On Majority
LXXXVI. On Majority
1. God is greater than everything that exists
with respect to goodness and to all other things,
for He is infinite in extension.[1]
2. God is greater than the entire world
in terms of <His> length, breadth and depth,
since he is devoid of quantity and place.
3. God is greater as regards <His> forgiveness
than man is as regards <his> sins,
for He forgives by virtue of His love.
4. God’s love is greater
than the fault of the sinner,
<so> whoever repents should not be fearful.
5. So much does God love the creature that is greatest in terms of goodness
that He has set it far above us
inasmuch as He has deified man.
6. In Himself God does not possess a majority that pertains to <His> essence,
although He has majorified mankind (i.e. made it greater),
insofar as He has conjoined him with His deity.
7. Majority and minority would not have entered into participation
had a greatest being not been joined together
from a creature and the Creator.
8. No greater goodness could have existed
without the bonifier, bonifying and the bonified;
and likewise with every other Dignity.
9. Were goodness not to constitute substantial being,
it would be greater in terms of accidental being
and lesser in respect of that which is worthier.
10. He who entertains the greatest will
that God should be understood and loved
shall be majorified (i.e. made greater).
[1] The question of God’s infinity with respect to extension, rather than merely to intension, was debated by Alexander Neckam (also Necham or Nequam) (1157-1217) and the Dominican Richard Fishacre (c. 1200-1248) in the context of the refutation of Catharism. For full discussion, see Anne Ashley Davenport, Measure of a Different Greatness: The Intensive Infinite, 1250-1650, Leiden/Boston/Köln: Brill Publishers, 1999, Ch. 1, pp. 1-49.