Dist. 4, Art. 3, Q. 2
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/2/d/4/q/bon-sent-II-d4-a3-q2
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### QUESTION II. *Whether the Angels now have evening knowledge.*

Secondly it is asked concerning this, whether in the Angels there is evening knowledge after glorification. And that [there is], it seems.

1. Augustine, fourth [book] *On the Literal Meaning of Genesis*, speaking of the heavenly Jerusalem: «There it is always day in the contemplation of unchangeable truth; always evening in the knowledge of the creature in itself; always morning [when] from this knowledge [it passes] into the praise of the Creator».

2. Likewise, by reason. It is the same light that made evening and morning: if therefore the light which makes morning is the illumination of glory, then in this illumination there is evening: therefore in the state of glory there is evening knowledge.

3. Likewise, evening knowledge is the knowledge of things in their proper kind; but the glorified Angel knows things in their proper kind: therefore he has evening knowledge.

4. Likewise, the glorified Angel praises God more than a man [who is] a wayfarer; but the wayfaring man praises God not only in his majesty, but in the manifoldness of his works: therefore the blessed Angel too. But this praise presupposes knowledge: therefore etc.

**On the contrary:** 1. First to the Corinthians, chapter 13: *When that which is perfect comes, that which is in part will be done away;* but evening knowledge is called evening for this [reason], that darkness is mixed with it; but the Angels see in full light: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, the knowledge of faith, which is through a mirror, is done away when the knowledge of glory comes, which consists in seeing the eternal Word. If therefore evening knowledge is evening for this [reason], that [it is] in the shadow of the creature, then it does not stand with the knowledge of glory.

3. Likewise, the coming morning expels the evening, and similarly the evening expels the morning; but in the Angels there is continually morning knowledge, by which they see in the Word itself without interruption: therefore evening knowledge has no place in them.

4. Likewise, evening is through the declination of the sun toward setting; but in the blessed Angels there is never an approach toward setting, but a continuous splendor and warmth of the eternal light: therefore there is never in them evening knowledge.

And on account of this there is a question — since both morning and evening alike imply an approach to night and to darkness, and the Angels are distant with every distance both from the cold of sin and from the ignorance of the true: it seems that neither morning nor evening knowledge is to be posited, but rather midday [knowledge] — it is asked, then, for how much [reason] knowledge is called morning and for how much evening; and why a third difference is not posited, namely midday knowledge. — And in connection with this it is asked to whom these [kinds of] knowledge pertain, and concerning their order and prerogative, so that thus the quiddity and nature of these [kinds of] knowledge may shine forth.

> **Conclusion.** The blessed Angels, together with morning knowledge, have also the evening.

**I respond:** For the understanding of the foregoing it must be noted that, as Augustine wishes, «every creature, as far as concerns itself, is darkness»; but *God* is *light,* and there are no shadows at all in him, as is said in the first canonical [letter] of John. *Day* denotes the illumination proceeding from the light upon these dark [things]; *morning* and *evening* denote means between day and night according to approach and return.

It must be understood, then, that the divine light, illumining the Angel with a perfect illumination unto the knowledge of itself, makes the Angel light; and the knowledge of God himself in himself is called *day,* because it is purely light and knowledge and the ground of knowing. This angelic light, illumined, has to know the creature; and so, because it knows that which is darkness, its knowledge is called *morning* or *evening;* but *evening,* insofar as it knows the creature in itself, *morning,* insofar as from that knowledge it rises up to praising and refers [it] to the knowledge of him which it has in the Word. Whence Augustine, *On the City of God* eleven, chapter seven: «The knowledge of the creature, in comparison with the knowledge of the Creator, in a certain way grows toward evening, and likewise grows light and becomes morning, when it itself is referred to the praise and love of the Creator; nor is it turned into night, where the Creator is not abandoned out of love of the creature».

Whence note that, although in likeness of this visible light morning and evening are spoken of there, as has been said, yet there is a twofold difference: one, because there evening is not turned into night, as in material light; the other, because there morning is not succeeded by midday, nor day by evening, but the whole is at once. Whence Augustine *On Genesis* four: «At once, he says, they have day and evening and morning». And so it is clear that in the blessed Angels there is now evening knowledge with the morning, nor do they have succession or order of time, yet they have an order of dignity, because Augustine says *On the City of God* eleven: «The knowledge of the creature in itself is more discolored than when it is known in the wisdom of God».

1. 2. To that, then, which is objected, that it is in part; it must be said that it is false; rather, it can well be perfect in its proper kind; and if it be said to be in some way less perfect, this is in respect of the knowledge in the Word. Nevertheless they do not have an opposition, because this imperfection does not come from the side of the knower, but from the side of the knowable or of the medium itself. — And by this the following [objection] concerning faith is clear, because there the imperfection is from the side of the knower, not of the known.

3. 4. To that which is objected, that evening declines toward setting and is not compatible with morning; it must be said that this is true in those [cases] where there is evening and morning on account of the variation of light; not there, where the Angel turns himself at once to the creature and to God. Nor is this diversity [anything] except solely by reason of the diverse mode of knowing, which, although they be diverse, are nevertheless not opposed, but one serves the other, and one perfects the other, [it does] not exclude.

From these also other incidental questions can be made clear, namely, in whom these [kinds of] knowledge are; for [they are] properly in the blessed Angels, unless the names be extended. — It is also clear why the knowledge of the creature is not called day or midday, but the knowledge of God; because every creature [is] darkness. — It is also clear that morning knowledge excels on account of the fuller light, by reason of which it is clearer and more certain and higher; and thus the whole is clear.