Bonaventure

In his own words on Jeremiah

• Jeremiah 1:11

  In the mystery of prophetical revelation, Christ is symbolized especially by means of sight. The prophet saw "a branch of the watching-tree." Christ is symbolized through prophetical visions, and this in different ways: for one saw Christ as "a branch of the watching-tree," another saw Him "seated on a high and lofty throne," while yet another saw Him "dressed."

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 14

• Jeremiah 1:13

  In the mystery of prophetical revelation, Christ is symbolized especially by means of sight: the prophet saw "a boiling cauldron" and other things also.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 14

• Jeremiah 2:18

  It is fitting first to take in Scripture, then to chew it, and finally to assimilate it. What does it serve a man to drink dirty water? "And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the troubled water?" Drink instead healthy water, that is, wisdom.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19

• Jeremiah 2:19

  "Know and see that it is evil and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and that the fear of me is not in you." If you do not fear God, you have lost grace, you have lost justice, and you have lost true wisdom. "See" therefore "how evil and bitter it is that you have forsaken the Lord your God." Where there is no fear, there is neither wisdom nor justice nor grace.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2

• Jeremiah 4:2

  In the Old Testament it is said that he who swears in the name of God should swear and not perjure himself. For to perjure is the same as to forswear, and this is to take the name of God in vain. Jeremiah says: "And you shall swear: the Lord lives, in truth and in judgment and in justice;" and the Gloss says there that "an oath ought to have three companions: truth, judgment, and justice." First, an oath ought to be made with truth; that is, without falsehood. Truth is present in an assertory oath when a man does not deny what is true, nor affirm what is false, nor knowingly assert what is doubtful; for speech is indicative of those things which are in the heart. But do you know what it means when a man testifies to something false by the witness of divine truth? It is to say that he lies and that divine truth lies along with him. Second, an assertory oath must be made with justice. It is made with justice when it is not made against a commandment of the divine law, nor against a precept of holy Mother Church, nor to the detriment of one's own salvation or that of another. And he who swears against these three swears rashly and sins in a twofold manner: both because he swears and because he keeps the oath. Third, it is necessary that judgment accompany an assertory oath, so that there be in the mind a discernment of truth and justice, namely, whether the oath is true or false, just or unjust, fruitful or unfruitful. Whence, if I swear without judgment, not discerning among these three, I swear rashly.

  Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 3

• Jeremiah 5:21

  That it is the height of folly not to fear, the Lord says in Jeremiah: "Hear, O foolish people, who have no heart: who having eyes, see not, and ears, and hear not. Will you then not fear me, and will you not be grieved at my presence? I who have set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an everlasting decree, which it shall not pass beyond." Do you not fear me?

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2

• Jeremiah 5:22

  That it is the height of folly not to fear, the Lord says in Jeremiah: "Hear, O foolish people, who have no heart: who having eyes, see not, and ears, and hear not. Will you then not fear me, and will you not be grieved at my presence? I who have set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an everlasting decree, which it shall not pass beyond." Do you not fear me?

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2

• Jeremiah 9:23

  If you glory in wisdom, by that very fact you lose wisdom. "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength." And the cause of this is given in Ezekiel, where it is said: "You, full of wisdom and beauty, were in the delights of the paradise of God: you lost your wisdom on account of your beauty."

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 9

• Jeremiah 10:6

  The fear of God arises in us from the consideration of divine power. Whence in Jeremiah: "There is none like unto thee, O Lord; thou art great, and thy name is great in might: who would not fear thee, O king of nations?" He sets forth first the magnitude of divine power, when he says: "There is none like unto thee, O Lord"; whence in the book of Wisdom: "As a drop of morning dew, so is the whole world before thee." Therefore who would not fear thee, unless he be impious and foolish?

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2

• Jeremiah 10:7

  The fear of God arises in us from the consideration of divine power. "Who would not fear thee, O king of nations? For thine is the glory: among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, who is like unto thee?" Therefore who would not fear thee, unless he be impious and foolish? If a man is impious, he is in need of punishment; if he is foolish, he is in need of understanding.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2

• Jeremiah 10:14

  The first brightness, namely that of philosophical knowledge, is great according to the opinion of worldly men: but it is easily eclipsed, unless a man guards himself from the head and tail of the dragon. If anything is interposed between him and the sun of justice, he suffers an eclipse of foolishness. "Every man is made foolish by his knowledge," namely occasioned by it, not caused by it. He who trusts in philosophical knowledge and esteems himself on account of this and believes himself to be better, has been made foolish—namely, when through this knowledge without any further light he believes himself to apprehend the Creator: just as if a man should wish to see the heavens or the body of the sun by candlelight.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 4

• Jeremiah 10:14

  In the second word: You shall not make a graven image, all false and superstitious inventions of errors are prohibited. Every error is nothing other than a fiction of the mind. For imagination produces error by clouding reason and making what is not appear to be. All false and superstitious inventions of errors arise either from the wicked audacity of philosophical investigation, or from a perverse understanding of Sacred Scripture, or from a disordered affection of human carnality. Concerning such men, however, who devise, or defend, or imitate these or similar errors, Jeremiah says: Every man has become foolish by his own knowledge, that is, by his own investigation and excessive philosophy; every craftsman has been confounded by his graven image: their works are vain and worthy of ridicule, and in the time of their visitation they shall perish. We must therefore stand upon what the lights of faith dictate, and whatever is opposed to this, we ought to abominate entirely as a graven image.

  Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 2

• Jeremiah 20:11

  "They shall be greatly confounded, because they have not understood everlasting reproach." The second error concerns fatal necessity, as regarding the constellations: if a man is born under such a constellation, he will necessarily be a thief, or evil, or good. This empties free will and merit and reward of meaning: for if a man does of necessity what he does, what is the value of freedom of will? What will he merit? It also follows that God would be the origin of all evils. It is true that some disposition is left by the stars; but nevertheless God alone rules over the rational soul. Those who err thus shall have everlasting reproach.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 8

• Jeremiah 31:22

  A figure preceded in the woman and the man, because Jeremiah says: "A woman shall encompass a man." All of this was fulfilled in the glorious Virgin. Whence Bernard says: "What was shown to Moses in the bush and fire, to Aaron in the rod and flower, to Gideon in the fleece and dew: this Solomon clearly foresaw in the strong woman and her price; more clearly Jeremiah foretold concerning the woman and the man; most clearly Isaiah declared concerning the Virgin and her son; and at last Gabriel made it manifest by greeting the Virgin." The word of Jeremiah concerns the woman and the man: "A new thing," he says, "the Lord will make upon the earth; a woman shall encompass a man." Who brought it about that the Virgin conceived? Certainly the Holy Spirit, who is a love fervent, fruitful, undefiled, virile, incorrupt, and deifying. That he is a virile love is signified to us in the woman and the man, because the "woman encompassed the man," that is, enclosed him on every side.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 6

• Jeremiah 31:33

  God proposes the most direct norms. Hence, the Apostle and Jeremiah say: "I will put my laws into their mind, and upon their hearts I will write them." For He inscribed them first in human nature, then in industry or progress, third in grace, and fourth in glory. In every state, He puts forth His rules: wherefore by necessity He must possess them within Himself.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 12