3. I. THE UNIVERSE, WITH ALL THINGS IN GENERAL AND IN PARTICULAR THEREIN, WAS CREATED FROM THE DIVINE LOVE BY MEANS OF THE DIVINE WISDOM. It was shown in the treatise THE DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM that the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, is as to His Essence Divine Love and Divine Wisdom; and that He from Himself created the universe and all things therein. It follows from this that the universe with all things in general and in particular therein was created from the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom. In the same treatise it was also shown that love without wisdom cannot do anything, nor wisdom without love; for love without wisdom, or the will without the understanding, cannot form a single thought. Indeed, it cannot see, perceive, or say anything; therefore it cannot do anything. In like manner wisdom without love, or the understanding without the will, cannot form a single thought. It cannot see or perceive anything nor indeed can it say anything. Therefore it also cannot do anything; for if love is taken away from those operations there is no longer any will, and so there can be no action. As this is the case with man when he performs any action, much more was it the case with God, who is Love itself and Wisdom itself, when He created and made the universe and all things therein. [2] That the universe, with all things in general and in particular therein, was created from the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom can be confirmed from all things in the world that may be examined by the eye. Take any object in particular and examine it with some degree of intelligence, and you will be convinced. Take a tree, or its seed, its fruit, its flower or its leaf, and, summoning what wisdom you have, view it with a powerful microscope, and you will see wonderful things; yet there are more interior things, which you do not see, still more wonderful. Observe the order, step by step, in which the tree grows from the seed till it produces new seed; and consider whether there is not in every step a continuous endeavour to propagate itself further; for the goal to which it tends is seed, in which its prolific principle exists anew. Then if you will but reflect upon this spiritually also, and this you can do if you please, will you not see wisdom displayed? Moreover, if you will reflect deeply enough from the spiritual point of view, you will see that this prolific principle is not from the seed, nor from the sun of this world which is pure fire, but that it is in the seed from God the Creator, to whom belongs infinite Wisdom. You will see that it is present not only at creation but also continuously afterwards; for maintenance is perpetual creation, as subsistence is perpetual existence. The operation of the prolific principle in creation may be illustrated from these considerations: work ceases if you take away will from action; speech ceases if you deprive it of thought; motion ceases if effort is withdrawn; in a word, the effect perishes if you remove the cause; and so on. [3] Everything indeed in the order of creation has been endowed with power; power, however, accomplishes nothing of itself, but only from Him who has bestowed it. Examine also any other object on the earth, as a silk-worm, a bee, or any other tiny creature, and view it first naturally, afterwards rationally, and finally spiritually. Then if you can raise your thoughts to a high level, you will be astonished at all you perceive; and if you permit wisdom to speak in you, you will say in astonishment, "Who does not see the Divine in these things? They are all the work of Divine Wisdom." Still more will this be the case if you observe the uses of all the things which have been created, noting how they proceed in their own order right up to man, and from man to the Creator from whom they are; and that from the conjunction of the Creator with man the connection of all things depends, and, if you will acknowledge it, the preservation of all things. It will be seen in what follows that the Divine Love created all things, but did nothing without the Divine Wisdom.