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Objection 1: It would seem that one angel can move another angel's
will. Because, according to Dionysius quoted above (Article 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.
Objection 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.
Objection 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 (Question 105, Article 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 (Question 105, Article 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 to Objection 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 (Article 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 to Objection 2: One angel can induce another to love God by
persuasion as explained above.
Reply to Objection 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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