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  CONFESSIONS - BOOK XII - CHAPTER XV
  by St. Augustine
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18. \"Will you say that these things are false which Truth tells me,
with a loud voice in my inner ear, about the very eternity of the
Creator: that his essence is changed in no respect by time and that his
will is not distinct from his essence? Thus, he doth not will one thing
now and another thing later, but he willeth once and for all everything
that he willeth--not again and again; and not now this and now that. Nor
does he will afterward what he did not will before, nor does he cease to
will what he had willed before. Such a will would be mutable and no
mutable thing is eternal. But our God is eternal.

\"Again, he tells me in my inner ear that the expectation of future
things is turned to sight when they have come to pass. And this same
sight is turned into memory when they have passed. Moreover, all thought
that varies thus is mutable, and nothing mutable is eternal. But our God
is eternal.\" These things I sum up and put together, and I conclude
that my God, the eternal God, hath not made any creature by any new
will, and his knowledge does not admit anything transitory.

19. \"What, then, will you say to this, you objectors? Are these things
false?\" \"No,\" they say. \"What then? Is it false that every entity
already formed and all matter capable of receiving form is from him
alone who is supremely good, because he is supreme?\" \"We do not deny
this, either,\" they say. \"What then? Do you deny this: that there is a
certain sublime created order which cleaves with such a chaste love to
the true and truly eternal God that, although it is not coeternal with
him, yet it does not separate itself from him, and does not flow away
into any mutation of change or process but abides in true contemplation
of him alone?\" If thou, O God, dost show thyself to him who loves thee
as thou hast commanded--and art sufficient for him--then, such a one
will neither turn himself away from thee nor turn away toward himself.
This is \"the house of God.\" It is not an earthly house and it is not
made from any celestial matter; but it is a spiritual house, and it
partakes in thy eternity because it is without blemish forever. For thou
hast made it steadfast forever and ever; thou hast given it a law which
will not be removed. Still, it is not coeternal with thee, O God, since
it is not without beginning--it was created.

20. For, although we can find no time before it (for wisdom was created
before all things),[473] this is certainly not that Wisdom which is
absolutely coeternal and equal with thee, our God, its Father, the
Wisdom through whom all things were created and in whom, in the
beginning, thou didst create the heaven and earth. This is truly the
created Wisdom, namely, the intelligible nature which, in its
contemplation of light, is light. For this is also called wisdom, even
if it is a created wisdom. But the difference between the Light that
lightens and that which is enlightened is as great as is the difference
between the Wisdom that creates and that which is created. So also is
the difference between the Righteousness that justifies and the
righteousness that is made by justification. For we also are called thy
righteousness, for a certain servant of thine says, \"That we might be
made the righteousness of God in him.\"[474] Therefore, there is a
certain created wisdom that was created before all things: the rational
and intelligible mind of that chaste city of thine. It is our mother
which is above and is free[475] and \"eternal in the heavens\"[476]--but
in what heavens except those which praise thee, the \"heaven of
heavens\"? This also is the \"heaven of heavens\" which is the Lord\\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/st-augustine/confessions-book-xii-chapter-xv/
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