Coll. 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/13/d/1/q/bon-praec-c1
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### COLLATION I.
#### *On the four motives that lead to the keeping of the divine precepts, and on the decalogue in general.*

### Summarium

*Introduction, number* 1. — Part I. On the motives for keeping them. *Four things move us to keep the precepts,* 2. — *First, the authority of him who commands, and that on a threefold ground, namely that he creates, governs and saves us,* 3-5. — *Secondly, the threefold usefulness of keeping them, namely the obtaining of gifts of grace, the disclosure of the Scriptures and the attainment of rewards,* 6-9. — *Thirdly, the threefold peril of transgression, since he who does not keep them loses many goods, rushes into unspeakable outrages and deserves eternal torments,* 10-12. — *The last two are confirmed from Scripture,* 13. — *Fourthly, the blamelessness of the commandments, shown in three ways, since they contain nothing impossible nor burdensome nor unjust,* 14-17. — *Conclusion of the first part,* 18. — Part II. On the decalogue in general. *On the first and great commandment, which is the sum of the whole Law,* 19. — *The ten precepts are the foundations of all laws and precepts; they are enumerated,* 20. — *Every law commands nothing but a twofold justice, namely that which orders us to God and to our neighbour; hence the two tables,* 21. — *The first table with three precepts, which are appropriated to the three divine persons,* 22. — *The second table with the other seven,* 23. 24.

1. *If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.* These words are written in Matthew and are the words of our Saviour, in which the sum of our whole salvation is set out for us in respect of two things: first, in respect of the *reward* of the eternal recompense, there: *If thou wilt enter into life;* secondly, in respect of the *merit* of human action, there: *keep the commandments.* And this is the right order, because the end moves the agent to exert himself toward the due end. — Let us therefore follow the manner of that great Master; and before we say anything about these *precepts,* let us first speak of the *keeping of the precepts.*

2. The Lord sets the *motive* first, and afterwards adds the *act* by which we can come to the due end. And it is to be noted that there are four things that move us to keep the commandments of God. The first is the *authority* or dignity of him who commands; the second is the *usefulness* of keeping them; the third is the *peril* of transgression; the fourth is the *blamelessness* of the commandments. Since therefore he who commands that the precepts be kept is of great authority, and the keeping of the commandments is of great usefulness, and in transgression there lies a great peril, and the commandment is beyond reproach; therefore there is no one who can have an excuse concerning the keeping of the commandments.

3. First, then, the *authority* of him who commands ought to move us to keep the commandments of God: for it is God who commands that the precepts be kept. And he is of great authority; which is clear from three things: first, because by his great power he *creates* us; secondly, because by his wondrous wisdom he rules and *governs* us; thirdly, because by his bountiful goodwill he *saves* us. — First, I say, he who commands that the commandments of God be kept is of great authority, because by his great power he *creates* us; Job: *Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me wholly round about;* and Deuteronomy the eleventh: *Your eyes have seen all the great works of God, which he hath done, that you may keep his commandments.*

4. Secondly, he is of great authority, because by his wondrous wisdom he *governs* us. Whence Isaias says: *I am the Lord, teaching thee profitable things, governing thee in the way that thou walkest. O that thou hadst attended to my commandments! thy peace had been made as a river.* The Psalm: *I have kept thy commandments and thy testimonies; because all my ways are in thy sight.*

5. Thirdly, he is of great authority, because by his bountiful goodwill he *saves* us; Deuteronomy the tenth: *And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God and*

*walk in his ways and love him and serve the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul, and keep the commandments of the Lord?* — *Lord,* who *created* thee; *God,* who *governs* thee; *thy own,* who *saves* thee. — It is clear now that the *authority* of him who commands ought first to move us to keep the commandments of God.

6. Secondly, the *usefulness* of keeping them ought to move us to keep the commandments of God. For in keeping the commandments of God there is a manifold usefulness, which is reduced to three uses. The first use is the *obtaining* of the divine *gifts of grace;* the second is the *disclosure* of the sacred *Scriptures;* the third is the *attainment* of the heavenly *rewards.*

7. The first use, I say, in keeping the commandments of God is the *obtaining* of the divine *gifts of grace;* whence in John: *If you love me, keep my commandments; and I will ask my Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete.*

8. The second use is the *intelligence* of the sacred *Scriptures;* the Psalm: *I have had understanding above ancients, because I have sought thy commandments.* But how we may come to the intelligence of the sacred Scriptures, Gregory shows; whence upon that passage where the disciples, when they saw Jesus, did not understand him, but when they heard him speaking, then they understood him, Gregory says there that « by hearing the precepts of God the disciples were not enlightened, but by doing them they were enlightened »; because *not the hearers of the law* only, *but the doers shall be justified*. For this reason James says in his canonical epistle: *Be ye doers of the word of God, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves; for if a man be a hearer of the word of God only and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass.* If a man sees his own face ten times in a glass, he will still not know it well; but if he sees the face of another man outside a glass, he knows it well; and this is because of the strong impression of the species upon the organ of sight along a straight line, whereas in a glass there is no true beholding. In like manner, when a man hears the word of God, it seems to him that he understands it well, but it slips away at once; but when he puts it to the test by acting well, then he understands it.

