tinct virtue from those
observances, whether _dulia_ or piety, whereby we honour our neighbour.
Hence it is not a special virtue.

But the object of love is a _good_ thing; whereas the object of
honour or reverence is what is _excellent_. But it is God's
Goodness that is communicated to His creatures, not the
excellence of His Goodness. Hence while the charity wherewith we
love God is not a distinct virtue from the charity wherewith we
love our neighbour, yet the religion whereby we honour God is
distinct from the virtues whereby we honour our neighbour.

V

Is Religion One of the Theological Virtues?

Religion is considered a part of Justice, and this is a moral virtue.

Religion is the virtue whereby we offer to God His due honour. Two
things have therefore to be considered in religion. First we have to
consider what religion offers God, namely, worship: this may be regarded
as the material and the object with which religion is concerned.
Secondly, we have to consider Him to Whom it is offered, namely, God
Himself. Now, when worship is offered to God it is not as though our
worshipful acts touched God, though this is the case when we believe
God, for by believing in God we touch Him (and we have therefore said
elsewhere[57] that God is the object of our faith not simply inasmuch as
we believe in God, but inasmuch as we believe God). Due worship,
however, is offered to God in that certain acts whereby we worship Him
are performed as homage to Him, the offering sacrifice, for instance,
and so forth. From all which it is evident that God does not stand to
the virtue of religion as its object or as the material with which it is
concerned, but as its goal. And consequently religion is not a
theological virtue, for the object of these latter is the ultimate end;
but religion is a moral virtue, and the moral virtues are concerned with
the means to the end.

But some regard religion as a theological virtue, thus:

1. S. Augustine says[58]: "God is worshipped by faith, hope, and
charity," and these are theological virtues. But to offer worship to God
comes under religion. Therefore religion is a theological virtue.

But it is always the case that a faculty or a virtue whose
object is a certain end, controls--by commanding--those
faculties or virtues which have to do with those things which
are means to that end. But the theological virtues--_i.e._,
faith, hope, and ch