{"id":"01KJR8Q6G2JVT9M5D3P6D5YYY1","cid":"bafkreidwvcmxef26ywl7fgegz32vjjg5gg2xa2s5kjfoq3qg655eozqebq","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":492146,"char_start":484149,"chunk_index":68,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":2000,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"varieties, until I flow together into Thee, purified and molten by the\r\nfire of Thy love.\r\n\r\nAnd now will I stand, and become firm in Thee, in my mould, Thy truth;\r\nnor will I endure the questions of men, who by a penal disease thirst\r\nfor more than they can contain, and say, \"what did God before He made\r\nheaven and earth?\" Or, \"How came it into His mind to make any thing,\r\nhaving never before made any thing?\" Give them, O Lord, well to\r\nbethink themselves what they say, and to find, that \"never\" cannot be\r\npredicated, when \"time\" is not. This then that He is said \"never to have\r\nmade\"; what else is it to say, than \"in 'no time' to have made?\" Let\r\nthem see therefore, that time cannot be without created being, and cease\r\nto speak that vanity. May they also be extended towards those things\r\nwhich are before; and understand Thee before all times, the eternal\r\nCreator of all times, and that no times be coeternal with Thee, nor any\r\ncreature, even if there be any creature before all times.\r\n\r\nO Lord my God, what a depth is that recess of Thy mysteries, and how far\r\nfrom it have the consequences of my transgressions cast me! Heal mine\r\neyes, that I may share the joy of Thy light. Certainly, if there be mind\r\ngifted with such vast knowledge and foreknowledge, as to know all things\r\npast and to come, as I know one well-known Psalm, truly that mind is\r\npassing wonderful, and fearfully amazing; in that nothing past, nothing\r\nto come in after-ages, is any more hidden from him, than when I sung\r\nthat Psalm, was hidden from me what, and how much of it had passed away\r\nfrom the beginning, what, and how much there remained unto the end. But\r\nfar be it that Thou the Creator of the Universe, the Creator of souls\r\nand bodies, far be it, that Thou shouldest in such wise know all things\r\npast and to come. Far, far more wonderfully, and far more mysteriously,\r\ndost Thou know them. For not, as the feelings of one who singeth what he\r\nknoweth, or heareth some well-known song, are through expectation of the\r\nwords to come, and the remembering of those that are past, varied,\r\nand his senses divided,--not so doth any thing happen unto Thee,\r\nunchangeably eternal, that is, the eternal Creator of minds. Like then\r\nas Thou in the Beginning knewest the heaven and the earth, without any\r\nvariety of Thy knowledge, so madest Thou in the Beginning heaven and\r\nearth, without any distraction of Thy action. Whoso understandeth, let\r\nhim confess unto Thee; and whoso understandeth not, let him confess\r\nunto Thee. Oh how high art Thou, and yet the humble in heart are Thy\r\ndwelling-place; for Thou raisest up those that are bowed down, and they\r\nfall not, whose elevation Thou art.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nBOOK XII\r\n\r\n\r\nMy heart, O Lord, touched with the words of Thy Holy Scripture, is much\r\nbusied, amid this poverty of my life. And therefore most times, is the\r\npoverty of human understanding copious in words, because enquiring hath\r\nmore to say than discovering, and demanding is longer than obtaining,\r\nand our hand that knocks, hath more work to do, than our hand that\r\nreceives. We hold the promise, who shall make it null? If God be for us,\r\nwho can be against us? Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find;\r\nknock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh,\r\nreceiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh,\r\nshall it be opened. These be Thine own promises: and who need fear to be\r\ndeceived, when the Truth promiseth?\r\n\r\nThe lowliness of my tongue confesseth unto Thy Highness, that Thou\r\nmadest heaven and earth; this heaven which I see, and this earth that I\r\ntread upon, whence is this earth that I bear about me; Thou madest it.\r\nBut where is that heaven of heavens, O Lord, which we hear of in the\r\nwords of the Psalm. The heaven of heavens are the Lord's; but the earth\r\nhath He given to the children of men? Where is that heaven which we see\r\nnot, to which all this which we see is earth? For this corporeal whole,\r\nnot being wholly every where, hath in such wise received its portion of\r\nbeauty in these lower parts, whereof the lowest is this our earth; but\r\nto that heaven of heavens, even the heaven of our earth, is but earth:\r\nyea both these great bodies, may not absurdly be called earth, to that\r\nunknown heaven, which is the Lord's, not the sons' of men.\r\n\r\nAnd now this earth was invisible and without form, and there was I know\r\nnot what depth of abyss, upon which there was no light, because it had\r\nno shape. Therefore didst Thou command it to be written, that darkness\r\nwas upon the face of the deep; what else than the absence of light? For\r\nhad there been light, where should it have been but by being over all,\r\naloft, and enlightening? Where then light was not, what was the presence\r\nof darkness, but the absence of light? Darkness therefore was upon it,\r\nbecause light was not upon it; as where sound is not, there is silence.