Dist. 17, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 3
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/1/d/17/q/bon-sent-I-d17-p1-a1-q3
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### Question III. *Whether one can know with certainty that he is in charity.*

Thirdly it is asked, whether charity is knowable with certainty by the one who has it. And that it is, seems so:

1. By the authority of Augustine in book eight *On the Trinity*, also found in the Master's text: «He who loves his brother knows the love by which he loves more than the brother whom he loves»; but he knows the brother with certainty: therefore charity also.

2. Likewise, the first [letter] of John, [chapter] two: *He who loves his brother abides in the light*: therefore if charity is light, since nothing seems more certain than light, therefore etc.

3. Likewise, the first [letter] of John, [chapter] two: *The anointing will teach you concerning all things*, not, I say, concerning all things knowable, but concerning all things necessary for salvation: but charity is most necessary for salvation: therefore most of all does the anointing of the Holy Spirit teach us about it.

4. Likewise, the more anything is present to the soul, the more certainly it is seen and known; but charity is most present to the soul, since it is in the soul itself: therefore etc.

5. Likewise, one having faith is certain that he has faith; for nothing is more certain to a man than his own faith, as Augustine says: therefore by parity of reasoning the one having charity knows that he has charity.

**On the contrary:**

1. Ecclesiastes nine: *No one knows whether he is worthy of hatred or love*: therefore since the one having charity is worthy of love, he does not know himself worthy, therefore etc.

2. Likewise, the first [letter] to the Corinthians, [chapter] four: *I am conscious of nothing in myself, yet I am not justified by this*: therefore it seems that a man not having any remorse can fail to be justified, and so fail to have charity; but no sign is more evident of charity than the absence of all remorse: therefore if that is fallible, the rest are fallible.

3. Likewise, it belongs to charity to love God for his own sake and above all things, in such a way that nothing is loved equally or above or contrary; but no one knows whether he loves God before all things: therefore no one knows whether he has charity with certainty.

4. Likewise, the one having charity is acceptable to God, and this is plain to us and to all, that these are convertible; but no one knows whether he is acceptable to God except by revelation: therefore no one knows that he has charity except by revelation.

5. Likewise, the Apostle says that he did not know whether he had guilt, when he says: *yet I am not justified by this*; therefore by the opposite, he did not know that he had grace: therefore since charity is not without grace, therefore etc.

> **Conclusio.** *A man in the state of the wayfarer, apart from revelation, can know with certainty neither concerning himself nor concerning another that he is in charity; nevertheless he can probably know it through certain signs.*

**I respond:** It must be said that to know charity with certainty is twofold: either in universal — what it is and what kind it ought to be — and in this way it certainly can be known; the other way is to know charity in particular, that is, in this individual, and in this way neither concerning himself nor concerning another, as long as a man lives, can he know it with certainty: concerning another, no, because he does not know what is in a man, except through signs, which are fallible; concerning himself, no, and of this there can be a fourfold reason.

The first and chief is the implication of divine acceptation; for charity is joined to grace gratum-faciens (grace making one pleasing), which is therefore called *gratum faciens* because it renders a man acceptable to God; and therefore charity is so called, not only because it has the loved one as dear, but also because it makes the man dear to God. And because we do not know God's acceptation with certainty except through revelation, therefore we do not know that we have charity unless we are taught through revelation.

The second reason is its likeness to acquired love. For it can happen that someone be inflamed to loving God through habituation, who will fall through some spiritual sin, and yet will always be moved [in feeling]; as plainly appears through blessed Bernard in the book *On the Love of God*, where he reproves those who pride themselves on their devotion.

The third reason is the bleariness of our eye, since our eye is like the owl's eye toward the most manifest things in nature, as the Philosopher says. Whence, just as a bleary eye could not distinguish between the light of day and the light of a flame or of the moon, so neither can our spiritual eye [distinguish] between the light of grace freely given (*gratis data*) and that of grace making one pleasing (*gratum faciens*).

The fourth reason is the dispensation of the divine judgments. For God closes the eyes of his servants with respect to those things which pertain to their dignity, and concerning which they could be puffed up. Whence grace is contrary to pride. For pride opens the eyes to seeing prerogatives and closes them to seeing wants and defects, according to that of Apocalypse three: *You say, "I am rich and grown wealthy and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are poor and blind* etc. But on the contrary the holy man says that he is nothing, because God closes his eyes to the goods and opens them to the seeing of evils. And this is the reason why a man does not know charity, which, although by itself it does not suffice, nevertheless is good with the others. I believe, however, that the chief [reason] is the one stated first.

Although charity cannot be known with certainty to be in anyone, even by the one having it with respect to himself, nevertheless it can be known through probable signs, especially through the mortification of concupiscence and of vain or worldly love, and through many other signs which the Saints state and set forth.

*Ad 1.* To that which is objected to the contrary, that love is more certain than the brother; it must be said that charity does not only signify love, but adds beyond this, namely, that it is gratuitous. And as to the habit of love it is knowable with certainty, but as to that which it expresses by *gratuitous*, no.

*Ad 2.* To that which is objected, that charity is light: it must be said that, although charity is in itself knowable, nevertheless it is not known by us, because our eye is bleary.

*Ad 3.* To that which is objected, that the anointing teaches us concerning all things necessary for salvation; it must be said that this is true in the manner in which they are necessary; but to know that one has charity is not necessary for salvation, but only to have it.

*Ad 4.* To that which is objected concerning the presence of charity, it must be said that, although the substance of the habit is present, nevertheless the condition that accompanies the habit, namely the divine acceptation, is not present, but is rather hidden in God's knowledge and judgment.

*Ad 5.* To that which is objected concerning faith, it must be said that it is not similar, because faith signifies a habit pure and simple, without superadding an acceptation as charity does, and so it is plain that it is not similar.