Chapter 9 (82)
102 | THE SENTENCES, BOOK 3
called the foundation,' not because faith can be a virtue without hope and charity.—AUGUSTINE, IN THE ENCHIRIDION. Hence Augustine: "Faith working through love? certainly cannot exist without hope, nor love without hope, nor hope without love, nor either without faith, and faith without love avails nothing."®'
3. And yet something may be believed which is not hoped for; but nothing can be hoped for which is not believed. And so to believe, which is an act of faith, naturally precedes hoping, which is an act of hope, because unless something is believed, it cannot be hoped for; but something is believed which is not hoped for. That is why in Scripture it is frequently found that faith precedes hope, and hope follows faith;* not that the virtue of faith precedes the virtue of hope temporally or causally, but because the act of faith naturally precedes the act of hope. Some even grant this of the virtue of faith itself, that it precedes hope naturally, and not in time.
Chapter 9 (82) 1. WHY FAITH ALONE IS CALLED THE FOUNDATION. And so faith is rightly alone called the foundation of all virtues and good works.
2. And yet it is not the foundation of charity, because faith is not the cause of charity; it is rather charity which is the cause of the virtue of faith itself. For charity is the cause and mother of all virtues.' (AUGUSTINE, ON JOHN:) "If it is wanting, in vain do we have other things; if it is present, we have all other things.' For charity is the Holy Spirit, as has been set out above.' And so it is the cause of all virtues, and no other virtue is the cause of it, because it excels all gifts. Hence Augustine:
"Look at the gifts of the Church, and you will acknowledge that the gift of charity is more excellent than all the others";* "like oil, charity cannot be pressed to the bottom, but springs to the top."° And so faith is not the cause or foundation of it.
3. GREGORY. Nevertheless Gregory, in On Ezechiel, says "that unless faith is held first, no progress is made toward spiritual love. For charity does not precede faith, but faith charity, because no one can love what he
4See above, c3 nn2-3.
°Cf Galan:
S@ialeCormbas:
'Cf. Augustine, Enchiridion, c8.
A Gorelanls:
'See above, c3 n2.
Augustine, /n Joannem, tr. 9 n8.
Bk 1 dist. 17.
"Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, on Ps. 103, 3, sermon | n9.
*Augustine, /n Joannem, tr. 6 n20.
Distinction XXIV | 103 has not believed,""® just as he cannot hope for it—But this can be taken to be said of that faith which is not a virtue, for it frequently precedes hope and charity. Or of the act of faith, which perhaps naturally precedes the act of charity, as it does the act of hope. Indeed, the words quoted, if rightly noted, seem to indicate this, as do the ones which he adds, saying:
"Unless you believe the things which you hear, you are not enflamed to love them,"' which concerns only things not seen, as we said earlier.8—
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. Hence Chrysostom: "Faith makes to exist in our soul those things which are not seen," with which faith is properly concerned; as to things which are seen, it is not faith, but knowledge.
DISTINCTION XXIV
Chapter | (83)
1. HOW THAT TEXT: WHEN IT COMES TO PASS, YOU MAY BELIEVE, IS TO BE
UNDERSTOOD. Here it is asked: if faith is only of things not seen, how did Truth say to the Apostles: J tell you now, before it comes to pass, so that when it comes to pass, you may believe,' where it seems to be indicated that their faith concerned things done and seen?
2. AUGUSTINE, ON JOHN. In commenting on this text, Augustine raises the question and answers it as follows: "What can he mean by this: So that when it comes to pass, you may believe? The praise of faith is this: if that which is believed is not seen. Indeed, even Thomas—to whom it was said: Because you have seen, and you have believed '—did not believe that which he saw. For he saw and touched the living flesh, which he had seen dying, and he believed God to be hidden in that flesh. And so he believed with the mind what he did not see by that which was apparent to the senses of his body. Although things that are seen are said to be believed, just as every one says that he believes his own eyes, this is not the same faith which is built up in us; but from the things that are seen, it happens in us that we believe those which are not seen."'—From these words, it is plainly understood that faith properly is not of things which are apparent; nor is the faith by which we are built up in Christ that by which we Say, in customary speech, that we believe what we see.
°Gregory, In Ezechielem, bk 2 hom. 4 n13.
Ibid.
5In c7, above.
*John Chrysostom, /n Hebraeos, hom. 21 n2. yn 14, 29, Jn. 20, 29.
>Augustine, /n Joannem, tr. 79 nl.