True Christian Religion #46
46. (vi) THESE PROPERTIES OF THE DIVINE LOVE WERE THE REASON THE UNIVERSE WAS CREATED, AND ARE THE REASON IT IS PRESERVED IN EXISTENCE.
A thorough scrutiny and examination of these three essentials of the Divine Love can lead us to see that they were the reason for creation. That the first, loving others than itself, was a cause is clear from the universe being other than God, as the world is other than the sun, and something to which His love could extend and on which it could be exercised and so come to rest. We read too that, after God had created heaven and the earth, He rested, and this was the origin of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2-3).
[2] The second essential, wishing to be one with them, was also a cause as is clear from the creation of man in the image and likeness of God. By this is meant that man was made as a form to receive love and wisdom from God, that is, to be someone with whom God could unite Himself, and on his account with every single thing in the universe, since these are nothing but means to the end. For being linked to a final cause involves also being linked to mediate causes. It is clear from the Book of Creation or Genesis (Genesis 1:28-30) that all things were created on account of man.
[3] The third essential, devoting oneself to their happiness, was also a cause, as is clear from the heaven of angels, which has been provided for every human being who receives the love of God; all there are made happy by God alone. These three essentials of God's love are also the reason why the universe is preserved, because preservation is perpetual creation, just as remaining in existence is a perpetual coming into existence; and the Divine Love is from eternity to eternity the same. So as it was in the creation of the world, such too it remains in the created world.
Job 38
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Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
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Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
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Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
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Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
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Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
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Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
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When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
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Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
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When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
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And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
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And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
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Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
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That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
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It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
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And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
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Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
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Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
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Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.
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Where is the way Where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, Where is the place thereof,
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That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
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Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
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Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
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Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
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By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
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Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
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To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
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To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
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Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
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Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
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The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
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Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
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Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
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Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
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Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?
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Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
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Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
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Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
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When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?
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Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
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When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
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Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
