Certainly you have among your philosophers men who maintain that this world is without a beginning and was not created. But a majority, almost all even of the heresies, allow it a beginning and a maker, and ascribe its creation to God. Firmly believe, therefore, that He made it wholly out of nothing, and by believing that He has such powers, you will have found the knowledge of God.
Tertullian, The Resurrection of the Dead, 11, 5.