ther begins to move except by some pre-existing movement. For
nature always moves in the same manner: hence unless some change
precede either in the nature of the mover, or in the movable thing,
there cannot arise from the natural mover a movement which was not
there before. And the will, without itself being changed, puts off
doing what it proposes to do; but this can be only by some imagined
change, at least on the part of time. Thus he who wills to make a
house tomorrow, and not today, awaits something which will be
tomorrow, but is not today; and at least awaits for today to pass,
and for tomorrow to come; and this cannot be without change, because
time is the measure of movement. Therefore it remains that before
every new movement, there was a previous movement; and so the same
conclusion follows as before.

Obj. 7: Further, whatever is always in its beginning, and always in
its end, cannot cease and cannot begin; because what begins is not in
its end, and what ceases is not in its beginning. But time always is
in its beginning and end, because there is no time except "now" which
is the end of the past and the beginning of the future. Therefore
time cannot begin or end, and consequently neither can movement, the
measure of what is time.

Obj. 8: Further, God is before the world either in the order of
nature only, or also by duration. If in the order of nature only,
therefore, since God is eternal, the world also is eternal. But if
God is prior by duration; since what is prior and posterior in
duration constitutes time, it follows that time existed before the
world, which is impossible.

Obj. 9: Further, if there is a sufficient cause, there is an effect;
for a cause to which there is no effect is an imperfect cause,
requiring something else to make the effect follow. But God is the
sufficient cause of the world; being the final cause, by reason of
His goodness, the exemplar cause by reason of His wisdom, and the
efficient cause, by reason of His power as appears from the above (Q.
44, AA. 2, 3, 4). Since therefore God is eternal, the world is also
eternal.

Obj. 10: Further, eternal action postulates an eternal effect. But
the action of God is His substance, which is eternal. Therefore the
world is eternal.

_On the contrary,_ It is said (John 17:5), "Glorify Me, O Father,
with Thyself with the glory which I had before the world was"; and
(Prov. 8:22), "The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His ways,
be