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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXII: Quid intersit inter scientiam sanctorum angelorum et scientiam daemonum.

His igitur angelis bonis omnis corporalium temporaliumque rerum scientia, qua inflantur daemones, uilis est; non quod earum ignari sint, sed quod illis dei, qua sanctificantur, caritas cara est, prae cuius non tantum incorporali, uerum etiam incommutabili et ineffabili pulchritudine, cuius sancto amore inardescunt, omnia, quae infra sunt et, quod illud est, non sunt seque ipsos inter illa contemnunt, ut ex toto, quod boni sunt, eo bono, ex quo boni sunt, perfruantur. et ideo certius etiam temporalia et mutabilia ista nouerunt, quia eorum principales causas in uerbo dei conspiciunt, per quod factus est mundus; quibus causis quaedam probantur, quaedam reprobantur, cuncta ordinantur. daemones autem non aeternas temporum causas et quodammodo cardinales in dei sapientia contemplantur, sed quorundam signorum nobis occultorum maiore experientia multo plura quam homines futura prospiciunt; dispositiones quoque suas aliquando praenuntiant. denique saepe isti, numquam illi omnino falluntur. aliud est enim temporalibus temporalia et mutabilibus mutabilia coniectare eisque temporalem et mutabilem modum suae uoluntatis et facultatis inserere, quod daemonibus certa ratione permissum est; aliud autem in aeternis atque incommutabilibus dei legibus, quae in eius sapientia uiuunt, mutationes temporum praeuidere deique uoluntatem, quae tam certissima quam potentissima est omnium, spiritus eius participatione cognoscere; quod sanctis angelis recta discretione donatum est. itaque non solum aeterni, uerum etiam beati sunt. bonum autem, quo beati sunt, deus illis est, a quo creati sunt. illius quippe indeclinabiliter participatione et contemplatione perfruuntur.

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The City of God

Chapter 22.--The Difference Between the Knowledge of the Holy Angels and that of the Demons.

The good angels, therefore, hold cheap all that knowledge of material and transitory things which the demons are so proud of possessing,--not that they are ignorant of these things, but because the love of God, whereby they are sanctified, is very dear to them, and because, in comparison of that not merely immaterial but also unchangeable and ineffable beauty, with the holy love of which they are inflamed, they despise all things which are beneath it, and all that is not it, that they may with every good thing that is in them enjoy that good which is the source of their goodness. And therefore they have a more certain knowledge even of those temporal and mutable things, because they contemplate their principles and causes in the word of God, by which the world was made,--those causes by which one thing is, approved, another rejected, and all arranged. But the demons do not behold in the wisdom of God these eternal, and, as it were, cardinal causes of things temporal, but only foresee a larger part of the future than men do, by reason of their greater acquaintance with the signs which are hidden from us. Sometimes, too, it is their own intentions they predict. And, finally, the demons are frequently, the angels never, deceived. For it is one thing, by the aid of things temporal and changeable, to conjecture the changes that may occur in time, and to modify such things by one's own will and faculty,--and this is to a certain extent permitted to the demons,--it is another thing to foresee the changes of times in the eternal and immutable laws of God, which live in His wisdom, and to know the will of God, the most infallible and powerful of all causes, by participating in His spirit; and this is granted to the holy angels by a just discretion. And thus they are not only eternal, but blessed. And the good wherein they are blessed is God, by whom they were created. For without end they enjoy the contemplation and participation of Him.