Liber Quintus, Caput V. Gratias ac dotes Angelorum a Deo in ipsos derivari.

Liber Quintus, Caput V. Gratias ac dotes Angelorum a Deo in ipsos derivari.

The same Spirit who created them has given all these things to those spirits. These things work in them; He also gave them the ability to work, but in a different way. The Seraphim burn, but with the fire of God—or rather, with the fire that belongs to God. What is chief among them is their love, but not as much as God's, nor in the same way. The Cherubim shine, and knowledge is eminent, but through participation in truth; and so they do not shine as Truth does, nor as much. The Thrones sit, but they do so by the benefit of the one who sits upon them. They also judge with tranquility, but not according to the measure or manner of the peace of the one who makes peace—the peace that surpasses all understanding. The Dominations rule, but they are ruled under the Lord, serving together. What does any of this have to do with that highest, everlasting, singular sovereignty? The Principalities preside and govern, but they too are governed, so that they would no longer know how to govern if they stopped being governed. In the Powers there is outstanding strength, but they owe the fact that they are strong, and strength is something else, and something more; nor is anyone as strong as Strength itself. The Virtues, for their part, work hard by their power to rouse the sluggish hearts of human beings through the display of signs, but the Power dwelling within them does the real work. They do something too, but compared with God they do nothing. In short, the difference is so great that the prophet can say to God, as if to one alone: 'You are the God who does wonders'; and the same Scripture says of God, 'who does great wonders alone.'^✦ Angels and Archangels are present with us, but God is closer to us, present not merely alongside us but dwelling within. If you should say that an angel, too, can be present within, I don't deny it. I recall the Scripture: And the angel who was speaking in me.^✦1 But there is a difference even in this. An angel is present, suggesting good things but not forcing them; God is present, urging toward the good but not overriding the will.² God is present in such a way as to move the soul, to pour himself into it — or rather, to be poured out and shared — so that no one would dare say the divine Spirit is one with our spirit, even if there is one person and one substance.³ For you have the word: Whoever clings to God is one spirit.^✦4 An angel is with the soul; God is in the soul. The one is present as the soul's companion; God is present as its life. So just as the soul sees with the eyes, hears with the ears, smells with the nose, tastes with the palate, and touches with the rest of the body, so God works different things in different spirits: for instance, revealing himself as loving in some, as knowing in others, and as doing yet other things in others, just as the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for its proper use.^✦ Who is this who is so common in our words, yet so far beyond in reality? How can the one we speak about with our words, hidden in his own majesty, utterly escape both our sight and our grasp? Listen to what he himself says to us. "As the heavens are high above the earth, so my ways are high above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts."^✦ We are said to love, and God is love; we are said to know, and God is knowledge; and so on in many ways. But God loves as charity, knows as truth, sits enthroned as equity, rules as majesty, guides as the source, guards as salvation, works as power, reveals as light, and stands by as devotion. Angels do all these things, and so do we — but in a far lesser way, not certainly as the good that we are, but as those who share in it.