Edition Hide
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XVIII: Quid significatum sit in Abel et Seth et Enos, quod appareat ad Christum et corpus eius, id est ecclesiam, pertinere.

Et Seth, inquit, natus est filius, et nominauit nomen eius Enos; hic sperauit inuocare nomen domini dei. nempe clamat adtestatio ueritatis. in spe igitur uiuit homo filius resurrectionis; in spe uiuit, quamdiu peregrinatur hic, ciuitas dei, quae gignitur ex fide resurrectionis Christi. ex duobus namque illis hominibus, Abel, quod interpretatur luctus, et eius fratre Seth, quod interpretatur resurrectio, mors Christi et uita eius ex mortuis figuratur. ex qua fide gignitur hic ciuitas dei, id est homo, qui sperauit inuocare nomen domini dei. spe enim salui facti sumus, ait apostolus. spes autem quae uidetur, non est spes. quod enim uidet quis, quid sperat? si autem quod non uidemus speramus, per patientiam exspectamus. nam quis uacare hoc existimet ab altitudine sacramenti? numquid enim Abel non sperauit inuocare nomen domini dei, cuius sacrificium scriptura tam acceptum deo fuisse commemorat? numquid ipse Seth non sperauit inuocare nomen domini dei, de quo dictum est: suscitauit enim mihi deus semen aliud pro Abel? cur ergo huic proprie tribuitur, quod piorum omnium intellegitur esse commune, nisi quia oportebat in eo, qui de patre generationum in meliorem partem, hoc est supernae ciuitatis, separatarum, primus commemoratur exortus, praefigurari hominem, id est hominum societatem, quae non secundum hominem in re felicitatis terrenae, sed secundum deum uiuit in spe felicitatis aeternae? nec dictum est: hic sperauit in dominum deum, aut: hic inuocauit nomen domini dei, sed: sperauit, inquit, inuocare nomen domini dei. quid sibi hoc uult: sperauit inuocare, nisi quia prophetia est exorturum populum, qui secundum electionem gratiae inuocaret nomen domini dei? hoc est, quod per alium prophetam dictum apostolus de hoc populo intellegit ad dei gratiam pertinente: et erit, omnis qui inuocauerit nomen domini saluus erit. hoc ipsum enim quod dicitur: et nominauit nomen eius Enos, quod interpretatur homo, ac deinde additur: hic sperauit inuocare nomen domini dei, satis ostenditur, quod non in se ipso spem ponere debeat homo; maledictus enim omnis, sicut alibi legitur, qui spem suam ponit in homine ac per hoc nec in se, ut sit ciuis alterius ciuitatis, quae non secundum filium Cain dedicatur hoc tempore, id est mortalis huius saeculi labente transcursu, sed in illa inmortalitate beatitudinis sempiternae.

Translation Hide
The City of God

Chapter 18.--The Significance of Abel, Seth, and Enos to Christ and His Body the Church.

"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." ¹ 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." ² 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." ³ 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." ⁴ 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.