Sermo 4
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/4/q/bon-serm-s4
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### Sermon IV.
#### *Christ the one teacher of all.*

### Summarium

*Introduction. The threefold degree of certitudinal and right cognition, of which Christ is the principle and cause as* way, truth *and* life, *number 1. — Part I. On Christ's own threefold teaching office. First, Christ as* way *is the teacher of the cognition acquired through faith, and this by a twofold way: by his coming into the mind, infusing the* lumen *of revelation; by his coming into the flesh, affording the firmament of authority, 2-4. — Hence Christ is the foundation of the whole of faith according to both testaments, 5. — Second, Christ as* truth *is the teacher of rational cognition. For scientific cognition two things are required: immutable truth on the side of what is knowable, infallible certitude on the side of the knower, 6. — On the first, 7. 8. — On the second, 9. 10. — Third, Christ as* life *is the teacher of contemplative cognition. The twofold exercise and pasture, 11. — On the first exercise and pasture, that is, on the uncreated Word, 12. — On the second, that is, on the incarnate Word, 13. — On both; the twofold life, the twofold sense, the twofold entrance according to ascent and descent, the twofold contemplation of the book written within and without, 14. — Two corollaries: first, by what order one arrives at wisdom; the threefold degree; one must begin from faith, 15. — Second, by what author and doctor; he himself is Christ, who cooperates with our intelligence not only by a general concurrence, nor yet properly by a supernatural one, but in a certain middle way. The threefold mode of conformity to God, 16. — According to these modes there is a threefold divine cooperation, 17. — The sound explanation of Augustine's saying, that God is for us the ground of understanding, 18. — On the knowledge and wisdom of Augustine, of Moses and of Paul. On Christ as the sole principal teacher and doctor, 19. —* Part II. On the duties to be rendered towards Christ, the principal teacher. *First he is to be honoured, and this in two ways, 20. — Second, to be heard unto understanding and unto obeying, 21. — Third, to be questioned, not curiously, but studiously, 22. — He is to be questioned concerning three things: concerning the truth of knowledge, the holiness of discipline, the charity of benevolence, 23. — Hence ministerial doctors too ought to order their doctrine to the same three: first they ought to aim at the knowledge of the truth of faith, 24. — Second, at the discipline of the holiness of the soul, 25. — Third, at the benevolence of the charity of God and of neighbour. Hence they ought to agree in their opinions, and not to become many teachers through schisms; dissension of opinions arises from presumption and begets confusion, 26. 27. — Epilogue, 28.*

1. *One is your teacher, Christ,* Matthew, chapter twenty-three. In this word there is declared what is the fontal principle of cognitive illumination, namely Christ, *who, since he is the brightness of the Father's glory and the figure of his substance, bearing all things by the word of his power,* as is said to the Hebrews, chapter one; he it is who is the origin of *all wisdom,* according to that of Ecclesiasticus, chapter one: *The fountain of wisdom is the Word of God on high.* And Christ himself is the fountain of *all right cognition.* For he himself is *the way, the truth and the life,* John, chapter fourteen. — For there is a threefold degree of certitudinal and right cognition, according to what Hugh says *On the Sacraments*: "These are the three degrees of the promotion of faith, by which faith, growing, tends or climbs up to the perfect: the first, to choose through piety; the second, to approve through reason; the third, to apprehend through truth." According to this it appears that there is a threefold mode of knowing, of which the first is through *the credence of pious assent,* the second through *the approval of right reason*, and the third through *the clarity of clean contemplation.* The first pertains to the habit of *virtue,* which is faith; the second to the habit of the *gift,* which is understanding; the third to the habit of *beatitude,* which is cleanness of heart. Since therefore

there is a threefold difference of cognition, namely creditive, collative and contemplative, of all these Christ is the principle and cause, and that in such a way that of the first he is the principle inasmuch as he is the *way,* of the second inasmuch as he is the *truth,* and of the third inasmuch as he is the *life.*

