220 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



A secondary meaning of the word " creation," is 

 the formation, by God, of something from preexist- 

 ing material. This is the natural action of God in 

 the ordaining or administering of the world, as dis- 

 tinguished from the supernatural act of absolute 

 creation from nothing. In this sense God is said to 

 create derivatively, or by the agency of secondary 

 causes. He creates potentially ; that is, He gives to 

 matter the power of producing or evolving, under 

 suitable conditions, all the manifold forms it may 

 ever assume. In the beginning He created matter 

 directly and absolutely, once for all ; but to the mat- 

 ter thus created He added certain natural forces 

 what St. Augustine calls rationes seminales and put 

 it under the action of certain laws, which we call 

 " the laws of nature." Through the operation of 

 these laws, and in virtue of the powers conferred on 

 matter in the beginning, God produces indirectly, 

 derivatively, by the operation of secondary causes, 

 all the various forms which matter may subsequently 

 assume, and all the divers phenomena of the phys- 

 ical universe. 



In another sense, also, the word " creation " may 

 be employed, as when we speak of the creations of 

 genius, or refer to creations of Raphael, Michael 

 Angelo, or Brunelleschi. In these cases, the work 

 of the artist or of the architect consists simply in 

 making use of the laws, and powers and materials of 

 nature, in such wise as to effect a change in form or 

 condition. The action of the intelligent agents in 

 this case being natural, but more than physical, may 

 conveniently be designated as hyperphysical. 



