ary,_ It is written (Isa. 11:2): "(The Spirit of the
Lord) shall rest upon him . . . the spirit of counsel, and of
fortitude."

_I answer that,_ As stated above (I-II, Q. 68, A. 1), the gifts of
the Holy Ghost are dispositions whereby the soul is rendered amenable
to the motion of the Holy Ghost. Now God moves everything according
to the mode of the thing moved: thus He moves the corporeal creature
through time and place, and the spiritual creature through time, but
not through place, as Augustine declares (Gen. ad lit. viii, 20, 22).
Again, it is proper to the rational creature to be moved through the
research of reason to perform any particular action, and this
research is called counsel. Hence the Holy Ghost is said to move the
rational creature by way of counsel, wherefore counsel is reckoned
among the gifts of the Holy Ghost.

Reply Obj. 1: Prudence or _euboulia_, whether acquired or infused,
directs man in the research of counsel according to principles that
the reason can grasp; hence prudence or _euboulia_ makes man take
good counsel either for himself or for another. Since, however, human
reason is unable to grasp the singular and contingent things which
may occur, the result is that "the thoughts of mortal men are
fearful, and our counsels uncertain" (Wis. 9:14). Hence in the
research of counsel, man requires to be directed by God who
comprehends all things: and this is done through the gift of counsel,
whereby man is directed as though counseled by God, just as, in human
affairs, those who are unable to take counsel for themselves, seek
counsel from those who are wiser.

Reply Obj. 2: That a man be of such good counsel as to counsel
others, may be due to a gratuitous grace; but that a man be
counselled by God as to what he ought to do in matters necessary for
salvation is common to all holy persons.

Reply Obj. 3: The children of God are moved by the Holy Ghost
according to their mode, without prejudice to their free-will which
is the "faculty of will and reason" [*Sent. iii, D, 24]. Accordingly
the gift of counsel is befitting the children of God in so far as the
reason is instructed by the Holy Ghost about what we have to do.
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SECOND ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 52, Art. 2]

Whether the Gift of Counsel Corresponds to the Virtue of Prudence?

Objection 1: It would seem that the gift of counsel does not
fittingly correspond to the virtue of prudence. For "the highest
point of that whic