Bonaventure, on Wis 1:6

“For the spirit of wisdom is benevolent, and will not acquit the evil speaker from his lips: for God is witness of his reins, and he is a true searcher of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue.”

“Concerning the justice of speech, the matter is treated in three ways. For he is kind etc. Here he admonishes toward justice of speech, by drawing back from evil words. And first he removes from evil speech itself the confidence of impunity: second, he foretells their punishment: Therefore he who speaks etc.; third, he admonishes to caution against depraved speech: Guard etc. In the first part, he first removes the confidence of impunity which might arise from the mercy of the judge: Kind: second, from his ignorance: For of the reins etc.; third, from his powerlessness: For the spirit of the Lord. He says therefore: For the spirit of wisdom is benign etc. I have rightly said that the dissembler will be reproved etc.: for the spirit of wisdom is benign, namely of uncreated wisdom, namely of the Son, from whom the Holy Spirit is given: or of created wisdom, which he himself gives; below in chapter twelve: "O how good and how sweet is your spirit, O Lord, in all things"! Psalm: "Your good spirit" etc. And yet he will not free the accursed etc., although he is benign: because, as Gregory says, "discipline and mercy are greatly undermined if one is held without the other." Or thus: and because he is benign, he will not free the accursed etc., because benignity is contrary to malice: as the Gloss says: "He will not free, I say, the accursed, that is, the one who curses," who is accursed because he acts against God's commandment, which forbids cursing; Psalm: "Cursed are those who turn aside from your commandments"; behold, a curse in the present. Likewise, Matthew twenty-five: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire" etc.: behold, a curse in the future. From his lips, that is, from the sin of his lips, or from the punishment which he merited by the sin of his lips: Matthew twelve: "By your words you shall be condemned"; likewise in the Psalm: "The labor of their lips shall cover them." And it should be noted that the consequent is placed for the antecedent, when he says the accursed for the one who curses. For of the reins etc., as if to say: he will truly be punished for his sins, even hidden ones: for of his reins, that is, of the affections or "carnal pleasures, whose seat is in the reins," God is a witness, that is, a certain knower, as a witness concerning the matter about which he bears testimony; Jeremiah twenty-nine: "I am the witness and the judge, says the Lord." And of his heart, that is, of the thoughts proceeding from the heart, Matthew fifteen: he is a true searcher, that is, an infallible examiner: whence First Corinthians two: "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God"; likewise Jeremiah seventeen: "I the Lord search the hearts and try the reins"; Psalm: "God, who searches hearts and reins." And of his tongue, that is, of the utterances which are formed by the tongue, a hearer, that is, an immediate knower without the report of another: Psalm: "He who planted the ear, shall he not hear"? as if to say: yes. And it should be noted that he places the instruments for the operations proceeding from them, because, just as the instruments relate more immediately to the soul than their operations do, so God more immediately than anyone else knows all the acts of a person, both interior and exterior.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.