ST. BONAVENTURE OF BAGNOREGIO

  Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Minister General of the Order of Friars
Minor, & Doctor of the Universal Church

THE JOURNEY OF THE MIND INTO GOD

Prologue & Chapters 1 & 2

Translated from the Quarrachi Edition of the Opera Omnia S. Bonaventurae
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PROLOGUE

1. In the beginning the First Principle, from whom all other [cunctae]
illuminations descend as from the Father of lights, by whom is every best
gift and every perfect gift, that is the Eternal Father, I do invoke through
His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, with the intercession of the Most Holy
Virgin Mary, the same Mother [genetricis] of Our God and Lord Jesus Christ,
and of blessed Francis, our leader and father, to grant that the eyes of our
mind (be) illumined to direct our feet in the way of His peace, which
exceeds [exuperat] every sense; which peace Our Lord Jesus Christ has
proclaimed [evangelizavit] and has given; the renewer [repetitor] of whose
preaching was our Father Francis, announcing at the beginning and end of all
his preaching peace, in every salutation choosing peace, in every
contemplation longing towards ecstatic peace, as a citizen of that
Jerusalem, concerning which that man of peace speaks, who with those who
hate peace, was peaceable: Ask for those things which are for the peace of
Jerusalem. For he knew, that the throne of Solomon was not but in peace,
since it was written: In peace is made His place, and His dwelling in Sion.

2. When therefore by the example of most blessed Father Francis I sought
with a panting spirit this peace, I a sinner, who, unworthy in all things
[per omnia] ascend to the place of the most blessed father himself as
seventh in the Minister generalship after his transitus; it happened that
with the divine permission [nutu] about the (time of) the Transitus of the
Blessed himself, in the thirty-third year (of its celebration, 1259 A.D.), I
turned aside with the love [amore] of seeking peace of spirit towards mount
Alverna as towards a quiet place, and staying [existens] there, while I
considered in mind some mental ascensions into God, among others there
occured that miracle, which in the aforesaid place happened to blessed
Francis himself, that is, of the vision of the Seraph winged after the
likeness [ad instar] of the Crucified. In consideration of which it suddenly
seemed to me, that that vision showed the suspension of our father himself
in contemplating Him and the way, through which one arrives at that
(suspension).

3. For through those six wings there can be rightly understood six
suspensions of illumination, by which the soul as if to certain steps or
journies is disposed, to pass over to [ad] peace through ecstatic excesses
of Christian wisdom. The way is, however, naught but through the most ardent
love [amorem] of the Crucified, who to this extent [adeo] transformed Paul
rapt to the third heaven into Christ, that he said: to Christ I have been
crucified, now not I; but Christ lives in me; who also to this extent
absorbed the mind of Francis, since the mind lay in the flesh, while he bore
about the most sacred stigmata of the Passion in his own flesh for two years
before his death. The likenesses [effigies] of the six seraphic wings
intimates [insinuat] six stair-like [scalares] illuminations, which begin
from creatures and lead through even to God, to Whom no one rightly enters
except through the Crucified. For he who does not enter through the gate,
but ascends by another way, that one is a thief and mercenary [latro]. If
anyone indeed goes inside through the gate, he will step in and out and find
pasture. On which account John says in the Apocalypse: Blessed are they who
wash their vestments in the Blood of the Lamb, to have power in the Tree of
life, and to step in the city through the gates ; as if he said, that
through contemplation one cannot step into the supernal Jerusalem, unless he
enter through the Blood of the Lamb as through a gate. For one has not been
disposed in any manner [modo] to divine contemplations, which lead towards
mental eccesses [excessus], except with Daniel one be a man of desires.
Moreover desires are inflammed in us in a two-fold manner, that is through
the clamour of praying, which makes one shout [rugire] from a groan of the
heart, and though the lightning of speculation, by which the mind thoroughly
turns itself [se convertit] most directly and most intensely towards the
rays of light.

4. Therefore to the groan of praying through Christ crucified, through whose
Blood we are purged from the filth of vice, I indeed first invite the
reader, lest perhaps he believes that reading without unction, speculation
without devotion, investigation without admiration, circumspection without
exsultation, industry without piety, knowledge [scientia] without charity,
understanding without humiliy, study apart from divine grace, gaze
[speculum] apart from divinely inspired wisdom is sufficient for
him.—Anticipated, therefore, by divine grace, for the humble and pious, the
compunct and devout, for those annointed with the oil of gladness both for
the lovers of divine wisdom and for those inflammed with desire for it, I
propose the following speculations to be free for those willing to magnify,
admire and even take a taste of God, intimating, that too little or nothing
is the proposed, exterior gaze [speculum], unless the mirror [speculum] of
our mind has been wiped and polished. Exert yourself, therefore, man of God,
before [prius ad] the sting of conscience bites again, and before you raise
your eyes towards the rays of wisdom glittering in His reflections
[speculis], lest by chance from the sight [speculatione] itself of the rays
you fall into the more grave pit of shadows.

5. Moreover it is pleasing to divide [distinguendum] the tract into seven
chapters, by previewing [praemittendo] their titles for [ad] an easier
understanding of the things to be said. I ask therefore, that the intention
of the one writing be thought of more, than the work, more the sense of the
things said than the uncultured speech, more its truth than its charm, more
the exercise of affection than the erudition of the intellect. Because as it
is, one must not run perfunctorily through the course of these speculations,
but ruminate (on them) with the greatest of lingering [morosissime].

HERE ENDS THE PROLOGUE.
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HERE BEGINS THE SIGHT OF THE POOR MAN IN THE DESERT

CHAPTER I

ON THE STEPS OF ASCENSION INTO GOD AND ON THE SIGHT OF HIM THROUGH HIS
VESTIGES IN THE UNIVERSE

1. Blessed the man, whose assistance is from Thee, he has arrainged
ascensions in his own heart in the vale of tears, in the place, which he
placed them. Since beatitude is nothing other, than the fruition of the Most
High Good; and the Most High Good is above us: no one can become [effici]
blessed, unless he ascends above his very self, not by an ascent with the
body [corporali], but with the heart [cordiali]. But we are not able to be
raised above ourselves unless by means of a superior virtue raising us. For
however much as interior steps are arrainged, nothing is done, unless the
Divine Assistance accompanies. However the Divine Assistance accompanies
those who seek it from their heart humbly and devoutly; and this is to long
for it in this vale of tears, which is done through fervent praying. Let us
pray therefore and say to the Lord Our God: Lead me forth, Lord, in Thy way,
and let me step in Thy truth; let my heart be glad, that it fears Thy Name.

2. In praying this prayer one is illumined so as to become acquainted with
[ad cognoscendum] the steps of the divine ascension. Since the university of
things is the stairway to ascend into God; and among things there are a
certain vestige, a certain image [imago], certain corporal things, certain
spiritual things, certain temporal things, certain aeviturnal things, and
for this reason [per hoc] certain ones outside of us, certain ones inside
us: for this purpose [ad hoc], that we arrive at considering the First
Principle, which is most spiritual and eternal and above us, it is proper,
that we enter into our mind, which is an aeviternal image [imago] of God,
spiritual and within us, and this is to step in the truth of God; it is
fitting, that we transcend to the eternal, most spiritual, and above us by
looking towards the First Principle, and this is to be glad in the knowledge
[notitia] of God and the reverence of His Majesty.

3. This is therefore the way of three days in the solitude; this is the
threefold illumination of one day, and the first is as vespers, the second
as morning, the third as midday; this relates to [respicit] the threefold
existence [existentiam] of things, that is in matter, in understanding and
in the Eternal Art, according to what is said: Let it be, He has made and it
has been made; this also relates to the threefold substance in Christ, who
is our Stairway, that is the corporal, the spiritual, and the Divine.

4. According to this threefold progress our mind has three principle powers
of sight [aspectus]. One is towards exterior corporals, according to that
which is named the animal [animalitas] or the sensory [sensualitas]: the
other within the self and in the self, according to that which is called the
spirit; the third above the self, according to that which is called the
mind.—From all of which it ought to arrange [disponere] itself to climb
thoroughly [conscendendum] into God, to love [diligat] Him with a whole
heart, and with a whole heart, and with a whole soul, in which consists the
perfect observance of the Law and, at the same time with this, christian
wisdom.

5. Moreover since whatever of the aforesaid manners is joined together,
according to which one happens [contingit] to consider God as the Alpha and
the Omega, or inasmuch as one happens to see God in any one of the aforesaid
manners [modorum] as through a mirror [per speculum] and as in a mirror [in
speculo], or because one of these considerations is has been mixed up [habet
commisceri] with another conjoined with itself, and has to be considered
[habet considerari] in its purity; hence it is, that it is necessary, that
these three principle steps ascend towards a group of six, so that, as God
in six days perfected the entire world [universum mundum] and on the seventh
rested; so the microcosm [minor mundum] is itself lead forth in six steps of
illumination proceeding upwards [succedentium] in a most ordered manner
[ordinatissime] towards the quiet of contemplation. In the figure of which
one ascended in six steps towards the throne of Solomon; the Seraphim, which
Isaiah saw, had six wings; after six days the Lord called Moses from the
midst of gloom [caliginis], and Christ after six days, as is said in
Matthew, led the disciples unto the mountain and was transfigured before
them.

