Dist. 2
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/2/q/bon-sent-I-d2-littera
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### Distinction II.

#### Chapter I.
*On the Trinity and the Unity.*

Therefore it must be held by true and pious faith, «that the Trinity is the one and only true God, as Augustine says in the first book *On the Trinity*, namely the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and this Trinity is said, believed, and understood to be of one and the same substance or essence, which is the highest good, which is discerned by the most purified minds. For the gaze of the human mind, weak as it is, is not fixed upon so excellent a light unless it be nourished through the righteousness of faith». The same author in the first book of the *Retractations*: «I do not approve what I said in prayer: *O God, who hast willed that none but the pure should know truth*. For one may answer that many even of those who are not pure do know many true things. Therefore concerning this matter, the highest and most excellent, we must proceed with modesty and fear, and listen with most attentive and devout ears, where the unity of the Trinity is sought, namely of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; for nowhere is one led astray more dangerously, nor anything sought more laboriously, nor anything found more fruitfully». Therefore everyone who hears and reads what is said about the ineffable and inaccessible light of the Deity should strive to imitate and observe what the venerable Doctor Augustine in the first book *On the Trinity* says of himself: «It will not weary me», he says, «wherever I hesitate, to inquire, nor will it shame me, wherever I err, to learn. Therefore whoever hears or reads these things, where he is equally certain, let him go on with me; where he equally hesitates, let him inquire with me; where he recognizes his own error, let him return to me; where mine, let him recall me. Thus let us together enter the way of charity, tending toward Him of whom it is said: *Seek His face evermore*».

#### Chapter II.
*What was the intention of those who wrote on the Trinity.*

«Now all Catholic treatise-writers, as Augustine says in the same place, who have written on the Trinity, which is God, have intended this — to teach according to the Scriptures that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are of one substance, and by inseparable equality are one God, so that there is unity in essence and plurality in persons; and therefore they are not three gods, but one God, although the Father has begotten the Son, and therefore the Son is not He who is the Father; and the Son has been begotten by the Father, and therefore the Father is not He who is the Son; and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but only the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, coequal to both and pertaining to the unity of the Trinity». «Let us therefore hold that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are by nature one God, as Augustine says in the book *On Faith to Peter*; nevertheless that the Father is not He who is the Son; nor is the Son He who is the Father; nor is the Holy Spirit He who is the Father or the Son. For one is the essence of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, which the Greeks call *usia*, in which the Father is not one thing, the Son another, the Holy Spirit another, although personally the Father is one, the Son another, the Holy Spirit another».

#### Chapter III.
*What order should be observed when treating of the Trinity.*

Furthermore, as Augustine teaches in the first book *On the Trinity*: «First, according to the authorities of the holy Scriptures, it must be shown whether the faith holds thus. Then against garrulous reasoners, more lofty than capacious, we must use catholic reasonings and fitting likenesses for the defense and assertion of the faith, so that, by satisfying their inquiries, we may more fully instruct the meek; and they, if they cannot find what they seek, may complain rather of their own minds than of the truth itself or of our discourse».

