Knowledge And The Tree

Et scire justitiam et virtutem tuam, radix est immortalitatis. Radix, id est arboris spiritualis, id est vitae iusti qui est sicut lignum plantatum secus decursus aquarum etc. Radix est fides, ut hic dicitur. Pes, humilitas, sicut e contrario pes impiorum est superbia, secundum illud Psalmi: Non veniat mihi pes superbiae. Stipes, in altum se erigens, est spes; ad Colossenses tertio: Quae sursum sunt quaerite. Humor interior et viriditas huius arboris est gratiainternae devotionis; lob octavo: Nunquid potest virere scirpus absque humore? Calor dirigens est virtus caritatis; Lucae duodecimo: Ignem veni mittere in terram etc. Exterior irrigatio, doctrina spiritualis; unde Sapientia dicit Ecclesiastici vigesimo quarto: Rigabo hortum plantationum mearum. Rami, multiplicatio bonae operationis; Ezechielis trigesimo sexto: Montes Israel, ramos vestros expandite. Flores , mores honestae conversationis ; unde Canticorum secundo: Flores apparuerunt in terra nostra. Folia, verba discretae locutionis, secundum illud Psalmi: Et folium eius non defluet. Fructus, merces aeternae retributionis; supra tertio: Bonorum laborum gloriosus est fructus. Sanctus Bonaventura, Commentarius In Librum Sapientiae, Caput XV Source: Here, 411d-412a

And to know your righteousness and virtue is the root of immortality... 1 'The root,' that is, of the spiritual tree, that is, of the life of the righteous man, who is like 'a tree planted beside flowing waters,' etc, 2 and the root is faith, as it says here. The base of the tree is humility, just as, on the contrary, the foot of the impious is pride, according to the Psalm: 'May the foot of the proud not be mine.' 3 The trunk is what rises up to the heights, which is hope. In the third chapter of Colossians: 'Seek the things which are above.' 4 The interior sap and greeness of this tree is the grace of internal devotion. In the eighth chapter of Job: 'Can a reed live without moisture?' 5 The heat which fuels growth is the power of love. In the twelfth chapter of Luke: 'I have come to place fire on the earth.' 6 Exterior watering is spiritual teaching, whence Wisdom says in the twenty fourth chapter of Ecclesiasticus: 'I shall water the garden of my plantings.' 7 The branches are the multiplication of good works. In the thirty six chapter of Ezekiel: 'Mountains of Israel, put forth your branches.' 8 Blossom is the way of upright living, whence in the second chapter of the Song of Songs: 'The blossom appears in our land.' 9 Leaves are the words of wise speech, according to the Psalm: 'And its leaves shall not wither.' 10 The fruit is the giving of the eternal reward, concerning which above in the third chapter it says: 'Glorious is the fruit of good works.' 11 Saint Bonaventura, Commentary On Wisdom, Chapter 15 1 Wisdom 6.24 2 Ps 1.3 3 Ps 35.12 4 Col 3.1 5 Job 8.11 6 Lk 12.49 7 Sirach 24.42 8 Ezek 36.8 9 Song 2.12 10 Ps 1.3 11 Wisdom 3.15