36. See 2 Pt 2:4.
448 The Literal Meaning of Genesis were in the midst offlaming stones, that is, of the saints fervent in spirit (Rom
12:11), living stones ( 1 Pt 2:5); you walked withoutfault, yes you in your days, from the day on which you, yes you, were created, until your crimes werefound in you (Ez 28: 1 31 5). All this could be discussed in more detail, to show perhaps that not only can these words be understood in this way, but also that no other way at all is possible.
Summing up what has been said about the devil'sfall
25, 33. That, however, would require another long discourse devoted to this problem alone. So for the time being it must suffice to state the various possibili ties about the devil's fall. lt was either, then, that from the first moment of his creation he fell, out of impious pride, from the bliss which he would have received had he wished to, or else that there are other angels assigned to lower duties in this world, among whom he had lived in their degree of bliss that lacks foreknowledge, and from whose company he fell through proud impiety as a sort ofarchangel over angels subject to him, ifthis idea can really be maintained, and it would be most surprising if it can.
Alternatively, an explanation certainly has to be sought how all the holy angels (if the devil with his angels lived among them for a time, sharing their bliss) also lacked definite foreknowledge of their perpetual felicity,35 but only received this after his fall; or else we have to ask how the devil with his compan ions deserved before his sin to be distinguished from the rest, so that he remained ignorant of his coming fall, while they were quite sure about their remaining where they were.
What, in any case, we must have not the least doubt about is that according to the faith of the apostles36 the angels that sinned were thrust down into this foggy atmosphere round the earth as into a prison, where they are being kept in order to be punished at thejudgment; while in that heavenly bliss of the holy angels there is no uncertainty at all about eternal life, nor about our future share in it by God' s mercy and grace and most faithful promise, when we join them after the resur rection and transformation of these bodies of ours. It is towards this hope, after
"heaven" as standing for all the saints, since earth too stands for all who are on the earth: Let all the earth worship you (Ps 66:4). 1fwe are right in meaning all those who live on earth when we say "Let all the earth worship you," then we are right in meaning those who live in heaven when we say "Let all the heaven be occupied by you." The saints who are still living on earth . . . they too are heaven because they are God's throne; and when they proclaim the words of God, it's the heavens that are declaring the glory of God (Ps 19:1). 35. As Saints Perpetua and Felicity were two of the most venerated African martyrs, on the meaning of whose names he happily expatiates in Sermons 280 to 282 (again Vol. 111/8). 1 feel it incumbent on me just to transliterate hisperpetuaefelicitatis here. 36. See 2 Pt 2:4.