Question XXX: Whether there is order in charity

I ASSERT that the objects to be loved are in a certain order from the will.

IT IS PROVED first by the Holy Doctors from 2 Kings, Ordinavit in me charitatem [He ordered charity in me].

Next it is proved by St. Bonaventure from St. Augustine, book I of de doctrina Christiana, cap. 23, where he says: God, who is above us, is to be loved first; yet he did not say this, speaking of being loved first in time; but in the order of excellence and estimation.

THIRDLY from St. Ambrose in the Gloss brought forward on the words of the Canticles: First God is to be loved, second we ourselves, third parents, then children, after them the household, who, if they are good, are to be preferred to wicked children.

IT IS PROVED fourthly by the Holy Doctor. Prior and posterior is according to relation to some principle, from Aristotle 5 Metaph. t. 16. and to an end. Now order includes in itself some mode of prior and posterior; whence it is necessary that, where there is some principle and some end, there also be some order: but Charity tends to rectify the will toward God as toward a principle and supreme end, in the communication of which the friendship of Charity is founded; and therefore it is necessary that in those things which are loved by charity some order be attended to according to relation to the principle, which is God, who is also the supreme good, which is beatitude. St. Thomas also uses this argument. It is proved more fully by St. Bonaventure in 2 dist. 35 art. 2 quest. 1. On this the others rely, with Tanner disput. 2 quest. 3 dub. 2.

IT IS PROVED fifthly by the Holy Doctor. One habit tends to one principal object, and to other things by order toward it: but Charity is one habit, having for its principal object the divine goodness, from what was said in q. 19. Therefore the other things loved are regarded as ordered toward it; and thus the principal object is God, to be loved first; then the rest. He repeats the same in the body, and ad 2.

IT IS PROVED sixthly by the Holy Doctor. Order is owed more to deliberative love than to natural love; but natural love is ordered with respect to the things lovable: Therefore.

IT IS PROVED seventhly. A bond rightly connecting many things to an end ought to bind them in order to the same end: but Charity is the bond of perfection, from 3 ad Colossenses and from St. Dionysius cap. 4 of de Divinis nominibus, and it binds many things together, being a most liberal love, embracing many diverse things to be gathered in the end: Therefore it unites them in order.

IT IS PROVED eighthly by the Holy Doctor. What weight is in bodies, love is in spirits, from St. Augustine book 13 of Confessions cap. 9, and book 21 of de civitate Dei cap. 28, and 6 of de Trinitate cap. 10. But weight ought to be well balanced: Therefore also love.

You will OBJECT first. Where there is order, there is distinction; but charity with respect to diverse things is one: Therefore it is not ordered.

St. Doctor RESPONDS that order in a habit is attended to in relation to the object; and although charity is not multiple in itself, it nevertheless has many material objects and many acts, by reason of which there are many precepts.

You will OBJECT secondly. Where there is order, there is proportion; but among things lovable there is no proportion; for between the created and the uncreated there is none: Therefore.

St. Doctor RESPONDS that proportion is twofold. One is proportion properly so called, which is the commensuration of things of the same genus, and in this sense the major is false. Secondly, proportion is said broadly, and is any relation which is attended to according to the convenience of analogy; and in this way there is a proportion of created good to the uncreated, and also an order according to the ratio of primitiveness and causality; for the end is more worthy than those things which are toward the end, and in this respect order is attended to in Charity.

You will OBJECT thirdly. Order pertains to cognition, because it belongs to the wise to order: Therefore if order is not placed in cognition with respect to things to be known, much less ought it to be placed in Charity with respect to things to be loved. If you say that order is in the sciences. Against this: for charity follows the cognition of faith; but in its objects there is no order: Therefore.

St. Doctor RESPONDS that there are two kinds of order. The first is of parts in a whole, and of things in the universe: and indeed to order belongs to the intellect. The other is the order of things toward an end, and this is from the will, which tends toward the good, and thus toward the end; and such is the order of Charity.

He RESPONDS secondly that order in habits is attended to in relation to the objects; and because the Supreme Goodness by essence, with respect to the other things lovable, which are participative, is deservedly to be esteemed of more worth; and among those things lovable some participate more or less of goodness, as body less than spirit: hence it is that the love of charity ought to be ordered according to these. For thus also among things knowable there is order: first are the first principles, in which there is the greater evidence of truth; then the knowledge of conclusions follows; and so the assumption can be denied. Nor is it the same with faith; for all the articles are compared equally to the First Truth, from whose revelation all are believed uniformly.

You will OBJECT fourthly. Just as in faith there is one ratio of believing, namely the supreme truth; so in Charity there is one ratio of loving, which is the supreme goodness: but from the fact that the Truth, which is the ratio of believing, is one, Faith is one, assenting equally to all the articles: therefore from the fact that there is one ratio of loving, charity is one, having itself in the same way toward all things lovable.

St. Doctor RESPONDS that the ratio is dissimilar, for in Charity the objects terminating the affection are unequal, even if all are reduced to one.

You will OBJECT fifthly. Charity is one habit, naturally inclining to the good: therefore equally; for the same thing, always remaining the same, does the same.

St. Doctor RESPONDS that one thing always does the same given an equal disposition in natural objects; otherwise it acts diversely. Thus the sun illumines crystal more than stone; but the will is a potency acting by election, which is ruled by charity, and is itself also moved; it does not, however, remain always the same. Moreover it regards objects lovable in a diverse manner and degree.

You will OBJECT sixthly. If order is attended to in Charity, it is attended to either with respect to the habit or with respect to the act; not with respect to the habit, which is altogether one: if with respect to the act: then it is not ordered in a baptized infant, or in one sleeping, who have no act. Therefore I ask, what is attended to in the order of charity? and why is order attended to in it more than in the other virtues, since every virtue is ordered love, as St. Augustine says in de moribus Ecclesiae? And again, since about every good there are mode, species, and order, why is charity rather said to be ordered than moderated?

St. Doctor RESPONDS that order is attended to in the habit, in relation to the objects. Charity is therefore chiefly said to be ordered, because it is the weight whose it is to balance, and the bond of perfection, whose it is to gather all things in order.