6. Therefore alongside [iuxta] the six steps of ascension into God, there
are six steps of the soul’s powers [potentiarum] through which we climb
thoroughly from the depts towards the hieghts, from exterior things towards
things most interior, from temporal things we ascend together towards
eternal, that is the sense, the imagination, the reason, the intellect, the
intelligence, and the apex of the mind or the spark of synderisis. These
steps we have planted [habemus plantatos] in us by nature, deformed by
fault, reformed by grace; are to be purged by justice, exercised by
knowledge [scientia], perfected by wisdom.

7. For according to the first institution of nature there was created a man
fit [homo habilis] for the quiet of contemplation, and for that reason God
placed him in the paradise of delights. But turning himself away from the
true Light towards the completely changeable good [commutabile bonum], he
was himself stooped down through his own fault, and his whole race by
original sin, which infects human nature in a twofold manner, that is the
mind by ignorance, the flesh by concupiscence; so that man thoroughly
blinded and stooped down sits in the shadows and does not see the light of
Heaven unless grace succors him with justice against his concupiscence, and
knowledge with wisdom against his ignorance. Which is entirely [totum] done
through Jesus Christ, who has been made for us by God our wisdom and justice
and sanctification and redemption. Who though He be the Virtue of God and
the Wisdom of God, (and though) He be the Incarnate Word full of grace and
truth, has made grace and truth, that is has infused the grace of charity,
which, since it is from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unfeigned
faith, rectifies the whole soul according to its own threefold, abovesaid
power of sight [aspectum]; He has thoroughly taught the knowledge of the
truth according to the threefold manner of theology, that is, the symbolic,
the proper, and the mystical, so that through the symbol we rightly use the
sensible, through the proper we rightly use the intelligible, through the
mystical we be rapt to super-mental excesses.

8. Therefore it is necesary that he who will to ascend into God, as a nature
having avoided the deforming fault, exercise his abovesaid, natural powers
in accord with [ad] reforming grace, and this by praying; in accord with
justifying purification and this in comportment [conversatione]; in accord
with illuminating knowledge and this in meditation; in accord with
perfecting wisdom and this in contemplation. Therefore as no one comes to
wisdom except through grace, justice, and knowledge; so one does not come to
contemplation except through perspicacious mediation, holy comportment and
devout prayer. Therefore as grace is the foundation of the rectitude of the
will and of the perspicacious brightening [illustrationis] of the reason; so
at first we must pray, then live holily, third understand the spectacles
[spectaculis] of truth and by understanding ascend gradually, and come at
last to the exalted mountain, where there is seen the God of Gods in Sion.

9. Since therefore first one is to ascend rather than descend upon Jacob’s
stair, let us situate the first step of ascension at the bottom, by
considering [ponendo] this whole world sensible to us as a mirror
[speculum], through which we passover to God, the Most High Artitisan, so
that we may be true Hebrews passing over from Egypt to the land promissed
again-and-again to our Fathers, that we may be also Christians passing over
with Christ from this world to the Father, that we may be also lovers
[amatores] of wisdom, who calls and says: Passover to me all you, who desire
[concupiscitis] me, and be filled full by my generations. For from the
magnitude of beauty [speciei] and creature the Creator of these things could
be familiarly [cognoscibiliter] seen.

10. Moreover the highest power and wisdom and benevolence of the Creator
glitters in created things according to that which the sense of the flesh
announces in this threefold manner to the interior sense. For the sense of
the flesh either devoutly serves [deservit] the intellect in a rational
manner as it investigates, or in a faithful manner as it believes, or in an
intellectual manner as it contemplates. Contemplating it considers the
actual existence of things, believing the habitual descent [decursus] of
things, reasoning [ratiocinans] the potential excellence [praecellentiam] of
things.

11. In the first manner the power of sight [aspectus] of the one
contemplating, considering the things in themselves [res in se ipsis], sees
in them the weight, number and measure; the weight in regard to the position
[quoad situm], where they are inclining, the number, by which they are
distinguished, and the measure, by which they are limited. And for this
reason it sees in them measure [modum], species, and order, and also the
substance, virtue, and activity [operationem]. From which it can rise
together, as from a vestige, to understand the power, wisdom and immense
goodness of the Creator.

12. In the second manner the power of sight of the believer [aspectus
fidelis], considering this world attends to the origin, the descent and the
end. For by faith we believe, that the ages have been made ready for the
Word of life; by faith we believe, that the seasons of the three laws, that
is of nature, of Scripture and of grace succeed one another [sibi] and have
descended [decurrisse] in a most orderly manner; by faith we believe, that
the world must be terminated by a final judgement; adverting in the first to
power, in the second to providence, in the third to justice of the Most High
Principle.

13. In the third manner the power of sight [aspectus] of the one
investigating in a reasoning manner sees, that certain things only are,
morover that certain things are and live, but that certain things are, live,
and discern; and indeed that the first things are the lesser, the second
ones the middle, the third the best.—Again it sees, that certain things are
only corporal, certain things partly coporal, partly spiritual; from which
it adverts, that some are merely spiritual as the better and more worthy of
both. Nevertheless it sees, that certain things are mutable and
incorruptible, as the celestial things; from which it adverts, that certain
things are immutable and incorruptible, as the supercelestial.

From these visible things, therefore, it rises up together to consider the
power, wisdom, and goodness of God, as the existing [entem], living,
understanding, merely spiritual and incorruptible and instransmutable One.

14. Moreover this consideration broadens according to the septiform
condition of creatures, which is the septiform testimony of the divine power
and goodness, if the origin and order of all other things is considered.

For the origin of things according to (their) creation, distinction and
embellishment [ornatum], as much as it regards [quantum ad] the works of the
six days, foretells the divine power, producing all other things from
nothing, (the divine) wisdom distinguishing all other things lucidly and
(the divine) goodness adorning all other things with largess.

Moreover the magnitude of things according to the quantity [molem] of
(their) length, breadth and depth; according to the excellence (their)
virtue extending far, wide, and deeply, as is clear in the diffusion of
light; according to the efficacy of (their) most interior, continual and
diffuse activity, as is clear in the activity of fire, manifestly indicates
the immensity of the power, wisdom and goodness of the Triune God who in all
other things by power, presence [praesentiam] and essence exists as One
uncircumscribed.

Indeed their multitude according to (their) general, special and individual
diversity in substance, in form or figure and efficacious beyond every human
estimation, manifestly intimates and shows the immensity of the aforesaid
three conditions in God.

Moreover the beauty [pulcritudo] of things according to the variety of
(their) lights, figures and colors in bodies simple, mixed and even
connected [complexionatis], as in celestial and mineral bodies, as stones
and metals, plants and animals, proclaims in an evident manner the aforesaid
three things.

Moreover the fulness of things, according to which [secundum quod] matter is
full of forms according to seminal reasons; form is full of virtue according
to active power; virtue is full of effects according to efficiency,
manifestly declares the very thing.

The manifold [multiplex] activity (of things), according to that which is
natural, according to that which is artificial, according to that which is
moral, by its most manifold variety shows the immensity of His virtue, art,
and goodness, which is for all things “the cause of existing [causa
essendi], the reason for understanding and the order of living�.

Moreover their order according to the reckoning [rationem] of duration and
influence, that is by prior and posterior, superior and inferior, more noble
and more ignoble, manifestly intimates in the Book of Creatures the primacy,
sublimity and dignity of the First Principle, as much as it regards the
infinity of His power; indeed the order of divine laws, precepts, and
judgements in the Book of Scripture the immensity of His wisdom; moreover
the order of divine Sacraments, benefactions and retributions in the Body of
the Church the immensity of His goodness, so that the order itself most
evidently leads us by hand [manuducit] to the First and Most High, the Most
Powerful, the Most Wise and the Best. 15. Therefore he who is not brightened
[illustratur] by such splendors of created things is blind; he who does not
awake at such clamors is deaf; he who does not praise God on account of [ex]
all these effects is mute; he who does not turn towards [advertit] the First
Principle on account of such indications [indiciis] is stupid.—Open
therefore your eyes, employ your spiritual ears, loose your lips and rouse
[appone] your heart, to see, hear, praise, love [diligas] and worship
[colas], magnfiy and honor your God in all creatures, lest perhaps the whole
circle of the earth rise together against you. For on this account the
circle of the earth will fight against the insensate and against the sensate
there will be the matter of glory, who according to the Prophet can say:
Thou has loved [delectasti] me, Lord, in what you are to do [factura] and in
the works of Thy hands shall I exult. How magnified are Thy works, Lord!
you have made all things in wisdom, the earth is filled with Thy possesion.
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CHAPTER II

