{"id":"01KJR8Q6HNKWPA9V0DGRFQE65K","cid":"bafkreibx6oxnc5jonwz3yttuvc3icacrkpvdpvjc356qyrkvitkxz5k3im","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":513548,"char_start":505547,"chunk_index":71,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":2001,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"eternal. 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? do you deny this, that there is a certain\r\nsublime creature, with so chaste a love cleaving unto the true and\r\ntruly eternal God, that although not coeternal with Him, yet is it not\r\ndetached from Him, nor dissolved into the variety and vicissitude of\r\ntimes, but reposeth in the most true contemplation of Him only?\" Because\r\nThou, O God, unto him that loveth Thee so much as Thou commandest, dost\r\nshow Thyself, and sufficest him; and therefore doth he not decline\r\nfrom Thee, nor toward himself. This is the house of God, not of earthly\r\nmould, nor of celestial bulk corporeal but spiritual, and partaker of\r\nThy eternity, because without defection for ever. For Thou hast made\r\nit fast for ever and ever, Thou hast given it a law which it shall not\r\npass. Nor yet is it coeternal with Thee, O God, because not without\r\nbeginning; for it was made.\r\n\r\nFor although we find no time before it, for wisdom was created before\r\nall things; not that Wisdom which is altogether equal and coeternal unto\r\nThee, our God, His Father, and by Whom all things were created, and in\r\nWhom, as the Beginning, Thou createdst heaven and earth; but that\r\nwisdom which is created, that is, the intellectual nature, which by\r\ncontemplating the light, is light. For this, though created, is also\r\ncalled wisdom. But what difference there is betwixt the Light which\r\nenlighteneth, and which is enlightened, so much is there betwixt the\r\nWisdom that createth, and that created; as betwixt the Righteousness\r\nwhich justifieth, and the righteousness which is made by justification.\r\nFor we also are called Thy righteousness; for so saith a certain\r\nservant of Thine, That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.\r\nTherefore since a certain created wisdom was created before all things,\r\nthe rational and intellectual mind of that chaste city of Thine, our\r\nmother which is above, and is free and eternal in the heavens (in\r\nwhat heavens, if not in those that praise Thee, the Heaven of heavens?\r\nBecause this is also the Heaven of heavens for the Lord);--though we\r\nfind no time before it (because that which hath been created before all\r\nthings, precedeth also the creature of time), yet is the Eternity of\r\nthe Creator Himself before it, from Whom, being created, it took the\r\nbeginning, not indeed of time (for time itself was not yet), but of its\r\ncreation.\r\n\r\nHence it is so of Thee, our God, as to be altogether other than Thou,\r\nand not the Self-same: because though we find time neither before it,\r\nnor even in it (it being meet ever to behold Thy face, nor is ever drawn\r\naway from it, wherefore it is not varied by any change), yet is there in\r\nit a liability to change, whence it would wax dark, and chill, but\r\nthat by a strong affection cleaving unto Thee, like perpetual noon, it\r\nshineth and gloweth from Thee. O house most lightsome and delightsome!\r\nI have loved thy beauty, and the place of the habitation of the glory\r\nof my Lord, thy builder and possessor. Let my wayfaring sigh after thee,\r\nand I say to Him that made thee, let Him take possession of me also in\r\nthee, seeing He hath made me likewise. I have gone astray like a lost\r\nsheep: yet upon the shoulders of my Shepherd, thy builder, hope I to be\r\nbrought back to thee.\r\n\r\n\"What say ye to me, O ye gainsayers that I was speaking unto, who yet\r\nbelieve Moses to have been the holy servant of God, and his books the\r\noracles of the Holy Ghost? Is not this house of God, not coeternal\r\nindeed with God, yet after its measure, eternal in the heavens, when you\r\nseek for changes of times in vain, because you will not find them? For\r\nthat, to which it is ever good to cleave fast to God, surpasses all\r\nextension, and all revolving periods of time.\" \"It is,\" say they.\r\n\"What then of all that which my heart loudly uttered unto my God, when\r\ninwardly it heard the voice of His praise, what part thereof do you\r\naffirm to be false? Is it that the matter was without form, in which\r\nbecause there was no form, there was no order? But where no order was,\r\nthere could be no vicissitude of times: and yet this 'almost nothing,'\r\ninasmuch as it was not altogether nothing, was from Him certainly, from\r\nWhom is whatsoever is, in what degree soever it is.\" \"This also,\" say\r\nthey, \"do we not deny.