Prologus
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/0/q/bon-brev-prol
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### Prologue of Saint Bonaventure to the Breviloquium.

*I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened by his Spirit with might unto the inward man, that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts; that being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth; to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the fulness of God*.

The great teacher of the gentiles and preacher of truth, filled with the divine Spirit, as a vessel chosen and sanctified, opens in this word the *origin*, the *progress*, and the *end* of sacred Scripture, which is called *theology*: conveying that the *origin* of Scripture is to be regarded according to the inflowing of the most blessed Trinity; its *progress*, according to the requirement of human capacity; and its *end* or fruit, according to the superabundance of a more-than-fullest happiness.

For its *origin* is not through human investigation, but through divine revelation, which flows *from the Father of lights*, *of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named*, from whom, through his Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit flows into us; and through the Holy Spirit, dividing and distributing gifts *to each one as he wills*, faith is given, and *through faith Christ dwells in our hearts*. This is the knowledge of Jesus Christ, from which originally flow the firmness and the understanding of all sacred Scripture. Hence it is also impossible that anyone should enter upon knowing it unless he first have the faith of Christ infused into him, as the *lamp* and the *gate* and also the *foundation* of all Scripture. For faith itself is the foundation of all supernatural illuminations so long as *we are pilgrims from the Lord* — a *foundation* that steadies, a *lamp* that directs, and a *gate* that leads in; and according to its measure the wisdom divinely given to us must also be measured, lest anyone be wise *more than it behooveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety, and according as God hath divided to every one the measure of faith*. Through the mediation of this faith, therefore, the knowledge of sacred Scripture is given to us according to the inflowing of the blessed Trinity, in accordance with what the Apostle expressly conveys in the first part of the authority adduced above.

But the *progress* of sacred Scripture is not confined to the laws of reasonings, definitions, and divisions after the manner of the other sciences, nor is it confined to a part of the universe; but rather, since it proceeds by a supernatural light to give the wayfaring man a sufficient knowledge of things according as is expedient for salvation, it describes — partly in plain words, partly in mystical ones — the *content* of the whole universe as it were in a summary, and in this its *breadth* is regarded; it describes the universe's *course*, and in this its *length* is regarded; it describes the *excellence of those finally to be saved*, and in this its *height* is regarded; it describes the *misery of those to be damned*, and in this consists its *depth*, not only the depth of the universe itself but also that of the divine judgment. — And thus it describes the whole universe, so far as

it is expedient to have knowledge of it unto salvation, according to its *breadth, length, height*, and *depth* — Scripture itself having these four also in its own progress, according as will later be shown; because the condition of human capacity so required, which, being great and manifold, is born to grasp magnificently and in manifold ways, as a certain most noble mirror in which the whole universe of worldly things is born to be described, not only naturally but also supernaturally: so that thus the progress of sacred Scripture is regarded according to the requirement of human capacity.

But the *end* or fruit of sacred Scripture is not just anything whatever, but the *fulness of eternal happiness*. For this is the Scripture in which *are the words of eternal life*, which was written for this reason: not only that we might believe, but also that we might possess eternal life, in which indeed we shall see, we shall love, and universally our desires shall be fulfilled; and when they are fulfilled, we shall then truly know *the charity that surpasseth knowledge*, and thus we shall be filled *unto all the fulness of God*. To which fulness the divine Scripture strives to lead us, according to the truth of the aforesaid apostolic saying. With this end, then, and with this intention, sacred Scripture is to be searched out and taught and also heard.

And that we may arrive at this fruit and term by a right progress along the way of the right path of the Scriptures, we must begin from the beginning: that is, that with pure faith we approach the *Father of lights*, bending the knees of our heart, that he himself, through his Son in the Holy Spirit, may give us the true knowledge of Jesus Christ and, with that knowledge, love of him; so that, knowing and loving him in this way, and as it were made firm in faith and *rooted in charity*, we may be able to know the *breadth, length, height*, and *depth* of sacred Scripture, and through this knowledge come to the fullest knowledge and the surpassing love of the most blessed Trinity, toward which the desires of the saints tend, and in which is the end and completion of all that is true and good.

The *end* of this sacred Scripture having been desired and intended, and its *beginning* believed and at the same time invoked, we must now consider its *progress* as regards its *breadth, length, height*, and *depth*, according to the way and order of the apostolic instruction.

Now its *breadth* consists in the multitude of its parts; its *length*, in the description of times and ages; its *height*, in the description of the hierarchies graded in order; its *depth*, in the multitude of mystical senses and understandings.

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