ON THE SIGHT OF GOD IN HIS VESTIGES IN THIS SENSIBLE WORLD

1. But since concerning the sensible reflection not only does it happen that
God is contemplated through these as through vestiges, but also in these,
inasmuch as He is in them through essence, power, and presence; and this is
to consider Him higher than before [praecedens]; for that reason a
consideration of this kind holds second place as the second step of
contemplation, by which we ought to be lead by hand to contemplate God in
all other creatures, which enter our minds through bodily senses. 2.
Therefore it must be noted, that this world, which is called a macrocosm,
enters our soul, which is called a microcosm, through the gates of the five
senses, according to (their) apprehension, enjoyment [oblectationem] and
dijudication of these sensible (images). That this is clearly so: because in
it certain things are generating, certain things generated, certain thing
governing the former and the latter [haec et illa]. The things generating
are the simple bodies, that is the celestial bodies and the four elements.
For from the elements by virtue of a light unifying [conciliantis] the
contrariety of elements in mixtures there has been generated and produced,
whatever is generated and produced by the activity of natural virtue. But
the things generated are the bodies composed from the elements, as minerals,
vegetables, sensibles and human bodies. The things ruling the former and the
latter are the spiritual substances whether entirely conjoined, as are the
brute animals, or conjoined in a separable manner [separabiliter], as are
the rational spirits, or conjoined in an inseparable manner
[inseparabiliter], as are the celestial spirits, whom the philosophers name
Intelligences, we the Angles. To whom according to philosophers it pertains
[competit] to move the celestial bodies, and for this reason to them there
is attributed the administration of the universe, taking up [suscipiendo]
from the First Cause, that is from God, the influence of virtue, which they
pour back according to the work of governing, which respects [respicit] the
natural consistency of things. Moreover acccording to theologians there is
attributed to these same the control [regimen] of the universe according to
the empire of the Most High God as much as regards the works of reparation,
according to what is called the spirits of administration, sent on account
of those who have siezed the inheritance of salvation.

3. Man therefore, who is called the microcosm, has five senses like five
gates, through which aquaintance with [cognitio] all things, which are in
the sensible world, enters into his soul. For through vision there enters
bodies sublime and luminous and the other colored things, but through touch
bodies solid and terrestrial, indeed through the three intermediary senses
there enters intermediary things, as through taste liquids [aquea], through
hearing gases [aërea], through smell vapours [vaporabilia], which have
something of the humid nature, something of the gaseous [aërea], something
of the fiery [ignea] or hot (nature), as is clear in the smoke released from
aromatics [aromatibus]. Therefore there enters through these gates both
simple bodies and also composite ones, from these (which are) mixted. But
because in sensing [sensu] we perceive no only these particular sensibles,
which are light, sound, odor, taste and the four primary qualities, which
apprehend (our) touch; but also the common sensibles, which are number,
magnitude, figure, rest and movement [motus]; both “all, which is moved is
moved by another� and certain things are moved by themselves and rest, as
are the animals: while through those five senses we apprehend the movement
of bodies, we are lead by hand towards aquaintance with spiritual movers as
through an effect towards acquaintance with its causes.

4. Therefore there enters, as much as regards three genera of things, into
the human soul through apprehension, that whole sensible world. Moreover
these exterior sensibles are those which at first step into the soul through
the gates of the five senses; they enter, I say, not through substances, but
through their similitudes at first generated in the midst and from the midst
in the organ and from the exterior organ in the interior, and from this into
the apprehensive power; and thus the generation of the species in the midst
and from the midst in the organ and the conversion of the apprehensive power
over it causes [facit] the apprehension of all these which the soul
apprehends exteriorly.

5. To this apprehension, if it belongs to something agreeable [rei
convenientis], there follows enjoyment. Moreover the sense takes delight
[delectatur] in the object perceived through the abstract similitude and/or
[vel] by reason of its beauty [speciositatis], as in sight, and/or by reason
of its savor, as in smell and hearing, and/or by reason of its wholesomeness
[salubritatis], as in taste and touch, respectively [appropriate loquendo].
Moreover every delectation is by reason of its proportionality. But since
the species holds the reason for the form, virtue and activity, according to
which it has a relation [respectum] to the begining, from which it flows
[manat], to the middle, through which it passes over, and to the end, in
which it acts; for that reason proportionality either is attended in
similitude, according to which it accounts [habet rationem] for the species
or form, and so is called beauty [speciositas], because “beauty
[pulchritudo] is nothing other than numeric [numerosa] equality�, or “a
certain one of the parts of position [situs] together with the savor of
color�. Or proportionality attends, inasmuch as it accounts [habet rationem]
for power or virtue, and so is called savor, when acting virtue does not
improportionately exceed the recipient; because sense is saddened in
extremes and takes delight in means. Or it is attended, inasmuch as it
accounts for efficacy and impression, which is then proportional, when
acting in impressing it fills full the indigence of the one impressed
[patientis], and this is to save and feed [nutrire] itself, which most
appears in taste and touch. And thus through enjoyment exterior delectables,
according to the three fold reason for taking delight, enter into the soul
through similitude.

6. After this apprehension and enjoyment there occurs [fit] dijudication, by
which not only is it distinguished [diiudicatur], whether this be white,
and/or black, because this pertains [pertinet] to a particular sense; not
only, whether it be wholesome, and or noxious [nocivum], because this
pertains to interior sense; but also, because it is distinguished and an
account [rationem] is rendered, why it takes delight in this; and in this
act one inquires for [inquiritur de] a reason for the delectation, which in
the sense is perceived from the object. This is moreover, when the reason
for the beautiful [pulcri], savory and wholesome is sought: and one finds
[invenitur] that this is the proportion of equality. Moreover the reason for
equality is the same in great things and in small and it neither is extended
in dimensions nor succeeds or passes over with those things passing over nor
is it altered by movements. Therefore it abstracts [abstrahit] from place,
time and movement, and for this reason it is thoroughly unchangeable
[incommutabilis], uncircumscribable and entirely spiritual. Therefore
dijudication is an action, which causes [facit] the sensible species,
accepted sensibly through sense, to go into the intellective power by
pruning [deputando] and abstracting (it). And thus, this whole world has to
go into [introire habet] the human soul through the gates of the senses
according to the three aforesaid activities.

7. Moreover all these are vestiges, in which we gaze upon [speculari] Our
God. For since the species apprehended is a similitude born in the midst and
then impressed on the organ itself and through that impression it leads into
its beginning, that is into the object with which one is to become
acquainted; it manifestly intimates, that that One who is the invisible
image of God and the splendor of His glory and the figure of His substance,
who is everywhere by His first generation—as an object in the center [toto
medio] generates its own similitude—is united by the grace of union—as a
species to the bodily organ—to an individual of rational nature, to lead us
back through that union to the Father as to the fontal begining and object.
Therefore as all things with which one can become acquainted have to
generate [habet generare] their own species, they manifestly proclaim, that
in them as in mirrors can be seen the eternal generation of the Word, the
Image and Son eternally emanating from God the Father.

8. According to this manner (of speaking) the species taking delight as one
beautiful [speciosa], savory and wholesome, intimates, that in that first
species there is prime beauty [speciositas], savor and wholesomeness, in
which there is most high proportionality and equality to the one generating;
in which there is unstaining [illabens] virtue, not through phantasm, but
through the truth of apprehension: in which there is saving impression,
expelling both substitutes [sufficientes] and every indigence of
apprehension. If therefore “delectation is a conjunction of agreeable
[convenientis] to agreeable�; and solely the similitude of God accounts most
highly for the beautiful [speciosi], savory and the wholesome; and it is
united according to truth and interiority [intimitatem] and fulness filling
full every capacity: it can manifestly be seen, that in God alone there is
fontal and true delectation, and that we are lead by hand to require that
from [ex] all delectations.

9. Moreover by a more excellent and immediate manner dijudication leads us
to gaze upon [in speculandam] eternal truth with more certainty [certius].
For if dijudication has occured [fieri] through reason abstracting from
place, time and mutability and for this reason from dimension, succession
and transmutation, through immutable and incircumscriptible and interminalbe
reason; nothing however is entirely immutable, incircumscriptible and
interminalbe, except what is eternal; everthing however which is eternal, is
God, and/or in God: if therefore all things, however more certainly we
distinguish [diiudicamus] them, we distinguish through reason of this kind;
it is clear, that He himself is the reason for all things and the infallible
rule and the light of truth, in which all other things glitters infallibly,
indelibly, undoubtedly, unbreakably, indistinguishably [indiiudicabiliter],
thoroughly unchangeably, unconfinably, interminably, indivisibly, and
intellectually. And for that reason those laws, through which we judge with
certainty [certitudinaliter] concerning all sensibles, coming into our
consideration; although they are infallible and undoubtable by the intellect
of the one apprehending (them), indelible from the memory of the one
recalling (them) as things always present, unbreakable and indistinguishable
by the intellect of the one judging (them), because, as Augustine says “no
one judges from them, but through them�: it is necessary, that they be
thoroughly unchangeable and incorruptible as necessaries, unconfinable as
uncircumscribed, interminable as eternals, and for this reason indivisable
as intellectual and incorporeal (beings), not made, but uncreated, eternally
existing in the eternal Art, from which, through which and according to
which all shapely [formosa] things are formed; and for that reason they
cannot be with certainty judged except through That which was not only
producing all other forms, but also conserving and distinguishing
[distinguens] all others, as the Being [ens] holding the form and directing
the rule [regula] over all things, and through Which our mind distinguishes
[diiudicat] all others, which enter into itself through the senses.