2. For Christ, according as he is the *way,* is the teacher and principle of the cognition which is through faith. For this cognition is had by a twofold way, namely through *revelation* and through *authority.* For as Augustine says in the book *On the Usefulness of Believing*: "What we understand, we owe to reason; what we believe, to authority." But authority would not exist unless revelation had gone before it; on which account in the second of Peter, chapter one: *We have the more firm prophetical word, whereunto you do well to attend, as to a lamp shining in a dark place.* In this he insinuates the *authority* of the prophetic word, and he subjoins the reason of it: *For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time, but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost.* — Since therefore it is by these two ways that one may come to believing cognition, this cannot be except through Christ the giver, who is the principle of all *revelation* according to his coming into the *mind,* and the firmament of all *authority* according to his coming into the *flesh.*

3. Now he comes into the *mind* as the revealing light of all prophetic visions, according to that of Daniel, chapter two: *He revealeth deep and hidden things, and knoweth what is in darkness, and light is with him;* the light, namely, of the divine wisdom, which is Christ, according to that of John, chapter eight: *I am the light of the world; he that followeth me walketh not in darkness,* and chapter twelve: *Whilst you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light;* because, as is said in John, chapter one, *he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.* Without this light, which is Christ, no one can penetrate the sacraments of faith. On which account in Wisdom, chapter nine: *Send her* — he is speaking of Wisdom — *out of thy holy heaven and from the throne of thy majesty, that she may be with me and may labour with me, that I may know what is acceptable with thee. For what man is he that can know the counsel of God, or who can think what the will of God is,* etc., as far as: *thy sense,* etc. From which it is given to be understood that one cannot come to the certain revelation of faith except through the coming of Christ into the *mind.*

4. He comes also into the *flesh* as the approving word of all prophetic utterances; to the Hebrews, chapter one: *God, who at sundry times and in divers manners,* etc. For since Christ himself is the Father's word full of *power,* according to that of Ecclesiastes, chapter eight: *His word is full of power, neither can any man say to him: Why dost thou so?* he himself also is the word *full of truth,* nay, *truth itself,* according to that of John, chapter seventeen: *Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth,* — the Gloss: "*In truth,* that is, in me, who am the truth, which he opens by subjoining: *Thy word is truth,* which is: I am the truth; in Greek *logos,* in Latin *word*" — since therefore *authority* is owed to a word that is *powerful* and *truthful,* and Christ is the Word of the Father, and through this *the power of God and the wisdom of God,* therefore in him is founded and established and consummated all *stability of authority.*

5. And therefore the whole authentic Scripture and its preachers have their gaze upon Christ coming in the *flesh* as upon the foundation of the whole Christian faith, according to that of the first to the Corinthians, chapter three: *According to the grace that is given me, as a wise architect, I have laid the foundation. For other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid,* etc. For he is the foundation of the whole authentic doctrine, whether apostolic or prophetic, according to both Laws, the new and the old. On which account to the Ephesians, chapter two: *You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.* — It is plain therefore that Christ is the teacher of the cognition which is according to *faith,* and this inasmuch as he is the *way,* according to his twofold coming, namely into the *mind* and into the *flesh.*

6. He is also the teacher of the cognition which is *through reason,* and this inasmuch as he is the *truth*. For for scientific cognition there is necessarily required *immutable truth* on the side of *what is knowable,* and *infallible certitude* on the side of *the knower.* For everything that is known is necessary *in itself* and is certain *to the knower himself.* For then

do we know, "when we judge that we know the cause on account of which the thing is, and know that it is impossible for it to be otherwise."

