45. He who by exercise of thought is able to grasp the idea of and to
comprehend, Esse and Existere in itself, can certainly perceive and
comprehend that it is the Very and the Only. That is called the Very
which alone is; and that is called the Only from which every thing else
proceeds. Now because the Very and the Only is substance and form, it
follows that it is the very and only substance and form. Because this
very substance and form is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, it follows
that it is the very and only Love, and the very and only Wisdom;
consequently, that it is the very and only Essence, as well as the
very and only Life: for Life is Love and Wisdom.

46. From all this it can be seen how sensually (that is, how much from
the bodily senses and their blindness in spiritual matters) do those
think who maintain that nature is from herself. They think from the
eye, and are not able to think from the understanding. Thought from the
eye closes the understanding, but thought from the understanding opens
the eye. Such persons cannot think at all of Esse and Existere in itself,
and that it is Eternal, Uncreate, and Infinite; neither can they think
at all of life, except as a something fleeting and vanishing into
nothingness; nor can they think otherwise of Love and Wisdom, nor at
all that from these are all things of nature. Neither can it be seen
that from these are all things of nature, unless nature is regarded,
not from some of its forms, which are merely objects of sight, but from
uses in their succession and order. For uses are from life alone, and
their succession and order are from wisdom and love alone; while forms
are only containants of uses. Consequently, if forms alone are regarded,
nothing of life, still less anything of love and wisdom, thus nothing
of God, can be seen in nature.