THEISM A ND EVOLU TION. 295 



obedient matter. Thence onward marched the 

 grand procession of life, marking epochs as it went 

 along, till it culminated in man, the paragon of 

 God's visible universe." 



The Divine Administration. 



But what, it may be inquired, does St. Thomas 

 mean by the work of Divine administration ? This 

 phrase has been frequently employed, and it is of 

 sufficient importance to demand an explanation. 



No creature, as theology teaches, is competent to 

 elicit a single act, even the smallest and most insig- 

 nificant, without the cooperation of God. We can- 

 not raise a foot, or. move a finger, without Divine 

 assistance. This is included in Divine administra- 

 tion, but it is far from being all that is so included. 

 Over and above this the Divine administration em- 

 braces the order, or laws, by which the world is 

 governed. It embraces, too, the Evolution of living 



lu The Metaphysics of the School," vol. II, p. 741. 



For one who wishes to master the doctrines and methods of 

 Scholasticism, there is no work in English if, indeed, there is 

 in any language that can be studied with more profit than this 

 thorough and exhaustive treatise of Father Harper's. No one 

 should attempt to discuss the teachings of the Schoolmen re- 

 specting derivative creation, who has not mastered Appendix 

 A, in vol. II, on The Teaching of St. Thomas Touching the 

 Genesis of the Material Universe, and the appendix in vol. Ill, 

 part I, on The Teaching of the Angelic Doctor Touching the 

 Efficient Causes of the Generation of Living Bodies in Its Bear- 

 ings on Modern Physical Discoveries. Both these appendices 

 are veritable magazines of fact and argumentation that cannot 

 be duplicated elsewhere. I am indebted to the distinguished 

 author, not only for the translation of many of the preceding 

 quotations from the Angelic Doctor, but also for many valuable 

 suggestions regarding the manner of treatment of theistic 

 Evolution from the standpoint of patristic and scholastic 

 philosophy. 



