Cap. 1
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/6/d/1/q/bon-itin-c1
----------------------------------------
### HERE BEGINS THE SPECULATION OF THE POOR MAN IN THE DESERT.

### Cap. I. *On the steps of the ascent into God and on the speculation of him through his vestiges in the universe.*

1. *Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath disposed ascensions, in the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set*. Since beatitude is nothing else than the fruition of the highest good, and the highest good is above us, no one can be made blessed unless he ascend above his very self — not by an ascent of the body, but of the heart. But we cannot be lifted above ourselves except by a higher power lifting us up. For however much the interior steps be disposed, nothing is done unless

divine help accompany. Now divine help accompanies those who seek from the heart humbly and devoutly; and this is to sigh after him in this *vale of tears*, which is done through fervent prayer. Prayer, therefore, is the mother and origin of upward-action. And so Dionysius, in the book on the Mystical Theology, wishing to instruct us toward mental transports, first of all sets prayer before us. Let us pray, therefore, and say to the Lord our God: *Conduct me, O Lord, in thy way, and I will walk in thy truth; let my heart rejoice, that it may fear thy name.*

2. Praying in this prayer we are enlightened to know the steps of the divine ascension. For since, according to the state of our condition, the very universe of things is a ladder for ascending into God — and among things some are a *vestige*, some an *image*, some *corporeal*, some *spiritual*, some *temporal*, some *aeviternal*, and hence some *outside us*, some *within us* — therefore, in order that we may arrive at the consideration of the First Beginning, which is *most spiritual* and *eternal* and *above us*, it behoves us to *pass over* through the *vestige*, which is *corporeal* and *temporal* and *outside us*, and this is to be *conducted in the way of God*; it behoves us to *enter into* our mind, which is the *aeviternal image* of God, *spiritual* and *within us*, and this is to *walk in the truth* *of God*; it behoves us to *transcend* unto the *eternal*, the *most spiritual*, and that which is *above us*, by looking toward the First Beginning, and this is *to rejoice in the knowledge of God and in the reverence of his majesty*.

3. This, therefore, is the way of three days into the wilderness; this is the threefold illumination of a single day, and the first is as evening, the second as morning, the third as noonday; this regards the threefold existence of things, namely in matter, in intelligence, and in the eternal art, according to which it was said: *let it be made, he made it, and it was made*; this also regards the threefold substance in Christ, who is our ladder, namely the corporeal, the spiritual, and the divine.

4. According to this threefold progress our mind has three principal aspects. One is toward exterior corporeal things, according to which it is called *animality* or sensuality; another within itself and into itself, according to which it is called *spirit*; the third above itself, according to which it is called *mind*. — By all of which it ought to dispose itself for climbing up into God, that it may love him *with the whole mind, with the whole heart, and with the whole soul*, in which consists the perfect observance of the Law and, together with this, Christian wisdom.

5. Now since each of the foresaid modes is doubled — according as it happens that God is considered as *alpha and omega*, or inasmuch as it happens that God is seen in each of the foresaid modes both *through a mirror* and *in a mirror*, or because one of these considerations has to be mingled with the other joined to it and has also to be considered in its own purity — hence it is that these three principal steps must needs be raised to the number six, so that, as God perfected *the whole world* in six days and rested on the seventh, so the *lesser world* may be led through, in the most orderly way, to the quiet of contemplation by six steps of illuminations succeeding one another. — In figure of which thing, the throne of Solomon was ascended by six steps; the Seraphim which Isaias saw had six wings apiece; after six days the Lord *called Moses out of the midst of the cloud*, and Christ *after six days*, as it is said in Matthew, *took his disciples up into a mountain and was transfigured before them*.

6. Corresponding, therefore, to the six steps of the *ascension* into God there are six steps of the *powers* of the soul, by which we ascend from the lowest to the highest, from the outermost to the inmost, from things temporal we climb up to things eternal — namely *sense*, *imagination*, *reason*, *intellect*, *intelligence*, and *the apex of the mind* or the spark of synderesis. These steps we have planted in us by nature, deformed by fault, reformed by grace; to be purged by justice, to be exercised by knowledge, to be perfected by wisdom.

7. For according to the first institution of nature man was created apt for the quiet of contemplation, and therefore *God placed him in the paradise of delights*. But turning himself away from the true light toward

a changeable good, he was himself bent down by his own fault, and his whole race by original sin, which in a twofold way infected human nature, namely *ignorance* the mind and *concupiscence* the flesh; so that man, *blinded* and *bent down*, sits in darkness and does not see the light of heaven, unless grace with justice come to his aid against *concupiscence*, and knowledge with wisdom against *ignorance*. All of which is done through Jesus Christ, *who of God is made unto us wisdom and justice and sanctification and redemption*. Who, since he is the *power* of God and the *wisdom* of God, and is the Word incarnate *full of grace and truth*, has made *grace* and *truth*: he has poured in the *grace* of *charity*, which, since it is *of a pure heart and a good conscience and an unfeigned faith*, rectifies the whole soul according to the threefold aspect of it foresaid; and he has taught the *knowledge of truth* according to the threefold manner of theology, namely the *symbolic*, the *proper*, and the *mystical*, so that by the *symbolic* we may rightly use sensible things, by the *proper* rightly use intelligible things, by the *mystical* be rapt to supermental transports.

8. He, therefore, who wishes to ascend into God must needs, the fault that deforms nature being shunned, exercise the natural powers foresaid toward *grace reforming*, and this by prayer; toward *justice purifying*, and this in converse of life; toward *knowledge illuminating*, and this in meditation; toward *wisdom perfecting*, and this in contemplation. As, therefore, no one comes to *wisdom* except through grace, justice, and knowledge, so one does not come to *contemplation* except through clear-sighted meditation, holy converse of life, and devout prayer. As, therefore, grace is the foundation of rectitude of the will and of the clear-sighted illumination of reason, so we must first pray, then live holily, thirdly attend to the spectacles of truth, and by attending ascend by degrees, until we come to the *high mountain* where *the God of gods is seen in Sion*.

