Bonaventure

One is said to be superior to another either with respect to the origin of nature, or with respect to the dominion of power or presidency, or with respect to the governance of providence. The first superiority belongs to nature itself by reason of itself, because "nature is a force implanted in things, producing like from like"; the second by reason of vice, because, as Ambrose says, servitude is the punishment of sin; but the third belongs by reason of remedy, according to that passage in Numbers twenty-seven: Let the God of the …

Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 4 ↗