Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/118

 every potency in its highest form and in its infinitude. Should the objection arise that all powers can not originate in the Creator because evil can not be thought of as existing in God, the difficulty will immediately vanish upon the reflection that evil is nothing other than the perversion of a good power that originates in Him, or that is directed contrary to Divine order through the free-will of mankind.

Lest the argument might seem prolonged, the greatest brevity has been exercised in arriving at the final conclusion that the First Cause is a Divine Human Person. To make clearer and more comprehensive the conception that it has been the endeavor to produce, a few general observations will here be added.

In speaking of the form of God or of man, a more interior idea than that of shape is intended. The human form has its origin in the order of human faculties, the primary essentials of which are affection and thought. Affection, or love, comes first, because this underlies and rules all in man. Next in order is thought, because thought is the first offspring of affection, just as light is the