9. Since, therefore, it is prior to ascend than to descend on *Jacob's ladder*, let us set the *first* step of the ascension at the bottom, by setting this whole sensible world before us as a mirror through which we may pass over to God, the highest craftsman — that we may be true Hebrews passing over from Egypt to the land promised to the Fathers; that we may also be Christians passing over with Christ *out of this world to the Father*; that we may also be lovers of wisdom, who calls and says: *Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For by the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen so as to be known.*

10. Now the highest power and wisdom and benevolence of the Creator shines back in created things, according as the sense of the flesh reports this in a threefold way to the interior sense. For the sense of the flesh either serves the intellect *rationally investigating*, or *faithfully believing*, or *intellectually contemplating*. The one *contemplating* considers the actual existence of things, the one *believing* their habitual course, the one *reasoning* their potential pre-eminence.

11. In the first mode the aspect of the one *contemplating*, considering things in themselves, sees in them *weight, number, and measure*: *weight* as regards position, whither they incline; *number*, by which they are distinguished; and *measure*, by which they are limited. And by this it sees in them *mode, species, and order*, and likewise *substance, power, and operation*. From which it can rise up, as from a *vestige*, to understand the immense power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator.

12. In the second mode the aspect of the one *believing*, considering this world, attends to its *origin, course, and term*. For by *faith* we believe *that the ages were framed by the Word of life*; by faith we believe that the times of the three laws, namely of nature, of Scripture, and of grace, succeeded one another and ran their course in the most orderly way; by faith we believe that the world is to be terminated by the final judgment — noting in the first the power, in the second the providence, in the third the justice of the highest Beginning.

13. In the third mode the aspect of the one *investigating in a reasoning way* sees that some things only *are*, some, however, *are and live*, some indeed *are, live, and discern*; and that the first are the lesser, the second the middling, the third the better. — It sees again that some things are only *corporeal*, some *partly corporeal, partly spiritual*; from which it notes that some are *merely spiritual*, as better and worthier than both. — It sees none the less that some are *changeable and corruptible*, as earthly things; some *changeable and

incorruptible*, as heavenly things; from which it notes that some are *unchangeable and incorruptible*, as the supercelestial things.

From these visible things, therefore, it rises up to consider the power, wisdom, and goodness of God as being, living, and understanding, merely spiritual and incorruptible and untransmutable.

14. Now this consideration is widened according to the sevenfold condition of creatures, which is a sevenfold testimony of the divine power, wisdom, and goodness, if there be considered the *origin, magnitude, multitude, beauty, fullness, operation*, and *order* of all things. — For the *origin* of things, according to creation, distinction, and adornment as regards the works of the six days, proclaims the divine power producing all things from nothing, the wisdom distinguishing all things lucidly, and the goodness adorning all things bountifully. — The *magnitude* of things, moreover — according to the bulk of length, breadth, and depth; according to the excellence of a power extending itself far, wide, and deep, as is plain in the diffusion of light; according to the efficacy of an operation intimate, continuous, and diffused, as is plain in the operation of fire — manifestly indicates the immensity of the power, wisdom, and goodness of the triune God, who exists uncircumscribed in all things by *power, presence*, and *essence*. — But the *multitude* of things, according to generic, specific, and individual diversity in substance, in form or figure and efficacy beyond all human estimation, manifestly intimates and shows the immensity of the three foresaid conditions in God. — The *beauty* of things, moreover, according to the variety of lights, figures, and colours in bodies simple, mixed, and even compounded — as in heavenly bodies and in minerals, such as stones and metals, in plants and in animals — evidently proclaims the three foresaid. — The *fullness* of things, moreover, according as *matter* is full of forms according to the seminal reasons, *form* is full of power according to active potency, *power* is full of effects according to efficiency, manifestly declares the same. — The manifold *operation*, according as it is *natural*, according as it is *artificial*, according as it is *moral*, by its most manifold variety shows the immensity of that *power, art*, and *goodness* which indeed is to all « the cause of being, the ground of understanding, and the order of living ». — The *order*, moreover, according to the account of *duration, situation*, and *influence* — namely by prior and posterior, higher and lower, nobler and less noble — in the book of the creature manifestly intimates the *primacy, sublimity*, and *dignity* of the First Beginning as regards the infinity of *power*; while the order of the divine *laws, precepts*, and *judgments* in the book of Scripture intimates the immensity of *wisdom*; and the order of the divine *Sacraments, benefits*, and *retributions* in the body of the Church the immensity of *goodness* — so that this very order most evidently leads us by the hand into the first and highest, the most powerful, the most wise, and the best.

15. He, therefore, who is not illumined by such great splendours of created things is blind; he who is not awakened by such great clamours is deaf; he who does not praise God from all these effects is dumb; he who does not note the First Beginning from such great indications is foolish. — Open thine eyes, therefore, apply thy spiritual ears, loose thy lips and set thy heart, that in all creatures thou mayest see, hear, praise, love, and worship, magnify and honour thy God, lest perchance the whole globe of the lands rise up against thee. For on this account *the whole world shall fight with him against the unwise*; and, on the contrary, to the wise it will be matter of glory, who according to the Prophet can say: *For thou hast given me, O Lord, a delight in thy doings, and in the works of thy hands I shall rejoice. How great are thy works, O Lord! thou hast made all things in wisdom; the earth is filled with thy riches.*

---