Sermo 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/14/d/1/q/bon-serm-s1
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### Sermon I.
#### *On the threefold testimony of the most holy Trinity.*

### Summarium

*Introduction; three things about the Trinity are intimated, numbers 1, 2. — The threefold spiritual heaven, and in each a special testimony, namely in the highest heaven God gives testimony about himself, in the middle about Christ, in the lowest through Christ about the world, 3. — Part I. The testimony about himself in the highest heaven. This the Trinity gives to itself in a threefold way: to the divine majesty through the miracles of omnipotence, to truth through the documents of wisdom, to goodness through the charisms of benevolence, 4-6. — This testimony is given through vestiges; which shine back in every creature, 7. — Part II. The testimony about the Mediator in the middle heaven. This is threefold: from the Father in deed, from the Son in word, from the Holy Spirit in the mind, 8. — About each one singly, 9-11. — Part III. Christ's testimony about the whole world. This is threefold, 12. — The first is informative with respect to all; which is given in a threefold manner, 13, 14. — The second is approbative with respect to the just, 15. — The third is reproving with respect to the perverse, 16.*

1. *There are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one;* first of John, chapter five. In this word there is described the mystery of the most blessed Trinity as to the threefold condition which is to be found in it, namely as to *inseparability* in work, *plurality* in origin, and *consubstantiality* in *being*. For the most blessed Trinity has *inseparability* in operating, which is noted when it is said: *There are three who give testimony in heaven.* — It has also *plurality* in emanating, and this is noted when there is added: *the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit;* in which are intimated the origin and the distinction of the persons. — It has nonetheless *consubstantiality* in existing; and this is noted when it is subjoined: *And these three are one.*

2. Now *inseparability* in operating is rightly understood in this which is said: *There are three who give testimony in heaven;* because, though they are truly three, they give one and undivided testimony, which indeed is the more certain and the more solid, the greater is the conformity and the undividedness of the witnesses. For where there is in witnesses a true plurality, and in the plurality conformity, and in the conformity inseparability, there also the truth is made most solid. And this is so in the blessed Trinity, whose testimony is so strengthened that through it the rest are confirmed. In sign of which thing all who testify swear by God, calling upon God three and one in testimony. For *to swear by God* is nothing else than to bring God forward in testimony.

3. But although the divine testimony is undivided as regards the inseparability of the witnesses, it is nevertheless made plural, when it is said, by reason of the connoted things or of the effects. For since the *spiritual heaven*, in which God is said to give testimony to the Trinity, can be taken in a threefold way, it happens accordingly that the Trinity's testimony is made threefold. — For the spiritual heaven is threefold according to its correspondence to the material heaven, namely the *highest* heaven, which is the divine nature; about which it is said in the Psalm: *His going out is from the highest heaven, and his circuit even to the height thereof.* — There is the *middle* heaven, which is the assumed nature; about which it is had in the Psalm: *The Lord's throne is in heaven;* which is designated by that word, Genesis one: *Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters* etc. — There is the *lowest* heaven, which is the present Church, according to which it is frequently said in the Gospel: *The kingdom of heaven is like* etc. By this, as Gregory says, the present Church is given to be understood. — In this threefold heaven, then, God the Trinity gives first the testimony about *himself*, gives through himself the testimony about *Jesus Christ*, and gives also through Christ the testimony about *this world*.

4. Now God the Trinity gives testimony about *himself* as to *the Father's majesty*, as to *the Son's truth*, as to *the Holy Spirit's goodness*. — It gives therefore

first the testimony of God the Trinity to its own *majesty* through the *miracles of omnipotence;* and this testimony is appropriated to the *Father;* and about this it is said in Ecclesiasticus thirty-six: *Fill Sion with thy unspeakable words, and thy people with thy glory. Give testimony to those that are thy creatures from the beginning;* that is, show forth thy omnipotence, through which thou hast created all things from nothing, and by doing prodigies and marvels. Whence also a little before he had set down: *Renew thy signs, and work new miracles. Glorify thy hand and thy right arm.* Signs and marvels of this sort are nothing else than certain testimonies making manifest to us the immense *power* of the divine majesty. Whence after the miracles shown in Egypt the people sang in the desert, Exodus fifteen: *Who is like to thee among the strong, O Lord? Who is like to thee, magnificent in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, doing wonders?*

