The True and False Theory of Evolution/Lecture 6

Whatever theory of creation we may adopt, we must admit that all things are connected and related. If we make matter the origin, and rise to man, as along an inclined plane; or if we begin with God stance and force, and descend from Him to the lowest as the First Cause and the embodiment of all substance and force, and descend from Him to the lowest forces of matter, and ascend from them to man, it is evident that there must be a constant connection between the first and the last step. We may give different names to the process by which one organized form is evolved from another; we may call it evolution, progress, development; but the change of name does not touch the constant fact that there is an unbroken chain of cause and effect, binding all things to each other and each to all. "Whatsoever is unconnected does not exist." The materialist and the Christian stand on the same ground in this respect, though setting out from opposite positions. I propose to state as clearly as I can, and as fully as the limits of a lecture will allow, the doctrine concerning this constant connection between the Creator and the creation, first distinctly taught by Swedenborg, and which runs through his philosophy and all his doctrines concerning God and man and nature, and their relations to each other.

According to this doctrine, all substances and forces have their origin in the Lord, and flow forth from Him as their infinite fountain. He is the Every substance that emanates from Him descends from its source, and in its descent parts with some "Most High." Departure from Him is descent. of its energy and activity. If we regard the sun as representing the Lord, we shall have a perfect example of this descent and loss of activity in the substances which flow from him. His heat constantly diminishes, and his light grows dim and the substances less active until they rest in the rock. But this loss of energy and change in the nature of substance does not take place by a regular, constant and continuous diminution. As the rock did not this loss of energy and change in the nature of substance does not take place by a regular, constant, emanate from the sun as a rock, or water as water, but in some purer, more active substance, possessing qualities entirely distinct and impossible to solid matter, so the creation descends from its Infinite Fountain, and in its descent changes into substances and forces entirely distinct from those which first proceeded from their source. The substances combine and form a composite, a grosser and less active one. They form distinct degrees or planes of substance. These degrees do not shade off and run into each other by imperceptible gradations. They are steps; they are discrete degrees, each one of which is as distinct from the other as the atmosphere from the ether, or water from the gases which compose it. Each degree becomes a plane of creation separate from every other. Its boundaries are clearly defined; its substances possess qualities which belong to no other degree. "They are like things prior, subsequent, and final, or like end, cause, and effect. These degrees are called discrete, because the prior is by itself, the subsequent is by itself, and the final by itself; yet is formed by a combination of the substances of a higher degree. taken together they make one." Each lower degree is formed by a combination of the substances of a higher degree.

We find abundant examples of this universal law of creation in our own natures and in everything around us. A gas and a fluid are entirely distinct from each other in substance and qualities. But one is created from the, other. Two gases unite and form water, which is an entirely different substance from either. A grain of powder, which can be measured, possesses color and form, can be instantly changed into gases. It is a well-established fact that our earth and all the planets were derived or evolved from the sun, and consequently the matter which composes them was of the same substance as the sun. These examples, which might be indefinitely multiplied, are sufficient to show what is meant by a discrete degree of the creation.

There are three of these discrete degrees In the whole creation and in every part of it. They exist in the least things and in the greatest; in every mineral, plant, animal, and man. It is universal law of existence. The three essentials of the Divine nature are love, wisdom, and the two combined in use, or in the thing or being created. Taking the whole of being and creation into view, we have the Creator, the infinite source of all substance and power; the spiritual universe and the material universe. There are three heavens, the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural, each of which is as distinct from the other in substance as earth, water, and atmosphere. Each has its own sun, consequently, its own light and heat, its own earth and sky, formed of its special degree of substance, and possessing its special qualities. There are three material atmospheres derived from the sun the aura, the ether, and the air. Nature is divided into three kingdoms : the animal, the mineral, and the vegetable. Three degrees or planes of organs in potency or actual creation compose the human spirit. These planes are organized of the substances of the three heavens; they partake of their nature. Each degree can receive influx from its corresponding degree in the heavens, and is specifically adapted to it, as the eye to the ether, the ear to the atmosphere, and the stomach to liquid and solid food. There are three vital organs in the material body: the heart, the lungs, and the brain, each performing its specific functions and having its boundaries. Everything in its least and largest parts is created in a threefold order.

