{"id":"01KJR8Q6G2FKFQPEJ1RZ0C9DEC","cid":"bafkreidetugfgoqyteuoqpgozxzs76hrgxf52ll4qazvyft5azqw3lpppe","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":449021,"char_start":441299,"chunk_index":62,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1931,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. These do\r\nI seek in Thy books. Of Him did Moses write; this saith Himself; this\r\nsaith the Truth.\r\n\r\nI would hear and understand, how \"In the Beginning Thou madest the\r\nheaven and earth.\" Moses wrote this, wrote and departed, passed hence\r\nfrom Thee to Thee; nor is he now before me. For if he were, I would hold\r\nhim and ask him, and beseech him by Thee to open these things unto me,\r\nand would lay the ears of my body to the sounds bursting out of his\r\nmouth. And should he speak Hebrew, in vain will it strike on my senses,\r\nnor would aught of it touch my mind; but if Latin, I should know what\r\nhe said. But whence should I know, whether he spake truth? Yea, and if\r\nI knew this also, should I know it from him? Truly within me, within, in\r\nthe chamber of my thoughts, Truth, neither Hebrew, nor Greek, nor Latin,\r\nnor barbarian, without organs of voice or tongue, or sound of syllables,\r\nwould say, \"It is truth,\" and I forthwith should say confidently to that\r\nman of Thine, \"thou sayest truly.\" Whereas then I cannot enquire of him,\r\nThee, Thee I beseech, O Truth, full of Whom he spake truth, Thee, my\r\nGod, I beseech, forgive my sins; and Thou, who gavest him Thy servant to\r\nspeak these things, give to me also to understand them.\r\n\r\nBehold, the heavens and the earth are; they proclaim that they were\r\ncreated; for they change and vary. Whereas whatsoever hath not been\r\nmade, and yet is, hath nothing in it, which before it had not; and\r\nthis it is, to change and vary. They proclaim also, that they made not\r\nthemselves; \"therefore we are, because we have been made; we were not\r\ntherefore, before we were, so as to make ourselves.\" Now the evidence\r\nof the thing, is the voice of the speakers. Thou therefore, Lord, madest\r\nthem; who art beautiful, for they are beautiful; who art good, for they\r\nare good; who art, for they are; yet are they not beautiful nor good,\r\nnor are they, as Thou their Creator art; compared with Whom, they are\r\nneither beautiful, nor good, nor are. This we know, thanks be to Thee.\r\nAnd our knowledge, compared with Thy knowledge, is ignorance.\r\n\r\nBut how didst Thou make the heaven and the earth? and what the engine of\r\nThy so mighty fabric? For it was not as a human artificer, forming one\r\nbody from another, according to the discretion of his mind, which can\r\nin some way invest with such a form, as it seeth in itself by its inward\r\neye. And whence should he be able to do this, unless Thou hadst made\r\nthat mind? and he invests with a form what already existeth, and hath\r\na being, as clay, or stone, or wood, or gold, or the like. And whence\r\nshould they be, hadst not Thou appointed them? Thou madest the artificer\r\nhis body, Thou the mind commanding the limbs, Thou the matter whereof he\r\nmakes any thing; Thou the apprehension whereby to take in his art, and\r\nsee within what he doth without; Thou the sense of his body, whereby,\r\nas by an interpreter, he may from mind to matter, convey that which he\r\ndoth, and report to his mind what is done; that it within may consult\r\nthe truth, which presideth over itself, whether it be well done or no.\r\nAll these praise Thee, the Creator of all. But how dost Thou make them?\r\nhow, O God, didst Thou make heaven and earth? Verily, neither in the\r\nheaven, nor in the earth, didst Thou make heaven and earth; nor in the\r\nair, or waters, seeing these also belong to the heaven and the earth;\r\nnor in the whole world didst Thou make the whole world; because there\r\nwas no place where to make it, before it was made, that it might be. Nor\r\ndidst Thou hold any thing in Thy hand, whereof to make heaven and earth.\r\nFor whence shouldest Thou have this, which Thou hadst not made, thereof\r\nto make any thing? For what is, but because Thou art? Therefore Thou\r\nspokest, and they were made, and in Thy Word Thou madest them.\r\n\r\nBut how didst Thou speak? In the way that the voice came out of the\r\ncloud, saying, This is my beloved Son? For that voice passed by and\r\npassed away, began and ended; the syllables sounded and passed away,\r\nthe second after the first, the third after the second, and so forth in\r\norder, until the last after the rest, and silence after the last. Whence\r\nit is abundantly clear and plain that the motion of a creature expressed\r\nit, itself temporal, serving Thy eternal will. And these Thy words,\r\ncreated for a time, the outward ear reported to the intelligent soul,\r\nwhose inward ear lay listening to Thy Eternal Word. But she compared\r\nthese words sounding in time, with that Thy Eternal Word in silence, and\r\nsaid \"It is different, far different. These words are far beneath me,\r\nnor are they, because they flee and pass away; but the Word of my Lord\r\nabideth above me for ever.