Chapter 3 (93)
Distinction XXVI | 111 so charity is said to proceed from faith and hope because it cannot come to anyone without them.
DISTINCTION XX VI
Chapter | (91) 1. ON HOPE; WHAT IT IS. Hope is the virtue by which spiritual and eternal goods are hoped for, that is, they are awaited with trust. For there is a sure expectation of future blessedness, coming from God's grace and from merits which precede either the hope itself, which charity by nature precedes, or the thing hoped for, that is, eternal blessedness. Indeed, to hope for something in the absence of merits may be called presumption rather than hope.
Chapter 2 (92)
WITH WHAT HOPE IS CONCERNED.—AUGUSTINE, IN THE ENCHIRIDION.
Just like faith, so hope too concerns invisible things. Hence Augustine:
"We speak of faith with regard to those things which are not seen. Concerning hope too, it is said: Hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he sees?' That we do not see the things we believe, or those we hope for, is common to faith and hope."
Chapter 3 (93) IN WHAT HOPE AND FAITH DIFFER. "And yet faith is distinguished from hope not only because they are different terms, but also by a reasonable distinction. ... For faith concerns both evil and good things, because both are believed, and this by a good faith, and not an evil one. Faith is also concerned with past, present, and future things. And so we believe in Christ's death, which has already occurred; we believe that he is enthroned, which occurs now; we believe that he will come to judge, which is future. Moreover, faith concerns both one's own affairs and those of others. Each person, for example, believes that his existence had a beginning, and that he was not eternal; in religious matters, we also believe many, many things not only concerning other men, but also regarding angels. But hope concerns only good things, and only future things, and only things pertaining to the person who entertains the hope of them."
'Rom. 8, 24.
*Augustine, Enchiridion, c8.
'Augustine, Enchiridion, c8.