Dist. 34, Part 1
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/34/q/bon-sent-III-d34-p1-littera
----------------------------------------
### DISTINCTION XXXIV.

#### Part I.

### Chapter I. *On the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.*

Now we must treat of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, where first it is to be considered whether these gifts are virtues; secondly, whether in the future they will cease, either all of them, or some of them; then, whether all these gifts were in Christ.

### Chapter II. *Whether they are virtues, and are in the Angels.*

That these gifts are virtues and will not cease in the future, Ambrose shows, saying that they will be seven virtues, and that they are most abundantly in the Angels, thus: «That City of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, is not washed by the channel of any earthly river, but the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the fountain of life, of whom we are sated by a brief draught, is seen to flow more abundantly in those heavenly spirits, fervent with the full channel of seven spiritual virtues. For if a river overflowing its raised banks floods out, how much more does the Holy Spirit, surpassing every creature, since it grazes the secrets of our mind as things inferior, gladden that heavenly nature of the Angels with a certain more copious richness of sanctifications»! Then, expounding the sanctification, he adds: «And by these sanctifications is signified the fullness of the seven spiritual virtues, which Isaiah enumerates, saying: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety and of the fear of the Lord. There is therefore one river, but many channels of the spiritual gifts». Although therefore many spirits are spoken of, such as the spirit of wisdom and understanding etc., yet there is one Spirit of God, the arbiter of his own liberty, distributing all things to each by the authority of his will. — Here it is expressly handed down that the seven gifts and virtues are sanctifications of the minds of the faithful and will not cease in the future, since they are also in the Angels.

### Chapter III. *Whether they were in Christ.*

That these same [gifts] were also in Christ, Isaiah shows, saying: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him. But to this there seems to be opposed what Bede says concerning the fear of the Lord upon the parables [Proverbs], namely that all fear shall cease in the future. For he speaks thus upon that passage: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: «There are two fears of the Lord: servile, which is the beginning of wisdom; and friendly, which accompanies the perfection of wisdom. The servile is the beginning of wisdom, because he who after his errors begins to grow wise is first seized by a divine fear, lest he be punished; but this perfect charity casts out. To this succeeds the holy fear of the Lord, abiding for ever and ever, which charity does not exclude but increases; by which a son fears, lest even in the least he offend the eyes of a most loving father. Both will cease in the future. But charity shall never fall away». Augustine too, upon that passage of the Psalm: I will adore at thy holy temple in thy fear; says that fear will cease, thus: «The fear of the Lord is a great protection to those advancing toward salvation, but to those who have arrived it is cast out. For they no longer fear a friend, namely when they have been brought to that which was promised». By these authorities it is signified that fear will not be in the future. But if fear will not be in the future, then neither will the seven gifts be, nor are they now in the Angels nor in the holy souls. — To which we say, dissolving the apparent contradiction of the aforesaid authorities, that those seven gifts both are now in the Angels and in the holy souls living happily and will be in us in the future, but they will not have all these uses or these offices which they now have; as for example, filial fear now makes [us] fear, lest we offend him whom we love, and lest we be separated from him, and it also makes us reverence him; but in the future it will make us reverence [him], when we shall not fear to be separated or to offend. Therefore the dread of separation or of offence is not now in the Angels or in the holy souls, nor will it be in us in the future, but reverence, which is a love mixed with subjection; which was also in Christ, as the Apostle says in the Epistle to the Hebrews, speaking of Christ: Who was heard for his reverence. — Some, however, contend that fear was in Christ and in the Angels only according to its effect.

#### Part II.

### Chapter IV. *On the distinction of fears.*

And since the occasion of treating of fear presents itself to us, it is to be known that there are four fears, namely worldly or human, servile, initial, chaste or filial or friendly. Human fear is, as Cassiodorus says, when we fear to suffer the perils of the flesh, or to lose the goods of the world, on account of which we transgress. This fear is evil, which in the first degree is forsaken along with the world, which the Lord forbids in the Gospel, saying: Fear ye not them that kill the body etc. But servile fear is, as Augustine says, when a man restrains himself from sin through fear of hell, by which he dreads the presence of the judge and the punishments, and through fear does whatever good he does, not from fear of losing the eternal good, which he does not love, but from fear of suffering the evil which he dreads. He does not fear lest he lose the embraces of the most beautiful bridegroom; but he fears lest he be sent into hell. This fear is good and useful, though insufficient, by which the habit of justice is gradually formed, and there succeeds initial fear, when that which was hard begins to be loved; and thus the servile fear begins to be excluded from charity. And then there succeeds chaste or friendly fear, by which we fear lest the bridegroom delay, lest he depart, lest we offend, lest we lose him. This fear comes from love; the servile indeed is useful, but not abiding for ever, as is this one; the divine fear is a companion through all the degrees.

