{"id":"01KJR8Q6G2MNBCV227F4TMYFB7","cid":"bafkreifs77kbptuvcr6ad2bvcvtreqa4ttiuilmac2nxphfhhq6f7jm6o4","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":484901,"char_start":476990,"chunk_index":67,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1978,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"therefore then it might, then, lo, suppose another voice hath begun\r\nto sound, and still soundeth in one continued tenor without any\r\ninterruption; let us measure it while it sounds; seeing when it hath\r\nleft sounding, it will then be past, and nothing left to be measured;\r\nlet us measure it verily, and tell how much it is. But it sounds still,\r\nnor can it be measured but from the instant it began in, unto the end\r\nit left in. For the very space between is the thing we measure, namely,\r\nfrom some beginning unto some end. Wherefore, a voice that is not yet\r\nended, cannot be measured, so that it may be said how long, or short it\r\nis; nor can it be called equal to another, or double to a single, or the\r\nlike. But when ended, it no longer is. How may it then be measured? And\r\nyet we measure times; but yet neither those which are not yet, nor those\r\nwhich no longer are, nor those which are not lengthened out by some\r\npause, nor those which have no bounds. We measure neither times to come,\r\nnor past, nor present, nor passing; and yet we do measure times.\r\n\r\n\"Deus Creator omnium,\" this verse of eight syllables alternates between\r\nshort and long syllables. The four short then, the first, third, fifth,\r\nand seventh, are but single, in respect of the four long, the second,\r\nfourth, sixth, and eighth. Every one of these to every one of those,\r\nhath a double time: I pronounce them, report on them, and find it so,\r\nas one's plain sense perceives. By plain sense then, I measure a long\r\nsyllable by a short, and I sensibly find it to have twice so much; but\r\nwhen one sounds after the other, if the former be short, the latter\r\nlong, how shall I detain the short one, and how, measuring, shall I\r\napply it to the long, that I may find this to have twice so much; seeing\r\nthe long does not begin to sound, unless the short leaves sounding? And\r\nthat very long one do I measure as present, seeing I measure it not\r\ntill it be ended? Now his ending is his passing away. What then is it I\r\nmeasure? where is the short syllable by which I measure? where the long\r\nwhich I measure? Both have sounded, have flown, passed away, are no\r\nmore; and yet I measure, and confidently answer (so far as is presumed\r\non a practised sense) that as to space of time this syllable is but\r\nsingle, that double. And yet I could not do this, unless they were\r\nalready past and ended. It is not then themselves, which now are not,\r\nthat I measure, but something in my memory, which there remains fixed.\r\n\r\nIt is in thee, my mind, that I measure times. Interrupt me not, that\r\nis, interrupt not thyself with the tumults of thy impressions. In thee\r\nI measure times; the impression, which things as they pass by cause in\r\nthee, remains even when they are gone; this it is which still present,\r\nI measure, not the things which pass by to make this impression. This\r\nI measure, when I measure times. Either then this is time, or I do not\r\nmeasure times. What when we measure silence, and say that this silence\r\nhath held as long time as did that voice? do we not stretch out our\r\nthought to the measure of a voice, as if it sounded, that so we may be\r\nable to report of the intervals of silence in a given space of time? For\r\nthough both voice and tongue be still, yet in thought we go over poems,\r\nand verses, and any other discourse, or dimensions of motions, and\r\nreport as to the spaces of times, how much this is in respect of that,\r\nno otherwise than if vocally we did pronounce them. If a man would utter\r\na lengthened sound, and had settled in thought how long it should be, he\r\nhath in silence already gone through a space of time, and committing\r\nit to memory, begins to utter that speech, which sounds on, until it be\r\nbrought unto the end proposed. Yea it hath sounded, and will sound; for\r\nso much of it as is finished, hath sounded already, and the rest will\r\nsound. And thus passeth it on, until the present intent conveys over\r\nthe future into the past; the past increasing by the diminution of the\r\nfuture, until by the consumption of the future, all is past.\r\n\r\nBut how is that future diminished or consumed, which as yet is not? or\r\nhow that past increased, which is now no longer, save that in the mind\r\nwhich enacteth this, there be three things done? For it expects, it\r\nconsiders, it remembers; that so that which it expecteth, through\r\nthat which it considereth, passeth into that which it remembereth. Who\r\ntherefore denieth, that things to come are not as yet? and yet, there is\r\nin the mind an expectation of things to come. And who denies past things\r\nto be now no longer? and yet is there still in the mind a memory of\r\nthings past. And who denieth the present time hath no space, because it\r\npasseth away in a moment? and yet our consideration continueth, through\r\nwhich that which shall be present proceedeth to become absent. It is not\r\nthen future time, that is long, for as yet it is not: but a long future,\r\nis \"a long expectation of the future,\" nor is it time past, which now is\r\nnot, that is long; but a long past, is \"a long memory of the past.