Dist. 3, Part 1, Divisio Textus
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/3/q/bon-sent-I-d3-p1-divisio
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## COMMENTARY ON DISTINCTION III.

### Part I.

*On the cognition of God through remote likenesses.*

> *For the Apostle says that the invisible things of God etc.*

### DIVISION OF THE TEXT.

Above the Master treated of the holy Trinity and Unity insofar as it is believed. In this second part he treats of it insofar as it is understood. And this part is divided into three parts, in the first of which, in order to understand the Trinity, he adduces fitting likenesses and arguments. In the second he resolves the emerging difficulties, below in distinction four at the beginning: *Here arises a question sufficiently necessary. It is established etc.* In the third, those difficulties having been resolved, he determines the properties and conditions of the Trinity and Unity, below in distinction eight: *Now concerning the truth or property* etc.

Likewise the first part has two [subdivisions]. In the first he adduces remote likenesses; in the second proximate or express likenesses, which are attended to in the image, there: *Now indeed let us at last come to that disputation.*

Likewise the first part has two parts. In the first he shows the Unity, in the second the Trinity, there: *Now it remains to show whether through the things that have been made etc.*

The first part has four subdivisions. In the first he proves by the authority of the Apostle to the Romans, chapter one, that God is knowable through the creature. In the second indeed he adduces various modes of knowing and reasons, there: *For as Ambrose says.* In the third he says that those modes are implied in the authority of the Apostle, there: *Behold, in so many modes.* In the fourth he touches upon what can be proved by the aforesaid arguments, namely the unity of the essence, not the trinity, there: *But all these things lead to unity etc.*

*Now* *it remains to show whether etc.* Above the Master showed by arguments the unity or entity of the divine essence. In this second part he shows the Trinity by a remote likeness, which is attended to in the vestige, and this chapter has four subdivisions. In the first the Master shows the account of the vestige in the creature. In the second he shows what corresponds to the vestige in the Creator, namely a trinity of appropriated [attributes], that is, of origin, beauty, and delight, so that the individual [appropriations] are rendered to the individual [persons], there: *For in that supreme Trinity.*

In the third he teaches us to contemplate the Trinity in God through the consideration of the vestige in the creature, there: *Through the consideration therefore of creatures etc.*, where he shows the trinity of appropriated [attributes] in God both as to the act of founding and as to the act of reforming. In the fourth subdivision, however, he shows that the consideration of the Trinity through the vestige is not sufficient, but remote, there: *Behold, it has been shown in what way in creatures.*

*Now indeed let us at last come to that disputation.* This is the second part of this distinction, in which the Master proves the Trinity and Unity through a proximate and express likeness, of which sort the image is. And this part is divided into two: in the first he shows the trinity and unity in the Creator through the trinity and unity considered in the powers of the soul; in the second indeed in the habits, there: *It can also be done in another way and by other names.*

The first part again has four subdivisions. In the first of which he shows where the image is to be sought in the soul, namely in the superior part and in its three powers, that is, memory, intelligence, and will. In the second indeed he touches upon the conditions of the image, which are trinity, unity, and equality, there: *These three therefore, as Augustine says.* In the third indeed he raises and resolves a difficulty which arises from the foregoing: namely whether the soul is its own powers, there: *Here it is to be attended to diligently.* In the fourth, however, he teaches us to avoid the error which could be caused by or arise from the demonstration of the created trinity, namely that there would be a total likeness to the uncreated; where he shows that there is the greatest dissimilitude of the image to God, there: *Nevertheless let him beware.*

*It can also be done in another way and by other [names] etc.* This is the second part of the second part of this distinction, in which the Master intends to investigate the image in the habits of the soul insofar as is possible, and this part is divided into four subdivisions. For first he touches upon those [things] in which the image of the Trinity is attended to, which are mind, knowledge, and love. Secondly, these having been mentioned beforehand, he shows that the image is attended to in these on account of consubstantiality, order, and equality, there: *But these three, since they are etc.* Thirdly, he shows how the rational mind, in the contemplation of the created trinity, advances toward seeing and knowing the uncreated Trinity in the Unity, there: *Therefore the rational mind, considering these three.* Fourthly indeed he briefly recollects what has been demonstrated above, there: *Wherefore according to this consideration.*

### TREATMENT OF THE QUESTIONS.

For the understanding of the things which are touched upon in this first part of the distinction, four [questions] are asked.

The first is whether God is knowable by the creature.

The second is whether he is knowable through the creature.

The third is whether the mode of knowing through the creature befits man as to every state, namely the state of innocence, the state of fallen nature, and the state of glorified nature.

The fourth is what concerning God is knowable through the creature.

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