7. There is required therefore, on the side of *what is knowable,* immutable truth. But of this kind is not truth *simply created* and absolute, because everything created is changeable and mutable; but the *creating* truth, which has full immutability. On which account it is said in the Psalm: *In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth,* as far as: *they shall not fail.* But this, as the Apostle says to the Hebrews, chapter one, is said to the Son of God, who is the *word, art* and *ground* of almighty God, and therefore everlasting truth, according to that of the Psalm: *Thy word, O Lord, endureth for ever, and thy truth unto generation and generation.* Since therefore things have *being* in their *own genus,* have also *being* in the *mind,* and have *being* also in the *eternal ground;* and since their *being* is not altogether immutable in the first and second way, but only in the third, namely as they are in the eternal Word: it remains that nothing can make things *perfectly* knowable, unless Christ, the Son of God and teacher, be present.

8. Whence Augustine in the second book *On Free Choice*: "In no way wouldst thou deny that there is an immutable truth containing all these things which are immutably true, which I cannot call thine or mine or any man's, but which is present to all who discern immutable truths and offers itself to them in common." This same thing is had in the fourteenth book *On the Trinity*. Since the impious see the rules according to which each one ought to live; "where do they see them? For not in their own *nature,* since without doubt these things are seen by the mind, and their minds are agreed to be mutable, whereas he sees these rules to be immutable, whoever has been able to see this too in them; nor in the *habit* of their mind, since those rules are rules of justice, whereas their minds are agreed to be unjust. Where then are these rules written, where even the unjust man recognizes what is just and discerns that one must have what he himself does not have? Where then are they written, unless in the book of that light which is called truth, whence every just law is copied out, and is transferred into the heart of man, not by migrating, but as it were by being impressed?" The same thing is said in the book *On True Religion* and in the sixth book *On Music* and in the book of the *Retractations.*

9. There is required also, in the second place, for cognition of this kind, certitude on the side of *the knower.* But this cannot come from that part which can be deceived, or from that light which can be darkened. But such a light is not the light of created intelligence, but of the uncreated Wisdom, which is Christ. On which account in Wisdom, chapter seven: *God gave me the true knowledge of the things that are, that I might know the disposition of the whole world and the virtues of the elements, the beginning and the ending and the midst of the times.* And after: *For wisdom, the worker of all things, taught me.* And the reason is subjoined: *For she is a vapour of the power of God, and a certain pure emanation of the glory of the almighty God; and therefore no defiled thing cometh into her. For she is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty. She is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of the stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it. She reacheth therefore from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly.* On which account John said in chapter one: *That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man,* etc., where the Gloss says "that that is not the true light which shines not of itself, but from elsewhere."

10. The light therefore of the created understanding does not suffice of itself for the certain comprehension of any thing whatever without

the light of the eternal Word. Whence Augustine in the first book of the *Soliloquies*: "As in this sun three things may be noticed: that it *is,* that it *shines,* that it *illumines,* so also in that most secret God there are three things: that he *is,* that he *understands,* that he makes other things to be *understood*." Whence also a little before he premises that "as the earth cannot be seen unless it be lit up by light, so the things which are handed down in the disciplines, although anyone would concede without any doubting that they are most true when understood, it is to be believed that they cannot be understood unless they be lit up by that as by their own sun." Likewise, in the twelfth book *On the Trinity,* in the last chapter, speaking of the boy who was answering rightly about geometry without a teacher, and reproving the Platonic position, which said that souls previously imbued with the sciences are infused into bodies, he says that this is not true. "But rather it is to be believed, he says, that the nature of the intellectual mind is so constituted that, being subjected by a natural order to intelligible things, under the disposition of the Creator, it sees these things in a certain light of its own kind, incorporeal, just as the eye of flesh sees the things that lie before it in this corporeal light, of which light it is capable and to which it has been created congruous." — But what that light is, is said in the second book *On Free Choice*: "That beauty of truth and wisdom, which is not carried through by time nor migrates by places nor is intercepted by night nor shut off by shadow nor lies under the senses of the body; to all who from the whole world are turned to it and who love it, it is nearest of all, everlasting to all, it is in no place, it is nowhere absent, without it admonishes, within it teaches; no one judges of it, no one judges well without it. And by this it is manifest that it is without doubt more excellent than our minds, which by it alone are made severally wise, and which judge, not *of it,* but *through it,* concerning other things." This same thing is said in the book *On True Religion* and in the eighth book *On the Trinity* and in the book *On the Teacher,* where he proves this conclusion through the whole book, that *our teacher is one, Christ.*