\r\nAnd what is it to have silence there, but to have no sound there? Hast\r\nnot Thou, O Lord, taught his soul, which confesseth unto Thee? Hast not\r\nThou taught me, Lord, that before Thou formedst and diversifiedst this\r\nformless matter, there was nothing, neither colour, nor figure, nor\r\nbody, nor spirit? and yet not altogether nothing; for there was a\r\ncertain formlessness, without any beauty.\r\n\r\nHow then should it be called, that it might be in some measure conveyed\r\nto those of duller mind, but by some ordinary word? And what, among all\r\nparts of the world can be found nearer to an absolute formlessness, than\r\nearth and deep? For, occupying the lowest stage, they are less beautiful\r\nthan the other higher parts are, transparent all and shining. Wherefore\r\nthen may I not conceive the formlessness of matter (which Thou hadst\r\ncreated without beauty, whereof to make this beautiful world) to be\r\nsuitably intimated unto men, by the name of earth invisible and without\r\nform.\r\n\r\nSo that when thought seeketh what the sense may conceive under this,\r\nand saith to itself, \"It is no intellectual form, as life, or justice;\r\nbecause it is the matter of bodies; nor object of sense, because being\r\ninvisible, and without form, there was in it no object of sight or\r\nsense\";--while man's thought thus saith to itself, it may endeavour\r\neither to know it, by being ignorant of it; or to be ignorant, by\r\nknowing it.\r\n\r\nBut I, Lord, if I would, by my tongue and my pen, confess unto Thee the\r\nwhole, whatever Thyself hath taught me of that matter,--the name whereof\r\nhearing before, and not understanding, when they who understood it not,\r\ntold me of it, so I conceived of it as having innumerable forms and\r\ndiverse, and therefore did not conceive it at all, my mind tossed up and\r\ndown foul and horrible \"forms\" out of all order, but yet \"forms\" and I\r\ncalled it without form not that it wanted all form, but because it had\r\nsuch as my mind would, if presented to it, turn from, as unwonted and\r\njarring, and human frailness would be troubled at. And still that which\r\nI conceived, was without form, not as being deprived of all form, but\r\nin comparison of more beautiful forms; and true reason did persuade me,\r\nthat I must utterly uncase it of all remnants of form whatsoever, if\r\nI would conceive matter absolutely without form; and I could not; for\r\nsooner could I imagine that not to be at all, which should be deprived\r\nof all form, than conceive a thing betwixt form and nothing, neither\r\nformed, nor nothing, a formless almost nothing. So my mind gave over to\r\nquestion thereupon with my spirit, it being filled with the images of\r\nformed bodies, and changing and varying them, as it willed; and I bent\r\nmyself to the bodies themselves, and looked more deeply into their\r\nchangeableness, by which they cease to be what they have been, and begin\r\nto be what they were not; and this same shifting from form to form, I\r\nsuspected to be through a certain formless state, not through a mere\r\nnothing; yet this I longed to know, not to suspect only.-If then my\r\nvoice and pen would confess unto "},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RMY5Z14GFJFB6ZPH725J","peer_label":"time","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RP8SC747DR0QKFJ7N24D","peer_label":"formless matter","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8R5M8VXDW8Z6YHQTCPK14","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RCJJ50A8WKPA2GXBK78Y","peer_label":"soul","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RD2SSVQYVNR9T9HZBTCV","peer_label":"body","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RWRC9FE9VEHA0F0B6SQ9","peer_label":"mind","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SDZ7ZAJ3690XWGA8RY4D","peer_label":"humanity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SE03QY08V0GQPV3PHF1J","peer_label":"confessions book xii","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_part","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SEBBZHX89FXWKFJ4DTQ9","peer_label":"earth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cosmic_realm","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SE1VM94KMAWNWM3M9M4Q","peer_label":"heaven","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cosmic_realm","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SEHN41DK831636DZQRGJ","peer_label":"darkness","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"state","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SEMSYCC2AWND7GDV0SP3","peer_label":"beauty","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SF6620C7RCCTJBZK55R1","peer_label":"psalm heaven of heavens","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"sacred_text","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SF9JK3JRGNX1AMEACPV2","peer_label":"light","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cosmic_element","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SFHFKZKTR281RMC0PKM1","peer_label":"deep abyss","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SFJKPHGSJZXGHE7XH4EB","peer_label":"holy scripture","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"textual_source","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SFEQP28NJ718JFK0SRRB","peer_label":"universe","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cosmic_realm","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SFPH3KX4K5769M18D943","peer_label":"world","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cosmic_realm","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.766Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.898Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:43.983Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}