{"id":"01KJR8Q6G2BX6J7KV268NSMX7H","cid":"bafkreiaacoqx3qgy2owarroiizl3qls5ntnizlifxugbyislslaofhq2he","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":456181,"char_start":448292,"chunk_index":63,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1973,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"men; that it might be believed and sought inwardly, and found in\r\nthe eternal Verity; where the good and only Master teacheth all His\r\ndisciples. There, Lord, hear I Thy voice speaking unto me; because He\r\nspeaketh us, who teacheth us; but He that teacheth us not, though\r\nHe speaketh, to us He speaketh not. Who now teacheth us, but the\r\nunchangeable Truth? for even when we are admonished through a changeable\r\ncreature; we are but led to the unchangeable Truth; where we learn\r\ntruly, while we stand and hear Him, and rejoice greatly because of the\r\nBridegroom's voice, restoring us to Him, from Whom we are. And therefore\r\nthe Beginning, because unless It abided, there should not, when we\r\nwent astray, be whither to return. But when we return from error, it is\r\nthrough knowing; and that we may know, He teacheth us, because He is the\r\nBeginning, and speaking unto us.\r\n\r\nIn this Beginning, O God, hast Thou made heaven and earth, in Thy\r\nWord, in Thy Son, in Thy Power, in Thy Wisdom, in Thy Truth; wondrously\r\nspeaking, and wondrously making. Who shall comprehend? Who declare\r\nit? What is that which gleams through me, and strikes my heart without\r\nhurting it; and I shudder and kindle? I shudder, inasmuch as I am unlike\r\nit; I kindle, inasmuch as I am like it. It is Wisdom, Wisdom's self\r\nwhich gleameth through me; severing my cloudiness which yet again\r\nmantles over me, fainting from it, through the darkness which for my\r\npunishment gathers upon me. For my strength is brought down in need,\r\nso that I cannot support my blessings, till Thou, Lord, Who hast been\r\ngracious to all mine iniquities, shalt heal all my infirmities. For\r\nThou shalt also redeem my life from corruption, and crown me with loving\r\nkindness and tender mercies, and shalt satisfy my desire with good\r\nthings, because my youth shall be renewed like an eagle's. For in hope\r\nwe are saved, wherefore we through patience wait for Thy promises. Let\r\nhim that is able, hear Thee inwardly discoursing out of Thy oracle: I\r\nwill boldly cry out, How wonderful are Thy works, O Lord, in Wisdom\r\nhast Thou made them all; and this Wisdom is the Beginning, and in that\r\nBeginning didst Thou make heaven and earth.\r\n\r\nLo, are they not full of their old leaven, who say to us, \"What was\r\nGod doing before He made heaven and earth? For if (say they) He were\r\nunemployed and wrought not, why does He not also henceforth, and for\r\never, as He did heretofore? For did any new motion arise in God, and a\r\nnew will to make a creature, which He had never before made, how then\r\nwould that be a true eternity, where there ariseth a will, which was\r\nnot? For the will of God is not a creature, but before the creature;\r\nseeing nothing could be created, unless the will of the Creator had\r\npreceded. The will of God then belongeth to His very Substance. And\r\nif aught have arisen in God's Substance, which before was not, that\r\nSubstance cannot be truly called eternal. But if the will of God has\r\nbeen from eternity that the creature should be, why was not the creature\r\nalso from eternity?\"\r\n\r\nWho speak thus, do not yet understand Thee, O Wisdom of God, Light of\r\nsouls, understand not yet how the things be made, which by Thee, and\r\nin Thee are made: yet they strive to comprehend things eternal, whilst\r\ntheir heart fluttereth between the motions of things past and to come,\r\nand is still unstable. Who shall hold it, and fix it, that it be settled\r\nawhile, and awhile catch the glory of that ever-fixed Eternity, and\r\ncompare it with the times which are never fixed, and see that it cannot\r\nbe compared; and that a long time cannot become long, but out of many\r\nmotions passing by, which cannot be prolonged altogether; but that in\r\nthe Eternal nothing passeth, but the whole is present; whereas no time\r\nis all at once present: and that all time past, is driven on by time to\r\ncome, and all to come followeth upon the past; and all past and to come,\r\nis created, and flows out of that which is ever present? Who shall hold\r\nthe heart of man, that it may stand still, and see how eternity ever\r\nstill-standing, neither past nor to come, uttereth the times past and to\r\ncome? Can my hand do this, or the hand of my mouth by speech bring about\r\na thing so great?\r\n\r\nSee, I answer him that asketh, \"What did God before He made heaven and\r\nearth?\" I answer not as one is said to have done merrily (eluding the\r\npressure of the question), \"He was preparing hell (saith he) for pryers\r\ninto mysteries.\" It is one thing to answer enquiries, another to make\r\nsport of enquirers. So I answer not; for rather had I answer, \"I know\r\nnot,\" what I know not, than so as to raise a laugh at him who asketh\r\ndeep things and gain praise for one who answereth false things. But I\r\nsay that Thou, our God, art the Creator of every creature: and if by\r\nthe name \"heaven and earth,\" every creature be understood; I boldly say,\r\n\"that before God made heaven and earth, He did not make any thing.\" For\r\nif He made, what did He make but a creature? And would I knew whatsoever\r\nI desire to know to my profit, as I know, that no creature was made,\r\nbefore there was made any creature.