Philosophical theologians have been conscious of this difficulty, almost from the earliest date at which philosophy and Christian theology came in contact with each other. From a number of testimonies of similar import, we select one or two of the most striking. Of the Divine Nature, Gregory Nyssen says: "It is neither in place nor in time, but before these and above these in an unspeakable manner, contemplated itself by itself, through faith alone; neither measured by ages, nor moving along with times."[B] "In the changes of things," says Augustine, "you will find a past and a future; in God you will find a present where past and future cannot be."[C] "Eternity," says Aquinas, "has no succession, but exists all together."[D] Among divines of the Church of England, we quote two names only, but those of the highest:--"The duration of eternity," says Bishop Pearson, "is completely indivisible and all at once; so that it is ever present, and excludes the other differences of time, past and future."[E] And Barrow enumerates among natural modes of being and operation far above our reach, "God's eternity without succession," coupling it with "His prescience without necessitation of events."[F] But it is needless to multiply authorities for a doctrine so familiar to every student of theology. [B] _C. Eunom._, i., p. 98, Ed. Gretser. [C] _In Joann. Evang._, tract. xxxvii. 10. [D] _Summa_, pars. i., qu. x., art. 1. [E] _Minor Theol. Works_, vol. i., p. 105. [F] Sermon on the Unsearchableness of God's Judgments.