#### Chapter IV.
*On the testimonies of the Old Testament by which the mystery of the Trinity is declared.*

Let us therefore set forth the authorities of the Old and New Testaments, by which the truth of the divine Unity and Trinity may be demonstrated. And first let the very beginnings of the Law come up, where Moses says: *Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God*. Likewise: *I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt; thou shalt have no other gods besides me*. Behold, here he signified the unity of the divine nature. «For *God* and *Lord*, as Ambrose says in the first book *On the Trinity*, is the name of nature, the name of power». Likewise elsewhere God speaking to Moses says: *I am who I am; and if they ask my name, go and tell them: He who is, has sent me to you*. For by saying *I am*, not *We are*, and *Who is*, not *Who are*, He most clearly declared that there is one only God. In the Canticle of Exodus also it is read: *The Lord, omnipotent is His name*; he does not say *of Lords*, wishing to signify unity. The plurality of persons and the unity of nature the Lord at once showed in Genesis, saying: *Let us make man to our image and likeness*. For by saying *let us make* and *our*, He showed the plurality of persons; but by saying *image*, the unity of essence. For as Augustine says in the book *On Faith to Peter*: «If in that nature of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit there were only one person, it would not be said: *Let us make man to our image and likeness*. For when He says *to the image*, He shows that there is one nature, to whose image man was being made; but when He says *our*, He shows that the same God is not one but several persons». Hilary also in the third book *On the Trinity* says that by these words it is signified that in the Trinity there is neither diversity, nor singularity or solitude, but likeness and plurality or distinction. For he speaks thus: «He who said: *Let us make man to our image and likeness*, showed by what He says — *our image and likeness* — that they are mutually like one another». «For an image is not solitary, nor is a likeness to itself: nor does likeness allow diversity to be mingled in two from one to the other». Likewise the same author in the fourth book: «He wished it to be understood more absolutely that this signification was not to be referred to Himself alone, when He said: *Let us make man to our image and likeness*; for the profession of partnership took away the understanding of the singular, because no partnership can belong to one solitary by itself, nor again can the solitude of one alone use *let us make*, nor does anyone speak *our* to one alien to himself. Each expression, namely *let us make* and *our*, just as it does not allow a solitary and the same one, so neither does it signify a different one and one alien from himself. To one solitary it is fitting to say *I will make* and *my*; but to one not solitary it is fitting to say *let us make* and *our*. Each expression, just as it signifies not solitary only, so neither does it signify a different or diverse being. Nor must we confess Him as solitary, nor as diverse. Thus then God is found to operate man with respect to a common image and likeness shared with God; so that neither the signification of the agent admits the understanding of solitude, nor does the operation, established to the same image or likeness, suffer the diversity of divinity».

In these words Hilary wished the plurality of persons to be understood by the name of partnership; and he signified that by the name of partnership or plurality something is not posited but rather removed. For when plurality or partnership of persons is spoken of, solitude and singularity is denied; when we say there are several persons, we signify that there is not one alone. Therefore Hilary, wishing these things to be understood subtly and soundly, says: «The profession of partnership took away the understanding of the singular» — he does not say *posited something*. So too when we say three persons, we take away singularity and solitude, and we signify that the Father is not alone, nor is the Son alone, nor is the Holy Spirit alone, and that there is neither only the Father and the Son, nor only the Father and the Holy Spirit, nor only the Son and the Holy Spirit. But of this it shall be more fully treated in what follows, where it shall also be shown in what respect the three persons are said to be alike, and whether there is in any way diversity or difference there.

But now let us return to our purpose, and to show the plurality of persons and the unity of the divine essence let us bring forward other authorities of the Saints. Moses says: *In the beginning God created heaven and*