10. Moreover this speculation broadens according to the consideration of
seven numercially different things [differentiarum numerorum], by which as
by seven steps one climbs thoroughly into God, according to that which
Augustine (says) in his book De vera Religione and in its sixth (chapter)
Musicae, where he assignes numercially different things climbing
step-by-step [gradatim] thoroughly from these sensibles even to the Artisan
of all, so that God is seen in all (of them). For he says, that numbers are
in bodies and most in sounds and voices, and these he names notes
[sonantes]; that numbers (have been) abstracted from these and received in
our senses, and these he names messages [occursores]; numbers (are)
proceding from the soul into the body, as is clear in gesticulations and
gestured-dances [saltationibus], and these he names instructions
[progressors]; that (there are) numbers in the delectations of the sense
from the conversion of intention over the species received, and these he
names sensations [sensuales]; that numbers (have been) retained in the
memory, and these he calls memories [memoriales]; that (there are) even
numbers, through which we judge concerning all these things, and these he
names judgements [iudiciales], which as has been said are necessarily above
the mind as infallibles and indistinguishables. By these moreover there are
impressed upon our minds artificial numbers, which nevertheless Augustine
does not ennumerate among those steps, because they have been connected with
judgements; and from these flow the number-intructions, from which are
created numerous forms of crafts [artificiatorum], so that from most high
things through middle things towards the lowest things an ordered descent
comes into being [fiat]. Towards these we also ascend step-by-step by
numbers (that are) notes, intervening [mediantibus] messages, sensations,
and memories. Therefore since all things are beautiful [pulcra] and in a
certain manner delectable; and beauty [pulcritudo] and delectation are not
apart from proportion; and proportion is first in numbers: it is necessary,
that all things be numerous; and for this reason “number is the foremost
[praecipuum] exemplar in the mind [animo] of the Founder�; and in things the
foremost vestige leading to Wisdom. Because when (this vestige) is most
evident to all and closest to God, and most closely as through seven
differences leads into God and causes [facit], us to acquaint ourselves with
Him in all other corporal and sensible things, we at the same time [dum]
apprehend numerous things, take delight in numerous proportions and judge
most securely [irrefragabiliter] by means of [per] laws of numerous
proportions.

11. From these two first steps, by which we are lead by hand to gaze upon
God in (His) vestiges as after the manner of the two wings decending about
the feet, we can gather, that all creatures of this sensible world lead the
spirit [animum] of the one contemplating and tasting [sapientis] (them) into
the eternal God, for the reason [pro eo] that of that First Principle most
powerful, most wise and best, of that eternal Origin, Light, and Fullness,
of that, I say, Art efficient, exemplary [exemplantis] and ordering
[ordinantis] there are shadows, resonances [resonantia] and pictures, there
are vestiges, likenesses [simulacra] and spectacles divinely given to us as
first premises of a syllogism [proposita] and signs to survey [contuendum]
God; which, I say, are exemplary and/or rather examples [exemplata],
proposed to minds still rough and sensible, to be transferred through the
sensibles, which they see, to the intelligibles, which they do not see, as
through signs to things signified [signata].

12. Moreover these manner of creatures of this sensible world signify the
invisible things of God, partly because God is the Origin, Exemplar and End,
of every creature, and (because) every effect is a sign of a cause, and an
example of an exemplar, and a way for the end, towards which it leads:
partly from itsown representation; partly from a prophetic prefiguration;
partly from angelic activity; partly from a superadded institution. For
every creature by [ex] its nature is a certain likeness and similitude of
that eternal Wisdom, and especially those things which have been assumed in
the book of Scripture through the spirit of prophecy for the prefiguration
of spiritual things; moreover more especially those creatures, in the
likeness of which God has willed to appear as an angelic minister; but most
especially that which He willed to institute for signification [ad
significandum], which not only accounts for [secundum] the common name of
sign, but also of Sacrament.

13. From all of which is gathered, that the invisible things of God from the
creatures of the world, through those which have been made, are perceived as
things understood [intellecta]. so that those who do not want to advert to
these and to acquaint themselves with, bless and love God in all these are
inexcusable so long as [dum] they do not want to be transfered from darkness
into the admirable light of God. But thanks to God through Jesus Christ, Our
Lord, who has transferred us from darkness into His own admirable light,
while through these lights given exteriorly to the mirror [speculum] of our
mind in which divine things glitter, we dispose (ourselves) to reenter.
_________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER III

ON THE SIGHT OF GOD THROUGH HIS IMAGE MARKED ON NATURAL POWERS

1. Moreover since the two aforesaid steps, by leading us into God through
His vestiges, though which He glitters in all other creatures, has lead us
by hand even unto this, to reenter ourselves, that is our mind, in which the
Divine Image glitters; hence it is that already in the third place, entering
our very selves and as if reliquishing the outer entrance hall [atrium
forinsecus], in the Holies, that is in the anterior part of the Tabernacle,
we ought to begin to see God as through a mirror [per speculum]; where after
the manner of a candlestick the Light of Truth glitters upon the face of our
mind, in which, that is, the Image of the Most Blessed Trinity glitters
again [respelndet]. Enter therefore yourself and see, that your mind most
fervently loves [amat] itself; nor can it love itself, unless it knows
[nosset]; nor does it know [nosset] itself, unless it remembers itself,
because we can sieze nothing through understanding [intelligentiam], that is
not present among [apud] our memory; and from this you advert, that your
soul has a threefold power, not in the eye of the flesh, but in the eye of
the mind. Therefore consider the activities and characteristics
[habitudines] of these three powers, and you can see God through yourself as
through an image, which is to see (Him) through a mirror in mystery [per
speculum in aenigmate].

2. Moreover the activity of the memory is the retention and representation
not only of things present, corporal and temporal, but also of things coming
afterwards [succendentium], simple and sempiternal. For the memory retains
things past [praeterita] through remembrance, things present through capture
[susceptionem], things future through foresight [praevisionem]. It also
retains simple things, like the principles of continuous and discrete
quantities, such as [ut] point, presence [instans] and unity, without which
it is impossible to remember or think of those things which are derived
[principiantur] by means of them. Nevertheless it retains the principles and
ranks [dignitates] of the sciences [scientiarum], as sempiternal things and
in a sempiternal manner, because it can never so forget them, while it uses
reason, on the contrary [quin] it approves those things heard and assents to
them, perceives (them) not as from something new, but recognizes
[recognoscat] them as things innate and familiar to itself; as is clear, is
the self-evident [se proponatur alicui]: “The affirmation and/or negation of
anything�; and/or “Every whole is greater than its part�, and/or whatever
other rank, for which there is no contradiction [contradicere] “in accord
with internal reason�. Therefore from the first actual retention of all
temporal things, that is of all things past, present, and future, it has a
likeness to eternity, whose indivisible presence extends itself to all
times. From the second it appears, that it not only has to be itself formed
from the exterior through phantasms, but also from the superior by taking up
simple forms, which cannot not enter through the gates of the senses and the
phantasies of sensibles. From the third is had, that it has itself a
thoroughly unchangeable light present to itself, in which it remembers the
truth of invariables. And thus through the activities of memory it appears,
that the soul itself is an image and similitude of God, to this extent, that
present to itself and having Him present, it seizes Him by act and through
power � it is capable of Him and can be a participant� (in Him).

3. Moreover the activity of intellective virtue is in the perception of the
understanding [intellectus] of terms, propositions, and illations. Moreover
it siezes what is signified by the understanding of terms, when it
comprehends, what each thing [unumquodque] is by definition. But definition
has to occur through things superior, and these latter have to be defined by
things superior, until one comes to things supreme and most general, which
when ignored [ignoratis], inferiors cannot be definitively understood.
Therefore unless what one become acquainted with what a being is [est ens]
through itself, there cannot be fully a definition of anything of a special
substance. Nor can one become acquainted with a being through itself, unless
one become acquainted with it together with [cum] its conditions, which are:
the one, the true, the good. Moreover with being, when it can be thought of
[cogitari] as diminished and complete, as imperfect and as perfect, as being
in potency [in potentia] and as being in act, as being secundum quid and as
being simply-speaking, as partly being [ens in parte] and wholly being [ens
totaliter], as transient being and as stable being [ens manens], as being
through another and as being through itself, as being commingled [permixtum]
with non-being as as pure being, as dependent being and as absolute being,
as posterior being and as prior being, as mutable being and as immutable
being, as simple being as as composite being, since “its privations and
defects one can be in nowise become acquainted except through its
positions�, our intellect does not come to resolve [venit ut resolvens]
fully the understanding of anything of existing [entium] creatures, unless
it be aided by the understanding of the most pure, most actual, most
complete and absolute being; which is Being simply and eternal, in which
there are reasons for all things in its purity. Moreover in what manner does
the intellect know [sciret], that this being is defective and incomplete, if
it has no acquaintance with being apart from any fault? And thus concerning
the other things already touched upon [praelibatis]. Moreover the intellect
is said next to truly comprehend the understanding of propositions, when it
knows [scit] with certitude, that they are true; and to know this is to
know, since it cannot fail in its comprehension. For it knows, that that
truth cannot otherwise be regarded [se habere]; therefore it knows, that
that truth is not thoroughly changeable. But since our mind itself is
thoroughly changeable, it cannot see that (truth) glittering in so
thoroughly an unchangeable manner unless through another light radiating
entirely in a thoroughly unchangeable manner, which cannot possibly be
[impossible est esse] a mutuable creature. Therefore it knows in that light,
which illumines every man comming into this world, which is the True Light
and the Word in the begining with God. But our intellect next truly
perceives the understanding of illation, when it sees, that the conclusion
follows necessariloy from the premises; because not only does it see in
necessary terms, but al in contingents, as, if a man run, a man is moved.
Moreover it perceives this necessary characteristic not only in things
existing [entibus], but also in non-existing ones. For as, with man
existing, it follows: if man runs, man is moved; so also, (when)
non-existing. Therefore the necessity of illations of this manner does not
come from the existence of a thing in matter, which is contingent, nor from
existence of a thing in the soul, which then would be a fiction, if did not
exist [esset] in the thing: therefore it comes from the exemplarity in the
eternal Art, according to which the thing has an aptitude and characteristic
alternatively [ad invicem] according to the eternal Art’s representation of
it. Therefore, as Augustine says in De vera religione, every light of one
who reasons truly is enkindled by that Truth and exerts itself [nititur] to
arrive at It. From which it appears manifestly, that our intellect has been
conjoined to eternal Truth itself, while it cannot with certitude sieze
anything truly unless through learning about It [per illam docentem].
Therefore you can see through youself the Truth, which teachs you, if
concupiscences and phantasms do not impede you and do not interpose
themselves as clouds between you and the ray of Truth.