And note that four fears are here distinguished, whereas above Bede had said there were two. But Bede passed over human fear, and under the name of servile he comprehended the two which we have here distinguished, namely servile and initial; and the friendly he calls chaste. Augustine too plainly distinguishes the servile and the chaste fear, when he expounds that passage of the Epistle to the Romans: For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of the sons of God, saying thus: Two fears are here intimated: one, which is in perfect charity, namely chaste fear; the other, which is not in charity, namely servile, in which, although [a man] believe God, yet [he does] not [believe] in God, and if good be done, yet [it is] not [done] well. «For no one does well unwillingly, even if what he does is good».

### Chapter V. *On the chaste and the servile and the initial.*

Concerning these same fears he disputes more at length, saying: «Someone has begun to believe the day of judgment; if he has begun to believe, he has also begun to fear. But because he still fears, he does not yet have confidence in the day of judgment, perfect charity is not yet in him»; «if perfect charity were in him, he would not fear. For perfect charity would make perfect justice, and he would not have why he should fear, nay rather he would have why he should desire that iniquity pass away and the kingdom of God come. Therefore fear is not in charity. But in what charity? Not in the inchoate. In what then? In the perfect? Perfect charity, he says, casts out fear. Let fear therefore begin, because the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Fear as it were prepares a place for charity; but when charity has begun to dwell, the fear is driven out, which had prepared a place for it. For as much as charity grows, so much does fear decrease; and as much as charity becomes interior, so much is fear driven outward. The greater the charity, the less the fear; the less the charity, the greater the fear. But if there is no fear at all, there is nothing by which charity may enter; just as we see flax introduced by means of a bristle, when something is sewn: the bristle enters first, and unless it goes out, the flax does not follow; thus fear first occupies the mind, but the fear does not remain there, because it entered for this purpose, that it might introduce charity».

«But there is another saying, which seems to be contrary to this, if it does not have a devout interpreter. For it is said in the Psalm: The chaste fear of the Lord abideth for ever and ever. It shows us a certain eternal fear, but a chaste one. But if that [Psalm] shows us an eternal fear, does this Epistle contradict it, which says: Fear is not in charity, but perfect charity casteth out fear? For this was said by John, that was said by David. But do not think that the Spirit is different. For if one breath inflates two pipes, can not one spirit fill two hearts and move two tongues? If, by one spirit, that is by one breath, two pipes when filled sound in concord, can two tongues, filled by the Spirit of God, sound in discord? Nay rather there is there a certain consonance, there is a certain concord; but it desires a zealous hearer, not an idle one. Behold the Spirit of God has moved two tongues, and we have heard from one: Fear is not in charity; we have heard from the other: The chaste fear of the Lord abideth for ever and ever. What is this? Do they sound discordant? No. Shake out your ears, attend to the melody. Not without cause did he here add chaste; there he did not add it, because there is some fear which is called chaste; but there is another which is not called chaste. Let us distinguish these two fears, and understand the consonance of the pipes. How do we distinguish? Let your charity attend. There are men who fear God for this reason, lest they be sent into hell, lest perchance they burn with the devil in eternal fire. This itself is the fear which introduces charity; but it comes so as to go out. For if you fear God on account of punishments, you do not yet love him whom you so fear; you do not desire goods, but guard against evils. But from this, that you guard against evils, you correct yourself and begin to desire goods; when you shall have begun to desire goods, there will be in you chaste fear. What is chaste fear? To fear lest you lose those very goods, to fear God, lest he depart from you. But when you fear God, lest his presence forsake you, you embrace him, you desire to enjoy him».

