he kept latent in himself concerning the building; and then the redeemer, upon the idea fashioned by the magnate, adds the dispositions of art, until, by leading all things from that double—or indeed triple—potentiality into act, he seems to do everything through himself, though he received the image and power of doing from another. This is the created and uncreated wisdom of God, in which eternal pleasure planted all its creatures as in its own garden. This is he who the prophet of the Ishmaelites says—speaking like the ass of Balaam—is the face of all men. This is he who was created from the beginning and before the ages. This is the spirit of the Messiah, founded before all things. This is JESUS CHRIST, through whom all particular things have been made in act and in truth, as they are and will be made as long as the action of the world will endure. Without this created and uncreated word of God, nothing was made.

CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE

of the Messiah before the constitution

of the world.

Since God is an abyss equivalent to all perfections, in whom all things are more perfect the more they are hidden from us, He necessarily acts with all His perfections upon created things: before all else through essence, unity, truth, and goodness; but in creation through power, wisdom, love, and charity; finally in the course of things through His infinite properties...