386. I. THAT FROM THE LORD PROCEED TWO UNIVERSAL SPHERES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE UNIVERSE IN THE STATE CREATED, OF WHICH THE ONE IS THE SPHERE OF PROCREATING, AND THE OTHER THE SPHERE OF PROTECTING THE THINGS PROCREATED. The Divine proceeding from the Lord is called a sphere because it goes forth from Him, surrounds Him, fills both worlds, the spiritual and the natural, and brings into operation the effects of the ends which the Lord predestined at creation and for which He provides after it. All that flows out from a subject and encompasses and surrounds it, is called a sphere; as, for example, the sphere of light and heat from and around the sun; the sphere of life from and around a man; the sphere of the fragrance of a plant around it; the sphere of the attraction of a magnet around it, and so on. [2] But the universal spheres here treated of are from and around the Lord, and they proceed from the sun of the spiritual world in the midst of which He is. From the Lord through that sun proceeds a sphere of heat and light, or, what is the same thing, a sphere of love and wisdom, for the bringing into operation of ends which are uses. This sphere is designated by different names according to its uses. The Divine sphere looking to the preservation of the universe in its created state by means of successive generations, is called the Sphere of Procreating; and the Divine sphere looking to the preservation of the generations in their beginnings and afterwards in their progressions, is called the Sphere of Protecting what is procreated. Besides these two, there are many other Divine spheres and these are named according to their uses, thus differently, as can be seen above (no. 222). The operations of uses by means of those spheres are the Divine Providence.