From the second argument of the preceding conclusion it is now nearly clear what must be answered. Yet [let me speak] still more distinctly.
I say. I. The Angels, to whom this office has been committed by God — to move the heavens and the stars — could indeed by their own power and freedom desist from [that] motion; but inasmuch as they are now holy and blessed, in no way can they [do so], unless God should command otherwise, because they cannot transgress God’s will and precepts, nor lose their own felicity. And both [these] would happen if they neglected the committed work. And the loss of felicity does not arise from that which Aristotle hints at in Metaphysics 12, chapter 7, text 38 — as if [the Angels] either did not imitate the first cause of all things, which by itself, immediately and entirely, moves the first heaven
(for whether Aristotle meant this or not, it is false, as the Coimbrans show, On the Heavens book 2, question 6); nor [does it arise] because they would be less partakers of His beloved goodness if, through that motion, they did not pour something of good into the corporeal world, as Abulensis explains Aristotle here (question 82) — for they can be partakers of the divine goodness in various other ways, and can communicate their own power and good to creatures when it so seems [good] to them — but [the loss of felicity arises] from this, that, deflecting from God’s prescript, they would be justly punished and deprived of that greatest good of felicity.
II. The same Angels, the turners of the heavens, when God wills [it] and signifies [it] to them, can make an end of turning [the heavens], and so delay the Sun and Moon, and fix [them] in a certain position. And that this was in fact done here is clear also from what has [already] been said.
III. All the other holy Angels, who are greater and more sublime than these very turners [of the heavens], can by their own power and strength break and impede the impulse of those [turners], [and] hold back the heavens and stars from their wonted course, those [turners] being unwilling and resisting; yet they never either do this, or can now morally do it. The former part is clear from the proportion of greater powers to lesser. Just as, if a weaker man should wish to move a staff, and should try with all his might, but another much stronger than he should be unwilling and resist, the staff will remain unmoved: so too in the motion of the heavens, if a greater Angel should resist a lesser. The latter part is had from the reasoning of the first conclusion.
But that it may be clearer: I object that any other Angels can resist the Angels set over the celestial motions. For in Daniel 10, verse 13, the Angel-prince of the kingdom of the Persians, for some advantage of the Persians themselves, resists Gabriel — and so vehemently that, unless St. Michael had brought him aid and help, the good Gabriel would have had to succumb and be conquered (same chapter, verses 13, 20, & 21). In the same way, then, let us suppose, for example’s sake, that in the wars in which God sometimes willed the Israelites to be conquered, it was expedient that — to the favor of the enemy whose prince was some Angel — the day should be prolonged [and] the night shortened: could not that [Angel], against the will of the turners of the stars and heavens, rein in the Sun and Moon, and set [them] somewhere without all motion? I answer that he could not. Because in those [matters] in which they do not have the divine will clearly perceived, the Angels can, each according to his own office and holy zeal, resist — as did those who are set against [the Angels] of the Israelites and the prefects of the Persians; but in those [matters] in which the divine will is known to them, [they can] in no way dissent and fight, neither [against] God nor among themselves. Otherwise all those disadvantages of sin and punishment which were [stated] in the reasoning of the first conclusion must necessarily be incurred. But now, what is more clearly perceived by all the Angels than the general canons of divine providence in governing the world? Than the fixed and ratified axioms of governing the world? Than the decrees ever kept, since the founding of the world, in the motion of the heavens? Therefore, to do or attempt anything against these — unless the Lord Himself should command otherwise — has never been permitted to any Angel, nor is it [permitted]; nor [is it permitted any Angel], in restraining the heavenly orbs, to display force and effort against the will of the other Angels who turn them.
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