Coll. 4
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/4/q/bon-praec-c4
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### COLLATION IV.
#### *On the third precept of the decalogue.*

### Summarium

*Introduction,* 1. — Part I. The literal exposition of the third precept. *The entire words of it are set out,* 2. — *The Lawgiver puts three things in it: he commands something, he concedes something, he forbids something,* 3. — *The reason for the precept is subjoined,* 4. — *The objection of the Jews who mock,* 5. — *The reply: here one must distinguish what is purely moral, what is purely ceremonial, and what is mixed of both,* 6. — *On these three severally,* 7, 8. — *The seven mechanical works; some forbidden, some permitted,* 9, 10. — *An incidental question is resolved,* 11. — Part II. The requisites for perfect charity are expounded. *Three things are required for it: first, a divine leisure, turning the soul into God through three interior works and four exterior,* 12. — *Secondly, the imitation of Christ in the six works of mercy, with six corresponding exercises of the virtues,* 13, 14. — *Thirdly, cessation from every sinful work; sin is committed in five ways,* 15, 16.

1. *Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day*. — *But the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity upon them that fear him, and his justice unto children's children, to such as keep his covenant.* We stand in need of the divine *mercy* pardoning our offences, and of the divine *justice* recompensing our merits. But

the fear of God makes us find *mercy,* and the observance of the commandments, *justice.* Now the consideration of *the magnificence of God* leads to fearing; but the consideration of *the divine law* leads to the observance of the commandments. And for this reason it is intimated to us that we should always think upon the divine law. Whence the Jews were accustomed always to dispute about the law of God on the Sabbath day, because this is the work of God. Therefore at the beginning let us pray to God, etc.

2. *Remember,* etc. I was telling you that in the first table are contained three commandments ordering us to God according to the three attributes appropriated to the three divine persons. In the first commandment there is enjoined *the humble adoration* of the divine majesty, in the second *the faithful confession* of the highest truth, in the third *the sincere love* of the highest goodness. And this is the third precept, and the sum of its words is: *Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.* There follows: *Six days shalt thou labour and shalt do all thy works; but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; thou shalt do no work in it, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, thy beast nor the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.*

3. See that in these words the Holy Spirit wrote the tables; for by *the finger of God* the Holy Spirit is understood, who wrote out all the precepts with the highest diligence, intimating the *integrity* and the *completeness* of the commandment. Now in this commandment the Lawgiver *commands* something, *concedes* something and *forbids* something. He *commands* the sanctifying of the Sabbath day, there: *Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.* For sanctification is what turns the soul to God the holy, to God the true and to God who is to be loved above all. He *concedes* something in this commandment, there: *Six days shalt thou labour and shalt do all thy works.* But he *forbids* something, namely servile work, there: *Thou shalt do no work in it,* etc. This is the perfect leisure, which has joined to it a good working and a forbidden servile working.

4. *The reason* for the precept is subjoined, there: *In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed it and sanctified it.* But why does he command us *to keep leisure*? Certainly, because *he blessed and sanctified it.* Therefore thou too, creature of God, who art an imitator of Christ, oughtest to do this.

5. But the Jews mock us and say: you hold to the decalogue, and the decalogue had nothing but moral precepts; but the moral had its necessity for all time. Now the seventh day, on which it is not lawful to work, counting from the first day on which it is lawful to work, is the Sabbath day, which is called Saturn's day; and you keep leisure on the Lord's day instead of the Sabbath day. — Again it is said: *Thou shalt do no work in it;* and you do many works, and so you overturn the whole of it.

6. See, dearly beloved; it must be understood that that precept has something which is *purely moral;* and it has something which is *purely ceremonial;* and it has something which is *mixed* of the moral and the ceremonial. — That the Lord commands *sanctification,* that is, leisure for loving, this is *purely* a *moral* precept. Whence blessed Peter says: *But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts,* that is, love him. For he sanctifies, or makes holy, the Sabbath, who loves God above all things for his own sake, not for the sake of anything else.

7. Again, there is in the precept something *figural,* as the signification of the seventh day. For the seventh day signifies the rest of souls and the rest of the Lord in the sepulchre and the cessation from every servile work with leisure and the contemplation of God. For God worked all things in six days, not because he could not have made them in one day; but it must be understood here that the world has something in *the eternal art,* namely *eternal being,* which is the eternity of life and a single possession, in which there is nothing before nor after; and this God impressed upon the angelic minds. — Again, the world has something in *created intelligence,* namely *before and after in nature,* though it is simultaneous with respect to duration. — But it has *before and after* with respect

*to duration* — not *with respect to nature* — according as it is in *matter,* not through any defect of the worker, but through his condescension, that he might fit all things together and might designate all things in the first works. And just as he brought forth *the roots* of all operations in the first works, so also he fully brought forth *the seedbeds* of all works and their coming to rest. — But on the seventh day he rested and called back the intellectual creature to himself, and on the seventh day he led back the souls that were in limbo to the rest of paradise. The signification, therefore, of the seventh day is figurative of the rest of souls. — Thus, then, in this commandment there is contained something which is *purely moral,* namely that God be loved above all things, and something which is *purely ceremonial,* namely the signification of the seventh day.

8. Again, there is contained something which is *partly moral and partly ceremonial,* namely the cessation from works. And here some things are to be understood *generally,* and others *specially.* If we understand it *generally,* as the Jews do, who say that there ought to be a universal cessation from every servile work, then it is intimated to the Christian that he ought to abstain from *every sin.* But if we understand it *specially,* that from some things we ought to abstain and from others not, then it is *moral,* not as in a *precept,* but as in *well-being,* and it has remained, as it is enjoined in the institution of the Church.

