tablish man in friendship
with God. Now since likeness is the reason of love, according to
Ecclus. 13:19: "Every beast loveth its like"; there cannot possibly
be any friendship of man to God, Who is supremely good, unless man
become good: wherefore it is written (Lev. 19:2; 11:45): "You shall
be holy, for I am holy." But the goodness of man is virtue, which
"makes its possessor good" (Ethic. ii, 6). Therefore it was necessary
for the Old Law to include precepts about acts of virtue: and these
are the moral precepts of the Law.

Reply Obj. 1: The Old Law is distinct from the natural law, not as
being altogether different from it, but as something added thereto.
For just as grace presupposes nature, so must the Divine law
presuppose the natural law.

Reply Obj. 2: It was fitting that the Divine law should come to man's
assistance not only in those things for which reason is insufficient,
but also in those things in which human reason may happen to be
impeded. Now human reason could not go astray in the abstract, as to
the universal principles of the natural law; but through being
habituated to sin, it became obscured in the point of things to be
done in detail. But with regard to the other moral precepts, which
are like conclusions drawn from the universal principles of the
natural law, the reason of many men went astray, to the extend of
judging to be lawful, things that are evil in themselves. Hence there
was need for the authority of the Divine law to rescue man from both
these defects. Thus among the articles of faith not only are those
things set forth to which reason cannot reach, such as the Trinity of
the Godhead; but also those to which right reason can attain, such as
the Unity of the Godhead; in order to remove the manifold errors to
which reason is liable.

Reply Obj. 3: As Augustine proves (De Spiritu et Litera xiv), even
the letter of the law is said to be the occasion of death, as to the
moral precepts; in so far as, to wit, it prescribes what is good,
without furnishing the aid of grace for its fulfilment.
________________________

THIRD ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 99, Art. 3]

Whether the Old Law Comprises Ceremonial, Besides Moral, Precepts?

Objection 1: It would seem that the Old Law does not comprise
ceremonial, besides moral, precepts. For every law that is given to
man is for the purpose of directing human actions. Now human actions
are called moral, as stated above (Q. 1, A. 3). Therefore it seems
t