11. Lastly, Christ inasmuch as he is the *life* is the teacher of *contemplative cognition*, about which the soul exercises itself in two ways, according to the twofold difference of *pasture,* namely of the *interior* pasture in the Godhead, and of the *exterior* in the humanity, according to which there is a twofold mode of contemplating, namely the *entering* and the *going out,* to which one cannot come except through Christ. On which account he himself says in John, chapter ten: *I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and he shall go in and go out and shall find pastures.*

12. For the *entering in* is to Christ according as he is the *uncreated Word* and the food of the Angels, of whom in John, chapter one: *In the beginning was the Word.* Of this *entering in* it is said in the Psalm according to another translation: *I shall go into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, the noise of one feasting.* This was said of that supernal Jerusalem, to the contemplating of which no one enters, unless he be introduced through the uncreated Word, which is Christ. Whence Dionysius in the first chapter *On the Angelic Hierarchy*: "Therefore, invoking Jesus, the paternal *lumen,* which is indeed the true one, which illumines every man coming into this world, through whom we have access to the principal *lumen,* the Father, we look upon the illuminations handed down by the Father in the most sacred oracles, as far as is possible, and from them, as far as we are able, we shall consider the hierarchies of the heavenly spirits made manifest to us symbolically and anagogically, beholding with immaterial and untrembling eyes of the mind the principal and superprincipal divine brightness of the Father."

13. But the *going out* is to the *incarnate Word,* which is the milk of little ones, of which in John, chapter one: *And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.* Of this *going out* in the Canticle, chapter three: *Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals and in the day of the joy of his heart.* This diadem, wherewith the true peace-making Solomon is crowned by his mother, is the immaculate flesh — which he assumed from the Virgin Mary — which is called the *diadem of the espousals,* because through it he espoused to himself holy mother Church, who

was formed from his side, as Eve from the side of the man. And therefore through her the whole ecclesiastical hierarchy is purged, illumined and perfected; and therefore she is to be looked upon as the *life-giving pasture* of the whole Church, according to that of John, chapter six: *My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.* And on this account he subjoins: *He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life.*

14. And this is what is said in the book *On the Soul and the Spirit*: "Twofold is the life of the soul: one by which it lives in the flesh; and another by which it lives in God. For there are two senses in man: one *interior,* and one *exterior;* and each has its own good, in which it is refreshed: the *interior* sense in the contemplation of the Godhead, the *exterior* sense in the contemplation of the humanity. For on this account God was made man, that he might beatify the whole man in himself, so that, whether it *went in* or *went out,* it might *find pastures* in its Maker, *pastures* without in the flesh of the Saviour and *pastures* within in the Divinity of the Creator." — But this entering in to the Divinity and going out to the humanity is nothing else than *ascent to heaven* and *descent to earth,* which comes about through Christ as through a ladder, of which in Genesis, chapter twenty-eight: *Jacob saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven, the angels also of God ascending and descending by it.* By the *ladder* is understood Christ, by the *ascent* and *descent of the Angels* the illumination of contemplative men ascending and descending. — Here also the twofold mode of contemplation is understood through the *interior* and *exterior reading* of the book written within and without, of which in the Apocalypse, chapter five: *I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and without, sealed with seven seals;* and it is subjoined there that *no man was able neither in heaven nor on earth nor under the earth to open the book, nor to look on it;* and it is subjoined there that *the lion of the tribe of Juda hath prevailed, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.* — If therefore he is properly to be called a *doctor* who opens the book and looses its seals; and Christ is such, who was the *rising lion* and the *slain lamb:* it appears therefore that *our teacher is one, Christ,* in every difference of cognition, according as he is *the way, the truth and the life.*

