what I have just been saying is true of all living beings and
animals (namely that animals and souls come into being when the
world begins and no more come to an end that the world does), yet
there is this peculiarity in rational animals, that their spermatic
animalcules, so long as they are only spermatic, have merely
ordinary or sensuous [sensitive] souls; but when those which are
chosen [elus], so to speak, attain to human nature through an actual
conception, their sensuous souls are raised to the rank of reason
and to the prerogative of minds [esprits]. (Theod. 91, 397.)

  83. Among other differences which exist between ordinary souls and
minds [esprits], some of which differences I have already noted, there
is also this: that souls in general are living mirrors or images of
the universe of created things, but that minds are also images of
the Deity or Author of nature Himself, capable of knowing the system
of the universe, and to some extent of imitating it through
architectonic ensamples [echantillons], each mind being like a small
divinity in its own sphere. (Theod. 147.)

  84. It is this that enables spirits [or minds- esprits] to enter
into a kind of fellowship with God, and brings it about that in
relation to them He is not only what an inventor is to his machine
(which is the relation of God to other created things), but also
what a prince is to his subjects, and, indeed, what a father is to his
children.

  85. Whence it is easy to conclude that the totality [assemblage]
of all spirits [esprits] must compose the City of God, that is to say,
the most perfect State that is possible, under the most perfect of
Monarchs. (Theod. 146; Abrege, Object. 2.)

  86. This City of God, this truly universal monarchy, is a moral
world in the natural world, and is the most exalted and most divine
among the works of God; and it is in it that the glory of God really
consists, for He would have no glory were not His greatness and His
goodness known and admired by spirits [esprits]. It is also in
relation to this divine City that God specially has goodness, while
His wisdom and His power are manifested everywhere. (Theod. 146;
Abrege, Object. 2.)

  87. As we have shown above that there is a perfect harmony between
the two realms in nature, one of efficient, and the other of final
causes, we should here notice also another harmony between the
physical realm of nature and the moral realm of grace, that is to say,
between God, considered as Architect of the mechanism [machine] of the
universe and God considered as Monarch of the divine City of spirits
[esprits]. (Theod. 62, 74, 118, 248, 112, 130, 247.)

  88. A result of this harmony is that things lead to grace by the
very ways of nature, and that this globe, for instance, must be
destroyed and renewed by natural means at the very time when the
government of spirits requires it, for the punishment of some and
the reward of others. (Theod. 18 sqq., 110, 244, 245, 340.)

  89. It may also be said that God as Architect satisfies in all
respects God as Lawgiver, and thus that sins must bear their penalty
with them, through the order of nature, and even in virtue of the
mechanical structure of things; and similarly that noble actions
will attain their rewards by ways which, on the bodily side, are
mechanical, although this cannot and ought not always to happen
immediately.

  90. Finally, under this perfect government no good action would be
unrewarded and no bad one unpunished, and all should issue in the
well-being of the good, that is to say, of those who are not
malcontents in this great state, but who trust in Providence, after
having done their duty, and who love and imitate, as is meet, the
Author of all good, finding pleasure in the contemplation of His
perfections, as is the way of genuine 'pure love,' which takes
pleasure in the happiness of the beloved. This it is which leads
wise and virtuous people to devote their energies to everything
which appears in harmony with the presumptive or antecedent will of
God, and yet makes them content with what God actually brings to
pass by His secret, consequent and positive [decisive] will,
recognizing that if we could sufficiently understand the order of
the universe, we should find that it exceeds all the desires of the
wisest men, and that it is impossible to make it better than it is,
not only as a whole and in general but also for ourselves in
particular, if we are attached, as we ought to be, to the Author of
all, not only as to the architect and efficient cause of our being,
but as to our master and to the final cause, which ought to be the
whole aim of our will, and which can alone make our happiness. (Theod.
134, 278. Pref. [E. 469; G. vi. 27, 28].)

                              THE END
.