しかしわたしは，これらすべてのことから，われわれの住むこの世界が，わたしの提示したような具合に創造されたと推論するつもりはなかった。というのも，神が最初からこの世界をそれがあるべき姿にしたというほうが，はるかに真実らしいからだ。けれども，神がいまこの世界を維持している働きは，神が世界を創造したときの働きとまった〈同じだということは確実であり，それは神学者のあいだでも共通に受け入れられている意見である。それゆえ，たとえ神が最初はこの世界にカオスの形しか与えなかったと仮定しても，同時に神が，自然法則を設定し，自然がいつもそのように働くよう協力を与えたとさえするならば，創造の奇跡を損なうことなく次のように信じうるのである。つまり，以上のことだけから，純粋に物質的なものはすべて時間とともに，現在われわれが見るようなものになりえたのだろう，と。そしてそれら物質的なものの本性は，このように少しずつ生成するのを見るほうが，まったくできあがったものとしてのみ考える場合よりも，はるかに把握しやすい。
I was not however, disposed, from these circumstances,
to conclude that this world had been created
in the manner I described; for it is much
more likely that God made it at the first
such as it was to be. But this is certain,
and an opinion commonly received among theologians,
that the action by which he now sustains
it is the same with that by which he originally
created it; so that even although he had
from the beginning given it no other form
than that of chaos, provided only he had
established certain laws of nature, and had
lent it his concurrence to enable it to act
as it is wont to do, it may be believed,
without discredit to the miracle of creation,
that, in this way alone, things purely material
might, in course of time, have become such
as we observe them at present; and their
nature is much more easily conceived when
they are beheld coming in this manner gradually
into existence, than when they are only considered
as produced at once in a finished and perfect
state.