This trinal order originates in the nature of things. There must be the trinity of end, cause, and effect in the creation of everything, and these three are entirely discrete from one another. The end is not the cause, the cause is not the effect, but the effect is the result of both acting together. In the relation of these three essential factors of every act, we can see the absurdity of materialism. It leaves out the prime factor. According to that doctrine there is no end or purpose in it.

Every material thing must have three dimensions: length, breadth, and thickness. Take either of the factors away and the others would have no existence. In every complete mental or spiritual act there must be love, wisdom, and use; or affection, thought, and act. This universal mode of action and being in the least and greatest things, is not a hypothesis or theory. It is a law of the Divine order which can be verified by science and philosophy, and even by the senses, in everything that comes within the domain of human knowledge. It has its ground in the necessity of existence. It is, therefore, a universal law of the Divine order embodied in the creation. It is a thread which, originating in the Divine nature, runs through every secret labyrinth of spirit and matter. By following its clew we can pass from one realm of the creation to another, and from every one to the Lord. "The doctrine of degrees," as Swedenborg has truly said, "is the key to open the causes of things." Without it we cannot know the difference between spirit and matter, creation and the Lord.

Degrees are of two kinds, discrete and continuous. Discrete degrees are related to each other as end, cause, and effect. Continuous degrees consist in the gradual increase of some quality of the same discrete degree of substance. The increase of light from the faintest indications to the most intense brightness; the change from cold to intense heat; all the variations of matter from soft to hard, fine to gross, dense to rare, weakness to strength, are examples of continuous degrees.

According to this doctrine, the creation is divided into distinct planes or degrees of descent from the Creator, between which there is no continuity of substance by continuous and insensible decrease of quality, as from finer to grosser, from the active to the inert. There is a distinct cleavage between them, each degree possessing kinds of substance and force and qualities which cannot be transmitted to the other. Neither realm can invade the other and appear in its own form. While intimately connected as cause and effect, they are still separated by an impassable gulf. The higher degree can create the lower, but it cannot become the lower. It can create it as an instrumental cause, as affection can create thought and move to action, but cannot become thought and physical motion. It follows from this law of discontinuity between the distinct degrees of the creation, that while God creates the universe of matter and being from Himself, He does not become the universe. Nature is not God though a constant emanation from Him.

The same law rules in the ascent as in the descent. The lower cannot become the higher by any purification or sublimation of its substance. Matter cannot become spirit, as physical action cannot become thought, and thought cannot become affection, and knowledge love. Man cannot become God, however high he may rise in the scale of being in intelligence and power.

While there is this distinct cleavage between the different degrees of substance and being, there is still the most intimate connection between them. So intimate and constant is the connection, and so dependent is a lower step upon the one above it, that the substance and power and even the existence of the lower depend upon the higher. The universe and all it contains are a constant creation from the Lord and by the Lord, and if His creative energy were withheld for a moment, all worlds and all created beings would fade into non-existence, as light and heat vanish when their cause ceases to act.

Creation is not a mechanical work, resulting from the action of one thing upon another by contact, as men shape and arrange material objects and combine them into new forms. Creation is effected by the operation of forces and substances flowing from within. These substances and forces originate in the Lord as their infinite fountain, and constantly emanate from Him. This first substance contains within itself the promise and potency of every created substance, being, and thing. It contains within itself a tendency, an effort towards the human form. It is an organizing force. As there is in quantities, a power that moulds it into spheres, and water and in every fluid, in the largest and smallest which does it when the world, or ocean, or globule of mist is left free to move, so there is in every substance and force a tendency constantly acting to organize it into the human form. Matter in every state, gaseous, fluid, or solid, is formed from this substance, and constantly retains qualities which fit it to become a part of an organized body. Organization is not effected by matter itself. It is not a chance hit in the ebb and flow of its forces. It is the effect of a force of a distinctly higher degree of substance acting upon it from within. This force, like attraction, which is one form of it, is everywhere present in all planes and degrees of creation, and is constantly operating in the least and largest things, sustaining and binding all together, and out of innumerable distinct things making one harmonious whole.

