between this or that.

It is, then, by means of these two -- one thing well formed

in the beginning and another thing
wholly unformed, the one heaven (that is, the heaven of heavens) and the other one
earth (bat the earth invisible
and unformed) -- it is by means of these two -notions that I am able to understand
why thy Scripture said, without
mention of days, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." For it
immediately indicated which
earth it was spea?ing about. When, on the second day, the firmament is recorded as
having been created and called
heaven, this suggests to us which heaven it was that he was spea?ing about earlier,
without specifying a day.
CHAPTER XIV 17. Marvelous is the depth of thy oracles. Their surface is before US,
inviting the little ones;
and yet wonderful is their depth, 0 my God, marvelous is their depth! It is a
fearful thing to look into them: an
awe of honor and a tremor of love. Their enemies I hate vehemently. Oh, if thou
wouldst slay them with thy two-edged
sword, so that they should not be enemies! For I would prefer that they should be
slain to themselves, that they
might live to thee. But see, there are others who are not critics but praisers of
the book of Genesis: they say:
"The Spirit of God who wrote these things by his servant Moses did not wish these
words to be understood like this.
He did not wish to have it understood as you say, but as we say." To them, 0 God of
us all, thyself being the judge,
I give answer. CHAPTER XV 12. "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 tog?ther, 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?" "V4e 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, 0 God, dost
show thyself to him who loves thee
as thou hest commanded -- and art suffi?ient 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 spiri?ual house, and it partakes in thy eternity because it is
without blemish forever. For
thou halt made it steadfast forever and ever: thou hest given it a law which will
not be removed. Still, it is not
coeternal with thee, 0 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),[4731 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 elitist 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 wisciont eut 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.14741 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[47SJ and 'eternal
in the heavens"[4761 -- but in what heavens except those which praise thee, the
'heaven of heavens"? This also
is the "heaven of heavens" which is the Lord's -- although we find no time before
it, since what has been created
before all things also precedes the creation of time. Still, the eternity of the
Creator himself is before it,
from whom it took its beginning as created, though not in time (since time as yet
was not), even though time belongs
to its created nature. 21. Thus it is that the intelligible heaven came to be from
thee, our God, but in such a way
that it is quite another being than thou art: it is not the Selfsame. Yet we find
that time is not only not before
it, but not even in it, thus making it able to behold thy face forever and not ever
be turned aside. Thus, it is