Tertullian

“ Since Matter too is estimated by the same eternity, having neither beginning nor end, it will be unsusceptible of division, of change, for the same reason that God also is. Since it is associated with Him in the joint possession of eternity, it must needs share with Him also the powers, the laws, and the conditions of eternity. ”

“ How then is this possession (of Matter) by all things throughout the universe effected—that is, of course, from the very beginning [9] —when the things which are now visible to us are different in their condition [10] from what they were in the beginning?
Footnotes ↑ Rectius.↑ Definitiva.↑ Ut quæ fabricatur, inquis, a Deo.↑ Lineis. Tertullian often refers to Hermogenes’ profession of painting.↑ In partes venire.↑ Omnia ex omnibus.↑ i.e. ”