in his own image, in the image of God created he him," Gen. i. 26, 27.
From this general view of the nature and design of creation, may be inferred the following particulars, relative to the order of it's progression from first principles to ultimate effects, viz. 1. That from Jehovah God there emanated, and still emanates, a sphere of divine glory, which encircles him on every side, and constitutes the sun of the spiritual world. 2. That through the instrumentality of this sun, which in it's essence is pure love, and gives forth spiritual heat and spiritual light, in other words, love and wisdom, to minds capable of receiving them, three spiritual atmospheres, of different purity and activity, were produced, giving birth to all things in that world; and that the sun of the natural world, which is pure fire, was in like manner produced, together with three natural atmospheres, and all earths which exist by their means. 3. That thus all things were produced, not out of nothing, but from the divine love by means of the divine wisdom, which are indeed the substance of all substances. 4. That every created subject is, by the very condition of it's existence, finite and limited, and consequently distinct from the Infinite, from which or from whom it proceeded. 5. That nevertheless the Infinite is in created subjects, as in it's receptacles, according to their various degrees and states of being. 6. That all things, which thus came forth from the Divine Being, do in a certain way return to him through the medium of man, in whose body are collected all the uses of the natural world, and in whose mind all the uses of the spiritual world: and that such return is made by an acknowledgment in heart, understanding, and life, that all things are derived from, and continually supported by, the divine love and the divine wisdom of the great Author of all being.
