Part I (Prima Pars) Part 95 (2/2)
Reply Obj. 2: The angel is above the time of corporeal things; hence the various instants regarding the angels are not to be taken except as reckoning the succession of their acts. Now their act which merited beat.i.tude could not be in them simultaneously with the act of beat.i.tude, which is fruition; since the one belongs to imperfect grace, and the other to consummate grace. Consequently, it remains for different instants to be conceived, in one of which the angel merited beat.i.tude, and in another was beatified.
Reply Obj. 3: It is of the nature of an angel instantly to attain the perfection unto which he is ordained. Consequently, only one meritorious act is required; which act can so far be called an interval as through it the angel is brought to beat.i.tude.
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SIXTH ARTICLE [I, Q. 62, Art. 6]
Whether the Angels Receive Grace and Glory According to the Degree of Their Natural Gifts?
Objection 1: It would seem that the angels did not receive grace and glory according to the degree of their natural gifts. For grace is bestowed of G.o.d's absolute will. Therefore the degree of grace depends on G.o.d's will, and not on the degree of their natural gifts.
Obj. 2: Further, a moral act seems to be more closely allied with grace than nature is; because a moral act is preparatory to grace.
But grace does not come ”of works,” as is said Rom. 11:6. Therefore much less does the degree of grace depend upon the degree of their natural gifts.
Obj. 3: Further, man and angel are alike ordained for beat.i.tude or grace. But man does not receive more grace according to the degree of his natural gifts. Therefore neither does the angel.
_On the contrary,_ Is the saying of the Master of the Sentences (Sent. ii, D, 3) that ”those angels who were created with more subtle natures and of keener intelligence in wisdom, were likewise endowed with greater gifts of grace.”
_I answer that,_ It is reasonable to suppose that gifts of graces and perfection of beat.i.tude were bestowed on the angels according to the degree of their natural gifts. The reason for this can be drawn from two sources. First of all, on the part of G.o.d, Who, in the order of His wisdom, established various degrees in the angelic nature. Now as the angelic nature was made by G.o.d for attaining grace and beat.i.tude, so likewise the grades of the angelic nature seem to be ordained for the various degrees of grace and glory; just as when, for example, the builder chisels the stones for building a house, from the fact that he prepares some more artistically and more fittingly than others, it is clear that he is setting them apart for the more ornate part of the house. So it seems that G.o.d destined those angels for greater gifts of grace and fuller beat.i.tude, whom He made of a higher nature.
Secondly, the same is evident on the part of the angel. The angel is not a compound of different natures, so that the inclination of the one thwarts or r.e.t.a.r.ds the tendency of the other; as happens in man, in whom the movement of his intellective part is either r.e.t.a.r.ded or thwarted by the inclination of his sensitive part. But when there is nothing to r.e.t.a.r.d or thwart it, nature is moved with its whole energy.
So it is reasonable to suppose that the angels who had a higher nature, were turned to G.o.d more mightily and efficaciously. The same thing happens in men, since greater grace and glory are bestowed according to the greater earnestness of their turning to G.o.d. Hence it appears that the angels who had the greater natural powers, had the more grace and glory.
Reply Obj. 1: As grace comes of G.o.d's will alone, so likewise does the nature of the angel: and as G.o.d's will ordained nature for grace, so did it ordain the various degrees of nature to the various degrees of grace.
Reply Obj. 2: The acts of the rational creature are from the creature itself; whereas nature is immediately from G.o.d. Accordingly it seems rather that grace is bestowed according to degree of nature than according to works.
Reply Obj. 3: Diversity of natural gifts is in one way in the angels, who are themselves different specifically; and in quite another way in men, who differ only numerically. For specific difference is on account of the end; while numerical difference is because of the matter. Furthermore, there is something in man which can thwart or impede the movement of his intellective nature; but not in the angels. Consequently the argument is not the same for both.
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SEVENTH ARTICLE [I, Q. 62, Art. 7]
Whether Natural Knowledge and Love Remain in the Beatified Angels?
Objection 1: It would seem that natural knowledge and love do not remain in the beatified angels. For it is said (1 Cor. 13:10): ”When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” But natural love and knowledge are imperfect in comparison with beatified knowledge and love. Therefore, in beat.i.tude, natural knowledge and love cease.
Obj. 2: Further, where one suffices, another is superfluous. But the knowledge and love of glory suffice for the beatified angels.
Therefore it would be superfluous for their natural knowledge and love to remain.
Obj. 3: Further, the same faculty has not two simultaneous acts, as the same line cannot, at the same end, be terminated in two points.
But the beatified angels are always exercising their beatified knowledge and love; for, as is said _Ethic._ i, 8, happiness consists not in habit, but in act. Therefore there can never be natural knowledge and love in the angels.
_On the contrary,_ So long as a nature endures, its operation remains. But beat.i.tude does not destroy nature, since it is its perfection. Therefore it does not take away natural knowledge and love.
_I answer that,_ Natural knowledge and love remain in the angels. For as principles of operations are mutually related, so are the operations themselves. Now it is manifest that nature is to beat.i.tude as first to second; because beat.i.tude is superadded to nature. But the first must ever be preserved in the second. Consequently nature must be preserved in beat.i.tude: and in like manner the act of nature must be preserved in the act of beat.i.tude.
Reply Obj. 1: The advent of a perfection removes the opposite imperfection. Now the imperfection of nature is not opposed to the perfection of beat.i.tude, but underlies it; as the imperfection of the power underlies the perfection of the form, and the power is not taken away by the form, but the privation which is opposed to the form. In the same way, the imperfection of natural knowledge is not opposed to the perfection of the knowledge in glory; for nothing hinders us from knowing a thing through various mediums, as a thing may be known at the one time through a probable medium and through a demonstrative one. In like manner, an angel can know G.o.d by His essence, and this appertains to his knowledge of glory; and at the same time he can know G.o.d by his own essence, which belongs to his natural knowledge.
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