CONFERENCES ON THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. I will bless the Lord, who has again granted me understading ¹. -- The wiseman listening wiser shall be, and the one understanding shall possess rudders ². In the second word Solomon shows, that it is useful to hear the word of God; and the reason is, that in hearing the word of God one makes progress [proficit], both he who understands, and similiarly he who does not understand: therefore both the wise and the simple ought to go to hear the word of God. That the wise make progress by hearing the word of God, it is clear, because he says, that the wiseman hearing wisdom wiser shall be. Likewise, that the simple make progress by hearing the Word of God, it is clear, because it is said in the Psalm: The declaration of Thy sermons illumines and gives understanding to little ones [parvulis] ³. The little one is addressed here who on account of the mediocrity of his knowledge is called a little one, as one is said to have a small soul [parvam animam], who knows [novit] few things, and similarly one is said (to be) of great understanding who knows many things. One is also called a little one who regards himself humbly, even if he knows many things and he be one understanding much. Whence in the Gospel it is said: You have hidden these away from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to little ones ⁴, that is to the humble. -- For nothing so obscures understanding in those which belong to God as presumption. We all praise humility and scold [vituperamus] presumption. Nevertheless few are immune from presumption. Richard of St. Victor says, that "by disputing against pride a man frequently is proud". Behold, that a strong deceiver deceives many. No one can illumine the hearts of men except Him who knows the consciences of men. In the beginning let us beg God . . ..

2. I will bless the Lord, etc.. That brief word belongs to David himself through the Holy Spirit explaining for us that gift of understanding given to us by the Holy Spirit, and he explains it for us as much as it regards the humble gratitude of the one taking it up and as much as regards the liberal diffusion of the One giving it. The humble gratitude of the one taking it up is noted when he says: I will bless the Lord; the liberal diffusion of the One giving it is noted, when he adds below: Who grants me understanding. That gift requires, that a man be grateful to God, and causes, that a man recognize himself and the gift and the Principle of the gift; and by understanding the Principle of the gift a man recognizes himself, and so gives thanks. And then he blesses God and pours back the beauty [pulcritudinem] of the gift upon the very Author of the gift and praises Him and does not impunge the Giver. -- Moreover we dispose ourselves to take up that gift through three things: first, through holiness of life [vitae sanctimoniam]; second, through the managability of meekness [mansuetudinis tractabilitatem]; and third, through the capturing [captivationem] of the intelligence, that we may bless the Author of that gift.

3. First, I say, we dispose ourselves to take up that gift of understanding through holiness of life; whence Isaiah: Whom will He teach knowledge, and whom will He make understand hearing? Those who have been weaned from milk and plucked from breasts ⁵. -- Milk signifies the sweetness of carnal delights, on which delight carnal men and infants feed, that is, those who follow infantile movments. And as long as a man has been joined to these carnal consolations, he is called a suckling-child [lactans] and he is not fit [idoneus] to take up the solid food of life and of understanding. If we want to bless God and receive that gift, it is proper, that we be plucked from those consolations and that we sequester ourselves form the milk of concupiscences. Of Daniel and his companions, who were continent, it is said, that God gave them knowledge and discipline in every book and in wisdom ⁶. Delectation over touch greatly impunges that gift, (as does) drunkeness before this [ex parte anteriori] and luxury afterwards [ex parte posterior].

4. Second, a man is disposed to receive that gift through the managability of meekness. Whence in Ecclesiasticus: Be meek to hear a word, so that you understand it ⁷. Concupiscence becoulds [obnubilat] the intellect, and rage [furor] impedes the intelligence, because "anger impedes the soul, so that it cannot determine (what is) true". -- The Philosopher says, that "by quieting the soul one becomes prudent and knowledgeable [sciens]". When water is quiet, then a man sees his face well in it; but when it is disturbed, then one can see nothing in it. Thus, when a man is in anger, then he cannot see the truth. The contentious impede intelligence in themselves and in others. The enraged also pertinaciously defend (what is) false. Whence the Lawgiver was the most gentle. Isaiah says: Only shaking alone will give understanding to hearing ⁸. A managable man learns more and becomes gentle.

