Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence | Page 7

each created thing.
6. Many avow that there is a single substance which is also the first,
from which are all things, but what that substance is, is not known. The
belief is that it is so simple nothing is more so, and that it can be
likened to a point without dimensions, and that dimensional forms
arose out of an infinite number of such points. But this is a fallacy,
springing from an idea of space. To such an idea there seems to be such
a least thing. The truth is that the simpler and purer a thing is, the more
replete it is and the more complete. This is why the more interiorly a
thing is examined, the more wonderful, perfect, and well formed are the
things seen in it, and in the first substance the most wonderful, perfect
and fully formed of all. For the first substance is from the spiritual sun,
which, as we said, is from the Lord and in which He is. That sun is
therefore the sole substance and, not being in space, is all in all, and is
in the greatest and least things of the created universe.
[2] As that sun is the first and sole substance from which all things are,
it follows that in it are infinitely more things than can possibly appear
in substances arising from it, called substantial and lastly material. This
infinity cannot appear in derivative substances because these descend
from that sun by degrees of two kinds in accord with which perfections
decline. For that reason, as we said above, the more interiorly a thing is
regarded, the more wonderful, perfect and well formed are the things
seen. This has been said to establish the fact that the divine is in some
image in every created thing, but is less and less manifest with the
descent over degrees, and still less when a lower degree, parted from
the higher by being closed, is also choked with earthy matter. These
concepts cannot but seem obscure unless one has read and understood
what was shown in the treatise Divine Love and Wisdom about the
spiritual sun (nn. 83-172), about degrees (nn. 173-281) and about the
creation of the world (nn. 282-357).
7. (iv) It is of the divine providence that every created thing as a whole
and in part should be such a one or should become such a one, or that
there be in it something of the divine love and wisdom, or what is the

same, that there be good and truth in it, or a union of them. (Inasmuch
as good is of love and truth is of wisdom, as was said above (n. 5), in
what follows we shall at times say good and truth instead of love and
wisdom, and marriage of good and truth instead of union of love and
wisdom.)
8. It is evident from the preceding proposition that divine love and
wisdom, which are one in the Lord and proceed as one from Him, are
in some image in everything created by Him. Something shall be said
now specifically of the "one" or the union called the marriage of good
and truth. 1. This marriage is in the Lord Himself--for, as we said,
divine love and wisdom in Him are one. 2. This marriage is from Him,
for in all that proceeds from Him love and wisdom are fully united. The
two proceed from Him as a sun, divine love as heat, and divine wisdom
as light. 3. These are received as two, indeed, by angels, likewise by
men of the church, but are made one in them by the Lord. 4. In view of
this influx of love and wisdom as one from the Lord with angels of
heaven and men of the church, and in view of their reception of it, the
Lord is spoken of in the Word as bridegroom and husband, and heaven
and the church are called bride and wife. 5. An image and a likeness of
the Lord are therefore to be found in heaven and in the church in
general, and in an angel of heaven and a man of the church in particular,
so far as they are in that union or in the marriage of good and truth. For
good and truth in the Lord are one, indeed are the Lord. 6. Love and
wisdom in heaven and in the church as a whole, and in an angel of
heaven and a man of the church, are one when will and understanding,
thus when good and truth, make one; or what is still the same, when
doctrine from the Word and life according to doctrine make one. 7.
How the two make one in man and in all that pertains to