Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/132

 be conceived of as in successive order. In thinking of things subsisting and existing, they are conceived of as in simultaneous order.

A first, a middle, and a last or ultimate exist in every thing. Things proceed in successive order from the first, and by the middle they proceed to the last or ultimate, wherein they subsist in simultaneous order. Recurring to the former illustration, affection is the highest and first, or the center and inmost; thought is the middle or intermediate, and speech is the lowest and ultimate, or outermost and last. Affection to become realized, to come into the world, must proceed to thought, and clothe itself in a vesture of ideas; and then by thoughts proceed to speech, and take on an outer garment of signs or words, called speech.

Successive order appears in thinking of the origin of speech. Affection is the highest or first, thoughts are the middle, and speech is the lowest or ultimate. But in thinking of speech as a thing produced and in simultaneous order, speech is the outermost or last, thoughts as an intermediate are within speech, and affection is the inmost or center. When speech is produced, thought and affection reside within in simultaneous order, which we may be aided in observing by noticing that they are taken out in an