CREATIONISM. 550 CKEDE. of the individual is derived by generation from ttie souls of his parents as truly as is his body. It is to be distinctly aflirmed that the Scriptures give no decision upon this question. Creation- ists have sometimes quoted the account of the creation in Genesis ii. as favoring their view. But at most that would declare the mode of the original creation of the soul, not the method of its subsequent individual appearance in the "world. The body, which is derived from that of the parents, is no less a creature of God than the soul, though this originates by special creation. Again, creationism is sometimes said to be alone consistent with the immateriality of the soul, since this does not admit of its composition or its division into parts and consequently of its derivation from other souls, which must be by the division of these souls. But it is now known that bodies, even, are not derived from those of their parents in such a way as to give much point to this argument. The developing body builds itself in accordance with the law of hered- ity. It is indisputable that mental traits are inherited, so that, as a matter of fact, the souls of children are built upon the pattern of their parents. If this is traducianism for the body, it is the same for the soul. Theories of original sin have also been brought to bear upon this subject, and it has liecn said that if Christ derived His soul by traduction from ^Mary, then He acquired also the taint of original sin, and so could not be sinless. Hence His soul must have been a new creation. But this argument presupposes for ordinary men a derivation of original sin, and so a traducian origin. The drift of modern thinking is in favor of traducianism, because it emphasizes as never before the law of heredity. With the body is inseparably associated lite, and with life the soul, since all living forms mani- fest some of the qualities of the soul. In respect to both body and soul there are laws of inherit- ance, -nhich are none the less real because they are very intricate and obscure. Although the soul is immaterial and hence indivisible, it has a struc- ture, a plan, an organization. It is this that is repeated in following generations. There is, of course, no division of the soul that some parti- cles of it may make the soul of the child, or con- tribute to tliis. Jlodorn traducianism is there- fore simply this, that the soul as well as the body of a" human individual is formed by the indivisible working of its own immanent powers under the law of heredity upon the pattern of its race, specially embodied in its oati parents. Many theologians, however, perhaps with the highest wisdom, still refrain from adopting either theory, but emphasize the mystery envel- oping the whole subject of life, and say with Augustine, "When I wrote my former book I did not know how the soul derives its being, and I do not know noAv." See Traducianism; Original Sin. CREBILLON, kra'be'yoN'. Claide Prosper Joi.YOT DE ( 1707-77 ) . A noted French story-teller and wit. He was born in Paris. February 14. 1707, the son of the dramatist Prosper Jolyot Crebillon. Except for a five years' exile for po- litical and theological allusions in his novels, especially concerning the Papal bull JJnifletutiis, which led also to a brief imprisonment inthe Bas- tille, he passed his life in Paris. Though he occu- pied at one time the office of literary censor, his fiction is a bj^vord for its licentious suggestive- ness. It shows a graceful talent, however. Hia best known tales are L'ccumoire on Taii::a'i et X<.'adanic ( 1734), followed in 1736 by the notori- ous Les cgareineiils <lu cociir ct de I'esprit, and in 1745 by Le sopha. than which it has not been pos- sible to descend further in the refinements of im- morality: not a gross word and not a decent thought. The conversation is witty, the manners refined after their kind. This smirking volup- tuousness is only the completest literary expres- sion of the spirit of the time, that was sapping the foundation of national strength andcharacter and preparing the way for the Revolution. He died in Paris, April 12, 1777. CKEBILLON, Prosper Jolyot de (1674- 1762). A noted French tragic poet, born in Dijon, Januaiy 13, 1674. He abandoned the law for the stage on the success of Idomence (1705), and with Atrce ct Thyesfe. (1707) took first rank among the tragic poets of his time. Among the more noteworthy of his subsequent tragedies are Electre (1708); Rhadamiste et Zciwbie (1711), his best work; Pyrrhus (1726) ; and Catth'ne (1748). Crebillon became an Acad- emician in 1731 and held several minor public offices, among them that of stage censor. Later he became indigent, but died in comfort through the profits of an edition of his TToc/iS (1750), made at the royal order and charge. He died in Paris, June 17, 1702. Crebillon suff'cred, as did his fame, from the envy and enmity of Voltaire, himself a tragic poet of greater polish, though less rugged power. He is apt to mistake the hor- rible for the grandiose, and inflation for energy in diction, as did Corneille. whom among French dramatists he most resembles both in his quali- ties and his defects. Crebillon's ^Yol■ks have been often edited, best perhaps by Didot (1812). There is a Life by the Abbe de la Porte, and a dis- criminating critical essay on Crebillon's place in the development of French drama in Brunetifere's Epoqiics du Ihfutre. froiicais. See also Dutrait, Etude snr CrehiUon (1895). CRECHE, krash (Fr., manger, crib.) A pub- lic nursery where children can be left by their mothers and cared for while the mothers are at work. The children are fed, provided for, and instructed according to their capacity, for a merely nominal fee. Day nurseries in American cities perform similar services, usually free of charge, CKECY, kra'se'. A small town of France, in the Department of Somme, on the Maye, about 12 miles north of Abbeville (Map: France, HI). It is celebrated as the scene of a brilliant victory gained August 26, 1346, by Edward III., with 35,000 English soldiers, over a French army amounting to about 75.000 men under the com- mand of Philip VI. In this great battle vast numbers of the French nobility perished as well as King John of Bohemia and eleven other princes, who were fighting on the side of France. Altogether about 30,000 of the French army fell. At Cn'cy the Black Prince greatly distinguished himself and gained his spurs; and the crest of the slain Bohemian King, consisting of three ostrich-feathers, with the motto Ich dien ('I serve'), was adopted by him in memory of the victory, and still continues to be borne by the Prince of Wales. CREDE, kra-d.a', Karl SioisMtrND Fkanz (1819-92). A German gynecologist, born in