4. Moreover the activity of elective virtue is attended in counsel,
judgement and desire. Moreover counsel is in inquiring, what be better this
or that. But it is not called better unless through access to the best;
however access is according to the greater assimiliation; therefore no one
knows whether this be better than that, unless he knows, that it is more
assimilated to the best. However, no one knows, that anything is assimilated
more to another, unless he becomes acquainted with it; for not I do not know
[scio], that this is like Peter, unless I know [sciam] or become acquainted
with Peter; therefore upon everyone giving counsel there is necessarily
impressed the notion of the Most High Good. Moreover certain judgement from
those able to give counsel es through some law. However no one judges with
certainty through law, unless he be certain that that law is upright
[recta], and that one ought not judge it; but our mind judges about [de] its
very self: therefore since it cannot judge about the law, through which it
judges; that law is superior to our mind, and it judges through this,
according to that which is impressed upon itself. However nothing is
superior to the human mind, except the One alone who made it; therefore in
judging our deliverative (power) extends to divine laws, if it would give a
full explanation [resolutione dissolvat]. Moreover desire is principally for
that which most moves it. However that moves most which loves most; however
to be blessed is loved most; however to be blessed is not had except through
the best and last end: therefore human desire seeks after [appetit] nothing
except because (it is) the Most High Good, and/or because it is for That,
and/or because it has come likeness to It. So great is the force of the Most
High Good, that nothing can be loved by a creature except through a desire
for It, which (creature) thereby [tunc] fails and errs, since it accepts a
likeness and imitation [simulacrum] in place of the Truth [pro veritate].
Therefore see, in what manner the soul is nigh to God, and in what manner
the memory leads into eternity, the intelligence into Truth, the elective
power into the Most High Goodness according to their activities.

5. Moreover according to the order and origin and characteristic of these
powers (the soul) leads into the Most Blessed Trinity Itself. For from
memory there arises intelligence as its offspring [proles], because we next
understand, since the similitude, which is in the memory, results in the
keeness [acies] of the intellect, which is nothing other than a word; from
memory and intelligence is spirated love [amor] as the connexion [nexus] of
both. These three, that is the generating mind, word, and love, are in the
soul in regard to the memory, intelligence and the will, which are
consubstantial, coeternal and coeval, circumcessing one another. Therefore
if the perfect God is a spirit, He has memory, intelligence and will, He has
also a begotten Word and a spirated Love, which are necessarily
distinguished, since one is produced from the other, not essentially, not
accidentally, therefore personally. Therefore while the mind considers its
very self, through itself as through a mirror it rises together to gaze upon
the Blessed Trinity of the Father, the Word and the Love, of the three
coeternal, coequal and consubstantial persons, so that whoever in whomever
is of the others, is nevertheless one not the other, but the three
themselves are the One God.

6. Towards this speculation which the soul has concerning its own beginning,
triune and one through the trinity of its powers, through which it is an
image of God, one is assisted through the lights of the sciences
[scientiarum], which perfect it and inform it and represent the Most Blessed
Trinity in a threefold manner. For every philosophy either is natural, or
rational, or moral. The first deals with [agit de] the cause of existing,
and for that reason leads into the power of the Father; the second with the
reason for understanding, and for that reason leads into the wisdom of the
Word; the third with the order of living, and for that reason leads into the
goodness of the Holy Spirit. Again, the first is divided into metaphysics,
mathematics and physics. And the first concerns [est de] the beings
[essentiis] of things, the second numbers and figures, the third natures,
virtues and diffuse accitivies. And for that reason the first leads into the
First Principle, the Father, the second into His Image, the Son, the third
into the gift of the Holy Spirit. The second is divided into grammer, which
makes us able [potentes] to express; into logic, which makes us
perspicacious to argue; into rhetoric, which makes us skillful [habiles] to
persuade or move. And this similarly intimates the mystery [mysterium] of
the Most Blessed Trinity Itself. The third is divided into the monastic, the
domestic [oeconomicam] and the political. And for that reason the first
intimates the unbegottenness of the First Principle, the second the Son’s
being-in-a-family [familiaritas], the third the liberality of the Holy
Spirit.

7. Moreover all these sciences have certain and infallible rules as lights
and rays descending from the eternal law in our mind. And for that reason
our mind irradiated and superfused by so great splendors, unless it be
blind, can be lead by hand through its very self to contemplate that eternal
ligbht. Moreover the irradiation and consideration of this light suspends
wise men into admiration and conversely it leads the foolish, who do not
believe, that they do understand, into confusion [perturbationem], to
fulfill that prophetic (word): Thou illuminating from eternal mountains,
have unsettled [turbati sunt] the foolish of heart.
_________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER IV

ON THE SIGHT OF GOD IN HIS IMAGE REFORMED BY GRATUITOUS GIFTS

1. But since not only when passing over through us, but also in us does it
happen that the First Principle is contemplated.; and this is greater than
the preceeding: for that reason this fourth manner of considering reaches
[obtinet] the step of contemplation. Moreover it is wonderful to see, when
it is shown, that God is so close to our minds, because to so few does it
belong to gaze upon [speculari] the First Principle in their very selves.
But the reason (for this) is easy [in promptu], because the human mind,
distracted by cares [sollicitudinibus], does not enter into itself through
memory; beclouded [obnubilata] by phantasms, it does not go back towards
itself through intelligence; enticed by concupiscences, it turns back not at
all towards itself through a desire for internal savor and spiritual
gladness. For that reason lying down [iacet] totally in these senses, it
cannot reenter into itself as into an image of God.

2. And since, where one has fallen, there he will inevitably fall down
again, unless someone places himself nearby and lies by its side, to raise
him; our soul could not be perfectly revealed by these senses to survey
itself and the eternal Truth in its very self, unless the Truth, having
assumed a human form in Christ, became by Its own power [fieret sibi] the
stairway repairing the prior stairway, which had been broken in Adam

For that reason, howevermuch one be illuminated by the light of nature and
acquired knowledge, one cannot enter into himself, to delight in his very
self in the Lord, unless by means [mediante] of Christ, who says: I am the
door. He who goes within through Me, shall be saved and he will step in and
out and find pasture. Moreover we do not approach towards this door, unless
we believe, hope and love. It is therefore necessary, if we want to reenter
to the fruition of Truth as to paradise, that we step in through faith, hope
and love of the Mediator of God and man, Jesus Christ, who is as the tree of
life in the midst of paradise.

3. Therefore the image of our mind must be put on [superviestienda] by the
three theological virtues, by which the soul is purified, and thus the image
is reformed and is conformed [conformis efficitur] to the supernal Jerusalem
and made a part of the Church militant, which is, according to the Apostle,
the offspring of the heavenly Jerusalem. For he said: That which is on high
is that free Jerusalem which is our mother. Therefore the soul, believing,
hoping and loving Jesus Christ, who is the incarnate, uncreated and inspired
word, that is the way, the truth and the life: while through faith it
believes in Christ as in the uncreated Word, which is the Word and splendor
of the Father, it recovers [recuperat] its spiritual hearing and sight,
hearing to perceive [ad suscipiendum] the sermons of Christ, sight to
consider the splendors of His light. Moreover when by hope it longs to
capture [ad suscipiendum] the inspired Word, through desire and affection
[affection] it recovers its spiritual smell [olfactum]. While by charity it
holds fast [complectitur] the incarnate Word, as one taking [suscipiens]
delight from Him and as one passing over into Him though ecstatic love
[amorem], it recovers taste and touch. With which senses having been
recovered, while it sees and listens to its spouse, it smells, tastes and
embraces [amplexatur] Him, as a bride can sing repeatedly [decantare] the
Canticle of Canticles, which had been written for the exercise of
contemplation according to this fourth step, which no one lays hold of
[capit], except he who accepts it, because there is more in affectual
experience than in rational consideration. For on this step, with its
interior senses repaired to sense the Most High Beauty [pulcrum], to hear
the Most High Harmony, to smell the Most High Fragrance [odoriferum], to
take a taste of the Most High Savor, to apprehend the Most High Delectable,
the soul is disposed towards mental excesses, that is through devotion,
admiration and exultation, accord to those three exclamations, which are
made in the Canticle of Canticles. Of which the first occurs through an
abundance of devotion, through which the soul becomes as a stream of smoke
[virgula fumi] (rising) from aromatics of myrrh and incense: the second
through excellence of admiration, through which the soul becomes as dawn,
moon and son, according to the process of illuminations suspending the soul
to admire the spouse (thus) considered; the third through a superabundance
of exsulation, through which the soul becomes affluent [affluens] with the
most savory delights of delectation, leaning totally upon its beloved
[delectum].

