is impossible, for pre-eternity is not a determinate moment in time; rather, it simply denotes the negation of any beginning—an endless duration with no point of origin. Had the First Cause always been a complete and sufficient agent—and "complete" means that its effect necessarily accompanies it—then everything would have existed from everlasting, which flatly contradicts what we observe. It is therefore evident that He became an agent with respect to events after previously not being an agent with respect to them.

Hence, when someone says, “He has ever been producing one occurrence after another,” and takes “producing” in this sense, the statement furnishes no proof that any part of the universe is eternal. On the contrary, it implies that a span of time has elapsed and that the agency requisite for the coming-to-be of events was not present from pre-eternity. This is the exact opposite of the conclusion they seek on that supposition, for they want all the constituents of efficient causation to be present from eternity so that the world might coexist with them. We have already shown that such a thing is impossible: the existence of a complete, sufficient cause in pre-eternity is ruled out, for it would entail—by their own admission—the impossibility of any new events arising.

We shall now expose the unsoundness of their proof for the world’s eternity on the alternative assumption. They assert: “The efficient cause must accompany its effect; therefore, if the cause of every event were another event ad infinitum, an endless series of causes and effects would have to exist simultaneously—and that is impossible.” We answer that this very contention demonstrates the temporal origination of everything other than God, for since a complete cause must be present with every event, it follows that there must be