love, the nature of which does not include imperfection,
since it may relate to an object either possessed or not possessed,
either seen or not seen. Therefore charity is not done away by the
perfection of glory, but remains identically the same.

Reply Obj. 1: The imperfection of charity is accidental to it;
because imperfection is not included in the nature of love. Now
although that which is accidental to a thing be withdrawn, the
substance remains. Hence the imperfection of charity being done away,
charity itself is not done away.

Reply Obj. 2: The object of charity is not knowledge itself;
if it were, the charity of the wayfarer would not be the same as the
charity of heaven: its object is the thing known, which remains the
same, viz. God Himself.

Reply Obj. 3: The reason why charity of the wayfarer cannot
attain to the perfection of the charity of heaven, is a difference on
the part of the cause: for vision is a cause of love, as stated in
_Ethic._ ix, 5: and the more perfectly we know God, the more perfectly
we love Him.
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QUESTION 68

OF THE GIFTS
(In Eight Articles)

We now come to consider the Gifts; under which head there are eight
points of inquiry:

(1) Whether the Gifts differ from the virtues?

(2) Of the necessity of the Gifts?

(3) Whether the Gifts are habits?

(4) Which, and how many are they?

(5) Whether the Gifts are connected?

(6) Whether they remain in heaven?

(7) Of their comparison with one another;

(8) Of their comparison with the virtues.
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FIRST ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 68, Art. 1]

Whether the Gifts Differ from the Virtues?

Objection 1: It would seem that the gifts do not differ from the
virtues. For Gregory commenting on Job 1:2, "There were born to him
seven sons," says (Moral. i, 12): "Seven sons were born to us, when
through the conception of heavenly thought, the seven virtues of the
Holy Ghost take birth in us": and he quotes the words of Isa. 11:2,
3: "And the Spirit . . . of understanding . . . shall rest upon him,"
etc. where the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost are enumerated.
Therefore the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost are virtues.

Obj. 2: Further, Augustine commenting on Matt. 12:45, "Then he goeth
and taketh with him seven other spirits," etc., says (De Quaest.
Evang. i, qu. 8): "The seven vices are opposed to the seven virtues
of the Holy Ghost," i.e. to the seven gifts. Now the seven vices are
opposed to