CHAPTER XXI: IS this what we call the age of the age or the ages of the ages? [43] — CHAPTER XXII: THOU therefore alone, O Lord, art what Thou art, and who Thou art. For

IS this what we call the age of the age or the ages of the ages? [43] For just as the age of time [44] comprehendeth all things that are in time, so Thine eternity comprehendeth the very ages of times themselves. And it is indeed rightly called an age, because it is one and indivisible; but also ages, because of the boundless immensity thereof. And although Thou art so great, O Lord, that all things are full of Thee and are in Thee; yet Thou art such, without being in space, so that in Thee there is neither middle nor half nor any other part. __________________________________________________________________

[43] Saeculum saeculi, saecula saeculorum: translated in our Bibles and Prayer-books, world without end.

[44] Saeculum temporum, an age made up of times. In the Bible the whole course of this world, which goes on in time, is represented as destined to come to an end in the consummation of all things, which is often spoken of as the end of the age, consummatio saeculi (Matt. xiii. 40; xxiv. 3): the age then to be brought to a close is here thought of as an age embracing the various times which will have elapsed from the creation to the last day; for, according to St Augustine, time and the world were created together; the world was created not in tempore but cum tempere. In the Apocalypse (x. 6) an angel is represented as proclaiming that there shall be time no longer. The saeculum which now is, is contrasted with the saeculum, the world or age to come in such passages as Matt. xii. 32; Mark x. 30; Luke xviii. 30. __________________________________________________________________

THOU therefore alone, O Lord, art what Thou art, and who Thou art. For what is one thing in the whole and another in the parts and has in it anything subject to change, is not in all respects what it is. [45] And whatsoever was not and begins to be, can be conceived not to be; and except something other than itself maintain it in existence, returns into nothingness; and has a past self which is not what now is; and a future self which it as yet is not; that can only be said to exist in a secondary and relative sense. But Thou art what Thou art, because whatsoever Thou art at any time or in any way, that Thou art wholly and always. And Thou art who Thou art in the primary and unqualified sense of the words; because Thou hast neither a past self nor a future self but only present self, nor canst Thou be conceived as at any time not existing. More over Thou art life and light and wisdom and blessedness and eternity and many other such like good things, and yet art but the One Supreme Good, in all respect sufficient to Thyself and needing none beside Thee, while all things beside Thee cannot without Thee have either being or well-being. __________________________________________________________________

[45] Finite things are not at one time all that they are, taken as a whole; for that would include what they were but now are not, what they will be but are not yet, as well as what they are at the moment. What we are at any one moment is but a fragment of what we reckon ourselves to be; our possibilities are not exhausted in our actual condition at a particular point of time. __________________________________________________________________