15. From the things said, therefore, it appears *by what order* and *by what author* one arrives at wisdom. — For the *order* is that one begin from the stability of *faith* and proceed through the serenity of *reason,* that one may arrive at the sweetness of *contemplation;* which order Christ insinuated when he said: *I am the way, the truth and the life.* And thus is fulfilled that of Proverbs, chapter four: *The path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day.* This order the Saints held, attending to that of Isaias, according to another translation: *Unless you believe, you shall not understand.* This order the philosophers were ignorant of, who, neglecting faith and founding themselves wholly upon reason, were in no way able to arrive at contemplation; because, as Augustine says in the first book *On the Trinity*, "the weak edge of the human mind is not fixed upon so excellent a light, unless it be cleansed through the justice of faith."

16. It appears also who is the *author* and *doctor:* because Christ, who is the director and helper of our intelligence not only *generally,* as in all the works of nature, nor so *specially* as in the works of grace and of meritorious virtue, but in a certain *middle* way between the two. — For the understanding of which it is to be noted that in creatures there is found a threefold mode of conformity to God. For some things are conformed to God as a *vestige,* some as an *image,* some as a *likeness.* Now the *vestige* states a comparison to God as to a *causative* principle; but the *image* not only as to a principle, but also as to a *motive object;* "for by this is the soul the image of God, as Augustine says in the fourteenth book *On the Trinity*, that it is capable of him and can be a partaker of him," namely through cognition and love. But the *likeness* regards God not only by way of principle and of object, but also by way of an *infused gift.*

17. In those operations of the creature, therefore, which are its own inasmuch as it is a *vestige,* such as are universally natural actions, God cooperates as *principle* and *cause.* But in those which are its own inasmuch as it is an *image,* such as are intellectual actions, by which the soul perceives immutable truth itself, he cooperates as *object* and *motive ground.* But in those which are its own inasmuch as it is a *likeness,* such as are meritorious operations,

he cooperates as an *infused gift* through grace. And on this account Augustine says in the eighth book *On the City of God* that "God is the cause of being, the ground of understanding and the order of living."

18. But that he is called the *ground of understanding* is to be understood soundly, not as though he were the *sole* ground of understanding, nor the *bare* one, nor the *whole* one. — For if he were the *sole* ground, the cognition of knowledge would not differ from the cognition of wisdom, nor cognition in the Word from cognition in its own genus. — Again, if he were a *bare* and open ground, the cognition of the way would not differ from the cognition of the fatherland, which indeed is false, since that is *face to face,* but this *through a glass, in a dark manner*; because our understanding according to the state of the way is not without a phantasm. — Lastly, if he were the *whole* ground, we should not need a species and a reception for the knowing of things; which we manifestly see to be false, because, losing one sense, we necessarily lose one science. Whence, although the soul according to Augustine is connected with the eternal laws, because in some way it attains that *lumen* according to the *supreme edge of the agent intellect* and the higher portion of reason; yet it is undoubtedly true, according to what the Philosopher says, that cognition is generated in us by way of sense, memory and experience, from which is gathered the *universal* in us, which is the principle of art and of science. Whence, because Plato turned the whole of certitudinal cognition to the intelligible or ideal world, therefore he was deservedly reproved by Aristotle; not because he said ill that there are ideas and eternal grounds, since Augustine praises him in this; but because, despising the sensible world, he wished to reduce the whole certitude of cognition to those ideas; and by positing this, although he seemed to establish the way of *wisdom,* which proceeds according to eternal grounds, yet he destroyed the way of *knowledge,* which proceeds according to created grounds; which way Aristotle on the contrary established, that higher one being neglected. And therefore it seems that among the philosophers the word of *wisdom* was given to Plato, but to Aristotle the word of *knowledge.* For the one looked principally to the things above, but the other principally to the things below.

