reation of the
universe by the hands and fingers of a Supreme Being, and in this
they were followed by Bede and a few others; but the more material
conceptions prevailed, and we find these taking shape not only in the
sculptures and mosaics and stained glass of cathedrals, and in the
illuminations of missals and psalters, but later, at the close of the
Middle Ages, in the pictured Bibles and in general literature.

Into the Anglo-Saxon mind this ancient material conception of the
creation was riveted by two poets whose works appealed especially to the
deeper religious feelings. In the seventh century Caedmon paraphrased
the account given in Genesis, bringing out this material conception in
the most literal form; and a thousand years later Milton developed out
of the various statements in the Old Testament, mingled with a theology
regarding "the creative Word" which had been drawn from the New, his
description of the creation by the second person in the Trinity, than
which nothing could be more literal and material:

"He took the golden compasses, prepared
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe and all created things.
One foot he centred, and the other turned
Round through the vast profundity obscure,
And said, 'Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds:
This be thy just circumference, O world!'"(2)

(2) For Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and the general subject of the
development of an evolution theory among the Greeks, see the excellent
work by Dr. Osborn, From the Greeks to Darwin, pp.33 and following; for
Caedmon, see any edition--I have used Bouterwek's, Gutersloh, 1854; for
Milton, see Paradise Lost, book vii, lines 225-231.

So much for the orthodox view of the MANNER of creation.

The next point developed in this theologic evolution had reference to
the MATTER of which the universe was made, and it was decided by an
overwhelming majority that no material substance existed before the
creation of the material universe--that "God created everything out of
nothing." Some venturesome thinkers, basing their reasoning upon the
first verses of Genesis, hinted at a different view--namely, that the
mass, "without form and void," existed before the universe; but this
doctrine was soon swept out of sight. The vast majority of the fathers
were explicit on this point. Tertullian especially was very severe
against those who took any other view than that generally accep