*earth*, signifying by *God* the Father, by *beginning* the Son. And in place of what among us is said *God*, the Hebrew truth has *heloym*, which is the plural of this singular, *hel*. Therefore that *hel* — which is *God* — is not said, but *heloym*, which can be interpreted *gods* or *judges*, refers to the plurality of persons. To which also that seems to pertain which the devil through the serpent said: *You shall be as gods*, for which in Hebrew there is *heloym*, as if he were saying: *you shall be as divine persons*. That greatest of Prophets and kings also, David, who prefers his own understanding above the rest, saying: *I have understood above the elders*, showing the unity of the divine nature, says: *The Lord is the name to Him*; he does not say *of Lords*. Elsewhere also showing at once His unity and eternity he says from the person of God: *Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me, there shall not be in thee a new God, neither shalt thou worship a strange God*. «One of these, as Ambrose says in the first book *On the Trinity*, signifies eternity, the other the unity of indifferent substance, so that we may believe neither the Son nor the Holy Spirit to be later than the Father, nor of another divinity. For if the Son or the Holy Spirit is later than the Father, He is new; and if He is not of one divinity, He is alien; but neither is He later, since He is not new, nor is He alien, since the Son is born from the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. Elsewhere also, suggesting the distinction of persons, he says: *By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the breath of His mouth all their power*. Elsewhere also he says: *May God bless us, our God, may God bless us, and let all the ends of the earth fear Him*. For the threefold confession of God expresses the trinity of persons; but the unity of essence it discloses, when in the singular it adds *Him*. Isaiah also says that he heard the Seraphim crying: *Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God*. By saying thrice *Holy*, he signifies the Trinity; by adding *Lord God*, the unity of essence. David also openly suggests the eternal generation of the Son, speaking from the person of the Son: *The Lord said to me: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee*. Of this ineffable generation Isaiah says: *Who shall declare His generation?* In the book of Wisdom also the eternity of the Son with the Father is shown, where Wisdom thus speaks: *The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He made anything from the beginning: I was set up from eternity, before the earth was made; the depths were not yet, and I was already conceived: neither did the fountains of waters as yet spring out, neither were the mountains or hills established, and I was being brought forth: He had not yet made the earth, nor the cardinal points of the world: when He prepared the heavens, I was present: when He fixed the foundations of the earth, with Him I was, ordering all things, and I was delighted every day, playing before Him*. Behold, an open testimony of the eternal birth, by which Wisdom herself bears witness that she was conceived and brought forth before the world — that is, begotten — and that she exists eternally with the Father. She also elsewhere says: *I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the firstborn before all creatures*. The prophet Micah also at once suggested the eternal generation of the Word and the temporal generation from Mary, saying: *And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Judah: out of thee shall come forth He that is to be ruler in Israel, and His going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity*.

Concerning the Holy Spirit also we have express documents in the Old Testament. For in Genesis it is read: *The Spirit of the Lord moved over the waters*. And David says: *Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?* And in the book of Wisdom it is said: *The Holy Spirit of discipline shall flee from the deceitful, for the spirit of wisdom is benign*. Isaiah also says: *The Spirit of the Lord is upon me*, etc.

#### Chapter V.
*On the testimonies of the New Testament pertaining to the same.*

Now after the testimonies of the Old Testament concerning the faith of the Holy Trinity and Unity, let us proceed to the authorities of the New Testament, that in the midst of two living creatures (that is, of the Testaments) the truth may be known, and that with the tongs from the altar the coal may be taken with which the lips of the faithful are touched. Therefore the Lord Christ openly suggests the unity of the divine essence and the trinity of persons, saying to the Apostles: *Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit*. «*In the name* He says, as Ambrose says in the first book *On the Trinity*, not *in the names*», so that the unity of essence may be shown; by the three names which He set down, He declared that there are three persons. «He also says: *I and the Father are one*. He said *one*, as Ambrose says in the same book, lest there be a separation of power and nature; and He added *we are*, that you may know the Father and the Son, namely that the perfect Father is to be believed to have begotten a perfect Son, and that the Father and the Son are one, not by confusion of person, but by unity of nature». John also in his canonical Epistle says: *There are three who give testimony in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one*. He also at the beginning of his Gospel says: *In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God*; where he openly shows that the Son was always and eternally with the Father, as one with another. The Apostle also openly distinguishes the Trinity, saying: *God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts*. And elsewhere: *If the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus dwell in us*, etc. Likewise elsewhere he most evidently commends Trinity and Unity, saying: *Because from Him, and through Him, and in Him are all things, to Him be glory*. «*From Him* he says, as Augustine in the book *On the Trinity* says, on account of the Father; *through Him* he says on account of the Son; *in Him* on account of the Holy Spirit». But by this — that he did not say *from them*, *through them*, and *in them*, nor did he say *to them* be glory, but *to Him* — he suggested that this Trinity is one Lord God. But since nearly every syllable of the New Testament harmoniously suggests this truth of the ineffable Unity and Trinity, let us forbear from adducing more testimonies on this matter, and by reasonings and fitting likenesses let us show, as far as our weakness allows, that it is so.

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