The distinct degrees of substance are first created, as materials out of which to organize plants, animals, and men. Then, by the inflowing and constant action of the forces into the substances created, the kingdoms of nature and intelligent beings are formed. The universe is pervaded by these spiritual and Divine forces in constant operation, working to provide the inorganic materials and mould them into organic forms which are capable of receiving life. The result of the action of these influent forces is always determined by the state and quality of the materials into which it flows. It may be some form of a plant. It is a well-known fact that every plant has a specific form, color, and quality, and that no plant will grow in soil which does not possess the substances that enter into its composition. It may be some Form of animal life. Where special conditions are present the same insects and animals will appear. Climate and soil and the state of matter determine the special form of creation, though they are only the materials out of which it is formed. The fish must have water, the bird air, the animal special vegetable substances to supply the materials for its organization. The same power that creates a plant, an animal, or a man constantly flows into the forms created and manifests itself according to the nature of the thing or being formed.

The degree of life and the quality of life will be determined by the capacity of the object to receive and communicate it. And not only the measure and quality of the life on one plane, but the distinct degree of it. The plant has a form which inorganic matter does not possess, and consequently it can receive life and possesses qualities impossible to the mineral. The animal is not merely formed out of substances contained in the plant, but those substances serve as a basis for the organization of forms that can receive life in a higher degree. The animal can be endowed with consciousness and intelligence in the form of instinct which is a quality of life entirely distinct, discreted from the life of the plant. It is not evolved from the plant. It is created by the influent forces entirely distinct from any that the plant was capable of receiving. The plant supplied materials of such a nature that substances of a higher degree could find a basis in them for creating higher forms which could receive life of a corresponding nature.

The same principle applies to man. His intellectual and moral qualities are not evolved from the nature which he possesses in common with animals becomes the basis and the instrumental means for the consciousness and instinct of the animal. The nature which he possesses in common with animals becomes the basis and the instrumental means for the creation of a distinctly higher plane of faculties or forms organized of spiritual substances; and, therefore, capable of receiving the inflowing forces of life creation of a distinctly higher plane of faculties or from the Lord of a pre-eminently superior quality. The spiritual degree of man's nature is created; a nature or an organization homogeneous to the spiritual and celestial degrees of the creation, and capable of being acted upon by the supreme excellence of their forces. It can be endowed with a distinctly finer and higher consciousness, and is, therefore, capable of becoming the subject of the most exquisite delight. The substances which flow from the Lord descend step by step from Him, becoming more concrete and less active, until they reach the circumference of creation, form its boundary and rest in the form of dead matter. This matter which constitutes the material universe becomes the foundation on which the kingdoms of nature and the universe of intelligent being rest, and the materials which the same intelligent Power that constantly creates it can use in the organization of the higher forms of life. The order and process is the same in principle as that which every man pursues in building a house and providing a home for his family. He must procure the materials and lay the foundation for this superstructure.

Having a basis for His creation of intelligent beings, the superstructure begins to rise from story to story, until the circuit is complete and returns to Him from whom it commenced. The stories are distinct stages of forms increasing by distinct steps until it reaches the highest degree of ascent. It rises through the material universe by three distinct steps, which are the kingdoms of nature. Then from the material universe to the spiritual, when it again ascends by the more distinct steps from natural to spiritual, from the spiritual to the celestial. The three steps are three universes of spiritual beings, each one of which has its distinct boundaries which its members cannot pass. They may constantly increase in the excellence of their own organization, and, consequently, in the qualities of life they can receive from the Lord. But it is as impossible to ascend out of it as it would be for a fish to rise out of the water and breathe the atmosphere which gives life to the animal.

Every step in the creation is complete in itself, but yet forms a distinct factor and component part of the whole. Every step is created by the Lord by forces and substances which constantly flow from Him and constantly operate to sustain and multiply the forms of vegetable, animal, and spiritual life. No created thing or being has any power which is not constantly given to it by influx from the Lord. Power cannot be created; it can only be communicated. Forms only can be created capable of being moved to action by the untreated forces which flow in and set all things in motion. The kind of action will always be determined by the quality of the form. Thus we make the Lord the centre and constant source of the material and the spiritual universe, and of every form of matter, and being from the rock to the highest angel. He is the First and the Last.

Having considered the subject of degrees in the creation, and the manner in which the Lord creates and sustains all things, it remains to show the relation which these discrete degrees hold to one another, and how the different planes of existence act and react upon each other; how the innumerable variety of objects and forces of every conceivable form and degree of power whose currents flow into each other act and react against each other, move in perfect harmony and give stability to the universe; and, though infinitely complex, move in the paths of a perfect order to the accomplishment of a specific purpose. The law, according to which these discrete degrees of creation are bound together, and the forces of one degree act upon another, and the inhabitants in one state of being communicate with the inhabitants of another, is called Correspondence.