4. Which when attained [adeptis], our spirit is made hierarchical to climb
thoroughly on high according to its conformity to that supernal Jerusalem,
in which no one enters, unless it descends first into the heart by grace, as
John saw in his Apocalyspe. Moreover it descends next into the heart, when
through reformation of the image, through the theological virtues and
through the enjoyments of the spiritual senses and the suspensions of
excesses our spirit is made hierarchical, that is purged, illuminated and
perfected.—So also by nine steps of orders is (the soul) marked, while in
it, in an orderly manner, there is arrainged announcement, dictation,
duction, ordination, reinforcement [roboratio], command [imperatio],
undertaking, revelation, unction, which step-by-step corresponds to the nine
orders of Angels, so that the first of the aforesaid three steps pertain in
the human mind to nature, the three following to skill [industriam], and the
last three to grace. Which when had, the soul by entering into its very
self, enters into the supernal Jerusalem, where considering the orders of
the Angels, it sees in them the God, who dwelling in them works [operatur]
all their operations. Whence says (St.) Bernard ad Eugenium, that � God in
the Seraphim loves as charity, in the Cherubim knows [novit] as truth, in
the Thrones sits as equity, in the Dominations dominates as majesty, in the
Principalities rules as Principle, in the Powers guards as health, in the
Virtues works as virtue, in the Archangels reveals as light, in the Angels
assists as piety�. From all of which it is seen that God is all in all
through contemplation of Him in minds, in which He dwells by the gifts of
the most affluent charity.

5. Moreover the consideration of Sacred Scripture, divinely sent forth
[immissae], is especially and chiefly is supported [adminiculatur] upon
speculating [ad speculationes] on (this) step, as philosphy was on the
preceeding. For Sacred Scripture principally concerns the workds of
reparation. Whence it also chielfly deals with faith, hope and charity,
though which virtues the soul has to be reformed, and most especially with
charity. Of which the Apostle says, that it is the end of the precept,
according to that which is in a pure heart and a good conscience and in an
unfeigned faith. It is the fullness [plenitudo] of the Law, as says the same
(author). And Our Savior asserts that the whole Law and the Prophets hang
upon these two precepts, that is upon the love [dilectione] of God and of
neighbor; which two bow their heads [innuuntur] to the one spouse of the
Church, Jesus Christ, who is at the same time neighbor and God, at the same
time brother and lord, at the same time also king and friend, at the same
time uncreated and incarnate Word, our former and reformer, as the Alpha and
the Omega; who is also the Most High Hierarch, purging and illuminating and
perfecting the bride, that is the whole Church and every [quamlibet] holy
soul.

6. Therefore concerning this hierarch and ecclesiatical hierarch is the
whole Sacred Scripture, through which we are taught how to be purged,
illuminated and perfected, and this according to the threefold law handed
down [traditam] in Her, that is of nature, of Scripture and of grace; and/or
rather according to Her threefold principle part, that is the Mosaic law
purging, the prophetic revelation brightening and the evangelic teaching
[eruditionem] perfecting; or more rather according to Her threefold
spiritual intelligence: the tropologic which purges for honesty of life; the
allegoric, which illumines for clarity of intelligence; the anagogic, which
perfects through mental excesses and the most savory perceptions of wisdom,
according to the aforesaid three theological virtues and reformed spiritual
senses and the three above said excesses and the hierarchic acts of the
mind, by which our mind steps back to interior things, to gaze upon God
there in the splendors of the Saints and in them as in beds [cubilibus] to
sleep in peace and rest, with the spouse having promised on oath
[adiurante], that she will not be roused [excitetur], until she comes forth
by His will.

7. Moreover from these two middle steps, through which we step in to
contemplate God within us as in the reflections [speculis] of the images
[imaginum] of creatures, and this as if according to the manner of wings
outstretched [expansarum] to fly, which hold a middle place, we can
understand, that in divine things we are lead by hand through the powers of
the rational soul itself, naturally engrafted [insitas] as much as regards
their activities, characteristics and habits of knowledge [habitus
scientiales]; according to what appears from the third step. We are also
lead by hand through the powers of the soul itself reformed—and this by
gratuitous virtues—by the spiritual senses and mental excesses; as is clear
from the fourth (step). Nevertheless we are lead by hand through
hierarchical activities, that is of the purgation, illumination and
perfection of human minds, through the hierarchichal revelations of the
Sacred Scriptures given to us through the Angels, according to that (saying)
of the Apostle, that the Law has been given through the Angels into the hand
of the Mediator. And last in order [tandem] we are lead by hand through
hierarchs and hierarchical orders, which have to be arrainged in our mind
after the likeness of the supernal Jerusalem.

8. Having been filled full by all of which intellectual lights our mind, is
inhabited by Divine Wisdom as a house of God, made a daughter, bride and
friend of God; made a member, sister and coheir with Christ the Head; made
nevertheless the temple of the Holy Spirit, founded through faith, elevated
through hope and dedicated to God through holiness of mind and body. Which
together [totum] causes the most sincere charity for Christ, which is
diffused in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us,
without which Spirit we cannot know the secrets of God. For as what are of a
man no one can know except the spirit of the man, which is in him; so also
what are of God no one can know except the Spirit of God. In charity
therefore we are rooted and founded, to be able to comprehend with all the
Saints, what is the length of the eternity, what is breadth of the
liberality, what is the sublimity of the majesty and what is the depth of
the wisdom of the Judge [judicantis].
_________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER V

ON THE SIGHT OF THE DIVINE UNITY THROUGH ITS PRIMARY NAME, WHICH IS BEING

1. Moreover since it happens that God is contemplated not only outside of us
and within us, but also above us: outside through vestige, within through
image [imaginem] and above through the light of Eternal Truth, since “our
mind itself is formed immediately by Truth Itself�; those who have been
exercised in the first manner, have entered alredy into the entrance-hall
before the tabernacle; but they who in the second, have entered into the
holies; moreover they who in the third, enter with the supreme Pontiff into
the Holy of Holies; where above the ark are the Cherubim of glory
overshadowing the propitiatory; through which we understand two manners or
steps of contemplating the invisible and eternal things of God, of which one
hovers around the things essential to God, but the other around the things
proper to the persons.

2. The first manner at first and principally fixes [defigit] its power of
sight upon being [esse] itself, saying, that He who is is the first Name of
God. The second manner fixes its gaze upon the good itself, saying, that
this is the first Name of God. The first looks [spectat] most powerfully
towards the Old Testament, which preaches most the unity of the Divine
Essence; whence it is said by Moses: I am who am; according to the New,
which determines the plurality of persons, by baptising in the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For that reason Christ Our
Teacher, wanting to raise the youth, who observed the Law, towards
evangelical perfection, attributed the name of goodness to God principally
and precisely. No one he said, is good except God alone. Therefore (St.
John) Damascene following Moyses says, that He who is is the first Name of
God; (St.) Dionysius (the Areopagite) following Christ says, that the Good
is the first Name of God.

3. Wanting therefore to contemplate the invisible things of God in regard to
(their) unity of essence it first fixes its power of sight upon being itself
and sees, that being itself to this extent is in itself most certain,
because it cannot be thought not to be, because most pure being itself does
not occur [occurrit] except in full flight from non-being, as even nothing
is in full flight from being. Therefore as it has entirely nothing from
being or from its conditions; so conversely being itself has nothing from
non-being, neither in act nor in power, nor according to the truth of a
thing nor acccording to our estimation. Moreover since non-being is a
privation of existing [privatio essendi], it does not fall into the
intellect except through being; moreover being does not fall through
another, because everything, which is understood, either is understood as
not a being [non ens], or as a being in potency [ens in potentia], or as a
being in act. If therefore non-being cannot be understood except through a
being, and a being in potency not except through a being in act; and being
names the pure act itself of a being: therefore being is what first falls in
an intellect, and being is that which is a pure act. But this is not
particular being, which is analogous being, because it has the least from
act, in this that it is the least. It follows [restat] therefore, that that
being is the divine being.