9. Now by servile works I mean the mechanical works, which are seven, namely *agriculture,* which takes in every manner of tilling the earth; *weaving,* which consists in every work and kind of clothing; *smithcraft,* whether it be in iron, or metal, or stone, or wood; *hunting,* which takes in every work of bakers and cooks and every manner of preparing food; *medicine,* which consists in the art of compounding pigments or syrups and the like; *navigation,* which takes in every work of sailors at sea, or every work of commerce; and *the theatrical,* which takes in every manner of play or amusement.

10. Now I say that in all these there are some things which are *of pure servility;* some which are *of continual necessity;* some which are *of pure amusement.* Those which are *of pure servility* are forbidden by the Church; but those which are *of continual necessity,* such as those which serve the preservation of life or health, are conceded in so far as they are of necessity, but are forbidden in so far as they are of servility. But those which are *of pure amusement* are permitted, not forbidden; because on account of our proneness they are allowed by the Church. — And thus we shall be able to answer.

11. But thou wilt say: why did he confound and mix together at once *moral things and ceremonial*? — I say that this precept, *Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day,* is about charity; and whatever is open and hidden in the others is brought to completion in this commandment. And therefore he mixed the ceremonial and the moral together, that we might the better bring them back to memory; lest, if he had set them down severally, our memory should be burdened.

12. Now there are three things which are required for perfect love. The first is *divine leisure,* turning the soul into God. The second is *the imitation of Christ* in good works. The third is *cessation from every servile work,* which renders the heart pure and clean. — Now the turning into God is according to seven works, without which the soul is not turned to perfect leisure in God; of which three are *interior,* which are done *by meditating, by praying* and *by exulting*; and from these three contemplation results. The other four are *exterior,* which are done *by reading, by chanting psalms, by offering sacrifice* and *by fulfilling the divine law;* and this is done either by hearing, or by teaching, or by conferring with others. — And this is what he says: *Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.* The Lord therefore first enjoins the *leisure* that turns the soul into himself.

13. Secondly he enjoins *the imitation of himself,* when he says: *Six days shalt thou labour.* Of this imitation the Apostle says: *Be ye therefore followers of God as most dear children;* and in Luke it is said: *Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful.* — Now there are six works of mercy, namely to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to gather in the stranger, to visit the sick and to ransom the captive. Otherwise the work of perfect virtue cannot be, unless the creature is conformed to Christ in these things.

14. Now for the work of virtue there are required six things corresponding to the works of the six days, which are provident *circumspection,* right *intention,* pure *affection,* just or right *choice,* vigorous *prosecution* and charitable *informing.* — The first, then, is understood in the work of the first day, when God said: *Be light made; and light was made;* this is *provident circumspection.* — Secondly it behoves that a man set for himself a right end in God; and this is noted when he says: *Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters. And God called the firmament heaven;* because it behoves that a man be borne upward, so that he may have a *right intention* toward God. — Thirdly *pure affection* is required; and this is understood in the third work, when God divided the earth from the waters, that is, worldly affections from divine ones. — Fourthly *just* or right *choice* is required, that all our works may be done in an ordered way, according as they ought; and this is noted

in the fourth work, when he says: *Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven,* that is, let our works be ordered. — Fifthly *vigorous prosecution* is required, which is noted in the fifth work, when God brought forth the living soul in the waters, as swimming things, and in the air flying things. — Sixthly *charitable informing* is required, that our works may be entire, clothed about with all the circumstances, according as the law of divine charity requires. Now charity is the perfecting form of all things; and he who has charity has all these six. The sixth work of virtue, therefore, is the informing of charity; which is noted when he says: *God made man to his own image and likeness.* — When a man's work is made whole out of these six, then a man is said *to live rightly.*

15. But it is not enough to do the work of virtue, unless a man guards himself against a vicious work; and this is touched upon when it is said: *Thou shalt do no work in it,* that is, no sin. — Now in five ways can a man commit sin: first, when he perpetrates a sin against the commandment; secondly, when he incites another to sin; thirdly, when he defends the sinner; fourthly, when he accepts the sinner; fifthly, when he connives at the sinner and neither reproves nor punishes him — and this is the greatest peril, when someone neglects to correct another.

16. The first sin is touched upon when it is said: *Thou shalt do no work in it,* that is, thou shalt perpetrate no sin. — The second sin is touched upon when it is said: *nor thy son nor thy daughter,* that is, thou shalt not be the *father* of sin by instigating another to sin either by word, or by deed, or by example. — The third sin is touched upon when it is said: *nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant.* He *who commits sin is the servant of sin*; but he who defends sin is the *master* of sin, in affording patronage to the one committing it. — The fourth sin is when someone accepts the sinner; which is touched upon when it is said: *nor thy beast.* The beast, when it was tied up, was not led out to work unless its master allowed it, and that allowing is a binding again. — The fifth sin is when someone neglects to correct another; which is touched upon when it is said: *nor the stranger that is within thy gates.* A man reckons another a *stranger* when he sees him sinning and says: what is his sin to me? And thus, when a man does not punish another's sin, he is made a *sharer* in that sin. — In many other ways too a man is made a sharer in another's sin; and for this reason the Psalm says: *From my secret sins cleanse me, O Lord, and from those of others spare thy servant.*

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