5. It gives also, secondly, testimony to its own *truth* through the *documents of wisdom;* and this testimony is appropriated to the *Son*, according to that word of John three: *He that is of the earth, of the earth he is, and of the earth he speaketh; he that cometh from heaven is above all; and what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth*. And this is the *only-begotten Son of God*, about whom it is said in John one: *He who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him* And therefore his testimony ought to be received by all; and yet it is subjoined to the word set down before: *And no man receiveth his testimony*, although this is the testimony of the most manifest truth. Therefore he adds: *He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God.* If therefore God, who is true, brings forth nothing but the word of truth; and the Son of God teaches the word of God: he gives therefore a certain testimony of truth; whence also before, in the same chapter, he had set down: *Amen, amen, I say to thee, that we speak what we know, and we testify what we have seen, and you receive not our testimony.* For the Son himself says this, speaking to unbelievers, who do not love the truth, and therefore do not receive the testimony of truth. For everyone who is a lover of truth is a faithful hearer of this testimony, according to that which the Saviour says in John eighteen: *For this was I born, and for this came I into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth; everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.*

6. God the Trinity gives nonetheless testimony to its own *goodness* through the *charisms of benevolence;* and this is appropriated to the *Holy Spirit*, according to that word of the first of John, chapter five: *There are three who give testimony on earth: the spirit, the water, and the blood.* For the Holy Spirit, descending into our hearts through the grace of adoption, gives testimony to the divine kindness and love, according to that word to the Romans eight: *The Spirit himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God;* in which testimony is manifestly given to kindness, since God by his utmost kindness adopts servants and evil men into sons; which indeed he does when he gives the Spirit of adoption in the Sacrament of regeneration, and this through the merit of the passion. And therefore he rightly joins these three: *the spirit, the water, and the blood.* For in this *the goodness of God our Saviour appeared*, who *according to his mercy saved us by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Spirit*, to Titus three.

7. From what has been said, therefore, it can be gathered that God the Trinity testifies itself to be three through the vestige of *omnipotence, wisdom* and *benevolence*. And since this vestige shines back in each and every creature — for there is no creature which is wholly devoid of power, truth and goodness — it is manifestly gathered that God the Trinity manifests and testifies itself to be three through the whole universe of created things. — To hear and to see which testimony, nevertheless, the ears and eyes of the faithful alone are opened, to whom the divine mysteries have been revealed, according to what is figured in Isaias six: *I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated, and the whole earth was full of his majesty.* And afterwards he subjoins: *The Seraphim stood above it, and they cried one to another and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory.* In whose voice the mystery of the Trinity is expressly declared in this, that they say *Holy* three times; and together with this, that *the whole earth* renders most glorious testimony to the most blessed Trinity, so that there can truly be said that word of the Psalm: Father, *thy testimonies are become exceedingly credible.* For all things heavenly and earthly give testimony, through the vestige of the Trinity, to the *highest heaven*, that is, to God three and one; or rather God, who is three, through this gives testimony about himself. — There are three, therefore, who give testimony in the *highest heaven*.

8. There are also three who give testimony in the *middle heaven*, that is, about *our Mediator*, the Lord Jesus Christ, namely the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father testifies in *deed*, because he himself is power; the Son in *word*, because he himself is the Word; the Holy Spirit in the *mind*, because he himself is love and bond.