\"\r\n\r\nWith these I now parley a little in Thy presence, O my God, who grant\r\nall these things to be true, which Thy Truth whispers unto my soul. For\r\nthose who deny these things, let them bark and deafen themselves as much\r\nas they please; I will essay to persuade them to quiet, and to open in\r\nthem a way for Thy word. But if they refuse, and repel me; I beseech, O\r\nmy God, be not Thou silent to me. Speak Thou truly in my heart; for\r\nonly Thou so speakest: and I will let them alone blowing upon the dust\r\nwithout, and raising it up into their own eyes: and myself will enter\r\nmy chamber, and sing there a song of loves unto Thee; groaning with\r\ngroanings unutterable, in my wayfaring, and remembering Jerusalem, with\r\nheart lifted up towards it, Jerusalem my country, Jerusalem my mother,\r\nand Thyself that rulest over it, the Enlightener, Father, Guardian,\r\nHusband, the pure and strong delight, and solid joy, and all good things\r\nunspeakable, yea all at once, because the One Sovereign and true Good.\r\nNor will I be turned away, until Thou gather all that I am, from this\r\ndispersed and disordered estate, into the peace of that our most dear\r\nmother, where the first-fruits of my spirit be already (whence I am\r\nascertained of these things), and Thou conform and confirm it for ever,\r\nO my God, my Mercy. But those who do not affirm all these truths to be\r\nfalse, who honour Thy holy Scripture, set forth by holy Moses, placing\r\nit, as we, on the summit of authority to be followed, and do yet\r\ncontradict me in some thing, I answer thus; By Thyself judge, O our God,\r\nbetween my Confessions and these men's contradictions.\r\n\r\nFor they say, \"Though these things be true, yet did not Moses intend\r\nthose two, when, by revelation of the Spirit, he said, In the beginning\r\nGod created heaven and earth. He did not under the name of heaven,\r\nsignify that spiritual or intellectual creature which always beholds the\r\nface of God; nor under the name of earth, that formless matter.\" \"What\r\nthen?\" \"That man of God,\" say they, \"meant as we say, this declared he\r\nby those words.\" \"What?\" \"By the name of heaven and earth would he first\r\nsignify,\" say they, \"universally and compendiously, all this visible\r\nworld; so as afterwards by the enumeration of the several days, to\r\narrange in detail, and, as it were, piece by piece, all those things,\r\nwhich it pleased the Holy Ghost thus to enounce. For such were that\r\nrude and carnal people to which he spake, that he thought them fit to be\r\nentrusted with the knowledge of such works of God only as were visible.\"\r\nThey agree, however, that under the words earth invisible and without\r\nform, and that darksome deep (out of which it is subsequently shown,\r\nthat all these visible things which we all know, were made and arranged\r\nduring those \"days\") may, not incongruously, be understood of this\r\nformless first matter.\r\n\r\nWhat now if another should say that \"this same formlessness and\r\nconfusedness of matter, was for this reason first conveyed "},"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":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RMY5Z14GFJFB6ZPH725J","peer_label":"time","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RN4ERCEF3ZFVYS3YM8MT","peer_label":"holy spirit","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RMWS2H0E91FV99JTNY4D","peer_label":"created wisdom","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RN2F7DZBT6954Z8Y2573","peer_label":"gainsayers","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group_of_people","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RN5M6TFADCB4XF903F3J","peer_label":"books of moses","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RMZHT5BJAYVGG0PZ6ZTP","peer_label":"eternity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNM7Y4HPBH7YH481V2PG","peer_label":"moses","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNY7XGS76YEJ94KXGVNY","peer_label":"eternal","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNNBEM6WJBPFZH8CJ2CQ","peer_label":"divine wisdom coeternal","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RP0TZZWXK5Y8ZWVZ9D6H","peer_label":"moses audience rude and carnal people","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group_of_people","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNVQAZG6XTTQBYCK9SA9","peer_label":"visible world","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cosmological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNYGVNF3SKZD4B247V3R","peer_label":"the speaker augustine","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RP8SC747DR0QKFJ7N24D","peer_label":"formless matter","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RP7AE29KCAK8GB08M5J6","peer_label":"good","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPRDXF7KFF2RQ0YQQBVN","peer_label":"coeternal with god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPT9641RRPQXZJWKN3XH","peer_label":"light","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPTK8R50EEE4ZQHB121S","peer_label":"all things","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RQ1CVYQSBCQBRT3K62P5","peer_label":"lost sheep","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.758Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.949Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:19.061Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}