47# 若能真切领会前文所述一切，便能洞悉：宇宙乃是自原初至终末层层贯通、环环相系的造物。其内里将目的、原因与结果绾合为不可割裂的整体。一切爱皆内含目的，一切智慧皆借中间缘由推动目的、成就结果，而诸般结果即是功用。由此可推，宇宙这一造物，全然承载神性之爱、神性智慧与万事功用，故而自本源至末后，脉络连贯、浑然一体。
宇宙通篇由层层递进的功用构筑，一切功用皆由爱发起、凭智慧生成。但凡具备真智慧之人，只要在心中构建创世整体图景，再于其间细察万物分殊，便能如对镜观照，明晰此理：万物分殊皆适配整体秩序，整体又将万物排布成和谐完备的形相。下文将多方举证，印证此事实。
47# 你若正确理解这些事，就可以看到，宇宙是一件从初至末连贯起来的作品，因为它是一件将目的、原因和结果保持在牢不可破的联系中的作品。由于每一种爱里面都有一个目的，一切智慧里面都有通过居间原因而对这个目的的促进，结果，即功用，通过这些原因而实现，所以可知，宇宙是一件包含神性之爱、神性智慧和功用的作品，因而是一件从初至末都完全连贯起来的作品。每个人在获得宇宙创造的总体概念，并从这个角度来看待它的细节时，都如在一面镜子中那样看到，宇宙是由永恒的功用构成的，这些功用通过智慧产生，由爱主动发起；因为细节会调整自己，以适应自己的总体，而总体则有序排列它们，或说按它们在其中和谐一致的形式排列它们。下文会以多种方式来说明，事实就是这样。
47. If you understand all this in the right way, you will be able to see the universe as a coherent work from beginning to end, a work holding purposes, means, and results in indissoluble connection.
Every love has a purpose. All wisdom moves toward fulfilling that purpose by intermediate means, using those means to achieve effective, useful results. Therefore it follows that the universe is a work that embodies divine love, divine wisdom, and usefulness of all kinds. In every conceivable way, then, it is a coherent work from beginning to end.
The fact that the universe consists of constant useful functions produced by wisdom under love's initiative is something all wise people can contemplate as if they were seeing it in a mirror. Once they acquire a general picture of how the universe was created, they can focus on the details. This is because parts adapt to the whole, and the whole places the parts in a harmonious arrangement. In what follows, the truth of this will come to light in many ways.
47. A proper perception of these matters may show that the universe is a coherent whole from first to last, since it contains ends, causes and effects bound up in an indissoluble knot. Since every love has an end in view, and all wisdom is the advancement of the end through mediate causes, and through these proceeding to effects, which are the purposes it serves, it follows too that the universe contains the Divine Love, the Divine Wisdom and services, and is thus a coherent whole from first to last. Every wise man can study as in a mirror the fact that the universe is composed of a perpetual succession of services brought about by wisdom and initiated by love, if he forms for himself any general idea about the creation of the universe, and examines its details. For the details adapt themselves to the general pattern, and this arranges them into a consonant form. Many illustrations of this will be given in the following pages.
47. From these things when rightly understood it can be seen that the universe is a coherent work from first things to last, because it is a work that includes ends, causes, and effects in an indissoluble connection. And because in every love there is an end, in all wisdom there is a promotion of an end by means of mediate causes, and through these causes effects, which are uses, are attained, it follows that the universe is a work that includes Divine love, Divine wisdom, and uses, and is thus in every respect a word coherent from things first to last. That the universe consists of perpetual uses, brought forth by wisdom but initiated by love, every wise man can observe as in a mirror, as soon as he acquires a general conception of the creation of the universe, and from that observes the particulars; for particulars adapt themselves to their own general, and the general arranges them in a form in which they are in harmony. The truth of this will be illustrated in many ways in what follows.
47. If these things are properly understood it may be seen that the universe is a work coherent from first things to last, because it is a work with ends, causes and effects indissolubly linked together. Since in all love there is an end, and since in all wisdom there is the promotion of that end through mediate causes and by means of them to effects, which are uses, it follows that the universe is an all embracing work of Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, and Uses, and thus a work entirely coherent from first things to last. That the universe consists of perpetual uses, produced by wisdom and initiated by love, may be seen as in a mirror by every wise man when he acquires a general idea of the creation of the universe, and regards its particulars in that light. For particulars adapt themselves to their own general idea, which disposes them in orderly arrangement. That this is so will be further illustrated in what follows.
47. Ex his rite perceptis videri potest, quod Universum sit Opus cohaerens a primis ad ultima, quia est opus continens Finium, Causarum, et Effectuum in nexu indissolubili: et quia in omni amore est finis, in omni sapientia est promotio finis per causas medias, et per has ad effectus, qui sunt usus, consequitur etiam quod Universum sit Opus continens 1 Divini Amoris, Divinae Sapientiae, et Usuum, et sic omnino Opus cohaerens a primis ad ultima. Quod Universum consistat ex perpetuis Usibus productis a Sapientia ac initiatis ab Amore, omnis sapiens potest contemplari sicut in speculo, dum communem ideam de Creatione universi sibi comparat, et in illa particularia tuetur; particularia enim adaptant se suo communi, et commune disponit illa in formam ut concordent; quod ita sit, in sequentibus per plura illustrabitur.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: coatinens.