303、谁不欣然承认，诸如出现在地上的那类物质或材料是由太阳通过大气产生的？若考虑到一系列连续媒介从最初实体一直延伸到最终或最外在的实体，谁不欣然承认这一点？若不从先于自己的某种事物，因而最终从第一因，没有什么东西能够形成。这第一因就是灵界太阳，而灵界太阳的第一因是神-人，或主。由于大气是在先之物，灵界太阳通过它们显现在最终或最外在的形式中，又由于这些在先之物的活性和张力不断减弱，直到最终或最外在的形式，所以可推知，当其活性和张力终止于最终或最外在的形式中时，它们就变成了诸如存在于地上的那类物质和材料；这些物质和材料通过它们所来源的大气，将产生功用的一种努力和动力保留在自己里面。那些以为宇宙及其万物的创造不是通过一系列连续媒介从它们的最初起源产生的人，不能不从它们的原因来构建支离破碎的假说。当由看待问题更深刻的心智来审视时，他们的假说看上去不像是构建良好的房子，倒像是一堆类似瓦砾的东西。
303. No one who thinks that there are constant intermediate steps between what is first and what is final, and that nothing can come into being except from some antecedent, and ultimately from what is first, can fail to agree that the material substances on earth have been brought forth by the sun by means of its atmospheres. What is first is the spiritual world's sun, and what is first relative to that sun is the Divine-Human One, or the Lord.
Since the atmospheres are those relatively early things by which the sun makes itself present in outermost things, and since those relatively early things are constantly diminishing as they work and extend themselves all the way to their limits, it follows that when their action and expansion come to rest at their limits, they become the kinds of material substance that we find on earth, retaining from the atmospheres that gave rise to them a tendency and effort to produce useful functions.
People who propose a creation of the universe and everything in it with no constant intermediate steps from what is first cannot help but formulate theories that are fragmentary and disconnected from actual causes. When these theories are explored by a mind that probes the matter more deeply, they look not like houses but like a pile of rubble.
303. Who does not affirm that such substances or materials as occur in the earth have been produced by the sun through its atmospheres? What person does not affirm it who considers that a perpetual series of intermediating agencies extends from the first entity to the last? And that nothing can come into being except from something prior to it, and in the final analysis from a first cause? This first cause is the sun of the spiritual world, and the first cause of that sun is the human God or the Lord.
Now because the atmospheres are those prior agencies by which that sun manifests itself in final forms, and because those prior agencies continually decrease in activity and rarefaction in their descent to final forms, it follows that when their activity and rarefaction terminate in final forms, they become such substances and materials as exist in their earth - substances and materials which, from the atmospheres from which they arose, retain in them an impetus and endeavor to produce useful effects.
People who postulate the creation of the universe and all of its constituents to have arisen not through a continual series of intermediating agencies from their first origin cannot but construct hypotheses severed and divorced from their causes. When examined by a mind that views matters more deeply, their hypotheses look not like a well-constructed house, but like a heap of stuff resembling rubble.
303. Who will not affirm, if he reflects that there are continual mediations from the prime to the ultimates, that such substances or matters as are on the earth have been produced by the sun through its atmospheres. Also that nothing can come into existence except from what is prior to itself, and finally from a prime, and that the prime is the Sun of the spiritual world, the Prime of that Sun being God-Man, that is, the Lord? Now, because atmospheres are prior things through which the Sun manifests itself in ultimates, and since these prior things continually decrease in activity and expanse even to ultimates, it follows that when their activity and expanse terminate in ultimates, they become substances and matters such as are on the earth, and these retain within them, from the atmospheres from which they originated, an effort and conatus to bring forth uses. Those who do not deduce the creation of the universe and all things thereof by continual mediations from a First [Being], cannot but build hypotheses broken and disjoined from their causes. And when these hypotheses are examined by a mind with an interior perception of things they do not appear like buildings but like the massed rubbish of decayed buildings.
303. That such substances or matters as are in earths, were brought forth by the sun through its atmospheres any one will readily acknowledge who reflects that there are continual mediations from the First to outmosts, and that nothing can take form except from what is prior to itself, and so finally from the First. The First is the sun of the spiritual world, and the First of that sun is God-Man, or the Lord. Now as atmospheres are those prior things, whereby the spiritual sun manifests itself in outmosts, and as these prior things continually decrease in activity and expansion down to the outmosts, it follows that when their activity and expansion come to an end in outmosts they become substances, and matters such as are in lands, which retain within them, from the atmospheres out of which they originated, an effort and conatus to bring forth uses. Those who do not evolve the creation of the universe and all things thereof by continuous mediations from the First [Being], can but hold hypotheses, disjoined and divorced from their causes, which, when surveyed by a mind with an interior perception of things, do not appear like a house, but like heaps of rubbish.
303. Quod substantiae seu materiae quales sunt in terris, a Sole per Athmosphaeras 1 ejus productae sint, quis non affirmat, qui cogitat quod perpetuae mediationes sint a Primo ad Ultima; et quod nihil possit existere nisi a priori se, et tandem a Primo; ac Primum est Sol Mundi spiritualis, ac Primum illius Solis est Deus Homo seu Dominus. Nunc quia Athmosphaerae sunt illa priora, per quae Sol ille se sistit in ultimis, et quia priora illa activitate et expansione continue decrescunt usque ad ultima, sequitur quod cum desinit activitas et expansio illarum in ultimis, 2 fiant substantiae et materiae quales sunt in terris; quae ex Athmosphaeris, ex quibus ortae sunt, in se retinent nisum et conatum producendi usus. Qui creationem universi et omnium ejus non per continuas mediationes a Primo instaurant, illi non possunt quin hypotheses fractas et revulsas a suis causis condant, 3 quae dum a Mente, quae interius res perspicit, lustrantur, apparent non sicut domus, sed sicut congeries qualis est ruderum.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: Ath. / mosphaeras
2. Prima editio: uitimis,
3. Prima editio: condere,