s that
appear not," according to the Apostle (Heb. 11:2), and since "by faith
we believe what we see not," according to Augustine (Tract. xl in
Joan.; QQ. Evang. ii, qu. 39), that manifestation alone excludes
faith, which renders apparent or seen the principal object of faith.
Now the principal object of faith is the First Truth, the sight of
which gives the happiness of heaven and takes the place of faith.
Consequently, as the angels before their confirmation in grace, and
man before sin, did not possess the happiness whereby God is seen in
His Essence, it is evident that the knowledge they possessed was not
such as to exclude faith.

It follows then, that the absence of faith in them could only be
explained by their being altogether ignorant of the object of faith.
And if man and the angels were created in a purely natural state, as
some [*St. Bonaventure, Sent. ii, D, 29] hold, perhaps one might hold
that there was no faith in the angels before their confirmation in
grace, or in man before sin, because the knowledge of faith surpasses
not only a man's but even an angel's natural knowledge about God.

Since, however, we stated in the First Part (Q. 62, A. 3; Q. 95, A.
1) that man and the angels were created with the gift of grace, we
must needs say that there was in them a certain beginning of
hoped-for happiness, by reason of grace received but not yet
consummated, which happiness was begun in their will by hope and
charity, and in the intellect by faith, as stated above (Q. 4, A. 7).
Consequently we must hold that the angels had faith before they were
confirmed, and man, before he sinned. Nevertheless we must observe
that in the object of faith, there is something formal, as it were,
namely the First Truth surpassing all the natural knowledge of a
creature, and something material, namely, the thing to which we
assent while adhering to the First Truth. With regard to the former,
before obtaining the happiness to come, faith is common to all who
have knowledge of God, by adhering to the First Truth: whereas with
regard to the things which are proposed as the material object of
faith, some are believed by one, and known manifestly by another,
even in the present state, as we have shown above (Q. 1, A. 5; Q. 2,
A. 4, ad 2). In this respect, too, it may be said that the angels
before being confirmed, and man, before sin, possessed manifest
knowledge about certain points in the Divine mysteries, which now we
cannot kno