4. Wonderful therefore is the blindness of the intellect, which does not
consider that which it sees first and without which it can become acquainted
with nothing. But as eye intent upon various differences of colors does not
see the light, through which it sees other things, and if it sees it, it
does not advert to it; so the eye of our mind, intent upon particular and
universal beings, though being itself, outside of every genus, first occurs
to the mind and through it other things, it does not however advert to it.
Whence it most truly appears, that “as the eye of the evening holds itself
towards the light, so the eye of our mind holds itself towards the most
manifest things of nature�; because accustomed [assuefactus] to the shadows
of beings and to the phantasms of sensibles, when it surveys the light
itself of Most High Being, it seems to it that it sees nothing; not
understanding, that that darkness is the Most High Illumination of our mind,
as, when the eye sees pure light, it seems to it that is sees nothing.

5. Therefore see that most pure being, if you can, and it occurs to you,
that it cannot be though of as accepted from another; and for this reason it
is necessarily thought of as first in every manner, because it can be
neither from nothing nor from anything. For what is it through itself, if
being itself is not through itself nor from itself? It occurs also to you
that (it is) lacking entirely non-being and for this reason as never
beginning, never stoping, but eternal. It occurs to you also that it has in
no manner (anything) in itself, except that which is being itself, and for
this reason that it has been composed with nothing, but is most simple. It
occurs to you that it has nothing of possibility, because every possible has
in some manner something from non-being, and for this reason that it is most
actual. It occurs that has nothing of defectibility, and for this reason
that it is most perfect. It occurs lastly that it has nothing of
diversification, and for this reason that it is most highly one [summe
unum].

Being therefore, which is pure being and simply being and absolute being, is
primary, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect and most hightly
one being.

6. And these are so certain, that the opposite of these cannot be thought by
understanding being itself, and one necessarily infers the other. For
because it is simply being, for that reason it is simply first; because it
is simply first, for that reason it is not made from another, nor can it be
from its very self, therefore it is eternal. Likewise, because it is first
and eternal; for that reason it is not from others, therefore it is most
simple. Likewise, because it is first, eternal, most simple; for that reason
there is nothing in it of possibility mixed with act, for that reason it is
most actual. Likewise, because it is first, eternal, most simple, most
actual; therefore it is most perfect; as such it entirely fails [deficit] in
nothing, nor can there be anything added to it [fieri additio]. Because it
is first, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect; for that reason
most highly one. For what is through a superabundance in every manner is
said to be in respect to all things. � Also what is through superabundance
simply-speaking is not said to be possibly comprised [conveniat] except in
only one thing� Whence if God names primary, eternal, most simple, most
actual, most perfect being; it is impossible that it is thought to not to
be, nor to be except as only one thing. Listen therefore, O Israel, God thy
God is one. If you see this in the pure simplicity of (your) mind, you will
in somewise [aliqualiter] be filled with the brightening of eternal light.

7. But you have that from which you will be lifted into admiration. For
being itself is first and last, is eternal and most present, is most simple
and greatest, is most actual and most immutable, is most perfect and
immense, is most highly one and nevertheless in every measure [omnimodum].
If you wonder at these things with a pure mind, you shall be filled with a
greater light, while you see further, that it is for that reason last,
because it is first. For because it is first, it works all things on account
of its very self; and for that reason it is ncessary, that it be the last
end, the start [initium] and the consummation, the Alpha and Omega. For that
reason it is the most present, because it is eternal. For because it is
eternal, it does not flow from another nor fails by its very self nor runs
down [decurrit] from one thing into another: therefore it has neither a past
nor a future, but only a present being. For that reason it is greatest,
because it is most simple. For because it is most actual, for that reason it
is pure act; and what is such acquires nothing new, loses no habit, and for
this reason cannot be changed. For that reason it is immense, because it is
most perfect. For because it is most perfect, it can think of nothing
better, more noble, nor more worthy beyond itself, and for this reason
nothing greater; and everything that is such is immense. For that reason it
is in every measure, because it is most highly one. For what is most highly
one, is the universal principle of every multitude; and for this reason it
is the universal efficient, exemplary [exemplans] and final [terminans]
cause of all things, as “the cause of existing, the reason of understanding
and the order of living�. Therefore it is in every measure not as the
essences of all things, but as the most superexcellent and most universal
cause of the essences of all others; whose virtue, because it is most highly
united in an essence, is for that reason most highly most infinite and most
manifold in efficacy.

8. Returning again (to this) let us say: that therefore most pure and
absolute being, which is simply being, is primary and last. Because it is
eternal and most present, for that reason it encompases [ambit] and enters
all durations, as if existing at the same time as their center and
circumferences. Because it is most simple, for that reason wholly within all
and wholly outside, and for this reason it is an intelligible sphere, whose
center is everywhere and circumferences nowhere. Because it is most actual
and most immutable, for that reason remaining stable it grants all
[universa] to move. Because it is most perfect and immense, for that reason
it is within all things, not as included, outside of all things, not as
excluded, above all things, not as lifted up, below all things, not as
prostrated. But because it is most highly one and in every measure, for that
reason it is all in all although all things be many and itself is not but
one; and this, because through the most simple unity, the most serene truth,
it is every exemplarity and every communicability; and for this reason from
Him and through Him and in Him are all things and this, because it is
omnipotent, omniscient and in every measure good, which to see perfectly is
to be blessed, as is said by Moses: Therefore show Thyself to be every good
thing.
_________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER VI

ON THE SIGHT OF THE MOST BLESSED TRINITY IN HIS NAME, WHICH IS THE GOOD

1. After the consideration of essentials the eye of the intelligence is
lifted up to survey the Most Blessed Trinity, as the other Cherub placed
alongside the other. Moreover as being itself is the radical principle and
name of the vision of essentials, through which the others become known
[innotescunt]; so the good itself is the most principle foundation of the
contemplation of emanations.

2. Therefore see and attend since the best is simply that than which nothing
better can be thought; and thus it is such, because it cannot be rightly
thought to not to be, because being is entirely better than non being; thus
it is, that it cannot rightly be thought, rather let it be thought as triune
and one. For � the good is said to be diffusive of itself�; therefore the
Most High Good is most highly diffusive of Itself. However the most hight
diffusion cannot be, unless it be actual and intrinsic, substantial and
hypostatic, natural and voluntary, liberal and necessary, unfailing and
perfect. Therefore unless there be eternally in the Most High Good an actual
and consubstantial production, and a hypostatis equally noble, as is one
producing through the manner [per modum] of generation and spiration—so that
it be the eternal (production) [aeternalis] of an eternally co-principating
principle—so that it be beloved [dilectus], co-beloved [condilectus],
begotten and spirated, that is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit;
it would never be the Most High Good, because it would not diffuse itself
most highly. For there is no diffusion in time [ex tempore] into creatures
except (when it is) central and/or punctual in respect to the immensity of
eternal goodness; whence also can any diffusion be thought greater than
those, namely these, in which diffusing itself it communicates to another
its whole substance and nature. Therefore it would not be the Most High
good, if in reality [in re], or intellect it could be lacking (anything).
Therefore if you can with the eye of your mind survey the purity of
goodness, which is the pure act of the Principle loving [diligentis] in a
charitable manner [caritative] with a love [amore], free and owed and
commingled from both, which is the fullest [plenissima] diffusion in the
manner [per modum] of nature and will, which is a diffusion in the manner of
the Word, in which all things are said to be, and in the manner of the Gift,
in whom all other gifts are given; (then) you can see, that through the most
high communicability of the good the Trinity of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit is necessary. In whom it is necessary on account of
the Most High Goodness being the Most High Communicability, and from the
Most High Communicability the Most High Consubstantiality, and from the Most
High Consubstantiality the Most High Configurability, and from these the
Most High Co-equality, and for this reason the Most High Co-eternity, and
from all the aforesaid the Most High Co-intimacy, by which one is in the
other necessarily through the Most High Circumincession and one works with
the other through an in-every-measure indivision of substance and virtue and
activity of the Most Blessed Trinity itself.

3. But when you contemplate these, see, that you do not consider yourself
able [te existimes] to comprehend the incomprehensible. For in these six
conditions you still have to consider what leads the eye of our mind
vehemently into the stupor of admiration. For there is the Most High
Communicability together with the property of the Persons, the Most High
Consubstantiality together with the plurality of the hypostases, the Most
High Configurability together with discrete personality, the Most High
Co-equality together with order, the Most High Co-eternity together with
emanation, the Most High Co-intimacy together with emission. Who at the
sight [ad aspectum] of so great wonders does not rise up with others
[consurgat] in admiration? But all these we most certainly understand to be
[esse] in the Most Blessed Trinity, if we raise our eyes to the most
superexcellent Goodness. For if there is a most high communication and true
diffusion, there is a true origin and a true distinction; and because the
whole is communicated, not the part; for that reason that which is given, is
what is had, and it is the whole; therefore emanating and producing, they
are both distinguished in properites, and are essentially one. Therefore
because they are distinguished in properties, for that reason the have
personal properties and a plurality of hypostates and an emanation of origin
and and order not of posteriority, but of origin, and an emission not of
local change [mutationis], but by the gratuity of inspiration, on account of
[per rationem] of the authority of the one producing, which the one being
sent has in respect to being sent. But because they ar substantially one,
for that reason it is proper, that there be a unity in essent and in form
and dignity and eternity and existence and incircumscriptibility. Therefore
while you consider these things singly through themselves, you have that
from which [unde] is the truth you contemplate; while comparing [confers]
these one to another, you have that from which you are suspended into the
highest [altissimam] admiration; and for that reason, as your mind ascends
through admiration into admirable contemplation, these things must be
considered at the same time.

