Monologium, on the Being of God54 Chapter LIV. It proceeds as a whole from the Father, and as a whole from the Son, and yet does not exist except as one love.
Chapter LIV. It proceeds as a whole from the Father, and as a whole from the Son, and yet does not exist except as one love.
It should be carefully considered whether there are two loves, one proceeding from the Father, the other from the Son; or one, not proceeding as a whole from one, but in part from the Father, in part from the Son; or neither more than one, nor one proceeding in part from each separately, but one proceeding as a whole from each separately, and likewise as a whole from the two at once.
But the solution of such a question can, without doubt, be apprehended from the fact that this love proceeds not from that in which Father and Son are more than one, but from that in which they are one. For, not from their relations, which are more than one, but from their essence itself, which does not admit of plurality, do Father and Son equally produce so great a good.
Therefore, as the Father separately is the supreme Spirit, and the Son separately is the supreme Spirit, and Father and Son at once are not two, but one Spirit; so from the Father separately the love of the supreme Spirit emanates as a whole, and from the Son as a whole, and at once from Father and Son, not as two, but as one and the same whole.
Intuendum est diligenter utrum sint duo amores, unus a Patre procedens, alter a Filio: an unus, non totus ab uno procedens, sed partim a Patre, partim a Filio: an nec plures, nec unus partim procedens a singulis, sed unus totus a singulis, et idem totus a duobus simul. Sed hujusmodi dubitationis certitudo hinc indubitanter cognoscitur, quia non ex eo procedit, in quo plures sunt Pater et Filius, sed ex eo in quo unum sunt. Nam non ex relationibus suis, quae plures sunt, alia est enim relatio Patris, alia Filii; sed ex ipsa sua essentia, quae pluralitatem non admittit, emittunt Pater et Filius tantum pariter bonum. Sicut ergo singulus Pater est summus Spiritus et singulus Filius est summus Spiritus et simul Pater et Filius non duo, sed unus spiritus; ita a singulo Patre manat totus amor summi Spiritus et a singulo Filio totus; et simul a Patre et Filio non duo toti, sed unus idemque totus.