Chapter 125 — That lower intellectual substances are ruled by higher ones

Since intellectual creatures excel other creatures, as is clear from what was said above, we can readily understand that God governs all other creatures through the agency of intellectual creatures. Likewise, since among intellectual creatures themselves some are higher than others, God rules the lower through the higher. Accordingly, the higher spirits govern men, who occupy the lowest place in the order of nature among intellectual substances. These are called angels, that is, ‘messengers,’ because they announce divine things to men. Among angels, too, the lower are directed by the higher. For they are distributed among various hierarchies, or sacred principalities; and each hierarchy is divided into different orders.