5. Third, a man is disposed to worthily take up the gift of understanding through a capturing of (his) intelligence. Whence Isaiah according to the Septuagint translation says: Unless you believe, you will not understand ⁹. And (St.) Augustine says: "Unless a man capture his intellect and follow by faith those things which he hears, he is not disposed to the gift of understanding". And the Apostle says: Taking captive the intellect into the submission of Christ ¹⁰. He who according to the light of his own intelligence wants to investigate [indagare] Sacred Scripture, thinks the most false errors. In this life of ours [ista] we are small, and "it is proper that the one learning more believe"; for it is proper to believe God and most of all [maxime] in sublime things, which transcend our intelligence. The first Angel erred, because he presumed of himself. -- The disordered [deordinata] concupiscible (appetite) impedes that gift; similarly also the irascible, when it is disordered; but when the rational (appetite) is disordered, it impedes that gift most of all. It is proper, therefore, that we capture our intellect if we want to take up that gift. Rage-bound [furibundus] is he who despises all things; he is not disposed to take up that gift nor (is) the presumptuous. Therefore it is proper, that we capture our intellect, because he who belives that he knows more, frequently knows less. -- Through these three things a man is disposed to worthily take up the gift of understanding. The first is now clear, that is, the humble gratitude of the one taking it up.

6. Liberality follows on the part of the One giving, which is touched upon, when he says: Who grants me understanding ¹¹. May God give me something to say and grant understanding to me to say something appropriate [congruum] concerning this gift of understanding. -- Every radiation [radiositat] of the intelligence comes from that fount of intelligence. And though the radiation of the intelligence be multiform, I want nevertheless to say something at the present of three things, that is, that understanding is the rule of moral circumspections, the door of sciential considerations and the key of heavenly contemplations; and that is a gift.

7. First, I will begin from that which is the rule of moral circumspections. For it is proper, that you have complied (with it), if you want to have that gift of understanding. The Psalm: I shall give you understanding and I will instruct you in this way, in which you shall step; I shall make My eyes firm upon you. Do not become as horse and mule, who do not have an intellect ¹². The Lord promises us that understanding and shows us, in what manner we ought to receive it. -- I will make, he says, My eyes firm upon you. The Divine Pleasure [complacentia] accepts what we do by approving (it) in the present and by remunerating (us) in the future. If you want to be regulated according to that rule, beware of yourself, that you be not bestial, but regular: to be directed not according to the impulse [impetum] of sense, but according to the judgement of reason; nor according to bestial phantasies, but according to intellectual judgements. Otherwise there will happen to you what happened to Adam, who, having contemned the rule of truth, followed the instinct of the woman, and the woman followed the instinct of the serpent. The Psalm: A man, when he is in honor, has not understood; he has been compared to the foolish beasts of burden and became similar to them ¹³. Man became brutal and subject to (his) passions.

8. That understanding is prudential, by which a man is instructed according to the dictate of divine law to become acquainted with, what is to be avoided, that is [quia], every evil; what is to be followed to the grave [exsequendum], that is, every good; and what is to be expected, that is, the Most High Good. -- First, I say, prudential understanding teaches, what is to be avoided, that is, every evil. Whence the Wiseman says: If you invoke wisdom and incline your heart to prudence and seek her as if money and dig her up as treasures; then you shall understand the fear of the Lord and shall find knowledge of God ¹⁴. He who wants to have that understanding, ought to seek it with the desire of (his) heart and the studiousness of work; and what then shall he find? Certainly the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God. That every man, who wants to be directed to good, ought to fear God, so that he may avoid every evil; the Psalm says: Holy, he says, and terrible His Name; the beginning of wisdom the fear of the Lord; good the understanding of all who have it [facientibus eum]. Behold, the fear of the Lord (is) wisdom, and to recede from evil, prudence ¹⁵, says the Wiseman. Therefore prudential understanding teaches first, what is to be avoided, that is, every evil.

9. Second, it teaches, what is to be followed to the grave, that is, every good according to the way of interor thinking and of exterior acting. It is written in Josuah: Do not turn from the Law; there follows: so that you may understand all the other things, which you do ¹⁶. The wisdom of the cunning is to understand their own way, and the imprudent of the stupid, erring ¹⁷. It is written: If understanding is yours, respond to your neighbor; if not, let your hand be upon your mouth ¹⁸. And in the Book of Wisdom: The Holy Spirit of discipline flees falsehood and bears Himself away from thoughts which are without understanding ¹⁹. For God wills, that we do all things rationally. And blessed Ambrose says, that we ought to do nothing nor speak of that, of which we cannot render an account. -- That is the second part of moral understanding. Solomon says: There is a season for every business and an opportunity ²⁰.

