Bonaventure

Notae numeratae infra respondent signis in textu Latino et in versione Anglica. Quaracchi in singulis paginis impressis numerationem notarum a capite incipit; ideo signa paginae adnexa sunt: p898-N notae paginae 898, p899-N notae paginae 899.

Quaestio III. Utrum liber vitae necessario aperietur.

Tertio quaeritur de apertione istius libri. Et videtur, quod nulla sit necessitas hunc librum aperire:

1. Quia sufficienter videbuntur merita in conscientiis omnium: ergo si superfluum est facere per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora⁸, patet etc.

2. Item, e diverso⁹ ostenditur: quia si liber ille sufficienter repraesentat, videtur, quod superfluat alios libros aperire.

Item, quaeritur, quorum oculis aperietur. Et videtur, quod omnium:

1. Quia omnes iudicabuntur secundum ea quae scripta sunt ibi: ergo si omnibus debet manifestari et sententia et ratio sententiae, patet etc.

2. Item, Glossa vigesimo Apocalypsis¹⁰: Alius liber apertus est, dicit, quod «aperte scient mali tunc, se non esse praedestinatos»; et hoc est in apertione libri: ergo etc.

Sed contra: 1. Liber iste non est aliud quam Dei natura¹¹: ergo cum Dei substantia solum a bonis sit videnda in iudicio, patet, quod non omnes videbunt in istius libri apertione.

2. Item, in libro vitae non sunt scripta nisi bona: ergo si mali non debent videre nisi mala, per quae condemnentur; non videbunt in illius libri apertione, et sic etc.

Conclusio. Liber vitae in resurrectione aperietur.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod, sicut dictum est¹², liber vitae est liber redeuntium, ars est exeuntium.

Differunt autem exitus et regressus, quia exitus tantum a Deo dependet, sed regressus a Dei gratia et voluntate nostra, quia regressus est per merita bona, quae sunt a Dei gratia et voluntate nostra. Quoniam igitur iudicium erit secundum merita nostra¹; et merita sunt a nobis et a Deo: ideo ad pensandam quantitatem et dignitatem meritorum necesse est aperiri libros conscientiarum et librum vitae, in quo apparet quantitas gratiae secundum mensuram liberalitatis divinae, secundum cuius mensuram est etiam gloria. — Et ex hoc patet primo quaesitum.

Ad illud quod quaeritur, quibus aperitur; dicendum, quod dupliciter est loqui de apertione: aut quantum ad ipsius libri intuitionem, aut quantum ad subsequentem cognitionem. Quantum ad intuitionem aperitur tantum propter bonos, quia ipsi soli videbunt; quantum ad subsequentem cognitionem, omnibus; quia boni se ibi legentes, cognoscent se praedestinatos; mali vero ex hoc ipso, quod in libro aperte legere non poterunt, scient, se non esse praedestinatos.

Et sic patet responsio ad obiecta. Et est exemplum: sicut pauper, qui non habet merellum² regis, id est signaculum, quod pauperes portant ad eleemosynam percipiendam, scit bene, quod recedit vacuus, non per positionem, sed per privationem cognoscens: sic damnati, cum non legent ibi nomina sua, scient, se non esse scriptos ad gloriam, ac per hoc scient ex parte Dei, quod Deus ipsos damnabit; et ex parte suae conscientiae scient, quod sunt digni poena: et ita ex comparatione utriusque libri hoc scient, non tamen sic legendo, sicut legunt boni in libro vitae³.

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Question III. Whether the book of life will necessarily be opened.

Thirdly, inquiry is made concerning the opening of this book. And it seems that there is no necessity of opening this book:

1. For the merits will be seen sufficiently in the consciences of all: therefore, if it is superfluous to do by many means what can be done by fewer⁸, the point is clear, etc.

2. Likewise, from the opposite side it is shown⁹: for if that book sufficiently represents [everything], it seems that it would be superfluous to open the other books.

Likewise, it is asked, to whose eyes it will be opened. And it seems [to be to the eyes] of all:

1. For all will be judged according to the things that are written there: therefore, if both the sentence and the ground of the sentence must be made manifest to all, the point is clear, etc.

2. Likewise, the Gloss on the twentieth [chapter] of the Apocalypse¹⁰: Another book was opened, says that "the wicked will then openly know that they are not predestined"; and this is in the opening of the book: therefore, etc.

On the contrary: 1. This book is nothing other than the nature of God¹¹: therefore, since the substance of God is to be seen in the judgment only by the good, it is clear that not all will see in the opening of this book.

2. Likewise, in the book of life nothing is written except good things: therefore, if the wicked ought to see only the evils by which they are condemned, they will not see in the opening of that book, and so forth.

Conclusion. The book of life will be opened at the resurrection.

I respond: It must be said that, as has been said¹², the book of life is the book of those returning, [while] the art is [the book] of those going forth.

Now exit and return differ, because the exit depends on God alone, but the return [depends] on God's grace and on our will, since the return is through good merits, which are from God's grace and from our will. Since, therefore, the judgment will be according to our merits¹; and merits are from us and from God: therefore, in order to weigh the quantity and dignity of merits, it is necessary that the books of consciences and the book of life be opened, in which appears the quantity of grace according to the measure of the divine liberality, according to whose measure the glory also is. — And from this the first question is clear.

To that which is asked, to whom it is opened; it must be said that there are two ways of speaking about the opening: either as to the beholding (intuition) of the book itself, or as to the subsequent cognition. As to the beholding, it is opened only for the good, because they alone will see; as to the subsequent cognition, [it is opened] for all; because the good, reading themselves there, will know themselves to be predestined; but the wicked, from this very fact, that they cannot read openly in the book, will know that they are not predestined.

And thus the answer to the objections is clear. And there is an example: just as a poor man who does not have the king's token² — that is, the seal which the poor carry in order to receive alms — knows well that he departs empty, recognizing [it] not by a positing but by a privation: so the damned, when they do not read their names there, will know that they are not written unto glory, and thereby will know on God's part that God will damn them; and on the part of their own conscience they will know that they are worthy of punishment: and so from the comparison of both books they will know this, yet not by reading in the way that the good read in the book of life³.

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