190. There are many constant things created in order that there may exist things that are not constant. Such constants are the appointed changes in the rising and setting of the sun, moon, and stars; their obscurations by interpositions called eclipses; the heat and light from them; the seasons of the year called spring, summer, autumn and winter; the times of the day, which are morning, noon, evening and night; also atmospheres, waters and lands, viewed in themselves; the vegetative faculty in the vegetable kingdom, and not only this but also the reproductive faculty in the animal kingdom, and further the things which constantly result from these when they are moved to action according to the laws of order. These things and many more have been provided from creation in order that things may exist in infinite variety, for variety can only exist in what is constant, fixed and certain. [2] Examples, however, will illustrate this. Variety in vegetation is not possible unless the rising and setting of the sun, and the consequent heat and light, were constant. Harmonious sounds are of infinite variety, but they would not exist unless the atmospheres were constant in their laws and the ear in its form. The varieties of sight, which also are infinite, would not exist unless the ether in its laws and the eye in its form were constant; nor would colours exist unless the light were constant. It is the same with thoughts, words and actions, which also are in infinite variety, but which would not exist unless the organic forms of the body were constant. Must not a house be constant in order that a variety of things may be done in it by man? In like manner a temple must be constant in order that the various acts of worship, sermons, instruction and pious meditations may be possible in it. So it is in other things. [3] As for the varieties themselves which are produced from what is constant, fixed and certain, they go on to infinity, and have no end; and yet there is not one thing precisely the same as another in all the things of the universe in general and in particular, nor can there be in the succession of things to eternity. Who so disposes these varieties, which go on to infinity and to eternity, that they may he in order but He who created the constant things to the end that the varieties might exist in them? And who can dispose the infinite varieties of life in men but He who is Life itself, that is, Love itself and Wisdom itself? Without His Divine Providence, which is, as it were, a continual creation, could the infinite affections of men and their consequent thoughts, and thus the men themselves, be so disposed as to make one - evil affections and their consequent thoughts to make one devil, which is hell, and good affections and their consequent thoughts to make one Lord in heaven? It has been frequently stated and shown above that the universal angelic heaven is in the sight of the Lord as one man who is His image and likeness, and that the universal hell is in opposition to it as one monstrous man. These things have been stated because some natural men, even from the constant and the fixed things which are necessary to the end that varieties may exist in them, eagerly seize upon arguments in support of their own spiritual insanity in favour of nature and their own prudence.