9. The third use of keeping the commandments of God is the *attainment* of the heavenly *rewards.* Whence it is said in Proverbs: *Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live; and my law as the apple of thy eye.* This is the reason why God gave the keeping of commandments to man while he was in paradise. — It is clear now that the *usefulness* of keeping them ought to move us to keep the commandments of God.

10. Thirdly, the *peril* of transgression ought to move us to the keeping of the commandments, because the transgressor of the commandments falls into many perils: first, because he *loses many goods;* secondly, because he *rushes into unspeakable outrages;* thirdly, because he *deserves eternal torments.* — First, I say, the peril of transgression ought to move us to keep the commandments of God, because transgressors *lose many goods;* whence in Leviticus: *If you will not hear my voice and will not do all my commandments; I will visit you in poverty and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes and consume your lives.* He says: *I will visit you in poverty;* behold, the privation of all goods; *and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes and consume your lives,* because it blinds the understanding of the true and takes away the affection for the good; and for this reason the Psalmist says in the person of the transgressor: *My strength hath left me, and the light of my eyes, and the same is not with me.*

11. Secondly, transgressors of the commandments *rush into unspeakable outrages;* whence in Baruch: *We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, that we might walk in his commandments, and we have gone away every one after the inclination of his own wicked heart.* Of such transgressors the Psalm says: *My people heard not my voice, and Israel hearkened not to me, and I let them go according to the desires of their heart.* For such transgressors the Lord gives into the hands of demons. Which was well signified in the third chapter of Daniel, where it is said that the three children, being in the furnace of fire, said: *We have sinned and committed iniquity and have transgressed;* and there follows: *And we have been delivered into the hands of our enemies, unjust and most wicked and prevaricators, and to a king unjust and most wicked beyond all the earth.*

12. Thirdly, transgressors of the commandments *deserve eternal torments;* the Psalm: *Cursed are they who decline from thy commandments; cursed,* because it shall be said to them: *Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,* Matthew the twenty-fifth.

13. Behold, the wondrous usefulness of keeping them and the wondrous calamity of transgressing them. Whence the Lord through Moses: *Behold,* he says, *I set before thee a blessing and a curse: a blessing, if thou do my commandments; a curse, if thou do them not.* The Lord sets us in the middle and works with us wondrously.

When someone wishes to show something to another, he proceeds against him by a twofold way, namely by the *ostensive* argument and by the argument *leading to the impossible*. So the Lord does: he sets man in the middle between heaven and hell; in heaven is eternal glory, in hell are eternal torments. And when the Lord shows man the glory of paradise, which he can earn by keeping the commandments, then he inclines him to the keeping of the commandments by the *ostensive* argument. But when he shows him the torments of hell, into which he will rush if he transgresses the commandments, then he inclines him by the argument *leading to the impossible.* — Behold, he sets before us a curse and a blessing; let us leave to Judas the traitor the curse and the halter, of whom it is said that *he would not have the blessing, and it shall be far from him*; and let us with blessed Matthias receive the blessing.

14. Fourthly, the *blamelessness of the commandments* ought to move us to the keeping of the commandments. A commandment is called *beyond reproach* when it contains nothing *impossible* nor anything *burdensome* nor anything *unjust.* So it is with the commandments of God.

15. First, I say, the commandments of God are beyond reproach because they contain nothing *impossible;* whence in the first epistle of John: *This is the charity of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not heavy.* He sets first: *this is the charity of God;* for to one who has charity the commandments of God are easy and sweet, but to one who has not charity they seem hard. And Augustine gives the example of a bird that has feathers and of a bird without feathers; and he says that for a bird that has feathers it is easy to fly, but for a bird that has not feathers it is hard. In like manner to a man of perverse will the commandments seem hard which to one who has charity are easy. Whence it is said in Deuteronomy: *This commandment, that I command thee this day, is not above thee nor far off nor placed in heaven nor set beyond the sea, but the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayst do it.*

16. Secondly, the commandments of God are beyond reproach because they contain nothing *burdensome,* but rather are sweet. Whence it is said in Ecclesiasticus: *There is nothing better than the fear of God, and nothing sweeter than to have regard to the commandments of the Lord;* the Psalm: *More to be desired than gold and many precious stones, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. It is joy to the just to do judgment* or justice. But we see that to an infected palate sweet food seems to be bitter; in like manner to a man of perverse will the commandments of God, which are easy and sweet, seem hard.

