290 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



the product of generation and not of creation. There 

 was development, Evolution, under the action of 

 second causes, from the simple elements to the high- 

 est inorganic and organic compounds; from the 

 lowest kinds of brute matter to the highest bodily 

 representatives of animated nature ; but there was 

 nothing requiring anew creative action or extraor- 

 dinary interventions, except, of course, the human 

 soul. 



After this primordial creation, God continued 

 and sustained His work by His Providence. Matter 

 was then under the action of secondary causes, under 

 what science calls the reign of law, and under the 

 action of these secondary causes, under the influence 

 of forces and laws imposed on it by God in the be- 

 ginning, it still remains, and shall remain, until time 

 is no more 



Creation According to Scripture. 



This teaching is in perfect harmony with the dec- 

 larations of the opening chapter of Genesis, which 

 speaks first of the creation of matter, then of the 

 production from matter of plants and animals. It is 

 consistent, too, with the teachings of science, which 

 affirm that the material universe was once but a 

 nebulous mass, which in the course of time condensed 

 into solid bodies, the stars and planets, and which, 

 after countless ages and by a gradual Evolution un- 

 der the action of natural laws, generated those myr- 

 iad objects of passing beauty and marvelous com- 

 plexity which we now so much admire. 