4. For the Cherubim, who were looking at [aspiciebant] one another, also
designate this. Nor was this free from mystery, because they looked
backwards [respiciebant] at each other in the face upon the propitiatory, to
verify that which the Lord says in (the Gospel of) John: This is eternal
life, to know [cognoscant] Thee the only True God, and how Thou has sent
Jesus Christ For we ought to admire not only the conditions of God,
essential and personal in Himself, but also through comparison to the
superwonderful union of God and man in the unity of the person of Christ.

5. For if you are a Cherub in contemplating the essentials of God, and your
wonder, because at the same time the Divine Being is first and last, eternal
and most present, most simple and greatest or uncircumscribed, wholly
everywhere and never comprehended, most actual and never moved, most perfect
and having nothing superfluous nor diminised, and nevertheless immense and
infinite without terminus, Most Highly One, and nevertheless in every
measure, as having all things in Himself, as all virtue, all truth, all
good; look back [respice] towards the propitiatory and wonder, that in
Himself the First Principle has been joined with the last, God with the man
formed on the sixth day, the Eternal One has been joined with temporal man,
in the fullness of times born from the Virgin, the Most Simple with the most
highly composite, the Most Actual with the one who has most highly suffered
[passo] and died, the Most Perfect and Immense with the limited [modico],
the Most Highly One and in every measure with the individual composite and
distince from all others, that is with the Man Christ Jesus.

6. Moreover if you are the other Cherub by contemplating the things proper
[propria] to the Persons, and you wonder, that communicability is together
with property, consubstantiality together with plurality, configurability
together with personality, co-equality together with order, co-eternality
together with production, co-intimacy together with emission, because the
Son has been sent from the Father, and the Holy Spirit from them both, who
nevertheless is with them and never recedes from them; look back upon the
propitiatory and wonder, because in Christ there stands a personal union
together with a trinity of substances and a duality of natures; there stands
an in-every-measure consensus [consensio] together with a plurality of
wills, there stands a co-predication of God and man together with a
plurality of properties, there stands co-adoration together with a plurality
of nobilities, there stands a co-exaltation above all things together with a
plurality of dignities, there stands a co-domination together with a
plurality of powers.

7. Moreover in this consideration there is a perfection of the illumination
of the mind, while as in on the sixth day one sees that man has been made
after the image of God. For if the image is an expressive similitude, while
our mind contemplates it in Christ the Son of God, who is the invisible
Image of God by nature, our humanity so wonderfully exalted, so ineffably
united, by seeing that at the same time it is the first and last One, most
high and most deep [imus], circumference and center, the Alpha and the
Omega, the caused and the cause, the Creator and the creature, that is the
book written inside and out; it has already arrived at a certain perfect
thing, as one who arrives together with God at the perfection of his
illuminations on the sixth step as if on the sixth day, nor does anything
more ample now follow except the day of rest, in which through an excess of
the mind the perspicacity of the human mind rests from every work, which one
accomplished [patraret].
_________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER VII

ON THE MENTAL AND MYSTICAL EXCESS, IN WHICH REST IS GIVEN TO THE INTELLECT,
BY AN AFFECTION PASSING WHOLLY INTO GOD THROUGH EXCESS

1. Therefore with hese six considerations having run out [excursis] as the
six steps of the throne of the true Solomon, by which one arrives at peace,
where the true Pacifier rests in a pacifying mind as if in the interior of
Jerusalem; as if also by six wings of the Cherub, by which the mind of the
true contemplative is able [valeat] to be driven above by a full brightening
of supernal wisdom; as if also on the first six days, in which the mind has
to be exercised, to arrive at last to the sabbath of quiet; afterwhich our
mind has surveyed God outside of Himself through vestiges and in vestiges,
within Himself through image and in image, above Himself through a
similitude of the divine light glittering above us and in that light itself,
according to that which is possible according to the state of the way and
the exercise of our mind; when one arrives so far on the sixth step to this,
that in the First and Most High Principle and the Mediator of God and men,
Jesus Christ, one gazes upon those things the like of which can in nowise be
discovered [reperiri] among [in] creatures, and which exceed every
perspicacity of the human intellect: it follows, that this (mind) by gazing
transcends and passes over not only this sensible world, but also its very
self; in which transit Christ is the Way and the Gate, Christ is the Stair
and the Vehicle as the propitiatory located above the ark of God and the
Sacrament hidden from the ages.

2. Towards which propitiatory he who looks at it with a full conversion of
face, by looking at him suspended upon the Cross through faith, hope and
charity, devotion, admiration, exsultation, appreciation [appretiationem],
praise and jubilation; makes the Passover, that is the transit, together
with Him, to pass over the Red Sea through the rod of the Cross, from Egypt
entering the desert, where he tastes the hidden bread, and rests together
with Christ upon the funeral mound [in tumulo] as if exteriorly dead,
sensing [sentiens], nevertheless, as much as is possible according to the
state of the way, that there is said to the thief handing on a cross with
Christ: Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.

3. Which also has been shown to blessed Francis, when in an excess of
contemplation on the exalted mountaing—where those things, which have been
written, he treated with his mind—there appeared the Seraph of six wings
fastened [confixus] upon a cross, as I and many others have heard about in
the same place from his companion, who was with him at that time; where he
passed over into God through an excess of contemplation; and has been placed
as an example [in exemplum] of perfect contemplation; as first he had been
of action, as if another Jacob and Israel, so that God may invite all truly
spiritual men through him to a transit of this kind and an excess of the
mind more by example than by word.

4. Moreover in this transit, if one be perfect, it is proper that all
intellectual activities be relinquished, and the whole apex of affection be
transfered and transformed into God. However this is mystical and most
secret, bacause no one knows it, except him who accepts it, nor does he
accept it unless he be one who desires it, nor does he desire it unless he
be one whom the fire of the Holy Spirit, which Chirst sent upon earth,
inflammes to the marrow of his bones [medullitus]. And for that reason the
Apostle says, that this mystical wisdom has been revealed by the Holy
Spirit.

5. Therefore since for this reason there can be nothing by nature, a limited
amount by industry, a little by investigation [inquisitioni], and much by
unction; little must be given to the tounge, and most to internal gladness;
little must be given by word and by writing, and the whole by a gift of God,
that is by the Holy Spirit; little or nothing must be given to the creature,
and the whole to the creative Essence, to the Father and to the Son, and to
the Holy Spirit, by saying with (St.) Dionysius (the Areopagite) to God the
Trinity: “O Trinity superessential and super-God and super-best of the
Christians, inspector of Godly-wisdom, direct us into the super-unknown and
super-shining [superlucentem] and most sublime vertex of mytical speech
[eloquiorum]; where the new and absolute and ineffable [inconversibilia]
(because they are super-shining [secundum superlucentem]) mysteries of
theology are hidden secretely in the greatest obscurity [in obscurissimo] of
the silence that teaches a super-splendant darkness, because it is the most
super-manifest, and that in which everything glitters, and (which)
super-fulfills invisible intellects with the splendors of invisible
super-goods�. This to God. However to his friend these things are written,
said together with the former [eodem]: “Moreover you, O friend, concerning
[circa] mystical visions, having been strengthened on the journey, desert
both the senses and the intellectual activities, both sensibles and
invisibles and everything not a being and a being, and unknowingly restore
(yourself) to the unity, as is possible, of Him, who is above every essence
and knowledge. For indeed deserting all things and absolved from all, you do
ascend by yourself and by (that which is) unboundable by all and by an
absolute excess of pure mind, to the super-essential ray of divine
shadows�.

6. Moreover if you seek, in what manner these things occur [fiant],
interrogate grace, not doctrine, desire, not understanding [intellectum];
the groan of praying, not the study of reading; the spouse, not the teacher;
God, not man, darkness, not brightness [claritatem]; not light, but the fire
totally inflamming, transfering one into God both by its excessive unctions
and by its most ardent affections. Who indeed is the God of fire, and whose
forge is in Jerusalem, and Christ ignites [accendit] this in the fervor, of
His most ardent Passion, which He alone truly perceived, who said: My soul
has chosen suspense, and my bones death. He who loves [diligit] this death
can see God, because it is indubitably true: No man will see Me and live.
Therefore let us die and step into the darkness, let us put on silence with
its cares [sollicitudinibus], and concupiscences and phantasms; let us pass
over together with Christ Crucified from this world to the Father, that, by
showing us the Father, we may say with Phillip: It suffices for us; let us
hear with Paul: My grace is sufficient for you; let us exult with David
saying: My flesh and my heart failed, God of my heart and my portion God
forever. Blessed be the Lord forever, and let every people say: Fiat, Fiat.
Amen.

HERE ENDS THE JOURNEY OF THE MIND INTO GOD