Chapter 28.—When the
Rebellious Angels Were Cast Out, the Rest Remained in the Enjoyment
of Eternal Happiness with God.
Whilst some of the angels, then, in
their
pride and impiety rebelled against God, and were cast
down from their heavenly abode into the lowest darkness, the
remaining number dwelt with God in eternal and unchanging purity
and happiness. For all were not sprung from one angel who had
fallen and been condemned, so that they were not all, like men,
involved by one original sin in the bonds of an inherited guilt,
and so made subject to the penalty which one had incurred; but when
he, who afterwards became the devil, was with his associates in
crime exalted in pride, and by that very exaltation was with them
cast down, the rest remained steadfast in piety and obedience to
their Lord, and obtained, what before they had not enjoyed, a sure
and certain knowledge of their eternal safety, and freedom from the
possibility of falling.