Pars 2, Cap. 7
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-c7
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### Chapter VII. *On the apostasy of the demons.*

Concerning the *apostasy of the demons* this is to be held: that God made all the Angels good, yet midway between the highest good and the changeable good, which is the creature; in such a way that, if they turned to loving what is *above*, they would ascend to the state of grace and glory; but if to the changeable good, which is *below*, by that very fact they would fall into the evil of guilt and of punishment — because there is no « disgrace of sin without the comeliness of justice ». — The first among the Angels, Lucifer, presuming upon a private good, sought a private excellence, willing to be borne above the others; and therefore he fell, with the rest who consented to him. And in falling he was made *impenitent, obstinate* and *blinded*, and *shut out from the contemplation of God* and *disordered in operation*, striving with his whole effort to *overthrow man* by manifold temptation.

Now the reason for the understanding of the foresaid is this: that since the first principle is supremely

good, it makes nothing that is not good; because from the good there proceeds nothing but good; yet what is made by it is, by that very fact, less than it, and therefore cannot be the highest good. The Angel was therefore founded by God good indeed, but not highest — to be perfected, however, if by affection he should tend toward the highest.

And since through the free choice of the will he was able to tend toward the highest good, or to turn toward a private good, Lucifer — roused by the consideration of his own beauty and loftiness to the love of himself and of his own private good — *presumed* upon the loftiness he had, and *coveted* an excellence proper to himself, which nevertheless he did not obtain; and through this, by *presuming*, he constituted himself a principle to himself, glorying in himself; and by *coveting*, he constituted himself the highest good to himself, resting in himself. But since he was neither the highest principle nor the highest good, it was necessary that by a disordered ascent he should fall; and for the same reason all those consenting with him in this. — And because « there is no disgrace of sin without the comeliness of justice », therefore at once, when he fell into sin, he lost with the rest who clung to him the highest place, namely the empyrean, descending to the lowest, namely the murky air, or hell; so that the fall into guilt was through free choice, but the fall into punishment through the divine judgment. — And since he had immutability after election, therefore he was at once made *obstinate* in evil, and through this *blinded* from the true and *disordered* in operation and *weakened* in power: hence his *will*, being impious, and his *action*, being turned away from God, were turned to the *hatred and envy* of man; and the *perspicacity* of his reason, blinded from the true light, was turned to *deceptions* through divinations and wiles; and his *dutifulness* in ministering, removed from true ministry, was turned to temptations; and his *power*, diminished and constrained, is turned — so far as is permitted — to the working of marvels through sudden transmutations, which he effects upon corporeal creation. — And because all these things are disordered through a will depraved by pride, therefore he turns them all to the fuelling of his own pride, seeking to be worshipped and adored by men after the manner of God. Hence it is that « he does all things ill »; which nevertheless God now justly permits, for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of the good, as will appear through the final judgment.