Bonaventure

Quaestio III.

Utrum omnis agens poenitentiam super culpam, quamvis gravissimam, inveniat veniam a Deo.

Tertio quaeritur, utrum omnis agens poenitentiam super culpam inveniat veniam, etiam quantumcumque peccaverit. Et quod non, videtur.

1. Secundi Machabaeorum nono¹: Orabat scelestus Dominum, a quo non erat misericordiam consecuturus; loquitur de Antiocho, qui veniam petiit et propter multa scelera non invenit.

2. Item, ad Hebraeos duodecimo² Paulus, de Esau loquens, dicit: Non invenit locum poenitentiae, quamquam cum lacrymis postulasset eam; constans est, quod poenitebat et petebat veniam et non invenit, et tamen non fuit multum enormis peccator: ergo multo minus qui sunt in gravibus peccatis.

3. Item, de angelo et de daemonibus dicit Isidorus in libro de Ordine creaturarum³: « Non poenituerunt, et si poenituissent, veniam non invenissent ».

4. Item, sententia definitiva est irrevocabilis: ergo si aliquis damnatus est per sententiam definitivam, quantumcumque poeniteat, non invenit veniam; sed damnati poenitebunt, sicut dicitur Sapientiae quinto⁴: Dicent intra se, poenitentiam agentes etc.: ergo cum eis nunquam detur venia, non omnis agens poenitentiam apud Deum invenit veniam.

Contra:

1. Matthaei decimo octavo⁵: Quoties peccaverit in me etc.; et post: Non dico tibi usque septies, sed usque septuagies septies; Glossa: « Finitum ponit pro infinito »: ergo si praecepit nobis misericordiam ad infinitas culpas, si quaeratur ei venia; cum maiorem misericordiam faciat, quam praecipiat, et ipse sit misericordissimus; multo magis videtur, quod ipse petenti sibi veniam parcat.

2. Item, Bernardus in libro de Gradibus humilitatis⁶ dicit de diaboli damnatione: « Sic Deus temperavit in vindicta sententiam, ut, si vellet resipiscere, Deus veniam non negaret ».

3. Item, misericordia Dei superexcellit omne peccatum intensive; unde quia ipsa est infinita, videtur, quod quantumcumque iteretur peccatum adhuc superexcellit: ergo plus potest Deus remittere, quam homo possit peccare: ergo si veniam petit, misericordiam non negat⁷.

4. Item, Chrysostomus⁸ dicit: « Etiam si ad summum quis perveniat malorum et inde velit reverti, suscipit libenter et amplectitur »: ergo videtur, quod omnis agens poenitentiam apud Deum inveniat veniam.

Conclusio. Quicumque agit poenitentiam propter Dei offensam, paratus ei facere emendam, invenit gratiam et veniam.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod agere poenitentiam sive dolere de culpa commissa est dupliciter: aut propter laesionem naturae, aut propter offensionem Maiestatis divinae et ipsius iustitiae.

Primam poenitentiam super culpa commissa habere potest quis ex sola natura sine aliqua gratia. Sicut enim homo naturaliter se diligit, ita etiam p. 335 odit omne, propter quod malum incurrit. Et haec poenitentia est in malis et in damnatis et erit aliquando in angelis malis, cum absorpti erunt a poenis. Sed in hac vivit et regnat mala voluntas, cum sit proprii boni amica⁹; ideo Deus eam non acceptat, nec quis sic poenitens invenit gratiam vel veniam.

Alia est poenitentia, qua quis poenitet propter Dei offensam, paratus ei facere emendam. Et haec non est sine divina gratia gratum faciente, vel gratis data; et haec adeo disponit ad gratiam, quod nullus est sic poenitens, quin inveniat gratiam et veniam; et ideo Deus nulli eam dat, nisi cum quo proponit facere misericordiam. — Et quoniam diabolus hanc habere non potest, ideo non potest habere veniam. Sed si per impossibile poneretur, quod diabolus hanc haberet; utique Dominus daret ei gratiam. Haec igitur est potissima causa irremediabilitatis peccati diaboli, quia non potest poenitere, nec liberum arbitrium eius verti ad veniam petendam. Quae autem huius sit ratio, habet locum in secundo libro¹⁰. — Concedendum igitur, quod omnis agens poenitentiam super culpam secundum assignationem praedictam, quantumcumque peccaverit, invenit veniam.

1. Ad illud ergo quod obiicitur de Antiocho, dicendum, quod poenituit propter laesionem naturae, quam incurrerat, non propter divinam offensam. Unde non intendebat satisfacere pro offensa, sed, sicut patet ex littera¹¹, desperabat, quamvis mentiendo contrarium diceret.

2. Ad illud quod obiicitur de Esau, dicendum quod ipse similiter poenituit propter amissionem benedictionis, et propterea nolebat facere emendam, sed potius de fratre quaerebat vindictam, sicut patet ex textu¹².

