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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput I: De temporibus prophetarum.

Promissiones dei, quae factae sunt ad Abraham, cuius semini et gentem Israeliticam secundum carnem et omnes gentes deberi secundum fidem deo pollicente didicimus, quemadmodum conpleantur, per ordinem temporum procurrens dei ciuitas indicabit. quoniam ergo superiores libri usque ad regnum Dauid factus est finis, nunc ab eodem regno, quantum suscepto operi sufficere uidetur, cetera quae sequuntur adtingimus. hoc itaque tempus, ex quo sanctus Samuel prophetare coepit, et deinceps, donec populus Israel captiuus in Babyloniam duceretur atque inde secundum sancti Hieremiae prophetiam post septuaginta annos reuersis Israelitis dei domus instauraretur, totum tempus est prophetarum. quamuis enim et ipsum Noe patriarcham, in cuius diebus uniuersa diluuio terra diluta est, et alios supra et infra usque ad hoc tempus, quo reges in dei populo esse coeperunt, propter quaedam per eos futura siue quoquo modo significata siue praedicta, quae pertinerent ad ciuitatem dei regnumque caelorum, non inmerito possumus appellare prophetas, praesertim quia nonnullos eorum id expressius legimus nuncupatos, sicut Abraham, sicut Moysen, tamen dies prophetarum praecipue maximeque hi dicti sunt, ex quo coepit prophetare Samuel, qui et Saulem prius et eo reprobato ipsum Dauid deo praecipiente unxit in regem, de cuius ceteri stirpe succederent, quousque illos succedere sic oporteret. quae igitur a prophetis sint praedicat de Christo, cum moriendo decedentibus et nascendo succedentibus suis membris ciuitas dei per ista curreret tempora, si omnia uelim commemorare, in inmensum pergitur, primum quia ipsa scriptura, quae per ordinem reges eorumque facta et euenta digerens uidetur tamquam historica diligentia rebus gestis occupata esse narrandis, si adiuuante dei spiritu considerata tractetur, uel magis uel certe non minus praenuntiandis futuris quam praeteritis enuntiandis inuenietur intenta - et hoc perscrutando indagare ac disserendo monstrare quam sit operosum atque prolixum et quam multis indiguum uoluminibus, quis ignorat, qui haec uel mediocriter cogitat? - deinde quia ea ipsa, quae ad prophetiam non ambigitur pertinere, ita sunt multa de Christo regnoque caelorum, quae ciuitas dei est, ut ad hoc aperiendum maior sit disputatio necessaria, quam huius operis modus flagitat. proinde ita, si potuero, stilo moderabor meo, ut huic operi in dei uoluntate peragendo nec ea quae supersunt dicam nec ea quae satis sunt praetermittam.

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The City of God

Chapter 1.--Of the Prophetic Age.

By the favor of God we have treated distinctly of His promises made to Abraham, that both the nation of Israel according to the flesh, and all nations according to faith, should be his seed, and the City of God, proceeding according to the order of time, will point ¹ out how they were fulfilled. Having therefore in the previous book come down to the reign of David, we shall now treat of what remains, so far as may seem sufficient for the object of this work, beginning at the same reign. Now, from the time when holy Samuel began to prophesy, and ever onward until the people of Israel was led captive into Babylonia, and until, according to the prophecy of holy Jeremiah, on Israel's return thence after seventy years, the house of God was built anew, this whole period is the prophetic age. For although both the patriarch Noah himself, in whose days the whole earth was destroyed by the flood, and others before and after him down to this time when there began to be kings over the people of God, may not underservedly be styled prophets, on account of certain things pertaining to the city of God and the kingdom of heaven, which they either predicted or in any way signified should come to pass, and especially since we read that some of them, as Abraham and Moses, were expressly so styled, yet those are most and chiefly called the days of the prophets from the time when Samuel began to prophesy, who at God's command first anointed Saul to be king, and, on his rejection, David himself, whom others of his issue should succeed as long as it was fitting they should do so. If, therefore, I wished to rehearse all that the prophets have predicted concerning Christ, while the city of God, with its members dying and being born in constant succession, ran its course through those times, this work would extend beyond all bounds. First, because the Scripture itself, even when, in treating in order of the kings and of their deeds and the events of their reigns, it seems to be occupied in narrating as with historical diligence the affairs transacted, will be found, if the things handled by it are considered with the aid of the Spirit of God, either more, or certainly not less, intent on foretelling things to come than on relating things past. And who that thinks even a little about it does not know how laborious and prolix a work it would be, and how many volumes it would require to search this out by thorough investigation and demonstrate it by argument? And then, because of that which without dispute pertains to prophecy, there are so many things concerning Christ and the kingdom of heaven, which is the city of God, that to explain these a larger discussion would be necessary than the due proportion of this work admits of. Therefore I shall, if I can, so limit myself, that in carrying through this work, I may, with God's help, neither say what is superfluous nor omit what is necessary.