{"id":"01KJR8Q6HN4NFPEC1MRECWYHBF","cid":"bafkreig5i5cbhxflrph4gyhgvq64k5uie23o2f656ybamjsa3kuaoecewi","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":506300,"char_start":498606,"chunk_index":70,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1924,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"more and more cleared to me, I beseech Thee: and in the manifestation\r\nthereof, let me with sobriety abide under Thy wings.\r\n\r\nThou hast told me also with a strong voice, in my inner ear, that\r\nneither is that creature coeternal unto Thyself, whose happiness\r\nThou only art, and which with a most persevering purity, drawing its\r\nnourishment from Thee, doth in no place and at no time put forth its\r\nnatural mutability; and, Thyself being ever present with it, unto Whom\r\nwith its whole affection it keeps itself, having neither future to\r\nexpect, nor conveying into the past what it remembereth, is neither\r\naltered by any change, nor distracted into any times. O blessed\r\ncreature, if such there be, for cleaving unto Thy Blessedness; blest in\r\nThee, its eternal Inhabitant and its Enlightener! Nor do I find by what\r\nname I may the rather call the heaven of heavens which is the Lord's,\r\nthan Thine house, which contemplateth Thy delights without any defection\r\nof going forth to another; one pure mind, most harmoniously one, by that\r\nsettled estate of peace of holy spirits, the citizens of Thy city in\r\nheavenly places; far above those heavenly places that we see.\r\n\r\nBy this may the soul, whose pilgrimage is made long and far away, by\r\nthis may she understand, if she now thirsts for Thee, if her tears be\r\nnow become her bread, while they daily say unto her, Where is Thy God?\r\nif she now seeks of Thee one thing, and desireth it, that she may dwell\r\nin Thy house all the days of her life (and what is her life, but Thou?\r\nand what Thy days, but Thy eternity, as Thy years which fail not,\r\nbecause Thou art ever the same?); by this then may the soul that is\r\nable, understand how far Thou art, above all times, eternal; seeing\r\nThy house which at no time went into a far country, although it be not\r\ncoeternal with Thee, yet by continually and unfailingly cleaving unto\r\nThee, suffers no changeableness of times. This is in Thy sight clear\r\nunto me, and let it be more and more cleared unto me, I beseech Thee,\r\nand in the manifestation thereof, let me with sobriety abide under Thy\r\nwings.\r\n\r\nThere is, behold, I know not what formlessness in those changes of these\r\nlast and lowest creatures; and who shall tell me (unless such a one as\r\nthrough the emptiness of his own heart, wonders and tosses himself up\r\nand down amid his own fancies?), who but such a one would tell me, that\r\nif all figure be so wasted and consumed away, that there should only\r\nremain that formlessness, through which the thing was changed and turned\r\nfrom one figure to another, that that could exhibit the vicissitudes\r\nof times? For plainly it could not, because, without the variety of\r\nmotions, there are no times: and no variety, where there is no figure.\r\n\r\nThese things considered, as much as Thou givest, O my God, as much\r\nas Thou stirrest me up to knock, and as much as Thou openest to me\r\nknocking, two things I find that Thou hast made, not within the compass\r\nof time, neither of which is coeternal with Thee. One, which is so\r\nformed, that without any ceasing of contemplation, without any interval\r\nof change, though changeable, yet not changed, it may thoroughly enjoy\r\nThy eternity and unchangeableness; the other which was so formless,\r\nthat it had not that, which could be changed from one form into another,\r\nwhether of motion, or of repose, so as to become subject unto time. But\r\nthis Thou didst not leave thus formless, because before all days, Thou\r\nin the Beginning didst create Heaven and Earth; the two things that I\r\nspake of. But the Earth was invisible and without form, and darkness\r\nwas upon the deep. In which words, is the formlessness conveyed unto us\r\n(that such capacities may hereby be drawn on by degrees, as are not\r\nable to conceive an utter privation of all form, without yet coming to\r\nnothing), out of which another Heaven might be created, together with\r\na visible and well-formed earth: and the waters diversly ordered, and\r\nwhatsoever further is in the formation of the world, recorded to have\r\nbeen, not without days, created; and that, as being of such nature, that\r\nthe successive changes of times may take place in them, as being subject\r\nto appointed alterations of motions and of forms.