10. Third, prudential understanding instructs (us), what it to be expected, that is, the Most High Good. Whence in Proverbs: A most free [gratissima] gem (is) the expectation of the one asking; to whatever he turns himself, he understands prudently ²¹. In all things, which direct our intelligence in acting and avoding, a man ought to take [uti] counsel from its end [finis]. For it is proper, that a man expect something in that which he does. If you intend a temporal convenience, you expect a vile wage. A free, nay a most free gem is the eternal Good. Whence in Baruch: Learn, where prudence is, where virtue is, where understanding is, so that you may know at the same time, where there is eternal length [longiturnitas] of life and food, where there is light for the eyes and peace ²². -- He says: so that you may know, where there is eternal length of life and food, light for the eyes and peace. And where is that? Certainly, the length of days (is) in His right hand ²³; and the Psalm says: In Thy house [apud te] is the fount of life ²⁴ etc.. If you have light for your eyes, you act prudently.

11. Here there is a threefold prudential understanding, and he who does not have that understanding cannot be rectified. Whence it is written: A nation [gens] without counsel is also without prudence: so that they do not taste nor understand nor forsee the last things [novissima] ²⁵. He touches upon the three parts of intelligence, that is the memory of past things, the intelligence of present things and the circumspection of future things. -- That understanding is the rule of moral circumspections together with the desire of the heart and the prosecution of work, so that a man may consider, what is to be avoided, what is to be done, and what is to be expected. For God gives that understanding, and it is a gift of God. Whence the Psalm: I shall give you understanding and shall intruct you in this way, in which you shall step ²⁶.

12. Another is the understanding, which is the door of sciential considerations, of which there is said in Ecclesiasticus: In the treasures of wisdom (is) understanding ²⁷ etc.; this is to say, that the treasures of knowledge (have) been hidden away and/or that they consist in becoming acquainted with [in cognitione] the highest causes, and/or conclusions, and/or principles. And it is proper to dig by the study of truth, so that a man may arrive at that treasure. -- That understanding, which is the door of sciential considerations, is partly form the dictate of nature, that is from interior light; partly from the frequency of experience, as from an exterior light; and partly from the brightening of eternal Light, as from a superior light.

13. What is partly from the dictate of nature, is clear in Ecclesiaticus, where it is said: God created man from the earth, that is, as much as regards the body, and according to His image He made him ²⁸, that is, as much as regards the soul. There follows: He created out of him a helper similar to himself; counsel and tounge and eyes and ears and heart did He give them for thinking things out [excogitandi], and with the discipline of understanding He filled them full. ²⁹. He gives one to understand, that the human soul has three acts, according to which it has power and act. "Every noble soul has three acts", by which it turns itself completely upon its body, upon itself, and towards divine things. Sometimes it turns itself completely upon its body: it has a tounge for speaking, ears for hearing, etc.; sometimes it turns itself completely upon itself; sometimes towards understanding and becoming acquainted with God. -- And this is according to the threefold consideration of the soul; for the soul is considered as the form and perfection of the body, as this something [hoc aliquid] and as image. -- Moreover that that understanding is partly from the dictate of nature, is clear in Adam, because he imposed names on all things. But that God filled him full with the discipline of understanding, that was his privilege; wherefore it is not in us. Moreover our soul has stampted [signatum] above it a certain light of nature, through which one is capable [habilis] to become acquainted with the first principles, but that alone does not suffice, because, according to the Philosopher, "we are acquainted with principles, inasmuch as we are acquainted with their terms". For when I know, what the whole is, what the part is; I immediately know, that "every whole is greater that its part".

14. Second, I say, that partly it is from the frequency of experience: in Ecclesiastcus: An expert in many strengths is acquainted with many things ³⁰. The Philospher: "Out of many sensations [sensibus] there is made one memory; out of many memories there is made one experience; out of many experiences there is made one universal, which is the principle of art and of science".

