280 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



luminary of the Oriental Church. St. Gregory of 

 Nyssa, who first clearly conceived and formulated 

 the nebular hypothesis, which was long centuries 

 subsequently elaborated by Laplace, Herschel and 

 Faye. The learned prelate found no difficulty in 

 admitting the action of secondary causes, in the for- 

 mation of the universe from the primal matter which 

 the Almighty had directly created. According to 

 Gregory and his school, God created matter in a 

 formless or nebulous condition, but impressed on 

 this matter the power of developing into all the 

 various forms which it afterwards assumed. The 

 universe and all it contains, the earth and all that 

 inhabits it plants, animals, man were created by 

 God, but they were created in different ways. The 

 primitive material, the nebulous matter, from which 

 all things were fashioned, was created by God 

 directly and immediately ; whereas, all the multi- 

 tudinous creatures of the visible world, were produced 

 by Him indirectly and mediately, that is, by the 

 operation of secondary causes and what are com- 

 monly called the laws of nature. 



Teachings of St. Augustine. 



St. Augustine not only accepted the conclusions 

 of his illustrious Greek predecessor, but he went 

 much further than the Bishop of Nyssa. He was, 

 likewise, much more explicit, especially in what con- 

 cerned the development of the various forms of ani- 

 mal and vegetable life. According to the Doctor of 

 Hippo, God did not create the world as it now appears, 

 but only the primordial matter of which it is composed. 



