Dist. 3, Divisio Textus
Book I: On the Mystery of the Trinity · Distinction 3
## Commentarius in Distinctionem III
Pars I
De cognitione Dei per similitudines longinquas.
«Apostolus namque ait, quod invisibilia Dei» etc.
Divisio Textus
Superius egit Magister de sancta Trinitate et Unitate, in quantum creditur. In hac secunda parte agit de ipsa, in quantum intelligitur. Et haec pars dividitur in tres partes, in quarum prima ad intelligendum Trinitatem adducit congruas similitudines et rationes. In secunda solvit emergentes dubitationes, infra distinctione quarta in principio: Hic oritur quaestio satis necessaria. Constat etc. In tertia, illis dubitationibus solutis, determinat Trinitatis et Unitatis proprietates et conditiones, infra distinctione octava: Nunc de veritate sive proprietate etc.
Item prima pars habet duas. In prima adducit similitudines longinquas; in secunda similitudines propinquas sive expressas, quae attenduntur in imagine, ibi: Nunc vero iam ad eam perveniamus disputationem.
Item prima pars habet duas partes. In prima ostendit Unitatem, in secunda Trinitatem, ibi: Nunc restat ostendere, utrum per ea quae facta sunt etc.
Prima pars habet quatuor particulas. In prima probat auctoritate Apostoli ad Romanos primo, quod Deus est cognoscibilis per creaturam. In secunda vero adducit varios modos cognoscendi et rationes, ibi: Nam sicut ait Ambrosius. In tertia dicit, illos modos in auctoritate Apostoli implicari, ibi: Ecce tot modis. In quarta tangit, quid per praedictas rationes possit probari, scilicet essentiae unitas, non trinitas, ibi: Haec autem omnia ad unitatem etc.
Nunc restat ostendere, utrum etc. Supra ostendit Magister per rationes divinae essentiae unitatem sive entitatem. In hac secunda parte ostendit Trinitatem similitudine longinqua, quae attenditur in vestigio, et habet hoc capitulum quatuor particulas. In prima ostendit Magister rationem vestigii in creatura. In secunda ostendit, quid respondeat vestigio in Creatore, quoniam trinitas appropriatorum, scilicet originis, pulcritudinis et delectationis, ut singula reddantur singulis, ibi: In illa enim Trinitate summa.
In tertia docet contemplari in Deo trinitatem per considerationem vestigii in creatura, ibi: Per considerationem itaque creaturarum etc., ubi ostendit trinitatem appropriatorum in Deo et quantum ad actum conditionis, et quantum ad actum reformationis. In quarta autem particula ostendit, quod consideratio Trinitatis per vestigium non est sufficiens, sed longinqua, ibi: Ecce ostensum est, qualiter in creaturis.
Nunc vero ad eam iam perveniamus disputationem. Haec est secunda pars istius distinctionis, in qua Magister probat Trinitatem et Unitatem per similitudinem propinquam et expressam, cuiusmodi est imago. Et dividitur haec pars in duas: in prima ostendit trinitatem et unitatem in Creatore per trinitatem et unitatem consideratam in potentiis animae; in secunda vero in habitibus, ibi: Potest etiam alio modo aliisque nominibus.
Prima iterum pars habet quatuor particulas. In quarum prima ostendit, ubi quaerenda sit imago in anima, quoniam in parte superiori et in tribus potentiis eius, scilicet memoria, intelligentia et voluntate. In secunda vero tangit imaginis conditiones, quae sunt trinitas, unitas et aequalitas, ibi: Haec ergo tria, ut ait Augustinus. In tertia vero movet et solvit dubitationem, quae oritur ex praedictis: utrum scilicet anima sit suae potentiae, ibi: Hic attendendum est diligenter. In quarta autem docet cavere errorem, qui posset causari vel oriri ex ostensione trinitatis creatae, quod omnimoda similitudo esset ad increatam; ubi ostendit, quod maxima est dissimilitudo imaginis ad Deum, ibi: Verumtamen caveat.
Potest etiam alio modo aliisque etc. Haec est secunda pars partis secundae huius distinctionis, in qua intendit investigare Magister imaginem in habilibus animae secundum quod possibile est, et dividitur haec pars in quatuor particulas. Primo enim illa tangit, in quibus imago Trinitatis attenditur, quae sunt mens, notitia et amor. Secundo, illis praetactis, ostendit, quod in his attenditur imago propter consubstantialitatem, ordinem et aequalitatem, ibi: Haec autem tria cum sint etc. Tertio ostendit, quomodo mens rationalis in contemplatione trinitatis creatae proficit ad videndam et cognoscendam Trinitatem increatam in Unitate, ibi: Mens itaque rationalis considerans haec tria. Quarto vero breviter recolligit quae supra sunt demonstrata, ibi: Quapropter iuxta istam considerationem.
