Bonaventure

Quaestio II. Utrum Christus in forma Divinitatis apparebit malis.

The numbered footnotes below correspond to markers in both the Latin body and the English translation. Quaracchi restarts its footnote numbering on every printed page, so the labels are page-qualified: notes 2–3 of page 985 and notes 1–13 of page 986. Note 1 of page 985 anchors in the preceding question and is rendered there.

Secundo quaeritur de forma, in qua Christus apparebit; et quaeritur, utrum in forma Divinitatis appareat malis. Et quod non:

1. Isidorus² dicit, et habetur ab Augustino: «In forma, in qua iudicatus est, videbunt eum, ut doleant, in forma Divinitatis non videbunt, ne gaudeant».

2. Item, ratione videtur: quia lux illa est inaccessibilis oculis intellectus nostri secundum statum infirmitatis³: ergo si damnati surgent cum in-

firmitatibus et imperfectionibus, ergo inaccessibilis erit ipsis.

3. Item, Ioannis decimo septimo¹: Haec est vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te, verum Deum: ergo cum videre Deum sit vita aeterna, et mali non sint habituri vitam aeternam; ergo non videbunt eum in forma Divinitatis.

4. Item, reprobi debent puniri et quantum ad rationem et quantum ad voluntatem; sed quantum ad voluntatem Deum non poterunt² amare: ergo nec quantum ad rationem videre.

Contra: 1. Reprobi, qui noluerunt Christum credere esse Deum, tunc non dubitabunt, ipsum esse Deum: ergo Christi Divinitas erit eis manifesta cognitione certissima: ergo ipsam videbunt non solum per speculum³, sed per se ipsam.

2. Item, videtur, quod debeant videre, quia reprobi debent terreri ad aspectum Christi; sed quod summe terret est potestas Divinitatis et maiestas; et quod ita sit, dicitur Matthaei vigesimo quarto⁴: Veniet Filius hominis cum potestate magna et maiestate: ergo etc.

3. Item, nemo punitur perfecte ex amissione alicuius boni, nisi illud cognoscat: ergo si reprobi debent puniri carentia visionis Dei, debet eis ostendi, quantum bonum sit visio Dei; sed hoc non potest scire, nisi qui videt: ergo saltem in iudicio debent videre.

Item, quaero rationem: quare non debent videre? Si dicas, «ne gaudeant», sicut dicit Isidorus et Augustinus⁵; contra: «Omne quod recipitur in aliquo, est ibi per modum recipientis»: ergo si habent oculos infirmos, lux vera potius contristabit, quam delectet, sicut patet etiam in luce corporali.

Item, possibile est Deo separare in reprobis cognitionem a delectatione, sicut in iudicio in igne lucem a calore⁶; et si hoc, tunc videtur, quod propter istam rationem non debeat dimittere.

Item, secundum humanitatem apparebit blandus iustis et terribilis malis⁷, quare non potest similiter facere secundum Divinitatem?

Conclusio

Christus reprobis non apparebit in forma Dei.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod, sicut dicit Augustinus⁸ et Isidorus et Magister in littera et etiam Hugo, de Sacramentis, «Patrem nullus de reprobis videbit in iudicio, sed omnes Filium, quia filius hominis est, ut ab omnibus possit videri». Unde non apparebit malis in forma Dei.

Propter quod nota, quod duplex est cognitio Divinitatis: una per signa et effectus, alia in sua forma et essentia. Dico ergo, quod reprobi bene habebunt cognitionem de Christi Divinitate per signa certissima, et per effectus manifestos cognoscent, quod ipse est Deus omnipotens. Cognitionem autem, quae est in propria forma, quae est per visionem apertam, hanc quidem non habebunt. — Et prima ratio huius est, quia talis forma omnino est improportionalis oculis peccatoris et improportionalis oculis omnibus, qui non sunt sublimati per gloriam, vel per superabundantiam gratiae; et quia reprobis non dabitur⁹ gratia nec simpliciter nec ad tempus: ideo non videbunt.

Ratio autem, quare non dabitur eis virtus, quae faciat eorum aspectum habilem ad videndum illam lucem, est illa, quam tangit Isidorus et Augustinus¹⁰, quia si haberent oculum aptum, haberent summam delectationem, quam impossibile est esse et indecens in peccatoribus.

Ad 1. 2. 3. Ex his patent obiecta¹¹. Prima enim tria ostendunt, quod habebunt cognitionem de Deo quantum ad maiestatem et bonitatem; sed non ostendunt, quod per speciem, sed sufficit, quod per signa certa.

