Whether There Should Be a Precept of Hope?
Objection 1: It would seem that no precept should be given relating
to the virtue of hope. For when an effect is sufficiently procured by
one cause, there is no need to induce it by another. Now man is
sufficiently induced by his natural inclination to hope for good.
Therefore there is no need of a precept of the Law to induce him to
do this.
Obj. 2: Further, since precepts are given about acts of virtue, the
chief precepts are about the acts of the chief virtues. Now the chief
of all the virtues are the three theological virtues, viz. hope,
faith and charity. Consequently, as the chief precepts of the Law are
those of the decalogue, to which all others may be reduced, as stated
above (I-II, Q. 100, A. 3), it seems that if any precept of hope were
given, it should be found among the precepts of the decalogue. But it
is not to be found there. Therefore it seems that the Law should
contain no precept of hope.
Obj. 3: Further, to prescribe an act of virtue is equivalent to a
prohibition of the act of the opposite vice. Now no precept is to be
found forbidding despair which is contrary to hope. Therefore it
seems that the Law should contain no precept of hope.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says on John 15:12, "This is My
commandment, that you love one another" (Tract. lxxxiii in Joan.):
"How many things are commanded us about faith! How many relating to
hope!" Therefore it is fitting that some precepts should be given
about hope.
_I answer that,_ Among the precepts contained in Holy Writ, some
belong to the substance of the Law, others are preambles to the Law.
The preambles to the Law are those without which no law is possible:
such are the precepts relating to the act of faith and the act of
hope, because the act of faith inclines man's mind so that he
believes the Author of the Law to be One to Whom he owes submission,
while, by the hope of a reward, he is induced to observe the
precepts. The precepts that belong to the substance of the Law are
those which relate to right conduct and are imposed on man already
subject and ready to obey: wherefore when the Law was given these
precepts were set forth from the very outset under the form of a
command.
Yet the precepts of hope and faith were not to be given under the
form of a command, since, unless man already believed and hoped, it
would be useless to give him the Law: but, just as the precept of
faith had to be given under the form of an announcement or reminder,
as stated above (Q. 16, A. 1), so too, the precept of hope, in the
first promulgation of the Law, had to be given under the form of a
promise. For he who promises rewards to them that obey him, by that
very fact, urges them to hope: hence all the promises contained in
the Law are incitements to hope.
Since, however, when once the Law has been given, it is for a wise
man to induce men not only to observe the precepts, but also, and
much more, to safeguard the foundation of the Law, therefore, after
the first promulgation of the Law, Holy Writ holds out to man many
inducements to hope, even by way of warning or command, and not
merely by way of promise, as in the Law; for instance, in the Ps.
61:9: "Hope [Douay: 'Trust'] in Him all ye congregation of the
people," and in many other passages of the Scriptures.
Reply Obj. 1: Nature inclines us to hope for the good which is
proportionate to human nature; but for man to hope for a supernatural
good he had to be induced by the authority of the Divine law, partly
by promises, partly by admonitions and commands. Nevertheless there
was need for precepts of the Divine law to be given even for those
things to which natural reason inclines us, such as the acts of the
moral virtues, for sake of insuring a greater stability, especially
since the natural reason of man was clouded by the lusts of sin.
Reply Obj. 2: The precepts of the law of the decalogue belong to the
first promulgation of the Law: hence there was no need for a precept
of hope among the precepts of the decalogue, and it was enough to
induce men to hope by the inclusion of certain promises, as in the
case of the first and fourth commandments.
Reply Obj. 3: In those observances to which man is bound as under a
duty, it is enough that he receive an affirmative precept as to what
he has to do, wherein is implied the prohibition of what he must
avoid doing: thus he is given a precept concerning the honor due to
parents, but not a prohibition against dishonoring them, except by
the law inflicting punishment on those who dishonor their parents.
And since in order to be saved it is man's duty to hope in God, he
had to be induced to do so by one of the above ways, affirmatively,
so to speak, wherein is implied the prohibition of the opposite.
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