Dist. 24
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/3/d/24/q/bon-sent-III-d24-littera
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### Cap. I. *How that which is written is to be understood: That, when it shall have come to pass, you may believe.*

Here it is asked, if faith is only of things not seen: how the Truth says to the Apostles: *Now I tell you, before it comes to pass, that, when it shall have come to pass, you may believe?* where it seems to be intimated that faith was for them of things done and seen. — Concerning which Augustine raises a question and resolves it, saying thus: «What does it mean: *that, when it shall have come to pass, you may believe?* This is the praise of faith, if what is believed is not seen. For Thomas also, to whom it was said: *Because you have seen me, you have believed*, did not believe this, which he saw. For he saw and touched living flesh, which he had seen dying, and he believed God hidden in that very flesh. He believed therefore with the mind what he did not see, through that which appeared to the senses of the body. But if the things that are seen are said to be believed, as each one says he believed with his own eyes; it is not that very faith which is built up in us, but from the things which are seen, it is brought about in us that those things be believed which are not seen». — From these things it is plainly understood that faith is properly of *things not apparent*; nor is that the faith by which we are built up in Christ, by which we say, in customary speech, that we believe the things which we see. Yet elsewhere Augustine says that faith is of things *present*; which will be in the future, when through vision we shall contemplate God present; which, however, is not properly called faith, but *truth*. «There is, he says, a faith by which the things that are not seen are believed; but yet there is also a faith of things, when belief is given not by words, but by the very things present; which will be when, through manifest vision, the wisdom of God will offer itself to be contemplated by the Saints». — But this is *not properly* called *faith*, but rather the *reward of faith*, to which one will come by believing, so that from the faith of words the just man may pass over into the faith of things.

### Cap. II. *Whether Peter had faith of the Passion, when he saw that man suffer.*

But if it be asked whether Peter had faith of the Passion, when he beheld with his eyes the man Christ suffering; we say that he had faith of the Passion, not in that he believed the man to suffer, because he saw this, but in that he believed *God* to be the one who was suffering. For it was not the virtue of faith that the *man* was believed to suffer and die, which a Jew beholding believed; but that *God* was believed to be the one who was suffering. Hence Augustine on that place of the Psalm: *He answered him in the way of his strength:* «It is the praise of faith, not because it believes that man dead, which even a pagan believes, but because it believes him glorified and true God». Faith therefore believes *God* dead, and *man* glorified. It was not therefore faith for Peter to believe that the man died, which he beheld with his eyes, but to believe that *God* was the one who was dying. Nor does faith in this earn merit for us, that we believe that man dead, which a Jew also believes, but because we believe that the man-God died.

### Cap. III. *Whether some things are known, which are believed.*

After these things it is wont to be asked, since faith is of *things not apparent* and *not seen*, whether it is also only of *things unknown*. For if it is only of *things unknown*, it seems to be only of those things which are not known. — But it must be known that, since one vision is *interior*, another *exterior*, faith is not of things subject to the *exterior vision*; yet it is of those things which are in some way grasped by the *interior* sight. And certain things indeed are so grasped that they are understood, even if

not as in the future; but certain things are not, because, since faith is *from hearing* not only *exterior* but *interior*, it cannot be of that which is wholly unknown; which itself does not pertain to the sense of the body, as Augustine in the thirteenth book on the Trinity hands down, saying: «Although faith is in us *from hearing*, yet it does not pertain to that sense of the *body* which is called *hearing*, because it is not sound; nor to any sense of the *body*, since this matter belongs to the *heart*, not to the *body*». Some things therefore are believed by faith, which are understood by natural reason; but some, which are not understood. Hence the Prophet: *Unless you believe, you will not understand.* Which Augustine plainly distinguishes: «There are some things, he says, which unless we understand, we do not believe; others, which unless we believe, we shall not understand». Yet no one can *believe in God*, unless he *understands* something, since faith is *from the hearing* of preaching. The same in the book on the Trinity: «A sure faith in some way begins knowledge; but a sure knowledge is not perfected except after this life». Ambrose also says: «Where there is faith, there is not at once knowledge; where there is knowledge, faith precedes». — From these things it appears that some things are believed, which are not understood or known, unless they are first believed; but some are understood at some time, even before they are believed. Yet they are not so understood now, as they will be known in the future; and even now, through faith, by which hearts are cleansed, they are more understood, because, unless God be loved through faith, the heart is not cleansed for knowing him. Hence Augustine in the eighth book on the Trinity: «What is it to know God, except to behold him with the mind and firmly to perceive him? But even before we are able to look upon and perceive God, as he is perceived by clean hearts; unless he be loved through faith, the heart will not be able to be cleansed, so as to be fit for seeing him». — Behold, here you have it plainly, that God cannot be known, unless he be first loved by believing. — But it was said above that no one can *believe in God*, unless something be understood. Hence it is gathered that certain things to be believed cannot be known and understood, unless they are first believed; and that certain things are not believed, unless they are first understood; and that these very things are more understood through faith; nor are those things which are first believed, before they are understood, wholly unknown, since faith is *from hearing*; yet they are unknown in part, because they are not known. Therefore what is unknown is believed, but not wholly, just as also what is unknown is loved. Hence Augustine: «That something be known and not loved is possible; but whether what is not known can be loved, I ask. If it cannot, no one loves God before he knows him». But where are those three: faith, hope, charity, except in a mind believing what it does not yet know, and hoping for and loving what it believes? Therefore even what is unknown is loved, but yet it is believed.

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