Pars 2, Cap. 11
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/5/d/2/q/bon-brev-p2-c11
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### Chapter XI. *On the production of man as regards the whole conjoined being.*

Concerning the *whole man*, however, placed in paradise, these things are to be held: namely, that there was given to him a twofold *sense*, that is, interior and exterior, of the mind and of the flesh. — There was given to him a twofold *motion*, that is, imperative in the will and executive in the body. — There was given to him a twofold *good*, one visible, the other invisible. — There was given to him a twofold *precept*, that is, of *nature* and of *discipline*; the precept of *nature*: *Increase and multiply*; the precept of *discipline*: *Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat*. — Alongside which there was given to him a *fourfold help*, namely of knowledge, of conscience, of synderesis and of grace, from which he had sufficiently wherewith to stand in the good and advance, and to beware of evil and turn away from it.

Now the reason for the understanding of the foresaid is this: that the first principle made this sensible world to declare itself — namely to this end, that through it, as through a mirror and a vestige, man might be led back to God the craftsman, to be loved and praised. And according to this the *book* is twofold: one written *within*, which is the eternal art and wisdom of God; and another written *without*, namely the sensible world. Since, therefore, there was one creature that had sense *within* for the knowledge of the *interior* book, as the Angel; and another that had its whole sense *without*, as any brute animal: for the perfection of the universe there had to come to be a creature endowed with this twofold sense for the knowledge of the book written *within and without*, that is, of Wisdom and of its work. And because in Christ the eternal Wisdom and its work concur at once in one person, therefore he is called *a book written within and without* for the repair of the world.

And because to every sense there corresponds a motion, therefore a twofold *motion* was given to man: one according to the instinct of *reason* in the mind, the other according to the instinct of *sensuality* in the flesh. To the first belongs *to command*, to the second *to obey*, according to the right order; but when it comes about the other way round, then the uprightness and governance of the soul is cast down from its state.

And because to every motion and sense there corresponds an appetite for some *good*, therefore a twofold *good* was prepared for man: « one visible, the other invisible; one temporal, the other eternal; one for the flesh, the other for the spirit. Of these goods God gave the one and promised the other, that the one might be possessed freely, and the other sought through merit ».

And because a good is given in vain unless it be kept, and promised in vain unless it be attained: therefore a twofold *precept* was given to man — one of *nature*, for keeping the good given; the other of *discipline*, for meriting the good promised, which in no way could he better merit than through *pure obedience*. And *obedience* is *pure* when the precept obliges of itself alone, and not from any other cause; and such is called a *precept of discipline*, because through it is learned how great is the power of obedience, which by its merit leads to heaven, and by its contrary casts down into hell. That command, therefore, was not given to man on account of any need that God might have of human service, but to give a way of meriting the crown through pure and voluntary obedience.

And since man, by reason of a nature defective, formed from nothing and not confirmed through glory, was able to fall, the most kindly God conferred on him a *fourfold help*: twofold of *nature* and twofold of *grace*. For he implanted in *nature* itself a twofold uprightness: one for judging rightly, and this is the *uprightness of conscience*; the other for willing rightly, and this is *synderesis*, whose office is to murmur back against evil and to spur toward good. — He also superadded a twofold perfection of *grace*: one of *freely given* grace, which was the knowledge illumining the intellect to know itself, its God, and this world which had been made for its sake; the other of *grace making pleasing*, which was the charity enabling the affection to love God above all things and one's neighbour

as oneself. — And thus before the fall man had his natural endowments perfect, clothed over nonetheless with divine grace. From which it is manifestly gathered that, if he fell, this was only from his own fault, because he scorned to obey.