19. But both words, namely of wisdom and of knowledge, were given through the Holy Spirit to Augustine, as to the chief expositor of the whole of Scripture, sufficiently excellently, as appears from his writings. — But in a more excellent way they were in Paul and in Moses, in the one as in a minister of *the law of the figure,* in the other as in a minister of *the law of grace.* For of Moses it is said in Acts, chapter seven, that he was *instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians;* and again, on the mountain it was said to him: *Look and make it according to the pattern that was shewn thee in the mount.* — But of Paul, as he himself says, that although among the simple he showed himself *to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified;* yet he spoke *wisdom among the perfect,* as is said in the first to the Corinthians, chapter two. And this wisdom he himself learned when he was caught up even to the third heaven, in the second to the Corinthians, chapter twelve. — But most excellently of all they were in our Lord Jesus Christ, who was the principal lawgiver and at once perfect wayfarer and comprehensor; and therefore he alone is the principal teacher and doctor.

20. He therefore, as the principal teacher, is principally to be *honoured, heard, questioned.* — For principally he is to be *honoured,* that the *dignity of the teaching office* be attributed to him, Matthew, chapter twenty-three: *Be not you called Rabbi; for one is your teacher, and all you are brethren.* And he wills to reserve to himself the dignity of the teaching office, according to that of John, chapter thirteen: *You call me teacher and Lord; and you say well, for so I am.* — But he is to be honoured not only *vocally* in speech, but also *really* in imitation; on which account he subjoins: *If I then have washed your feet,* etc.; because, as is said in Luke, chapter fourteen, *he that cometh not after me cannot be my disciple.*

21. He is also principally to be *heard* through the humility of faith, according to that of Isaias, chapter fifty: *The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakeneth in the morning, in the morning he wakeneth my ear, that I may hear him as a teacher.* Twice he says *he wakeneth,* because it does not suffice that our ear be awakened unto *understanding,* unless it be also awakened unto *obeying.* On which account it is said in Matthew, chapter thirteen: *He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.* For Christ teaches us not only by word, but also by example; and therefore he is not a perfect hearer

who does not accommodate his *understanding* to the words and his *obedience* to the deeds; on which account in Luke, chapter six: *Every one shall be perfect, if he be as his teacher.*

22. He is also principally to be *questioned* through the desire of learning, not as the *curious* and the *unbelieving,* who question by tempting, Matthew, chapter twelve: *Certain of the Scribes answered, saying: Teacher, we would see a sign from thee.* They had seen signs and were seeing them, and yet they were still seeking a sign, that by this it might be shown that human *curiosity* has no term and does not deserve to be led through to the true. Whence the answer was given them that *a sign shall not be given them but the sign of Jonas the prophet.* — Not in this way is Jesus to be questioned, but *studiously,* as Nicodemus questioned him, of whom in John, chapter three, it is said that *he came to Jesus by night and said to him: Rabbi, we know that thou art come a teacher from God,* etc.; and it is subjoined there that Jesus opened to him the mysteries of faith, for this reason, that he was not seeking signs of power, but proofs of truth.

23. But this teacher is to be questioned concerning those things which pertain to *knowledge,* to *discipline* and to *goodness,* according to that of the Psalm: *Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge.* For *knowledge* consists in the knowing of the true, *discipline* in the guarding against evil, *goodness* in the choosing of the good. The first regards truth, the second regards holiness, the third regards charity. — He is to be questioned therefore concerning those things which pertain to the *truth of knowledge,* not from a zeal for tempting, as the disciples of the Pharisees were tempting him, Matthew, chapter twenty-two: *Teacher, we know that thou art a true speaker,* etc. And because they were seeking with a *bad intention,* therefore the answer was given them: *Why do you tempt me, ye hypocrites?* But because it was a *good question,* therefore he gave a true answer: *Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's.* — He is to be questioned, secondly, concerning those things which pertain to the *holiness of discipline,* as that young man was questioning him, Mark, chapter ten: *Good teacher, what shall I do that I may possess life everlasting?* And the answer was given him that he should keep the *commandments,* and if he wished to be perfect, he should keep the *counsels,* in which consists the perfect discipline of morals, in the guarding against those things which incite us to sinning. — He is to be questioned also concerning those things which pertain to the *charity of benevolence,* after the example of the doctor of the Law, Matthew, chapter twenty-two: *Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? He said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole mind,* etc., where he shows that *the fulness of the Law is love*.

