speaking,
in the will; hence promptness of the will subject to authority,
suffices for the act of obedience, because it is the proper and
direct object of obedience. But this or that precept is accidental
or consequent to that proper and direct object.
_______________________

SIXTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 2, Art. 6]

Whether All Are Equally Bound to Have Explicit Faith?

Objection 1: It would seem that all are equally bound to have
explicit faith. For all are bound to those things which are necessary
for salvation, as is evidenced by the precepts of charity. Now it is
necessary for salvation that certain things should be believed
explicitly. Therefore all are equally bound to have explicit faith.

Obj. 2: Further, no one should be put to test in matters that he is
not bound to believe. But simple persons are sometimes tested in
reference to the slightest articles of faith. Therefore all are
bound to believe everything explicitly.

Obj. 3: Further, if the simple are bound to have, not explicit but
only implicit faith, their faith must needs be implied in the faith
of the learned. But this seems unsafe, since it is possible for the
learned to err. Therefore it seems that the simple should also have
explicit faith; so that all are, therefore, equally bound to have
explicit faith.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Job 1:14): "The oxen were
ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them," because, as Gregory
expounds this passage (Moral. ii, 17), the simple, who are signified
by the asses, ought, in matters of faith, to stay by the learned, who
are denoted by the oxen.

_I answer that,_ The unfolding of matters of faith is the result of
Divine revelation: for matters of faith surpass natural reason. Now
Divine revelation reaches those of lower degree through those who are
over them, in a certain order; to men, for instance, through the
angels, and to the lower angels through the higher, as Dionysius
explains (Coel. Hier. iv, vii). In like manner therefore the unfolding
of faith must needs reach men of lower degree through those of higher
degree. Consequently, just as the higher angels, who enlighten those
who are below them, have a fuller knowledge of Divine things than the
lower angels, as Dionysius states (Coel. Hier. xii), so too, men of
higher degree, whose business it is to teach others, are under
obligation to have fuller knowledge of matters of faith, and to
believe them more explicitly.

Reply Obj. 1: The unf