284 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



insisted more strongly on the reign of law in na- 

 ture, or discriminated more keenly between the 

 operations of the Creator and those of the creature? 

 Has anyone realized more fully the functions of a 

 First Cause, as compared with those of causes which 

 are but secondary or physical? If so, I am not 

 aware of it. Modern scientists have, indeed, a far 

 more detailed knowledge of the divers forms of 

 terrestrial life than had the philosophical Bishop 

 of Hippo; they have a more comprehensive view of 

 nature than was possible in his day, but they have 

 not, with all their knowledge and superior advan- 

 tages, been able to formulate the general theory of 

 Evolution a whit more clearly, than we find it ex- 

 pressed in the writings of the Doctor of Grace, who 

 wrote nearly fifteen centuries ago. 



Views of the Angelic Doctor. 



The Angelic Doctor takes up the teachings of 

 St. Augustine and makes them his own. He dis- 

 cusses them according to the scholastic method, and 

 with a lucidity and a comprehensiveness that leave 

 nothing to be desired. He carefully distinguishes 

 between creation proper, and the production or gen- 

 eration of things from preexisting material; be- 

 tween the operations of absolute Creative Energy, 

 and those which may be performed by secondary 

 causes. Indeed, so exhaustive and so complete is 

 his treatment of the origin and Evolution of the 

 material universe and all it contains ; so clear and 

 so conclusive his argumentation, that his successors 

 have found but little to add to his brilliant proposi- 



