Note 597 — Chapter VI · COSMOGONY, COSMOLOGY, AND COSMOGRAPHY

Though William denied the possibility of chaos preëxisting the “Creation,” he was none the less accused of heresy by Walter, prior of St. Victor in Paris during the last part of twelfth century, because of his failure to make it clear that God created everything out of nothing. 419William’s atomic theories suggest the possibility of belief in his mind that matter in the form of atoms had coexisted with God and that at the so-called “Creation” God had merely organized and arranged these atoms. See Hauréau, Singularités, 1861, p. 258; Poole, Illustrations, 1920, pp. 300–301.