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Objection 1: It would seem that penance is the first of the
virtues. Because, on Mt. 3:2, "Do penance," etc., a gloss
says: "The first virtue is to destroy the old man, and hate sin by
means of penance."
Objection 2: Further, withdrawal from one extreme seems to precede
approach to the other. Now all the other virtues seem to regard
approach to a term, because they all direct man to do good; whereas
penance seems to direct him to withdraw from evil. Therefore it seems
that penance precedes all the other virtues.
Objection 3: Further, before penance, there is sin in the soul.
Now no virtue is compatible with sin in the soul. Therefore no virtue
precedes penance, which is itself the first of all and opens the door
to the others by expelling sin.
On the contrary, Penance results from faith, hope, and charity, as
already stated (Articles 2,5). Therefore penance is not the
first of the virtues.
I answer that, In speaking of the virtues, we do not consider the
order of time with regard to the habits, because, since the virtues
are connected with one another, as stated in the FS, Question
65, Article 1, they all begin at the same time to be in the soul;
but one is said to precede the other in the order of nature, which
order depends on the order of their acts, in so far as the act of one
virtue presupposes the act of another. Accordingly, then, one must
say that, even in the order of time, certain praiseworthy acts can
precede the act and the habit of penance, e.g. acts of dead faith and
hope, and an act of servile fear; while the act and habit of charity
are, in point of time, simultaneous with the act and habit of
penance, and with the habits of the other virtues. For, as was
stated in the FS, Question 113, Articles 7,8, in the
justification of the ungodly, the movement of the free-will towards
God, which is an act of faith quickened by charity, and the movement
of the free-will towards sin, which is the act of penance, are
simultaneous. Yet of these two acts, the former naturally precedes
the latter, because the act of the virtue of penance is directed
against sin, through love of God; where the first-mentioned act is
the reason and cause of the second.
Consequently penance is not simply the first of the virtues, either in
the order of time, or in the order of nature, because, in the order
of nature, the theological virtues precede it simply. Nevertheless,
in a certain respect, it is the first of the other virtues in the order
of time, as regards its act, because this act is the first in the
justification of the ungodly; whereas in the order of nature, the
other virtues seem to precede, as that which is natural precedes that
which is accidental; because the other virtues seem to be necessary for
man's good, by reason of their very nature, whereas penance is only
necessary if something, viz. sin, be presupposed, as stated above
(Question 55, Article 2), when we spoke of the relation of the
sacrament of penance to the other sacraments aforesaid.
Reply to Objection 1: This gloss is to be taken as meaning that the
act of penance is the first in point of time, in comparison with the
acts of the other virtues.
Reply to Objection 2: In successive movements withdrawal from one
extreme precedes approach to the other, in point of time; and also in
the order of nature, if we consider the subject, i.e. the order of
the material cause; but if we consider the order of the efficient and
final causes, approach to the end is first, for it is this that the
efficient cause intends first of all: and it is this order which we
consider chiefly in the acts of the soul, as stated in Phys. ii.
Reply to Objection 3: Penance opens the door to the other virtues,
because it expels sin by the virtues of faith, hope and charity, which
precede it in the order of nature; yet it so opens the door to them
that they enter at the same time as it: because, in the justification
of the ungodly, at the same time as the free-will is moved towards
God and against sin, the sin is pardoned and grace infused, and with
grace all the virtues, as stated in the FS, Question 65,
Articles 3,5.
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