\"\r\n\r\nI am about to repeat a Psalm that I know. Before I begin, my expectation\r\nis extended over the whole; but when I have begun, how much soever of\r\nit I shall separate off into the past, is extended along my memory; thus\r\nthe life of this action of mine is divided between my memory as to what\r\nI have repeated, and expectation as to what I am about to repeat; but\r\n\"consideration\" is present with me, that through it what was future, may\r\nbe conveyed over, so as to become past. Which the more it is done again\r\nand again, so much the more the expectation being shortened, is the\r\nmemory enlarged: till the whole expectation be at length exhausted, when\r\nthat whole action being ended, shall have passed into memory. And this\r\nwhich takes place in the whole Psalm, the same takes place in each\r\nseveral portion of it, and each several syllable; the same holds in that\r\nlonger action, whereof this Psalm may be part; the same holds in the\r\nwhole life of man, whereof all the actions of man are parts; the same\r\nholds through the whole age of the sons of men, whereof all the lives of\r\nmen are parts.\r\n\r\nBut because Thy loving-kindness is better than all lives, behold, my\r\nlife is but a distraction, and Thy right hand upheld me, in my Lord the\r\nSon of man, the Mediator betwixt Thee, The One, and us many, many also\r\nthrough our manifold distractions amid many things, that by Him I may\r\napprehend in Whom I have been apprehended, and may be re-collected from\r\nmy old conversation, to follow The One, forgetting what is behind, and\r\nnot distended but extended, not to things which shall be and shall\r\npass away, but to those things which are before, not distractedly but\r\nintently, I follow on for the prize of my heavenly calling, where I may\r\nhear the voice of Thy praise, and contemplate Thy delights, neither\r\nto come, nor to pass away. But now are my years spent in mourning. And\r\nThou, O Lord, art my comfort, my Father everlasting, but I have been\r\nsevered amid times, whose order I know not; and my thoughts, even\r\nthe inmost bowels of my soul, are rent and mangled with tumultuous\r\nvarieties, 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."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RYQBK49SMFE5YP4YZ9BV","peer_label":"syllable","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"linguistic_unit","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SDYC9P833PTH17MM7SDT","peer_label":"time philosophical concept","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SDXJC95YC9GBPWHY16TH","peer_label":"deus creator omnium verse","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"literary_work_fragment","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SE09WXVKRM2H1W57KPQS","peer_label":"voice auditory example","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"example","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SF5QSBCY3EV3VVHJJHAC","peer_label":"thought mental process","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"mental_process","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SF5YPC7T42DKBT0C6NXF","peer_label":"memory mental state","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"mental_state","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SEMCP4H90CPK1CRHDMGF","peer_label":"mind philosophical entity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SF8W66EAVC1VS2KEBFHP","peer_label":"long future concept","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SEHBQGR482D2E7SW4JXF","peer_label":"impression mental","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"mental_phenomenon","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SFBP3C855TJ2J1GZ8HX1","peer_label":"psalm religious text","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_text","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SFW57QWNSEAFSDNY7NEK","peer_label":"expectation mental state","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"mental_state","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SG5AE31MXYGXWA1WARPH","peer_label":"life of man concept","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SG4N1TFM7AVKSP4FN5CT","peer_label":"consideration mental state","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"mental_state","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SG43R5S6EZQZZ4389T7K","peer_label":"silence auditory absence","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SG6BWCJW79CE7CF0CMD6","peer_label":"god theological entity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SFTSTWWCCV0PKPJ595R6","peer_label":"long past concept","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SGK0AWSM8G5CF11XGJ36","peer_label":"the one theological entity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SGNPBCGXQNDX3JE0SM24","peer_label":"heaven and earth creation","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cosmological_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SGTMRFHF8QWREMRZT7WJ","peer_label":"lord the son of man theological entity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SGYJVYMY0BQK8A8RR38D","peer_label":"questions of men philosophical queries","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SGZYJK36R509FX0BQGBC","peer_label":"created being concept","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:44.617Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.898Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.922Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}