\r\n\r\nBut if any excursive brain rove over the images of forepassed times, and\r\nwonder that Thou the God Almighty and All-creating and All-supporting,\r\nMaker of heaven and earth, didst for innumerable ages forbear from so\r\ngreat a work, before Thou wouldest make it; let him awake and consider,\r\nthat he wonders at false conceits. For whence could innumerable ages\r\npass by, which Thou madest not, Thou the Author and Creator of all\r\nages? or what times should there be, which were not made by Thee? or\r\nhow should they pass by, if they never were? Seeing then Thou art the\r\nCreator of all times, if any time was before Thou madest heaven and\r\nearth, why say they that Thou didst forego working? For that very time\r\ndidst Thou make, nor could times pass by, before Thou madest those\r\ntimes. But if before heaven and earth there was no time, why is it\r\ndemanded, what Thou then didst? For there was no \"then,\" when there was\r\nno time.\r\n\r\nNor dost Thou by time, precede time: else shouldest Thou not precede\r\nall times. But Thou precedest all things past, by the sublimity of\r\nan ever-present eternity; and surpassest all future because they are\r\nfuture, and when they come, they shall be past; but Thou art the Same,\r\nand Thy years fail not. Thy years neither come nor go; whereas ours both\r\ncome and go, that they all may come. Thy years stand together, because\r\nthey do stand; nor are departing thrust out by coming years, for they\r\npass not away; but ours shall all be, when they shall no more be. Thy\r\nyears are one day; and Thy day is not daily, but To-day, seeing Thy\r\nTo-day gives not place unto tomorrow, for neither doth it replace\r\nyesterday. Thy To-day, is Eternity; therefore didst Thou beget The\r\nCoeternal, to whom Thou saidst, This day have I begotten Thee. Thou hast\r\nmade all things; and before all times Thou art: neither in any time was\r\ntime not.\r\n\r\nAt no time then hadst Thou not made any thing, because time itself Thou\r\nmadest. And no times are coeternal with Thee, because Thou abidest;\r\nbut if they abode, they should not be times. For what is time? Who can\r\nreadily and briefly explain this? Who can even in thought comprehend it,\r\nso as to utter a word about it? But what in discourse do we mention more\r\nfamiliarly and knowingly, than time? And, we understand, when we speak\r\nof it; we understand also, when we hear it spoken of by another. What\r\nthen is time? If no one asks me, I know: if I wish to explain it to one\r\nthat asketh, I know not: yet I say boldly that I know, that if nothing\r\npassed away, time past were not; and if nothing were coming, a time to\r\ncome were not; and if nothing were, time present were not. Those two\r\ntimes then, past and to come, how are they, seeing the past now is\r\nnot, and that to come is not yet?"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8R5M8VXDW8Z6YHQTCPK14","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RX294X4DXQZNW011WHRV","peer_label":"eternity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RVCXRADSN6XNP9CQ569P","peer_label":"beginning","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RVDSQH1WJC82HVT91VA4","peer_label":"wisdom","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_attribute","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RVS1TB628ATHPDNQVQBK","peer_label":"heaven and earth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"creation","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RVNB3JGSH2DZ2YZMV55Z","peer_label":"unchangeable truth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RWGVKP0BH0SAT03QWZ93","peer_label":"power of god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_attribute","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RVNM2Y099131QHZ7BTW0","peer_label":"eternal verity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RW5KVRYX5SXPZPWHT83Q","peer_label":"son of god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RVYQNN6CQKTD8XDDH4WX","peer_label":"word of god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_attribute","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RWFRMT8CZKGDN5PVBKZ1","peer_label":"substance of god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RX2AB079TKHF8A5BF43K","peer_label":"will of god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_attribute","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RXAN74EGBH1MQWJZN5VX","peer_label":"creator of every creature","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RX2MMFADBG1Y9FVTP6AD","peer_label":"creature","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"created_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RWW2PRWH1M5SQJ70C4PV","peer_label":"coeternal","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RXCRA7RFF3SFN60VGA1Z","peer_label":"light of souls","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RXSFZV095KMTNRE3Q3QN","peer_label":"author and creator of all ages","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RXS9X3D31FBF7K31MD1Y","peer_label":"disciples","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RXVJDK8F91JYW760MVR1","peer_label":"gods to-day","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RXXYXXMN5SPXBWV3Y28B","peer_label":"future","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RYKTV7J49FDXSMQ1AZ6T","peer_label":"time","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"abstract_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S1C0S45HQGRPGP574Q9J","peer_label":"time past","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S2GXFWV15A28F03EFXH2","peer_label":"time to come","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S2M1AE02JV8PRPTVQ3Z5","peer_label":"time present","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.259Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.898Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.738Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}