A Sketch of Universal Wisdom

GROUND PLAN Ground Plan original: "DIATYPOSIS." A Greek-derived term often used in 17th-century literature to describe a structural outline, sketch, or architectural blueprint of an idea.

V. For although God himself sustains the World created by him by his own Power, illuminates it with his own light, and rules it by his own providence: yet because he acts ordinarily through ordinary means, it happens that by his arrangement some Creatures are formed, reformed, cherished, and directed toward their ends by others.

VI. The entire choir of Creatures original: "Creaturarum chorus." A poetic image suggesting that all of creation works together in harmony like a musical ensemble. and all the works of Nature bear witness to this, joined together in such a tight order that nothing among them all is or becomes by itself, for its own sake, or through itself; but each one depends on another, serves another, and is sustained by another. Therefore, indeed, he distributed various powers to various Creatures, so that each one (in that part where it is what it is, and acts as it acts) representing the duties of its Creator, might serve neighboring Creatures, and through this, the preservation of the Universe itself.

VII. Since, therefore, in the human race also, God has until now trained some through others for the gradual multiplication of the light of the knowledge of himself and of his works; but now the Last Times Last Times original: "Ultima Mundi tempora." Many 17th-century scholars believed they were living in the final age of the world, which motivated them to spread knowledge and reform society before the end. of the world seem to be at hand, co-