### Chapter VI. *In what the chaste and the servile differ.*

«You cannot better explain what difference there is between these two fears than if you set down two married women, of whom you make one willing to commit adultery, but she fears lest she be condemned by her husband. She fears her husband because she still loves wickedness. To her the presence of her husband is not pleasing, but burdensome; and if perchance she lives wickedly, she fears her husband, lest he come. Such are they who fear the day of judgment. Suppose the other loves her husband, [thinks] she owes him chaste embraces, [and] is willing to stain herself with no adulterous uncleanness; she longs for the presence of her husband. The one fears, and the other fears. Now then let them be asked why they fear. The one will say: I fear my husband, lest he come; the other will say: I fear my husband, lest he depart. The one will say: I fear my husband, lest he condemn; the other will say: I fear my husband, lest he forsake. Set this in your mind, and you will find the fear which charity casts out, and another, the chaste fear, abiding for ever and ever». «Perfect charity casts out that fear, because that fear has torment, the conscience of sins is tortured, justification has not yet been made. There is there something that tickles the mind, that pricks, that goads. That fear goads, but charity enters, which heals what fear wounds». Chaste fear makes security in the soul. «We have heard two pipes, namely John and David, sounding in concord. The one speaks of the fear of God, by which the soul fears lest it be condemned; the other speaks of the fear of God, by which the soul fears lest it be forsaken. The one is the fear which charity excludes; the other is the fear which abides for ever and ever». — Behold, in these foregoing words Augustine plainly shows what chaste fear is, and what servile, and how they differ. In which words he has also signified the initial fear, which is neither wholly servile nor wholly chaste, but as it were a middle [fear], having something of the servile and something of the chaste fear. For it makes one serve partly through fear of punishment, partly through love of justice, by which we fear to be punished, and fear to offend. This fear is in inchoate charity, not in perfect; and as much as charity grows, so much does this fear decrease, as regards the dread of punishment, that is, as regards that which makes one fear punishment, and as regards the torment of conscience. For the more we love, the less we fear. This fear is noted in those words of Augustine, where he does not deny that fear is in in-

choate charity, but [denies it of] perfect, which could not be said of the servile, because, as he himself said above, servile fear does not remain when charity comes; nor does charity enter unless that fear first goes out, nor does anyone in that fear believe in God, even if he believe God; nor does he do well, even if what he does is good. That fear, therefore, is not in charity even inchoate, because everyone who has charity, though not perfect, both believes in God and does good works. Wherefore that fear is not servile which he conceded to be in inchoate charity, and which, as charity grows, he said decreases; but that is the initial fear, which he does not deny to be in charity, unless it be perfect.

### Chapter VII. *That servile and initial fear are called the beginning of wisdom, but differently.*

It is nevertheless to be known that both fears, namely the servile and the initial, are in diverse places of Scripture called the beginning of wisdom, and you will find it to be so, if you carefully note the places of Scripture in which mention is made of the fear of the Lord; yet for one reason and cause the servile is called the beginning of wisdom, and for another the initial. For the servile is called the beginning of wisdom because it prepares a place for wisdom and leads to wisdom, but yet does not remain with it, nay rather goes outward. But the initial is called the beginning of wisdom because it is in inchoate wisdom; and when one begins to have it, he begins to have wisdom and charity. Hence also it is that both fears are called initial, which you will be able to find through diverse places of Scripture. Both fears are also sometimes called servile, because the initial too, which is in inchoate charity, has something of the servile, namely the anguish of punishment, just as it also has something of the chaste, namely that it fears to offend and to be separated.

### Chapter VIII. *How chaste fear abides for ever.*

This too is to be diligently noted, that in the foregoing Augustine says that chaste fear is eternal; whereby the aforesaid opinion is confirmed, namely that the spirit of fear will be in the future, just as the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. But it will not have all that use which it now has. For it will then make us reverence God, not fear to be separated or to lose [him]. There was therefore that fear in Christ too, but according to that use which it will have in the future in the Saints. For Christ did not fear to be separated or to offend God, but reverenced him above all.

### Chapter IX. *Whether the fear of punishment which was in Christ was servile, or initial.*

But since there was in Christ a fear of punishment, it is asked whether this fear was worldly, or servile, or initial. — To which we say that none of them was in Christ, because the worldly is evil, as was said above, and in the first degree is forsaken along with the world; while the servile or initial is not in perfect charity. None therefore of those fears was in Christ. — What then was that fear by which he feared punishment? That fear can be called natural or human, which is in all men, by which death is dreaded and punishment is feared. And this fear is called natural, not because it accrued to man from nature, according as it was first instituted, because this fear was not concreated with man nor [is] of the natural goods, but because from nature corrupted through sin it comes upon all, in whom corruption has taken root, as though it were natural. And this fear is an effect of sin, as was said before.

---