15. And however much a man has a good natural judgement [iudicatorium] and with this frequency of experience, they are not sufficient, unless there be a brightening through a divine influence. Whence it is said in Daniel: Give wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those understanding discipline. He Himself revels things profound and hidden away and knows [novit] the things constituted in darkness; and light is with Him ³¹. He touches upon sapiential, sciential and intellectual certitude. And whence is that certitude? Certainly from God. He touches upon sapiential certitude, when he says: He Himself reveals things profound. The Apostle: He Himself has begun to shine in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the brightness of God ³². That light is pure and it is with Him; whence in John: He Himself is the True Light, which illumines every man coming into this world ³³. No one is certainly illuminated except through Him. And (St.) Augustine in the fourteenth (chapter) On the Trinity askes, whence (is) this, that the impious sometimes judges well; whence he asks: "Where have those laws of justice been written, according to which the impious judges well?" And he responds, that "they have been written in the book of eternal Light, and not by migrating, but by impressing they descend upon the soul, as the image of a ring, which is pressed upon wax, does not leave the ring" etc.. Moreover this brightening is assisted [iuvatur] by the Angels; in Daniel it is said: It came to pass, however, when I, Daniel, saw the vision and sought intelligence; behold, there stood in my sight as if the appearance of a man etc., and he shouted and said: Gabriel, make that one [istum] understand the vision ³⁴. Those visions descended from the Father of lights, and the Angel assisted the intellect of Daniel, to sieze the light of God and through this to understand. The Gloss says, that the intellect by nature has the strength to understand, accord to which a man is discerned from a sheep; but God alone illumines perfectly. It is true that a man is instructed in the manner of a minister [ministerialiter] and in a supportive manner [adminiculative] by an Angel, as was clear in Daniel: but effectively God alone has the power over that rational soul, because it itself is immediately formed by God. For He Himself illumines all men. Whence an Angel thus illumines, as he who opens a window, is said to illumine a house. "For He alone has His cathedra in the heavens who teaches man throughout the earth [in terris]". -- Whence it is not true what philosophers say, that one intelligence creates another, because to create belongs to the Omnipotent God, and not to any other created virtue; whence to that Light, which is pure act, belongs this making. Paul said in the Acts of the Apostles: In Him we live and move and are ³⁵; and (St.) Augustine says that the Apostle does not speak there of corporal life, but of intellectual life. Whence it is said there of God, according to which He is for all things "the cause of existing, the reason for understanding and the order for living". He is the cause of existing immediately producing all perpetual things, but mediately (all) temporal things, nevertheless (these) immediately through elementary virtues. Moreover He is the reason for understanding, because intelligences are made certain [certificantur] by Him above [super] the transmutability of (their) nature. Even if every creature were to attack [impugnarent], God nevertheless is to be loved; nor can God cause Himself not [facere quin] to be loved. With all things corrupted, the certitude of truth remains. God is also the order for living; unless the gift of the Holy Spirit indwell in a man, he is not ruled according to the rule of upright life. -- According to which God is the cause of existing, He enters in the soul as its Principle; but according to which He is the order for living, He enters into the soul as an infused gift; according to which He is the reason for understanding, He enters into the soul as the sun of the intelligence. That One is the sun, who illumines all; from whom some wander away, according to which the impious say in the Book of Wisdom: Therefore let us wander from the way of truth and justice; light has not shown upon us, and the sun of the intelligence has not risen for us ³⁶ etc..

16. In the sciences there are three things to beware of, which banish Sacred Scripture and the Christian Faith and every wisdom; one of which is against the cause of existing, another against the reason for understanding, and the third against the order for living. The error against the cause of existing concerns the eternity of the world, as positing [sicut ponere] the world as eternal. The error against the reason for understanding concerns fatal necessity, as positing that all things come about from necessity. The third concerns the unity of the human intellect, as positing that there is intellect in all (men). -- Those errors are signified in the Apocalypse in the number of the name of the beast. There it is said, that he has a name whose number (is) 666 ³⁷, which is a cyclical number. The first stream upon a circle of motion and time; the second, upon the motion of the stars; the third, upon one intelligence, by saying, that it steps into and out of the body.

The whole (of it) is false. The first error is refuted by that which is written in the Old Testament: In the beginning God created heaven and earth ³⁸. According to the second error there is nothing from free decision [libero arbitrio], the Cross of Christ is worth nothing. According to the third, there is no difference in merit and reward, if one (and the same) is the soul of Christ and of Judas the betrayer. The whole (of it) is heretical.

