Caring For The World

Quaestio De fine libri Ecclesiastes Primo de fine. Dicitur enim, quid finis libri est contemptus mundi. Quod autem sic sit determinatus, 1 Probatur per illud quod dicitur Iacobi quarto: Amicitia huius mundi inimica est Deo; sed omne, quod Deo est inimicum, bonum est contemnere. 2 Item, primae Ioannis secundo: Nolite diligere mundum, neque ea quae in mundo sunt. Sed contra: 1 Laus operis redundat in artificem, ergo et contemptus operis redundat in eundem, ergo qui contemnit mundum contemnit Deum, aut igitur iste mundus non est factus a Dei, aut non est contemnendus. 2 Item, Proverbiorum decimo sexto: Universa propter semetipsum operatus est Dominus, ergo ordinantur ad Deum; sed quod ordinatur in finem non est contemnendum, sed accipiendum et amandum, ergo mundus iste, et ea quae sunt in eo, sunt amanda. Respondeo: dicendum, quod, sicut vult Augustus et Hugo, mundus iste est quasi quidam anulus datus a sponso ipsi animae; sponsa autem dupliciter potest diligere anulum a sponso sibi collatum, amore scilicet casto et adulterino. Amor castus est, quo diligit anulum in memoriam sponsi et propter amorem sponsi; adulterinus, quo diligit anulum plus quam sponsum; et hoc non potest sponsus non habere pro malo. Sicut enim duplex est amor, ita duplex odium vel contemptus, quia quoties dicitur unum oppositorum, et reliquum. Contemptus anuli, quasi sit parvum et vile donum, redundat in sponsum; sed contemptus anuli, quasi nihil reputetur comparatione amoris sponsi, iste est ad gloriam sponsi: et de hoc contemptu dicitur Cantici ultimo: Si dederit homo omnem substantiam domus suae pro dilectione, quasi nihil despiciet eam. De hoc contemptu est hic sermo; et sic patent obiecta. Sanctus Boneventura, Commentarius In Ecclesiasten, Prooemium Source: Here

Question on the purpose of Ecclesiastes. Firstly concerning the purpose. It is said that the purpose of the book is contempt for the world. Which so may be determined: 1. It is confirmed by that which is said in the fourth chapter of James: 'Friendship with this world is enmity with God.' 1 So it is good to scorn everything which is inimical to God. 2 Likewise it is said in the second chapter of the First Letter of John: 'Do not love the world, no anything which is in the world.' 2 On the contrary: 1 The praise of the work redounds to the maker, and thus contempt for the work redounds to the same, therefore he who has contempt for the world, has contempt God; or this world was not made by God, or it is not to be contemned. 2 Likewise in the sixteenth chapter of Proverbs it says: 'The Lord has made everything for its purpose.' 3 Therefore everything is ordered by God, but that which is so ordered to a purpose must not be condemned, but it must be received and loved, therefore this world, and the things which are in it, must be loved. I respond: it must be said that, as Augustine and Hugh have it, 4 this world is like a ring given from the bridegroom to the soul, and the bride is able to love the ring given by the bridegroom in two ways, that is, with a chaste or with an adulterous love. The chaste love is that which loves the ring in memory of the bridegroom and on account of love of the bridegroom, the adulterous is that which loves the ring more than the bridgegroom, and this the bridgegroom cannot tolerate on account of evil. Then as twofold is the love, so is hatred or contempt, because every day , as it is said, one of the opposites... 5 The contempt for the ring which judges it to be a petty and vile gift, is a contempt which redounds to the bridegroom, but the contempt of the ring, so that it is reputed as nothing in comparison to the love of the bridegroom, is to the glory of the bridegroom. And concerning this contempt it is said in the last chapter of the Song of Songs: 'If a man should give me all the property of his house for love, it would be scorned as nothing.' 6 This is the meaning of contempt here, and so the objections are resolved. Saint Bonaventura, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Introduction 1 Jam 4.4 2 1 Jn 2.15 3 Prov 16.4 4 Hugh of St Victor Com Eccl 5 Arist. V. Ethic. 1 6 Song 8.7