received from Him also their good will by the Holy Spirit
imbuing them with love._
There is, then, no natural efficient cause, or, if I may be allowed
the expression, no essential cause, of the evil will, since itself
is the origin of evil in mutable spirits, by which the good of their
nature is diminished and corrupted; and the will is made evil by
nothing else than defection from God,--a defection of which the
cause, too, is certainly deficient. But as to the good will, if we
should say that there is no efficient cause of it, we must beware of
giving currency to the opinion that the good will of the good angels
is not created, but is co-eternal with God. For if they themselves
are created, how can we say that their good will was eternal? But
if created, was it created along with themselves, or did they exist
for a time without it? If along with themselves, then doubtless it
was created by Him who created them, and, as soon as ever they were
created, they attached themselves to Him who created them, with the
love He created in them. And they are separated from the society of
the rest, because they have continued in the same good will; while
the others have fallen away to another will, which is an evil one, by
the very fact of its being a falling away from the good; from which,
we may add, they would not have fallen away had they been unwilling
to do so. But if the good angels existed for a time without a good
will, and produced it in themselves without God's interference, then
it follows that they made themselves better than He made them. Away
with such a thought! For without a good will, what were they but
evil? Or if they were not evil, because they had not an evil will
any more than a good one (for they had not fallen away from that
which as yet they had not begun to enjoy), certainly they were not
the same, not so good, as when they came to have a good will. Or if
they could not make themselves better than they were made by Him
who is surpassed by none in His work, then certainly, without His
helpful operation, they could not come to possess that good will
which made them better. And though their good will effected that
they did not turn to themselves, who had a more stinted existence,
but to Him who supremely is, and that, being united to Him, their
own being was enlarged, and they lived a wise and blessed life by
His communications to them, what does this prove but that the will,
however good it might be, would have continued helplessly only to
desire Him, had not He who had made their nature out of nothing, and
yet capable of enjoying Him, first stimulated it to desire Him, and
then filled it with Himself, and so made it better?
Besides, this too has to be inquired into, whether, if the good
angels made their own will good, they did so with or without will?
If without, then it was not their doing. If with, was the will good
or bad? If bad, how could a bad will give birth to a good one? If
good, then already they had a good will. And who made this will,
which already they had, but He who created them with a good will,
or with that chaste love by which they cleaved to Him, in one and
the same act creating their nature, and endowing it with grace? And
thus we are driven to believe that the holy angels never existed
without a good will or the love of God. But the angels who, though
created good, are yet evil now, became so by their own will. And
this will was not made evil by their good nature, unless by its
voluntary defection from good; for good is not the cause of evil, but
a defection from good is. These angels, therefore, either received
less of the grace of the divine love than those who persevered in the
same; or if both were created equally good, then, while the one fell
by their evil will, the others were more abundantly assisted, and
attained to that pitch of blessedness at which they became certain
they should never fall from it,--as we have already shown in the
preceding book.[528] We must therefore acknowledge, with the praise
due to the Creator, that not only of holy men, but also of the holy
angels, it can be said that "the love of God is shed abroad in their
hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto them."[529] And that
not only of men, but primarily and principally of angels it is true,
as it is written, "It is good to draw near to God."[530] And those
who have this good in common, have, both with Him to whom they draw
near, and with one another, a holy fellowship, and form one city of
God--His living sacrifice, and His living temple. And I see that, as
I have now spoken of the rise of this city among the angels, it is
time to speak of the origin of that part of it which is hereafter
to be united to the immortal angels, and which at present is being
gathered from among mortal men, and is either sojourning on earth,
or, in the persons of those who have passed through death, is resting
in the secret receptacles and abodes of disembodied spirits. For
from one man, whom God created as the first, the whole human race
descended, according to the faith of Holy Scripture, which deservedly
is of wonderful authority among all nations throughout the world;
since, among its other true statements, it predicted, by its divine
foresight, that all nations would give credit to it.