which show that fear is lessened as charity grows. For they proceed concerning fear as regards the use that has suffering, that is, as regards that use by which one is made solicitous, lest through his own frailty he fall into fault and through his own fault be cast down¹⁶ into punishment, as is evident in running through them one by one. — But the reasons that are adduced for the opposite proceed concerning fear according to that use according to which it is consonant with perfect charity; and it is true that it grows as regards that [use], as is evident in the first three reasons.

Yet to that which is objected last, namely that, as charity grows, solicitude grows; it must be said that not every solicitude is from fear. For the solicitude by which one is held suspended in mind, so as always to please God and to do the things that are acceptable to God¹⁷, proceeds more from love than from fear. — But if one should object further, that such a man is not only solicitous to please, but also solicitous not to offend; it must be said that that solicitude is of prudence¹⁸ and of diligence, which, even though it have the affect of fear annexed, nevertheless in perfect men, on account of the security which they conceive from the perfection of love, does not flourish so [strongly] as in the imperfect, speaking simply, unless perhaps by dispensation and for a time. For sometimes the most perfect men, from the consideration of the divine judgments, are shaken to their inmost depths.

And from this there could yet be elicited, besides the aforesaid modes, another mode of speaking, namely that the use of any habit can be said to grow, or decrease, in two ways: either by the intensity of motion, or by the number of acts. And when it is said that, as charity grows, fear decreases as regards the use of solicitude about falling; this is not understood of intensity, but rather of the number¹⁹ of motions; because the perfect man does not so much need to be made solicitous as the imperfect, since he has whereby he may the more fear, both by reason of past fault, lest perhaps it be not pardoned, and by reason of future [fault], lest through frailty and a defect of love he fall. — In this, then, stands the sum of the whole response, in whatever way the mode of speaking be varied, namely that gratuitous fear, as charity grows, in one way grows, in another way decreases, even as regards use²⁰.