Does the Old Law contain ceremonial precepts in addition to the moral precepts?
It seems that the Old Law does not contain ceremonial precepts in addition to the moral precepts: Objection 1: Every law that is given to men directs human acts. But as was explained above (q. 1, a. 3), human acts are called moral acts. Therefore, it seems that the Old Law given to men should have contained only moral precepts. Objection 2: Precepts called ceremonial seem to pertain to divine worship. But divine worship is an act of one of the virtues, viz., the virtue of religion, which, as Tully says in Rhetorica, offers worship and ceremony to the divine nature. Therefore, since, as has been explained (a. 2), the moral precepts are concerned with the acts of the virtues, it seems that the ceremonial precepts should not be distinguished from the moral precepts. Objection 3: The precepts that seem to be ceremonial are those which signify something in a figurative way. But as Augustine says in De Doctrina Christiana 2, Among men it is words that have attained preeminence in signifying.
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