Section VIII: The Measure of the Duration of Angels, § 51
SECTION VIII: ON THE MEASURE OF THE DURATION OF ANGELS
The time of the angels.
§ 51. Similarly, they treat the measure of the duration of angels in various ways. Some introduce a threefold measure of duration, namely, eternity [aeternitas] in God (which in every respect is one with the actual divine essence); everlastingness [aevum] or “aeviternity” [aeviternitas], as they say, in the case of angels; and time [tempus] in the case of corruptible things. However, Biel opposes them (Sent., part 2, dist. 2, q. 1) and tries to show that time is the measure of the duration of angels too; and that, consequently, one must not introduce the third type of measure of duration; and that, properly speaking, eternity is not a measure of duration in God because God is simply without measure, because the eternity of God is God Himself and because measure belongs only to finite beings. Scaliger (Exerc. 359, sect. 7) proceeds thus: “As we have age [aetas], so each angel has his everlastingness [aevum]. As time for us is outside of us, so their continuation (which is called ‘eternity’ [aeternitas]) is outside of themselves. However, this eternity is God alone, and God Himself alone is it. We have age because time is in the first movement,5 and the angels have everlastingness because eternity is in God and it is God Himself, and they are because He is.” Those are Scaliger’s words.
However, it seems good to distinguish between a measure of perfection and a measure of duration. God is the measure of perfection, but God’s eternity is not a measure of duration since by it one cannot perceive which duration of an angel is longer or shorter.