Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/114

 thoughts are evil is called an evil person. If they are good, he is called a good person. Every person is such as are his affections and thoughts. It is readily perceived that affection and thought constitute the real person. Since thought is but the activity of affection, and affection is only another name for love, and since affection and thought constitute person, person exists in its essence in love. As has been discussed, love is an element in the Creator, or First Cause, therefore it is evident that person in its essence is in the Creator. Or it may be said, that since affection and thought constitute person, and person is formed by the Creator, the Creator has the whole of person in His nature. There is therefore in the Creator Essential Person, comprehending the Human, or Man, which Person makes.

It is axiomatic that the First Cause is eternal, for the assumption of a beginning of the First Cause presupposes a prior cause that produced the First Cause, in which case the First Cause would be a secondary cause or an effect. It is acknowledged, therefore, by every rational mind, that the First Cause has the element of Eternity.