The doctrine of Correspondence holds a most important place in the system of creation; and when it is known and understood, it will enlarge the boundaries of human knowledge beyond all present conception by the most intelligent students of nature. It will solve a multitude of problems which have baffled the power of scientist and theologian, and bridge the gulf between matter and spirit, between the inhabitants of the material and the spiritual universe, and between the whole creation and the Lord. Swedenborg calls it "the science of sciences," and says it was the principal subject of study by the wise men in the Golden Age of humanity.

Correspondence is the relation between one discrete degree of the creation and another. As it man is an epitome of the universe, a microcosm in whose nature are gathered all its substances, forms, orders, degrees, and relations, we can find in him holds equally between small and large things, and as perfect examples and illustrations of the nature of Correspondence. We all know that man's affections and thoughts manifest or represent themselves in his looks, speech, and the motions of the body. His affections show themselves in the tones of his voice, in the changes of the muscles of his face, and in the various movements of the whole body. They do this naturally, that is, without any purpose or effort on his part. Grief will cause weeping; shame mantles the face with blushes; joy expresses itself by smiles and laughter. Sadness darkens the countenance and draws a veil over the features. Humility bows the head and softens the voice, while pride and disdain lift it up. Anger inflames the eye, clinches the hands, and gives harshness to the tones. Every feature and limb may express the same affection but each in its own way. The affections and passions cause these effects. There is nothing arbitrary or artificial in their production. They are not limited to particular persons. They are the same among all nations and in all ages. They exist in the nature of a human being; they are a universal language which is understood without any instruction. All these actions are correspondences. Weeping and tears correspond to grief; a blush corresponds to shame; laughter to joy; the bowed head and somber face to sadness; the fierce look and the clinched hand to anger; the crouching form and the uncertain step and the wild look to fear. These physical actions are the effects of which those emotions or passions are the cause. They are related to them as effects are related to their causes. They are the forms in which those affections express themselves when they come down from the spiritual plane of being into the material. Therefore they perfectly represent them. They are the language of the soul in material forms. There is a most intimate connection between them, but a clear distinction. They are totally unlike, and yet the natural motion, form, tone is the perfect expression of the affection which caused it. A tear is not grief; a smile is not a pleasant affection; a blush is not shame; the clinched hand is not anger; laughter is not joy. The effect is never the cause, is always wholly unlike it, and yet is most intimately connected with it and perfectly represents and expresses it. The physical act responds to the spiritual or mental act. It always responds in the same way, always speaks the same language, and, so far as relates to man himself, it can be understood. The affections come down into the material plane, clothe themselves with the physical organs, and declare their nature and purposes. They use the material faculties to express and do their will. By looking on the face, by listening to the tones of the voice, and watching the motions of the body, we can learn the intentions and qualities of the affections; we can see the thoughts, and form some conclusion concerning the character and intelligence of those with whom we associate.

From these examples, which might be indefinitely multiplied, and which every one can understand, we can get a distinct and true idea of the law of Correspondence. We can see how one discrete degree of the creation manifests itself in a lower degree and by correspondence binds the two together. We can see how a higher and a lower plane act as one while they remain entirely distinct. Let us apply this law to the relation of the Creator to the creation.

Every act of creation is effected by forces and substances which originate in the Lord, reach nature and man from within. Creation is not an arbitrary, mechanical work. A tree is not made like a house; an animal is not created in the same way as an engine. While it is true that one material thing is used as an instrument in creating another, the power which uses it comes from within. It is an influence, an inflowing, as light and heat from the sun, as affection and thought into the physical organs of the body.

According to this law, the universe is a constant creation of the Lord by substances and forces which flow from Him. It follows as a natural and inevitable consequence that the universe, as a whole and in every particular that is in true order, corresponds to Him and represents His love and wisdom. It is no poetic fancy; it is no invention of the imagination; it is not by any arbitrary and artificial conception of the human mind; it is a fact based on the immutable laws of the Divine order, and the inherent relations between cause and effect. As a tear corresponds to sorrow, as laughter is the effect of joy, of material forms and living beings is the embodiment of the Divine love and wisdom, corresponds to them, represents them, and expresses them in a natural and perfect language: In the sublime and scientific words of the Psalmist : "The heavens declare, the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."

