THEISM A ND E VOL U TION. 291 



Matter alone, insists St. Thomas, in speaking of 

 the visible universe, was created, in the strict sense 

 of the term, and in this he but follows the indications 

 of the Mosaic narrative of creation, and St. Augus- 

 tine's interpretation of the work of the six days. 

 Plants and animals were generated or produced from 

 preexisting material "were gradually developed, 

 by natural operations, under the Divine administra- 

 tion." 



" In those first days," he tells us, " God created 

 the creature in its origin and cause originaliter, vel 

 causaliter, and afterwards rested from this work. 

 Nevertheless, He subsequently, until now, works ac- 

 cording to the administration of created things by 

 the work of propagation. Now, to produce plants 

 from the earth belongs to the work of propagation ; 

 therefore, on the third day plants were not produced 

 in act, but only in their cause Non ergo in tertia die 

 products sunt plant ce in actu sed causaliter tantum" ' 



Elsewhere, in defending the opinion of St. Au- 

 gustine, he writes : " When it is said, ' Let the earth 

 bring forth the green herb,' Gen. i, 11, it is not 

 meant that plants were then produced actually in 

 their proper nature, but that there was given to the 

 earth a germinative power to produce plants by the 

 work of propagation ; so that the earth is then said 

 to have brought forth the green herb and the tree 

 yielding fruit in this wise, viz., that it received the 

 power of producing \hzrn producendi accepisse vir- 

 tutem" And this he confirms by the authority of 



Summa," lae, LXIX : 2. 