\r\n\r\nThis then is what I conceive, O my God, when I hear Thy Scripture\r\nsaying, In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth: and the Earth was\r\ninvisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep, and not\r\nmentioning what day Thou createdst them; this is what I conceive, that\r\nbecause of the Heaven of heavens,--that intellectual Heaven, whose\r\nIntelligences know all at once, not in part, not darkly, not through a\r\nglass, but as a whole, in manifestation, face to face; not, this thing\r\nnow, and that thing anon; but (as I said) know all at once, without any\r\nsuccession of times;--and because of the earth invisible and without\r\nform, without any succession of times, which succession presents \"this\r\nthing now, that thing anon\"; because where is no form, there is\r\nno distinction of things:--it is, then, on account of these two, a\r\nprimitive formed, and a primitive formless; the one, heaven but the\r\nHeaven of heaven, the other earth but the earth invisible and without\r\nform; because of these two do I conceive, did Thy Scripture say without\r\nmention of days, In the Beginning God created Heaven and Earth. For\r\nforthwith it subjoined what earth it spake of; and also, in that the\r\nFirmament is recorded to be created the second day, and called Heaven,\r\nit conveys to us of which Heaven He before spake, without mention of\r\ndays.\r\n\r\nWondrous depth of Thy words! whose surface, behold! is before us,\r\ninviting to little ones; yet are they a wondrous depth. O my God, a\r\nwondrous depth! It is awful to look therein; an awfulness of honour, and\r\na trembling of love. The enemies thereof I hate vehemently; oh that Thou\r\nwouldest slay them with Thy two-edged sword, that they might no longer\r\nbe enemies unto it: for so do I love to have them slain unto themselves,\r\nthat they may live unto Thee. But behold others not faultfinders, but\r\nextollers of the book of Genesis; \"The Spirit of God,\" say they, \"Who\r\nby His servant Moses wrote these things, would not have those words\r\nthus understood; He would not have it understood, as thou sayest, but\r\notherwise, as we say.\" Unto Whom Thyself, O Thou God all, being judge,\r\ndo I thus answer.\r\n\r\n\"Will you affirm that to be false, which with a strong voice Truth tells\r\nme in my inner ear, concerning the Eternity of the Creator, that His\r\nsubstance is no ways changed by time, nor His will separate from His\r\nsubstance? Wherefore He willeth not one thing now, another anon, but\r\nonce, and at once, and always, He willeth all things that He willeth;\r\nnot again and again, nor now this, now that; nor willeth afterwards,\r\nwhat before He willed not, nor willeth not, what before He willed;\r\nbecause such a will is and no mutable thing is eternal: but our God is\r\neternal. Again, what He tells me in my inner ear, the expectation of\r\nthings to come becomes sight, when they are come, and this same sight\r\nbecomes memory, when they be past. Now all thought which thus varies is\r\nmutable; and no mutable thing is eternal: but our God is eternal.\" These\r\nthings I infer, and put together, and find that my God, the eternal God,\r\nhath not upon any new will made any creature, nor doth His knowledge\r\nadmit of any thing transitory. \"What will ye say then, O ye gainsayers?\r\nAre these things false?\" \"No,\" they say; \"What then? Is it false, that\r\nevery nature already formed, or matter capable of form, is not, but from\r\nHim Who is supremely good, because He is supremely?\" \"Neither do we deny\r\nthis,\" say they. \"What then?"},"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":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RZX09NYSJEN0JER93ZHY","peer_label":"time","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RZP88GZRQP1M2GGE1BNM","peer_label":"soul","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNM7Y4HPBH7YH481V2PG","peer_label":"moses","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RZ84MX2PX43JMKZ7506E","peer_label":"scripture","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"sacred_text","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8T1FKA98ZEH55EXVKW99R","peer_label":"truth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"personified_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8T12245JVRVAQSVMNMPTZ","peer_label":"formlessness","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8T1223Y1HAFA70E788S4C","peer_label":"heaven created","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"created_realm","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8T12N3AZMENB9KA71W8HA","peer_label":"heaven of heavens","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_realm","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8T1F10CAC5RG8NXBSXG9P","peer_label":"earth primordial","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"primordial_state","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8T1JT05YBNNZHJFM3S780","peer_label":"book of genesis","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"sacred_text_book","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8T1WNWGRF60593DVE72MA","peer_label":"firmament","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"created_structure","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8T1WQYKXY0KWXZ8ZZ4994","peer_label":"holy spirits","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"celestial_beings","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8T1TMNBNKPA0RD82EAPC9","peer_label":"spirit of god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8T28BY2QZYKEXW1RR3978","peer_label":"heaven","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:02.694Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.949Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:56:04.076Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}