17. Thirdly, the commandments of God are beyond reproach because they contain nothing *unjust;* whence the Apostle: *The law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.* For this reason he says elsewhere: *I charge thee before God, who quickeneth all things, that thou keep without spot the commandment that is beyond reproach.* — The *blamelessness* of the commandments is therefore clear now.

18. Let us therefore join these four together, namely the *authority* of him who commands, the *usefulness* of keeping them, the *peril* of transgression and the *blamelessness* of the commandments; and we shall see that there is no one who will be able to excuse himself concerning the keeping of the precepts.

19. But *which is the first and great commandment in the Law?* The Lord answers in Matthew: *Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two dependeth the whole Law and the Prophets.* Augustine shows that in that word: *But it is good for me to adhere to my God,* there is contained the whole of that which is said: *Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,* and so on. For we ought to love God, because this is just, holy, easy and sweet. Whence Augustine: « Lord, what art thou to me? And what am I to thee, that thou commandest me to love thee, and if I love thee not, thou threatenest me with enormous miseries »?

20. Furthermore the sacred decalogue, which was given to Moses on mount Sinai, shows how we ought to keep the commandments of God; and I wish to show you that, just as there are eight parts of speech, which are the foundation of all those things that can be expressed by the voice

in grammar, and just as there are ten predicaments, which are the foundation of all those things that are determined in dialectic; so the ten precepts are the foundation of all laws and of the divine precepts. For the Lord willed that they should not have been given to Moses without reason. — I shall now state these precepts in general:

> *Thou shalt not have strange gods.*
> *Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain.*
> *Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.*
> *Honour thy father and thy mother.*
> *Thou shalt not kill.*
> *Thou shalt not commit adultery.*
> *Thou shalt not steal.*
> *Thou shalt not bear false witness.*
> *Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife,*
> *Nor any thing that is his.*

21. And it is to be noted that every law commands nothing but justice. For law is the rule of justice; and justice is that according to which man has to be ordered to God and to his neighbour. According to this, justice is twofold: one by which we are ordered to God, another by which we are ordered to our neighbour; and according to this two tables were given to Moses, namely the first and the second. In the first are contained the commandments that order us to God, in the second are contained the commandments that order us to our neighbour.

22. In the first table, I say, are contained the commandments that order us to God; and God is a Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. To the Father is attributed *majesty,* to the Son *truth* and to the Holy Spirit *goodness.* In the Father is the highest *majesty,* to be humbly adored; in the Son is the highest *truth,* to be faithfully asserted; in the Holy Spirit is the highest *goodness,* to be sincerely loved. But if we must do these three things by an eternal ordering, then it is necessary that there be in the first table three commandments according to these three things appropriated to the three divine persons. In the first commandment indeed is enjoined the *humble adoration* of the divine majesty, when it is said: *Thou shalt not have strange gods.* In the second commandment is enjoined the *faithful assertion* of the divine truth, when it is said: *Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain.* In the third is enjoined the *sincere love* of the divine goodness, when it is said: *Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.* These are the three commandments of the first table.

23. In the second table are contained seven commandments that order us to our neighbour, which are signified by the two precepts of the law of nature, namely: do to another what thou wouldst have done to thee; do not do to another what thou wouldst not have done to thee. — And according to these two precepts of the law of nature a twofold justice is taken, of which one is that of *innocence,* the other that of *beneficence;* and according to this twofold justice the commandment is twofold: the first of *beneficence,* the other of *innocence.* — The commandment of *beneficence* is: *Honour thy father and thy mother.* And this commandment is not only one of reverence, but is also one of kindness and of service; and it holds not only in the case of a father, but rather in the case of all who proceed from a father.

24. But the commandment that is of *innocence* must needs be multiplied, because it consists in this, that a man beware of offending his neighbour. Now it happens in three ways that one offends his neighbour, namely in *mind,* in *word* and in *deed.* — And offence in *deed* is in three modes, because a man can offend his neighbour by a deed either in his *own person,* or in a *person joined to him,* or in his *earthly possession.* And according to this there are three commandments: *Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal.* — Then follows offence in *word,* against which there is one commandment, namely *thou shalt not bear false witness.* And by *false witness* are signified all the things that a man can say against his neighbour. — And offence in *mind* has two roots according to the twofold concupiscence, namely that *of the flesh* and that *of the eyes*. Against the concupiscence *of the flesh* there is one commandment: *Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.* Against the concupiscence *of the eyes* there is another commandment: *not his field nor any other thing.* — It is clear now in general what the ten precepts are and on what they are taken to rest.

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