9. First, then, *God the Father* gives testimony about Christ in *deed*, according to what he himself says in John five: *But I have a greater testimony than that of John. For the works which the Father hath given me, that*

*I should perfect them, the works themselves which I do, give testimony of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself who hath sent me, hath given testimony of me.* This testimony was through marvellous works, because, as he himself says in John ten: *The works that I do, these give testimony of me;* and that is an infallible and indubitable testimony, and therefore those who do not believe this testimony are inexcusable. Whence John fifteen: *If I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin* — because they could have some excuse — *but now they have no excuse for their sin*, in that they do not receive this testimony, because it is not human but divine, and therefore it is not to be repelled but to be accepted, according to that word of the first of John, chapter five: *If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater: for this is the testimony of God, which is greater, because he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth in the Son of God hath the testimony of God in himself. He that believeth not the Son maketh God a liar, because he believeth not in the testimony which God hath testified of his Son.* — From which it is gathered that he who does not believe in Christ does not believe in God, since he reckons the testimony of God the Father to be a lie; which is the utmost impiety and blasphemy against the eternal God.

10. Testimony is also given by the *Son* about himself in *word*, as is said in John eight, where, when the Pharisees were insulting him and saying: *Thou givest testimony of thyself; thy testimony is not true; Jesus answered and said to them: although I give testimony of myself, my testimony is true.* Which seems to be contrary to that which is said in John five: *If I give testimony of myself, my testimony is not true;* which indeed is not contrary. For according to his *humanity* he had no testimony given for himself; but according to his Divinity, which is truth, and which gives testimony to itself, he can without doubt give testimony about himself, because in this testimony he is not alone, but necessarily joined with the Father; whence also a little after he subjoins: *In your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that give testimony of myself, and the Father that sent me giveth testimony of me.* — If therefore the testimony of the Father, by which he testifies about the Son through *deed*, be joined with the testimony of the Son, by which he testifies about himself through *word*, the testimony will be most solid. For if Christ were lying in calling himself God, he could not be the doer of such great miracles.

11. Testimony is also given by the *Holy Spirit* to Christ in the *mind*, as is said in the first of John, chapter five: *It is the Spirit that testifieth, that Christ is the truth.* And he testifies in his mind, in which he dwells as in his own temple; whence John fifteen: *When the Paraclete cometh, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall give testimony of me*, namely in your hearts, and through you he shall give testimony to others; whence he subjoins: *And you shall give testimony, because you are with me from the beginning:* because the Holy Spirit in coming not only testifies in secret, but also makes men testify outwardly in the open; as is said in Acts one: *You shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me* etc. For the Holy Spirit through the Apostles gave testimony to Christ, through whom his faith was spread abroad in the whole world with an assertion so solid and firm that no one is able to excuse himself of unbelief, nor any of the faithful to waver about the faith. Whence Richard of Saint Victor: « As many of us as are truly faithful hold nothing more certain, nothing more constant, than what we apprehend by faith. For these things were revealed to the Fathers and from heaven, and confirmed divinely by signs so many, so great, so marvellous, or by prodigies, that it seems a kind of madness to doubt even a little about them. For we use, in the attestation or confirmation of them, *signs* for arguments, *prodigies* for experiments ». And a little after: « Certainly they have been handed down to us by men of the highest holiness, and proved with the highest and most authentic attestation, *thou thyself cooperating and confirming the word with signs that followed* ». — As therefore God the Trinity gives testimony about *himself* through the whole universe of created things, so also by the whole universe of created things it gives testimony to *Jesus Christ*.

12. That therefore there may be a circulation and a most perfect testifying, it is fitting that the Lord Jesus should give testimony about the *whole world;* and this is the testimony which is said to be given in the *third heaven*. And Christ gives a threefold testimony: the first is *informative*, the second *approbative*, the third *reproving*.

