The City of God, Volume IIAugustine, of Hippo, Saint
ReligionChristian
The City of God, Volume II
Augustine, of Hippo, Saint
Apologetics -- Early works to 1800; Kingdom of God -- Early works to 1800
"And to Seth," it is said, "there was born a son, and he called his
name Enos: he hoped to call on the name of the Lord God."[187] Here
we have a loud testimony to the truth. Man, then, the son of the
resurrection, lives in hope: he lives in hope as long as the city of
God, which is begotten by faith in the resurrection, sojourns in
this world. For in these two men, Abel, signifying "grief," and his
brother Seth, signifying "resurrection," the death of Christ and His
life from the dead are prefigured. And by faith in these is begotten
in this world the city of God, that is to say, the man who has hoped
to call on the name of the Lord. "For by hope," says the apostle, "we
are saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth,
why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do
we with patience wait for it."[188] Who can avoid referring this to a
profound mystery? For did not Abel hope to call upon the name of the
Lord God when his sacrifice is mentioned in Scripture as having been
accepted by God? Did not Seth himself hope to call on the name of the
Lord God, of whom it was said, "For God hath appointed me another
seed instead of Abel?" Why then is this which is found to be common
to all the godly specially attributed to Enos, unless because it was
fit that in him, who is mentioned as the first-born of the father
of those generations which were separated to the better part of the
heavenly city, there should be a type of the man, or society of men,
who live not according to man in contentment with earthly felicity,
but according to God in hope of everlasting felicity? And it was not
said, "He hoped in the Lord God," nor "He called on the name of the
Lord God," but "He hoped to call on the name of the Lord God." And
what does this "hoped to call" mean, unless it is a prophecy that a
people should arise who, according to the election of grace, would
call on the name of the Lord God? It is this which has been said by
another prophet, and which the apostle interprets of the people who
belong to the grace of God: "And it shall be that whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."[189] For these two
expressions, "And he called his name Enos, which means man," and "He
hoped to call on the name of the Lord God," are sufficient proof
that man ought not to rest his hopes in himself; as it is elsewhere
written, "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man."[190] Consequently
no one ought to trust in himself that he shall become a citizen of
that other city which is not dedicated in the name of Cain's son in
this present time, that is to say, in the fleeting course of this
mortal world, but in the immortality of perpetual blessedness.
19. _The significance of Enoch's translation._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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