Whether one angel moves another angel's will?
Objection 1: It would seem that one angel can move another angel's
will. Because, according to Dionysius quoted above (A. 1), as one
angel enlightens another, so does he cleanse and perfect another. But
cleansing and perfecting seem to belong to the will: for the former
seems to point to the stain of sin which appertains to will; while to
be perfected is to obtain an end, which is the object of the will.
Therefore an angel can move another angel's will.
Obj. 2: Further, as Dionysius says (Coel. Hier. vii): "The names of
the angels designate their properties." Now the Seraphim are so
called because they "kindle" or "give heat": and this is by love
which belongs to the will. Therefore one angel moves another angel's
will.
Obj. 3: Further, the Philosopher says (De Anima iii, 11) that the
higher appetite moves the lower. But as the intellect of the superior
angel is higher, so also is his will. It seems, therefore, that the
superior angel can change the will of another angel.
_On the contrary,_ To him it belongs to change the will, to whom it
belongs to bestow righteousness: for righteousness is the rightness
of the will. But God alone bestows righteousness. Therefore one angel
cannot change another angel's will.
_I answer that,_ As was said above (Q. 105, A. 4), the will is
changed in two ways; on the part of the object, and on the part of
the power. On the part of the object, both the good itself which is
the object of the will, moves the will, as the appetible moves the
appetite; and he who points out the object, as, for instance, one
who proves something to be good. But as we have said above (Q. 105,
A. 4), other goods in a measure incline the will, yet nothing
sufficiently moves the will save the universal good, and that is God.
And this good He alone shows, that it may be seen by the blessed,
Who, when Moses asked: "Show me Thy glory," answered: "I will show
thee all good" (Ex. 33:18, 19). Therefore an angel does not move the
will sufficiently, either as the object or as showing the object. But
he inclines the will as something lovable, and as manifesting some
created good ordered to God's goodness. And thus he can incline the
will to the love of the creature or of God, by way of persuasion.
But on the part of the power the will cannot be moved at all save by
God. For the operation of the will is a certain inclination of the
willer to the thing willed. And He alone can change this inclination,
Who bestowed on the creature the power to will: just as that agent
alone can change the natural inclination, which can give the power to
which follows that natural inclination. Now God alone gave to the
creature the power to will, because He alone is the author of the
intellectual nature. Therefore an angel cannot move another angel's
will.
Reply Obj. 1: Cleansing and perfecting are to be understood according
to the mode of enlightenment. And since God enlightens by changing
the intellect and will, He cleanses by removing defects of intellect
and will, and perfects unto the end of the intellect and will. But
the enlightenment caused by an angel concerns the intellect, as
explained above (A. 1); therefore an angel is to be understood as
cleansing from the defect of nescience in the intellect; and as
perfecting unto the consummate end of the intellect, and this is the
knowledge of truth. Thus Dionysius says (Eccl. Hier. vi): that "in
the heavenly hierarchy the chastening of the inferior essence is an
enlightening of things unknown, that leads them to more perfect
knowledge." For instance, we might say that corporeal sight is
cleansed by the removal of darkness; enlightened by the diffusion of
light; and perfected by being brought to the perception of the
colored object.
Reply Obj. 2: One angel can induce another to love God by persuasion
as explained above.
Reply Obj. 3: The Philosopher speaks of the lower sensitive appetite
which can be moved by the superior intellectual appetite, because it
belongs to the same nature of the soul, and because the inferior
appetite is a power in a corporeal organ. But this does not apply to
the angels.
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