13. Christ gives, then, an *informative* testimony with respect to *all*, according to that word of Isaias fifty-five: *Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and a preceptor to the Gentiles.* For the *informative* testimony was handed

down to the Gentiles and the peoples in *life, doctrine* and *patience* or suffering; and therefore he says three things, namely a *witness*, a *leader* and a *preceptor*. For doctrine is not *accepted* except together with a *good life*, nor is it *authenticated* except through *patience;* for so it is said in Proverbs, *the learning of a man is known by patience*. And therefore Christ ratified the testimony of his *doctrine* through the testimony of *patience*, according to that word of the first to Timothy, chapter two: *For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a redemption for all, a testimony in due times.* Whose testimony was confirmed by his works; this was the testimony of the *passion*, through which he informed us and conformed us; whence the first to Timothy six: *I charge thee before God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate, a good confession, that thou keep the commandment without spot, blameless.*

14. And the perfect imitators of this testimony are the Martyrs, who are also called *witnesses*, because they imitated the testimony of Christ not only in *life* and *doctrine*, but also in *patience*, by which they overcame all the treachery of the enemy, according to that word of the Apocalypse twelve: *And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.* This word is understood of the Martyrs, in whom the testimony of Christ is in a certain manner renewed for the informing and conforming of others.

15. But he gives the *approbative* testimony with respect to the *just;* about which Job gloried, chapter sixteen: *For behold, my witness is in heaven, and he that knoweth my conscience is on high.* For he can glory about the approving testimony of Christ who has no remorse of conscience, as in the second to the Corinthians one: *For our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience.* In which testimony, indeed, one must not glory according to oneself, unless the testimony from above concur, so that he who glories may glory not in himself but *in the Lord*, lest perhaps his glorying be founded upon a lie, from which none are free but those who are approved through the testimony of Christ. For which reason the Apostle said to the Romans nine: *I speak the truth and I lie not, my conscience bearing me testimony in the Holy Ghost;* and to the Philippians one: *God is my witness, how I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.* Without this *approbative* testimony the approbation of human testimony is vain; and therefore that one is above all to be sought; the other, namely the human, is not needful except for the sake of others, namely for the edification of others, according to that word of the first to Timothy three: *Moreover he must have a good testimony from them that are without.* — For when these two testimonies concur, then a man is rendered approved before God and men; and such ought a prelate to be as was that man about whom it is said in the Canonical epistle of John: *To Demetrius testimony is given by all and by the truth itself.* For human testimony without the attestation of truth is to be reckoned as nothing.

16. He gives also, thirdly, the *reproving* testimony with respect to the *perverse*, according to that word of the Apocalypse three: *These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot;* which indeed was said for the reproving of the *negligent*. If therefore Christ so reproves the slothful, how much more does he reprove and detest the wicked! — And this testimony is hateful to the evil, according to that word of John seven: *The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil.* In which their malice appears the more, because they not only wish to do evil, but also hate him who wishes to lead them back to the way of truth. But surely, since they will not now hear the testimony of Christ unto correction, they shall hear it one day unto their own damnation, according to that word of Jeremias twenty-nine: *I am the judge and the witness, saith the Lord;* because the same one who gives the reproving testimony will also give the condemning judgment. And this is what the Lord threatens through Micheas: *Let the Lord God be a witness to you, the Lord from his holy temple; for behold, the Lord will come forth out of his place, and he will come down and will tread upon the high places of the earth; and the mountains shall be consumed under him, and the valleys shall be cleft asunder like wax before the fire.* In which is shown the threefold coming of the judge himself, whose testimony and judgment cannot be avoided; about which Malachias three: *I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness against sorcerers and adulterers and false swearers* etc., for this reason, that no one will be able to flee from before his face nor to hide anything, since the book of life and the books of consciences will run together into one. — And for the avoiding of this terrible testimony the counsel of Boethius is most useful, at the end of the book *de Consolatione*, where he speaks thus: « Turn away from vices, cultivate virtues, lift up your mind to right hopes, stretch out humble prayers on high. A great necessity of probity is laid upon you, if you are unwilling to dissemble it, since you act before the eyes of a judge who discerns all things ». — Exᴘʟɪᴄɪᴛ.