which, things exist, is a kind of base and support; for it is the outmost
work [ultimum opus], in which all things terminate, and upon which they
rest. It is also a kind of matrix, out of which effects, which are ends
of creation, are produced, as will be shown in what follows.

166. That all things were created by the Lord through the living sun, and
nothing through the dead sun, can be seen from this, that what is living
disposes what is dead in obedience to itself, and forms it for uses, which
are its ends; but not the reverse. Only a person bereft of reason and who
is ignorant of what life is, can think that all things are from nature,
and that life even comes from nature. Nature cannot dispense life to
anything, since nature in itself is wholly inert. For what is dead to
act upon what is living, or for dead force to act upon living force, or,
what is the same, for the natural to act upon the spiritual, is entirely
contrary to order, therefore so to think is contrary to the light of
sound reason. What is dead, that is, the natural, may indeed in many ways
be perverted or changed by external accidents, but it cannot act upon life;
on the contrary life acts into it, according to the induced change of form.
It is the same with physical influx into the spiritual operations of the
soul; this, it is known, does not occur, for it is not possible.

167. THE END OF CREATION HAS FORM [existat] IN OUTMOSTS, WHICH END IS
THAT ALL THINGS MAY RETURN TO THE CREATOR AND THAT THERE MAY BE
CONJUNCTION.

In the first place, something shall be said about ends. There are three
things that follow in order, called first end, middle end, and last end;
they are also called end, cause, and effect. These three must be together
in every thing, that it may be anything. For a first end without a middle
end, and at the same time a last end, is impossible; or, what is the same,