152. Under the preceding proposition it has been shown that the salvation and eternal life of men are the first and last end of the Lord; and as the first and last end contain within them the mediate ends, it follows that the above mentioned spiritual energies are together in the Lord, and from the Lord in man, although they come forth successively. For the human mind grows like its body, the latter growing in stature while the former grows in wisdom. So, too, is the mind exalted from one region to another, that is, from the natural to the spiritual, and from the spiritual to the celestial. In this celestial region man is wise, in the spiritual he is intelligent, and in the lowest knowing. But this exaltation of the mind is effected only from time to time, and as man acquires for himself truths and conjoins them with good. It is the same with one who builds a house; he first procures the materials for it, such as bricks, tiles, boards, and beams, and thus lays the foundations, raises the walls, divides off the rooms, furnishes them with doors, puts windows in the walls, and constructs stairs from one story to another. All these things are together in the end, which is the convenient and worthy dwelling he foresees and provides for. It is the same in the building of a church, every thing pertaining to its construction is included in the end, which is the worship of God. So is it with everything else, as with gardens and fields, and also with employments and business, for which the end itself procures for itself the accessories.