According to Democritus these atoms were produced in the original creation and were eternal. In the Middle Ages the greatest thinkers on the subject of creation were theologians. It became apparent to St. Augustine, like it did to the Greeks, that all things came from other things. If the material substance of the universe had not been created then this substance must have always been. If the substance of the universe has always been then time had no beginning.
Every event is precipitated by a prior event.
Without a first event everything that could have happened should have happened in the infinite past. For current time to have meaning there must have been a first event or moment of creation. St. Augustine used a Latin word to describe this creation process called exhihilo. This word means to create something out of nothing. St. Augustine concluded that an infinite source or prime mover created the universe exhihilo.