Let us now look for a moment at some particular things which voice the love and wisdom of the Lord. It is true that but little of this language is now understood. But some natural things by universal consent are employed to express thoughts and affections, and, in general, states and activities of the mind. Light is used as the correlative and correspondent of truth. It is not in an arbitrary way that light gains this meaning; it is not by way of figure of speech. It is the specific effect of a correspondential cause. That is the reason why it is understood without any explanation. Light is to the material universe as truth to the spiritual universe. Truth is spiritual light, and natural light is a lower form of truth. It corresponds to it; it renders man stood without any explanation. Light is to the same service. Natural light reveals the forms, qualities, and relations of material objects. Truth reveals the forms, qualities, and relations of ideas and principles which are spiritual objects. The analogy between these two discrete degrees of light is perfect. Learning truth upon any subject is getting light upon it. We call an intelligent mind an enlightened one. We describe the qualities of the intellect by the qualities of light. The intellect is bright, clear, brilliant, luminous, or unenlightened, obscure, and dark.

In the same way, and for the same reason, heat corresponds to love, and represents it. It acts in the same manner and performs the same use in material things that love does in the spiritual plane of being. Love is the end or purpose which moves all the spiritual faculties to action. Heat renders the same service in the material world. Love is the life of the soul; heat is the life which sets all things in motion. Love is represented by the heart. Love is the heart of the spiritual body, and performs the same functions that the material heart performs-to the material body. The terms of heat are therefore constantly applied to express the state of the affections. We speak of a cold, frozen, icy, warm heart, of ardent affections, burning and fiery passions. All the qualities, activities, and relations of heat are employed to express the qualities, relations, and activities of love. But to see the correspondence between heat and love clearly we must have some true knowledge of the nature of love. When we understand that love is something more than a feeling or an emotion; when we know that it is the inmost and highest form of substance and power, we can see that the correspondence between heat and love runs through the universe. Both are a substance in motion, and each performs the same office in its own sphere. We can therefore accurately describe love in terms of heat, or heat in terms of love.

This law of correspondence is of universal application. It is beautifully exemplified in the three kingdoms of nature. Each kingdom corresponds to and represents the Lord. They represent His love and wisdom and power in different forms and degrees. The mineral kingdom corresponds to them in the most general and lowest forms. The rock which is the most stable of material things, and forms the foundation for land and water, corresponds to the immutability of the Divine purposes and methods of accomplishing them. For this reason the Lord is often called a rock. Water is a general solvent of substances of which plants and animals are organized and the means of life to them. As all life and the substances which support it come from the Lord in a constantly flowing stream, the ocean, the clouds, the rain, and dew, the springs which well forth from the hills and the flowing stream are perfect correspondents and representations of the methods by which He works in all planes of the creation. The atmosphere, from its motions and qualities and use in the creation of plants and animals, and especially in its relations to the material body and its agency in setting all its organic forms in motion and endowing man himself with consciousness, performs the same office as the Holy Spirit, which is the Divine truth, and, consequently, corresponds to and represents it. It performs the same office as water, which is also the correspondent of Divine truth, but on a lower plane of the creation. Divine truth is to man's spiritual organism as water to his physical organism.

As matter becomes fixed in the mineral kingdom and determines space and time, high and low, and the various spatial relations of one thing to another, we obtain a great number of correspondences that represent the relations and qualities of spiritual beings to each other and to the Lord. He is called the Most High, to designate His supreme perfections. Improvement in the excellence of character is called ascent, rising. We use the terms high, low, broad, narrow, deep and shallow, large and small, and many others to express degrees of intelligence and moral excellence. Nature supplies us with a language to express the qualities of spirit, because the objects of nature correspond to spiritual qualities and activities. When we use them we think only of their spiritual meaning.

