222 EVOLUTION AXD DOGMA. 



there is one true and living God, Creator and Lord 

 of heaven and earth, Almighty, Eternal, Immense, 

 Incomprehensible, Infinite, in intelligence, in will, 

 and in all perfection, who, as being one, sole, abso- 

 lutely simple and immutable spiritual substance, is 

 to be declared as really and essentially distinct from 

 the world, of supreme beatitude in and from Him- 

 self, and ineffably exalted above all things which 

 exist, or are conceivable, except Himself. 



" This one only true God, of His own goodness 

 and Almighty power, not for the increase or acquire- 

 ment of His own happiness, but to manifest His 

 perfection by the blessings which He bestows on 

 creatures, and with absolute freedom of counsel, 

 created out of nothing, from the very beginning of 

 time, both the spiritual and the corporeal creature, 

 to wit, the angelical and the mundane, and afterward 

 the human nature, as partaking in a sense of both, 

 consisting of spirit and body." 



But the canons of the Council relating to God 

 as Creator of all things, are, if anything, stronger 

 and more explicit than what precedes. 



They are as follows : 



"i. If anyone shall deny one true God, Creator 

 and Lord of things visible and invisible , let him be 

 ' > anathema. 



c. 



"2. If anyone shall not be ashamed to affirm 

 that, except matter, nothing exists; let him be 

 anathema. 



" 3. If anyone shall say that the substance and 

 essence of God and of all things is one and the same ; 

 let him be anathema. 