24. These therefore are the three things which are to be asked of Christ as of a teacher, and to which the whole law of Christ is ordered; and therefore all *ministerial* doctrine of a doctor ought to be ordered to these three, that under that highest teacher he may worthily discharge the duty of the teaching office. — For the ministerial teacher ought to aim at *the knowledge of the truth of faith,* according to that of the first to Timothy, chapter two: *I say the truth, I lie not, a doctor of the Gentiles in faith and truth.* On which account in the second of Peter, chapter one: *For we have not by following artificial fables made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were made beholders of his greatness.*

25. He ought also to aim at *the discipline of the holiness* of the soul, according to that of the second to Timothy, chapter one: *I* Paul *am appointed a preacher and an apostle in the Gospel, for which cause I also suffer these things;* because, according to what is said in Proverbs, chapter nineteen, *the learning of a man is known by patience.* For as it does not become the foolish man to teach wisdom, so it does not become the impatient man to teach patience, nor the undisciplined man to teach discipline. For in morals examples move more than words.

26. He ought also to aim at *the benevolence of the charity* of God and of neighbour, Ecclesiastes, the last chapter: *The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails deeply fastened in, which by the counsel of the teachers are given from one shepherd.* These words, I say, are the words of divine love, which penetrate the marrow of the heart; and these are said to be given *by the counsel of the teachers from one shepherd,* because, although divine love is praised and urged through the words of many, as through the proofs of the two testaments, yet it is breathed forth by one Word alone, which indeed is the *pasture* and the *shepherd* of all. And therefore all those words are from the same and tend to the same; and on this account they are said to be *given* pointedly *by the counsel of the teachers,* namely of those who feel the same. — And since all the doctors of the Christian law ought finally to tend to the bond of charity, therefore they ought to agree in their opinions. On which account in James, chapter three: *Be ye not many teachers, my brethren;* which indeed he says, not by forbidding them from the gift of knowledge

or from communication, since Moses says in Numbers, chapter eleven: *Who will grant that all the people may prophesy, and that the Lord may give them his spirit?* and the first of Peter, chapter four: *As every man hath received grace, ministering the same one to another,* etc.; but he says this, that they may not have various and strange opinions, but that all may say the same, as in the first to the Corinthians, chapter one: *I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment.*

27. For the dissension of opinions *has its rise from presumption,* according to that of Proverbs, chapter thirteen: *Among the proud there are always contentions;* and it *begets confusion,* the first to Timothy, the last chapter: *If any man teach otherwise and consent not to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to that doctrine which is according to piety, he is proud, knowing nothing, but sick about questions and strifes of words; from which arise envies, contentions, blasphemies, evil suspicions, conflicts of men corrupted in mind and who are destitute of the truth.*

28. Since therefore these are the three things which impede the perception of truth, namely the *presumption* of the senses and the *dissension* of opinions and the *despair* of finding the true; therefore, meeting these, Christ says: *One is your teacher, Christ.* He says, I say, that Christ is the *teacher,* that we may not *presume* upon our own knowledge; he says that he is *one,* that we may not *dissent* in judgment; he says that he is *yours,* ready to assist us, that we may not *despair,* especially since he himself both wills and knows and is able to teach us, by sending that Spirit of whom he himself says in John, chapter sixteen: *When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth.* Which may he grant to us, etc. — Exᴘʟɪᴄɪᴛ.