which was uttered before the "eternal times."_
I own that I do not know what ages passed before the human race was
created, yet I have no doubt that no created thing is co-eternal with
the Creator. But even the apostle speaks of time as eternal, and this
with reference, not to the future, but, which is more surprising, to
the past. For he says, "In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot
lie promised before the eternal times, but hath in due times manifested
His word."[548] You see he says that in the past there have been
eternal times, which, however, were not co-eternal with God. And since
God before these eternal times not only existed, but also "promised"
life eternal, which He manifested in its own times (that is to say, in
due times), what else is this than His word? For this is life eternal.
But then, how did He promise; for the promise was made to men, and yet
they had no existence before eternal times? Does this not mean that,
in His own eternity, and in His co-eternal word, that which was to be
in its own time was already predestined and fixed?