The first man was more blessed in paradise than any righteous man in this state of mortal frailty, as far as concerns the enjoyment of present good. But as for the hope of the future, any man in the extreme of bodily suffering is happier than the first-created, for it has been revealed to man with the certainty of truth—it is no mere opinion—that, free from all distresses, he will share with the angels the endless enjoyment of God Most High, whereas the first man, in all the bliss of paradise, had no certainty about his future.
--St. Augustine, City of God, Book XI, Chapter 12