Ad aliud¹² iam patet responsio, quae sit ratio, quia scilicet sunt improportionales, et impossibile est intelligere, quod fiant proportionales et non gaudeant; non sic est in luce creata, quia oculus est proportionalis per naturam et per infirmitatem non omnino efficitur improportionalis, sed tamen minuitur proportio, et ideo videt cum tristitia; illa autem lux cum tristitia videri non potest¹³.

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Question II. Whether Christ will appear to the wicked in the form of his divinity.

Secondly it is asked about the form in which Christ will appear; and it is asked whether he will appear to the wicked in the form of his divinity. And that he will not:

1. Isidore² says, and it is had from Augustine: «In the form in which he was judged they will see him, that they may grieve; in the form of divinity they will not see him, lest they rejoice».

2. Likewise, it seems by reason: because that light is inaccessible to the eyes of our intellect according to the state of infirmity³: therefore if the damned shall rise with in-

firmities and imperfections, therefore it will be inaccessible to them.

3. Likewise, in John the seventeenth¹: This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the true God: therefore, since to see God is eternal life, and the wicked are not going to have eternal life; therefore they will not see him in the form of his divinity.

4. Likewise, the reprobate ought to be punished both as to reason and as to will; but as to will they will not be able² to love God: therefore neither as to reason to see him.

On the contrary: 1. The reprobate, who refused to believe Christ to be God, will then not doubt that he is God: therefore Christ's divinity will be manifest to them by a most certain cognition: therefore they will see it not only through a mirror³, but through itself.

2. Likewise, it seems that they ought to see, because the reprobate ought to be terrified at the sight of Christ; but what terrifies most of all is the power of the divinity and its majesty; and that this is so is said in Matthew the twenty-fourth⁴: The Son of man shall come with great power and majesty: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, no one is perfectly punished by the loss of some good unless he knows it: therefore if the reprobate ought to be punished by the lack of the vision of God, it ought to be shown to them how great a good the vision of God is; but this no one can know except him who sees: therefore at least in the judgement they ought to see.

Likewise, I ask for the reason: why ought they not to see? If you say, "lest they rejoice", as Isidore and Augustine say⁵; on the contrary: "Everything that is received in something is there according to the mode of the receiver": therefore if they have infirm eyes, the true light will sadden them rather than delight them, as is also plain in bodily light.

Likewise, it is possible for God to separate in the reprobate cognition from delight, just as in the judgement he separates light from heat in fire⁶; and if this is so, then it seems that on account of that reason he ought not to withhold it.

Likewise, according to his humanity he will appear gentle to the just and terrible to the wicked⁷; why can he not do likewise according to his divinity?

Conclusion

Christ will not appear to the reprobate in the form of God.

I respond: It must be said that, as Augustine⁸ says, and Isidore, and the Master in the text, and also Hugh, On the Sacraments, "None of the reprobate will see the Father in the judgement, but all will see the Son, because he is the Son of man, that he may be able to be seen by all". Hence he will not appear to the wicked in the form of God.

On account of which note that the cognition of the divinity is twofold: one through signs and effects, the other in its own form and essence. I say therefore that the reprobate will indeed have cognition of Christ's divinity through most certain signs, and through manifest effects they will know that he is God omnipotent. But the cognition which is in his proper form, which is through open vision, this indeed they will not have. — And the first reason for this is that such a form is altogether disproportionate to the eyes of a sinner and disproportionate to all eyes which are not raised up through glory or through a superabundance of grace; and because to the reprobate grace will not be given⁹ either simply or for a time: therefore they will not see.

But the reason why the power will not be given them which would make their sight capable of seeing that light is that which Isidore and Augustine touch upon¹⁰: because if they had a fitting eye, they would have the highest delight, which it is impossible and unfitting should be in sinners.

To 1, 2, 3. From these things the objections are clear¹¹. For the first three show that they will have cognition of God as to majesty and goodness; but they do not show that it is through the species, rather it suffices that it be through certain signs.

To the other¹² the answer is already clear, namely what the reason is: because they are disproportionate, and it is impossible to understand that they should be made proportionate and not rejoice; it is not so in created light, because the eye is proportionate by nature, and through infirmity it is not made altogether disproportionate, but nevertheless the proportion is lessened, and therefore it sees with sadness; but that light cannot be seen with sadness¹³.

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