Tractatio Quaestionum
Ad intelligentiam eorum quae in hac parte prima distinctionis tanguntur, quatuor quaeruntur.
Primum est, utrum Deus sit cognoscibilis a creatura.
Secundum est, utrum sit cognoscibilis per creaturam.
Tertium est, utrum modus cognoscendi per creaturam conveniat homini quantum ad omnem statum, scilicet statum innocentiae, statum naturae lapsae et statum naturae glorificatae.
Quartum est, quid sit de Deo cognoscibile per creaturam.
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## Commentary on Distinction III
Part I
On the knowledge of God through remote likenesses.
"For the Apostle says that the invisible things of God" etc.
Division of the Text
Above, the Master treated of the holy Trinity and Unity insofar as it is believed. In this second part he treats of the same insofar as it is understood. And this part is divided into three parts: in the first he brings forward fitting likenesses and arguments for understanding the Trinity. In the second he resolves the doubts that emerge, below at the beginning of Distinction IV: "Here a sufficiently necessary question arises. It is established" etc. In the third, those doubts having been resolved, he determines the properties and conditions of the Trinity and the Unity, below at Distinction VIII: "Now concerning the truth or property" etc.
Again, the first part has two [sub-parts]. In the first he brings forward remote likenesses; in the second near or express likenesses — those that are discerned in the image — at: "But now let us come to that discussion."
Again, [this] first part has two parts. In the first he shows the Unity; in the second the Trinity, at: "It now remains to show whether through the things that have been made" etc.
The first [sub-]part has four particles. In the first he proves, by the authority of the Apostle to the Romans chapter one, that God is knowable through creatures. In the second he brings forward various modes of knowing and arguments, at: "For as Ambrose says." In the third he says that those modes are implicated in the authority of the Apostle, at: "Behold, by so many modes." In the fourth he touches on what can be proved through the aforesaid arguments — namely the unity of essence, not the Trinity — at: "But all these things for unity" etc.
"It now remains to show whether" etc. Above, the Master showed by reason the unity or entity of the divine essence. In this second part he shows the Trinity by a remote likeness, which is discerned in the vestige; and this chapter has four particles. In the first, the Master shows the account of vestige in creatures. In the second, he shows what corresponds to the vestige in the Creator — namely the trinity of appropriated attributes: origin, beauty, and delight — so that each may be assigned to its own [person], at: "For in that Trinity the supreme [origin]."
In the third, he teaches the contemplation of the Trinity in God through consideration of the vestige in creatures, at: "Through the consideration of creatures, therefore" etc. — where he shows the trinity of appropriated attributes in God both with respect to the act of founding and with respect to the act of re-forming. In the fourth particle, he shows that the consideration of the Trinity through the vestige is not sufficient, but remote, at: "Behold, it has been shown how in creatures."
"But now let us come to that discussion." This is the second part of this distinction, in which the Master proves the Trinity and the Unity through a near and express likeness — such as the image is. And this part is divided into two: in the first he shows the trinity and unity in the Creator through the trinity and unity considered in the powers of the soul; in the second, through the [trinity and unity considered] in the habits [of the soul], at: "It can also, by another mode and by other names."
Again, the first [sub-]part has four particles. In the first of these he shows where the image is to be sought in the soul — namely in its higher part and in its three powers: memory, understanding, and will. In the second he touches on the conditions of the image — trinity, unity, and equality — at: "These three, then, as Augustine says." In the third he raises and resolves a doubt arising from the preceding: whether, that is, the soul is its own powers, at: "Here careful attention must be paid." In the fourth, however, he teaches us to avoid the error that could be occasioned or arise from the exposition of the created trinity — that there would be an altogether-alike likeness to the uncreated — where he shows that the greatest unlikeness obtains between the image and God, at: "Nevertheless let him beware."
"It can also, by another mode and by other [names]" etc. This is the second sub-part of the second part of this distinction, in which the Master aims to investigate the image in the habitual powers of the soul, so far as possible; and this sub-part is divided into four particles. First, he touches on those things in which the image of the Trinity is discerned — which are mind, knowledge, and love. Secondly, having touched on these, he shows that the image is discerned in them on account of consubstantiality, order, and equality, at: "These three, however, since they are" etc. Thirdly, he shows how the rational mind, in contemplating the created trinity, makes progress toward seeing and knowing the uncreated Trinity in Unity, at: "The rational mind, therefore, considering these three." Fourthly, he briefly recollects what has been demonstrated above, at: "Wherefore, according to this consideration."
Treatment of the Questions
For the understanding of what is touched on in the first part of this distinction, four questions are asked.
The first is whether God is knowable by a creature.
The second is whether He is knowable through creatures.
The third is whether the mode of knowing through creatures belongs to the human being with respect to every state — namely the state of innocence, the state of fallen nature, and the state of glorified nature.
The fourth is what of God is knowable through creatures.
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