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40. But he who does not otherwise understand, "In the beginning
He made," than if it were said, "At first He made," can only
truly understand heaven and earth of the matter of heaven and earth,
namely, of the universal, that is, intelligible and corporeal
creation. For if he would have it of the universe. as already
formed, it might rightly be asked of him: "If at first God made
this, what made He afterwards?" And after the universe he will find
nothing; thereupon must he, though unwilling, hear, "How is this
first, if there is nothing afterwards?" But when he says that God
made matter first formless, then formed, he is not absurd if he be but
able to discern what precedes by eternity, what by time, what by
choice, what by origin. By eternity, as God is before all things;
by time, as the flower is before the fruit; by choice, as the fruit
is before the flower; by origin, as sound is before the tune. Of
these four, the first and last which I have referred to are with much
difficulty understood; the two middle very easily. For an uncommon
and too lofty vision it is to behold, O Lord, Thy Eternity,
immutably making things mutable, and thereby before them. Who is so
acute of mind as to be able without great labour to discover how the
sound is prior to the tune, because a tune is a formed sound; and a
thing not formed may exist, but that which existeth not cannot be
formed?. So is the matter prior to that which is made from it; not
prior because it maketh it, since itself is rather made, nor is it
prior by an interval of time. For we do not as to time first utter
formless sounds without singing, and then adapt or fashion them into
the form of a song, just as wood or silver from which a chest or vessel
is made. Because such materials do by time also precede the forms of
the things which are made from them; but in singing this is not so.
For when it is sung, its sound is heard at the same time; seeing
there is not first a formless sound, which is afterwards formed into a
song. For as soon as it shall have first sounded it passeth away; nor
canst thou find anything of it, which being recalled thou canst by art
compose. And, therefore, the song is absorbed in its own sound,
which sound of it is its matter. Because this same is formed that it
may be a tune; and therefore, as I was saying, the matter of the
sound is prior to the form of the tune, not before through any power of
making it a tune; for neither is a sound the composer of the tune, but
is sent forth from the body and is subjected to the soul of the singer,
that from it he may form a tune. Nor is it first in time, for it is
given forth together with the tune; nor first in choice, for a sound
is not better than a tune, since a tune is not merely a sound, but a
beautiful sound. But it is first in origin, because the tune is not
formed that it may become a sound, but the sound is formed that it may
become a tune. By this example, let him who is able understand that
the matter of things was first made, and called heaven and earth,
because out of it heaven and earth were made. Not that it was made
first in time, because the forms of things give rise to time,' but
that was formless; but now, in time, it is perceived together with
its form. Nor yet can anything be related concerning that matter,
unless as if it were prior in time, while it is considered last
(because things formed are assuredly superior to things formless),
and is preceded by the Eternity of the Creator, so that there might
be out of nothing that from which something might be made.
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