3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod diabolus et daemones veniam non haberent, si peterent; dicendum, quod loquitur de petitione veniae quantum ad primum modum, scilicet propter poenas, non propter iustitiam; si enim alio modo poeniterent, haberent, sicut dicit Bernardus¹³, sed non possunt.

4. Ad illud quod obiicitur de damnatis, dicendum, secundum distinctionem praehabitam, quod non poenitebunt propter amorem iustitiae, sed propter odium poenae¹⁴.

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Question III.

Whether everyone who does penance for a fault, however grave, finds pardon from God.

Thirdly it is asked whether everyone who does penance for a fault finds pardon, even however much he has sinned. And it seems that he does not.

1. In the Second [book] of Maccabees, the ninth [chapter]¹: The wicked man prayed to the Lord, from whom he was not to obtain mercy; this speaks of Antiochus, who sought pardon and, on account of his many crimes, did not find it.

2. Likewise, in the twelfth [chapter] to the Hebrews² Paul, speaking of Esau, says: He found no place for repentance, although he had sought it with tears; it is established that he repented and sought pardon and did not find it, and yet he was not a very monstrous sinner: therefore much less [do] those who are in grave sins.

3. Likewise, concerning the angel and the demons Isidore says, in the book On the Order of Creatures³: « They did not repent, and even if they had repented, they would not have found pardon ».

4. Likewise, a definitive sentence is irrevocable: therefore if someone is condemned by a definitive sentence, however much he repents, he does not find pardon; but the damned will repent, as is said in the fifth [chapter] of Wisdom⁴: They shall say within themselves, doing penance, etc.: therefore since pardon is never granted them, not everyone who does penance finds pardon with God.

On the contrary:

1. In the eighteenth [chapter] of Matthew⁵: As often as he shall sin against me etc.; and afterward: I say not to thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven times; the Gloss: « It puts a finite [number] for an infinite one »: therefore if he has enjoined upon us mercy toward infinite faults, if pardon be sought of it [from us]; since he shows greater mercy than he commands, and is himself most merciful; it seems far more [likely] that he himself spares one who seeks pardon of him.

2. Likewise, Bernard in the book On the Degrees of Humility⁶ says concerning the damnation of the devil: « God so tempered the sentence in [his] vengeance that, if [the devil] were willing to repent, God would not deny pardon ».

3. Likewise, the mercy of God surpasses every sin intensively; whence, since it is itself infinite, it seems that however much sin be repeated it still surpasses [it]: therefore God can remit more than man can sin: therefore if [a man] seeks pardon, [God] does not deny mercy⁷.

4. Likewise, Chrysostom⁸ says: « Even if someone reaches the summit of evils and from there wishes to turn back, [God] receives [him] gladly and embraces [him] »: therefore it seems that everyone who does penance finds pardon with God.

Conclusion. Whoever does penance on account of an offense against God, prepared to make amends to him, finds grace and pardon.

I respond: It must be said that to do penance, or to grieve over a committed fault, is twofold: either on account of the injury to nature, or on account of the offense against the divine Majesty and his justice.

The first penance over a committed fault one can have from nature alone without any grace. For just as man naturally loves himself, so too p. 335 he hates everything on account of which he incurs evil. And this penance is in the wicked and in the damned, and at some time will be in the evil angels, when they shall be engulfed by their punishments. But in this [penance] an evil will lives and reigns, since it is a friend of its own good⁹; therefore God does not accept it, nor does anyone repenting in this way find grace or pardon.

There is another penance, by which one repents on account of the offense against God, prepared to make amends to him. And this is not without divine grace, [whether] grace making-pleasing or grace freely given; and this so disposes toward grace that there is no one repenting in this way who does not find grace and pardon; and therefore God gives it to no one except him with whom he purposes to show mercy. — And since the devil cannot have this, therefore he cannot have pardon. But if, by an impossibility, it were supposed that the devil had this; the Lord would assuredly give him grace. This therefore is the chief cause of the irremediableness of the devil's sin, namely that he cannot repent, nor can his free choice be turned to seeking pardon. But what the reason for this is has its place in the second book¹⁰. — It must therefore be granted that everyone who does penance over a fault according to the aforesaid determination, however much he has sinned, finds pardon.

Solution of the opposing [arguments]:

1. To that, then, which is objected concerning Antiochus, it must be said that he repented on account of the injury to nature which he had incurred, not on account of the divine offense. Hence he did not intend to make satisfaction for the offense, but, as is plain from the text¹¹, he was despairing, although by lying he said the contrary.

2. To that which is objected concerning Esau, it must be said that he likewise repented on account of the loss of the blessing, and therefore he was unwilling to make amends, but rather sought vengeance against his brother, as is plain from the text¹².

3. To that which is objected, that the devil and the demons would not have pardon if they were to seek it; it must be said that this speaks of the seeking of pardon according to the first mode, namely on account of the punishments, not on account of justice; for if they were to repent in the other way, they would have [pardon], as Bernard says¹³, but they cannot.

4. To that which is objected concerning the damned, it must be said, according to the distinction previously set forth, that they will not repent on account of love of justice, but on account of hatred of punishment¹⁴.

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