Pars 5, Cap. 8
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/5/q/bon-brev-p5-c8
----------------------------------------
### Chapter VIII. *On the exercise of grace with respect to the things to be loved.*

Concerning the *things to be loved*, these things are to be held: that although all the divine works are *very good*, four things nevertheless are properly to be loved out of charity, namely *God* eternal, that which *we* are, *our neighbour* and *our body*. — In the love of these an *order* and a *measure* must be kept, so that *God* be loved first and above all things and for his own sake; second, that which *we are*, under God and for God; third, *our neighbour*, as also ourselves; fourth, *our body*, below us and below our neighbour as a good less principal. — And for the carrying out of this there is given *one habit of charity* and a *twofold commandment*, on which hangs the whole of the Law and the Prophets, not only as regards the old testament, but also as regards the new.

Now the reason for the understanding of the foresaid is this: since the first principle, by this very fact that it is first, is highest; and by this very fact that it is highest, is supremely good; and by this very fact that it is supremely good, is supremely blessed and supremely beatifying; and by this very fact that it is supremely beatifying, is itself supremely to be enjoyed; and by this very fact that it is supremely to be enjoyed with respect to it, it is supremely to be adhered to by love and to be rested in as in an end. Since, therefore, right and ordered love, which is called *charity*, is borne principally into that good which it enjoys and in which it rests, and that good is itself the reason of loving: hence it is that love loves that good chiefly as beatifying, and the rest in consequence, which through it are fit to be beatified. Since, therefore, *our neighbour* is born to come with us to beatitude, and *our body* too is born to come, as beatifiable together with the

spirit: hence it is that only four things are said to be loved out of charity, namely *God* and *our neighbour*, *our spirit* and *our body*.

Again, since God is above us as the supreme good, our spirit within us as an intrinsic good, and our neighbour beside us as a kindred good, while our body is below us as a subject good: hence it is that this *order* must here be kept in loving, that first *God* be loved above all things and for his own sake; second, *our spirit*, under God, above every perishable good; third, *our neighbour*, beside us, unto a like good; fourth, *our body*, below us as the lowest good; and in the same degree our neighbour's body must be contained, since each of them holds the character of a lower good in respect of our spirit.

Last, because love is the weight of the mind and the origin of every mental affection, which is easily bent back upon itself and with difficulty tends toward the neighbour and with greater difficulty still is raised to God: hence it is that, although four things are to be loved out of charity, a twofold *commandment* is nevertheless given — one which directs toward God, the other which directs toward the neighbour. — And because all the precepts are referred either to God or to the neighbour, as to an end and to that which is toward the end, hence it is that in these two commandments is enclosed the gathering of the commandments and the comprehension of all the Scriptures. And charity itself is the root, the form and the end of the virtues, joining them all with the last end and binding all things to one another at once and in order; therefore it is itself the weight of ordered inclination and the bond of perfect binding together, keeping indeed an *order* in respect of the diverse things to be loved as regards affection and effect alike, but having a *unity* in the habit as regards the one end and the one principal beloved, which is the reason of loving in respect of all the others, which through the bond of love are born to be gathered into the one Christ as regards head and body, which contains in itself the universality of those to be saved. And this unity is now begun in the way, but is consummated in eternal glory, according to what the Lord prays: *that they may be one, as we also are one; and I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one*; and when that unity has been consummated through the bond of charity, *God* will be *all in all* with sure eternity and perfect peace, and all things will be common through love — ordered by communion, connected by ordering, and indissolubly bound by connection.

---