416 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



the idea of separation or differentiation, and the 

 idea of progressive development or perfecting. Al- 

 though Moses looks upon the results of the great 

 laws of organic development, which we shall later 

 point out as the necessary conclusions of the doc- 

 trine of descent, as the direct action of a constructing 

 Creator, yet in this theory there lies hidden the rul- 

 ing idea of a progressive development and differ- 

 entiation of the originally simple matter. We can, 

 therefore, bestow our just and sincere admiration of 

 the Jewish law-giver's grand insight into nature, and 

 his simple and natural hypothesis of creation." 1 



Evolution has been condemned as anti-Patristic 

 and anti-Scholastic, although Saints Gregory of 

 Nyssa, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, are most 

 explicit in their assertion of principles that are in 

 perfect accord with all the legitimate demands of 

 theistic Evolution. It suffices to recall the admir- 

 able passage of the Bishop of Hippo, in his " De 

 Genesi ad Litteram," in which he proleptically an- 

 nounced all the fundamental principles of modern 

 Evolution. He recognized Evolution not only in 

 individuals, but he also discerned its workings in the 

 sum of all things. God did not create the world, as 

 it now exists, actually, actualiter, but potentially and 

 causally, potentialiter et causaliter. Plants and ani- 

 mals were created virtually, vi potentiaque causali, 

 before they received their subsequent development, 

 priusquam per temporum moras exorirentur? 



1 " History of Creation," vol. I, p. 38. 



2 Vid. sup., part II, chap, iv, for St. Augustine's views on 

 Evolution. 