17. The first error, I say, destroys the cause of existing; (it says:) because you have the opinion, that God is the cause of all things, (it must be) either according to a part, or according to the whole. If according to a part: therefore you take from God His principality of causing. According to the whole: therefore God is the cause of this some other thing: therefore God produces (the world) not from His very self, not from some other thing, because it is nothing; therefore from nothing. -- Likewise, there follows that second error, that a thing had at the same time being and non-being, and that being (is) before non-being; and many other inconveniences. Whence it is certain, that God created all things. And for that reason that good woman said to her son in the Book of Maccabees, that he look at all things again, because from nothing did God create them ³⁹.

18. The second error concerns fatal necessity, as concerns the constellations: (it says,) if a man be born in such a constellation, of necessity will he be a thief, and/or evil, and/or good. That voids free decision and merit and reward; because if a man does out of necessity what he does, what value is freedom of decision? What will he merit? -- It also follows, that God would be the origin of all evils. It is true that some disposition remains from the stars; but nevertheless God alone rules over [principatur] the rational soul. Jeremiah says: They have been vehemently confounded, because they have not understood everlasting disgrace [opprobrium sempiternum] ⁴⁰. They who err thus shall have an everlasting disgrace.

19. The third error, which comprehends both, is the worst. Some insane (men) understood the intellect in an evil manner [male de intellectu]. Whence certain ones say, that it is fire; certain ones, that it is water; those have be reproved by the philosophers. -- That that intellect is one in all (men), that is against the root of disctinction and individuation, because in diverse (persons) the intellect has distinct being: therefore it has proper and distinct and individuating [individuantia] principles of its essence. -- That others say, that one intelligence radiates over all. that is impossible; because no creature can (do) that. Whence it belongs to God alone.

20. "Every intellectual substance is knowing and returning upon itself with a complete return". Whence every intellectual substance understands and loves [diligit] and judges itself. Whence it has reason for reflection [speculi] and light radiating upon it. And this indeed is true in God, and as much in the Angel as in man; but differently: Because in God there is likewise reflection and light by itself [ipsa re], but they differ in reason. In the Angel, moreover, they differ in reason and nature, but not in time, because it cannot understand more than it understands, because "(its) intelligence is full of forms". But in man they differ both in reason and in nature and in time, because man does not understand at once, when he can understand. If therefore the human intellect has a reason for its apprehending and judging, (it has) a possible and agent intellect; nor can that intellect sufficiently be illumined without the assistance of a superior and higher light, because the Wiseman says: The body, which is corrupted, weighs down the soul ⁴¹ etc.; and the Philosopher says: "As the eye of twilight is held towards the light of the sun, so our intellect is held towards the most manifest things of nature".

Of the third understanding, that is, that which is the key of the contemplation of heavenlyl things, it would be long to speak. We will beg the Lord, ....

¹. Ps 15:7.

². Prov 1:5.

³. Ps 118:130.

⁴. Mt 11:25.

⁵. Is 28:9.

⁶. Dan 1:17.

⁷. Eccli 5:13.

⁸. Is 28:19.

⁹. Is 7:9.

¹⁰. 2 Cor 10:5.

¹¹. Ps 15:7.

¹². Ps 31:8-9.

¹³. Ps 48:13.

¹⁴. Prov 2:3-5.

¹⁵. Job 28:28.

¹⁶. Jos 1:7.

¹⁷. Prov 14:8.

¹⁸. Eccli 5:14.

¹⁹. Ws 1:5.

²⁰. Eccle 8:6.

²¹. Prov 17:8.

²². Bar 3:14.

²³. Prov 3:10.

²⁴. Ps 35:10.

²⁵. Dt 32:28-29.

²⁶. Ps 31:8.

²⁷. Eccli 1:26.

²⁸. Eccli 17:1.

²⁹. Eccli 1:5.

³⁰. Eccli 34:9.

³¹. Dan 2:21.

³². 2 Cor 4:6.

³³. Jn 1:9.

³⁴. Dan 8:15-16.

³⁵. Act 17:28.

³⁶. Ws 5:6-7.

³⁷. Ap 13:18.

³⁸. Gen 1:1.

³⁹. 2 Mac 7:28.

⁴⁰. Jer 20:11.

⁴¹. Ws 9:15.