HAECKEL AND THE MONISTIC CREED 51 



"This being we call the personal Creator, the 

 being existing of Himself for all eternity, and 

 having the reason of His existence in Himself. 

 Precisely because He has the reason of His ex- 

 istence in Himself, He was able out of the abun- 

 dance of His own infinite perfection to evoke 

 the finite out of nothingness, and this is what 

 we call 'creation.' Creation was not necessary; it 

 was a free act of God." 13 



That the truth of Creation does not conflict 

 with any sane theory of evolution needs hardly 

 be pointed out here. Evolution as a scientific hy- 

 pothesis, the "Catholic Encyclopedia" clearly and 

 definitely states: "is in perfect agreement with 

 the Christian conception of the universe; for the 

 Scripture does not tell us in what form the pres- 

 ent species of plants and of animals were origi- 

 nally created by God." 14 Certain limits, how- 

 ever, must be placed to this theory, as reason itself 

 and true science demand. 



On these subjects more shall be said hereafter, 

 as also on certain evolutionary and biogenetic 

 statements, distilled in the alembic of Haeckel's 

 imagination and in no sense the result of scien- 

 tific investigation. Together with Monism they 

 are still retained by many of Haeckel's belated 

 devotees, as part of that glorified superstition 

 which long held in bondage a great part of the 



""The Problem of Evolution," p. 213. 

 "Article on "Evolution." 



