cation of the Law might be fulfilled in us."

With regard to good men, the Law was given to them as a help; which
was most needed by the people, at the time when the natural law began
to be obscured on account of the exuberance of sin: for it was
fitting that this help should be bestowed on men in an orderly
manner, so that they might be led from imperfection to perfection;
wherefore it was becoming that the Old Law should be given between
the law of nature and the law of grace.

Reply Obj. 1: It was not fitting for the Old Law to be given at once
after the sin of the first man: both because man was so confident in
his own reason, that he did not acknowledge his need of the Old Law;
because as yet the dictate of the natural law was not darkened by
habitual sinning.

Reply Obj. 2: A law should not be given save to the people, since it
is a general precept, as stated above (Q. 90, AA. 2, 3); wherefore at
the time of Abraham God gave men certain familiar, and, as it were,
household precepts: but when Abraham's descendants had multiplied, so
as to form a people, and when they had been freed from slavery, it
was fitting that they should be given a law; for "slaves are not that
part of the people or state to which it is fitting for the law to be
directed," as the Philosopher says (Polit. iii, 2, 4, 5).

Reply Obj. 3: Since the Law had to be given to the people, not only
those, of whom Christ was born, received the Law, but the whole
people, who were marked with the seal of circumcision, which was the
sign of the promise made to Abraham, and in which he believed,
according to Rom. 4:11: hence even before David, the Law had to be
given to that people as soon as they were collected together.
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QUESTION 99

OF THE PRECEPTS OF THE OLD LAW
(In Six Articles)

We must now consider the precepts of the Old Law; and (1) how they
are distinguished from one another; (2) each kind of precept. Under
the first head there are six points of inquiry:

(1) Whether the Old Law contains several precepts or only one?

(2) Whether the Old Law contains any moral precepts?

(3) Whether it contains ceremonial precepts in addition to the moral
precepts?

(4) Whether besides these it contains judicial precepts?

(5) Whether it contains any others besides these?

(6) How the Old Law induced men to keep its precepts.
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FIRST ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 99, Art. 1]

Whether the Old Law Contains Only