\" If then in sounding and passing words Thou\r\nsaidst that heaven and earth should be made, and so madest heaven and\r\nearth, there was a corporeal creature before heaven and earth, by whose\r\nmotions in time that voice might take his course in time. But there was\r\nnought corporeal before heaven and earth; or if there were, surely Thou\r\nhadst, without such a passing voice, created that, whereof to make this\r\npassing voice, by which to say, Let the heaven and the earth be made.\r\nFor whatsoever that were, whereof such a voice were made, unless by\r\nThee it were made, it could not be at all. By what Word then didst Thou\r\nspeak, that a body might be made, whereby these words again might be\r\nmade?\r\n\r\nThou callest us then to understand the Word, God, with Thee God, Which\r\nis spoken eternally, and by It are all things spoken eternally. For what\r\nwas spoken was not spoken successively, one thing concluded that the\r\nnext might be spoken, but all things together and eternally. Else have\r\nwe time and change; and not a true eternity nor true immortality. This I\r\nknow, O my God, and give thanks. I know, I confess to Thee, O Lord, and\r\nwith me there knows and blesses Thee, whoso is not unthankful to assure\r\nTruth. We know, Lord, we know; since inasmuch as anything is not which\r\nwas, and is, which was not, so far forth it dieth and ariseth. Nothing\r\nthen of Thy Word doth give place or replace, because It is truly\r\nimmortal and eternal. And therefore unto the Word coeternal with Thee\r\nThou dost at once and eternally say all that Thou dost say; and whatever\r\nThou sayest shall be made is made; nor dost Thou make, otherwise than by\r\nsaying; and yet are not all things made together, or everlasting, which\r\nThou makest by saying.\r\n\r\nWhy, I beseech Thee, O Lord my God? I see it in a way; but how to\r\nexpress it, I know not, unless it be, that whatsoever begins to be, and\r\nleaves off to be, begins then, and leaves off then, when in Thy eternal\r\nReason it is known, that it ought to begin or leave off; in which Reason\r\nnothing beginneth or leaveth off. This is Thy Word, which is also \"the\r\nBeginning, because also It speaketh unto us.\" Thus in the Gospel He\r\nspeaketh through the flesh; and this sounded outwardly in the ears of\r\nmen; 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."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RENT5GDAEZJJBSSVRRWR","peer_label":"truth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8R5M8VXDW8Z6YHQTCPK14","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RVNM2Y099131QHZ7BTW0","peer_label":"eternal verity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPPG4MFJ4V84QP39WBNW","peer_label":"latin language","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"language","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RGGXJJWNG2PAH8TCB8QY","peer_label":"creator","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RXS9X3D31FBF7K31MD1Y","peer_label":"disciples","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RZBF8CNG0RR2SA0W2MFR","peer_label":"heaven and earth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cosmic_entities","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RZEG3XDZ9MW8XNETRACD","peer_label":"jesus","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RZDXNFGR5XMC1SYMXCC3","peer_label":"human artificer","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RZEGZE74XJQZM4ZA0AJY","peer_label":"moses","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"prophet","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RZDSA2G3AND8DYENVKVK","peer_label":"the word of god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RZJBJVY7KDKG55FK90QA","peer_label":"eternal word","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S05XS3FB0Q76H0DKYMBS","peer_label":"in the beginning thou madest the heaven and earth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S04KDJGYYF9VFE0CE2PZ","peer_label":"eternal reason","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S04SB76QDH0XYE23HXNP","peer_label":"gospel","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_text_type","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S06A16ADCSYRVAGPRZDV","peer_label":"intelligent soul","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"human_faculty","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S04KZZ4K1X5584E4NJEH","peer_label":"hebrew language","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"language","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S03S9ND1QVZGWF0EZ783","peer_label":"the beginning","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S0TVFKC62BM0GRHEX7ZD","peer_label":"my beloved son","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:26.985Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.898Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.254Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}