The vegetable and mineral kingdoms represent the Lord's love and wisdom in higher forms. The special qualities of the Divine character. They are forms of life; and every step in the process of organization is taken according to a law which originates various objects in these kingdoms correspond to special qualities of the Divine character. They are forms of life; and every step in the process of organization is taken according to a law which originates in the Divine nature. Organization is the Divine method of creating forms that can receive the Divine love and wisdom, become conscious of their possession, recognize their qualities, and be made happy and blessed by them. This is the reason why so much is said about trees and animals in the Sacred Scriptures which are written according to the relation between natural and spiritual things. The Lord calls Himself a vine. All plants, from the tender grass to the oak, cedar, and palm, are employed as symbols of the processes of spiritual growth. The Lord is also called a lion and a lamb, because the strength of the one and the innocence of the other are primary qualities of His nature. Nature is the created word of God. It is a revelation of His love and wisdom, of the laws of His order, purposes, and the means by which He attains them. The objects in nature are not arbitrary characters. They are correspondences, they are the actual effects of the ends and causes they represent. They have not become, and never can become, obsolete. They are connected with the First Cause by a living bond; they are the creation of a power which acts with uniform and ceaseless energy. Consequently, they represent the qualities of the Divine nature, not only in their forms and qualities, but in their growth and in all their relations.

As man was made in the image of God, and all the elements of the Divine nature are finited in him, the material universe as a whole and all the objects which compose it, correspond to the faculties and forces of his own spiritual being. They are a mirror in which he can see himself faithfully and variously reflected. Nay, more, they are his affections and thoughts, embodied in material and objective forms. As a smile is the embodiment of a pleasant emotion, as the brightness which shines in the eye and illuminates the face when a new and beautiful thought is born in the intellect, so every plant and animal, and the light of the sun which reveals and glorifies the material world, is the embodiment of some affection, some thought or principle in the composition of the human mind. God reveals Himself to man in nature. He reveals man to Himself in nature. In this way the outward and visible world becomes the means of communion and conjunction between man and his Maker. It is a common ground on which they can stand, a common language, which expresses in the fullest and most specific manner the nature and purposes of both. If man, by the perversion of his faculties, has become blind to the real meaning of the living characters which environ him, if he has become deaf to the Divine harmonies and the many-toned voices in which the Lord speaks to him in the sounds of nature, it does not invalidate the fact that they are a Divine language, and, consequently, full of infinite and specific meanings.

This doctrine of evolution does not banish God from the universe, or, having once created it, make Him a remote spectator of a work completed ages ago. It brings Him near to it as a constant, active agent in vital connection with it. It is a manifestation of what He is doing to-day. It is the embodiment of the love and wisdom He is exercising now before our eyes. It is not a creation effected by accident in the wild conflict of unconscious forces which originate in no intelligent purpose and have no meaning. Every substance has a Divine origin; every force is adjusted to the specific work to be done; every motion follows in the paths of a Divine order towards its accomplishment. There is no conflict and waste of power of one element with another. What seems so is but the play and balance of forces which are directed by infinite skill to accomplish a special purpose. Every object is luminous with a Divine meaning. Creation is not a theatre formed by chance on which puppets appear and disappear without cause or meaning, and are whirled about in an endless maze which has no beginning, no orderly connection, and no end. It is a grand panorama in which its Divine author displays His love and wisdom in infinitely complex but orderly forms, giving to every part a freedom according to its nature and mission, and a power to cooperate in its own way with every other in the accomplishment of a heavenly purpose. It is not a chaos but a cosmos, over which broods a Divine power guided by a Divine intelligence to the accomplishment of the ends of infinite love.

This doctrine gives us an evolution that is not chaos but a cosmos, over which broods a Divine spread out on the level of an indefinitely extended plane, where there is but one substance existing in various forms, which melt into one another by continuous and indistinguishable degrees. The universe is divided into distinct planes, each of which has its boundaries, containing substances peculiar to itself, which contain qualities and motions and capacities for a distinct degree of life, richer and fuller and finer than is possible to any form of matter. But these degrees are themselves bound into a perfect unity by correspondence. It is not a unity of similarity of substance with no distinction but more or less, grosser or finer. It is a distinction which gives infinite variety of form and quality, in which each discrete degree is a complement of the other, increasing its excellence and forming a more perfect whole. This doctrine gives us an infinite fountain from which all things are evolved, and which must therefore contain the promise and potency of substances, qualities, and forms, without any limit; which reveal a Divine personal Creator, distinct from His creation, and yet as intimately connected with every part of it as cause and effect. Who creates man and endows him with faculties capable of knowing and loving the Divine Author of his being, of seeing His love and wisdom in the means He has provided to supply his wants, develop and perfect his faculties, and crown him with joy.