MISCONCEPTIONS OF THE OR T. 223 



" 4. If anyone shall say that infinite things, both 

 corporeal and spiritual, or at least spiritual, have 

 emanated from the Divine substance ; or that the 

 Divine Essence by the manifestation and evolution 

 of Itself becomes all things ; or lastly, that God is 

 universal or indefinite being, which by determining 

 itself constitutes the universality of things, distinct 

 according to genera, species and individuals ; let him 

 be anathema. 



" 5. If anyone confess not that the world and all 

 things which are contained in it, both spiritual and 

 material, have been, in their whole substance, pro- 

 duced by God out of nothing ; or shall say that 

 God created, not by His will free from all necessity, 

 but by a necessity equal to the necessity whereby 

 He loves Himself ; or shall deny that the world was 

 made for the glory of God ; let him be anathema." 



We have here in a nutshell the Catholic doctrine 

 of creation, as well as an authoritative pronounce- 

 ment, which cannot be mistaken, respecting the 

 attitude of the Church towards the Atheism, Mate- 

 rialism and Pantheism which have infected so many 

 minds in our time, and exerted such a blighting 

 influence on contemporary science. 



Meaning of the Word " Nature." 



Knowing, now, in what sense we may interpret 

 the word "creation," in what sense it must be under- 

 stood according to Catholic teaching, we next pro- 

 ceed to the discussion of the word " nature," about 

 which so much crass ignorance prevails, even among 



