登陆注册
5214200000272

第272章

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."(3) 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."(4) 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."(5) 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.

CHAP.19.--THE SIGNIFICANCE OP ENOCH'S

TRANSLATION.

For that line also of which Seth is the father has the name "Dedication"in the seventh generation from Adam, counting Adam.

For the seventh from him is Enoch, that is, Dedication.But this is that man who was translated because he pleased God, and who held in the order of the generations a remarkable place, being the seventh from Adam, a number signalized by the consecration of the Sabbath.But, counting from the diverging point of the two lines, or from Seth, he was the sixth Now it was on the sixth day God made man, and consummated His works.But the translation of Enoch prefigured our deferred dedication;for though it is indeed already accomplished in Christ our Head, who so rose again that He shall die no more, and who was Himself also translated, yet there remains another dedication of the whole house, of which Christ Himself is the foundation, and this dedication is deferred till the end, when all shall rise again to die no more.And whether it is the house of God, or the temple of God, or the city of God, that is said to be dedicated, it is all the same, and equally in accordance With the usage of the Latin language.For Virgil himself calls the city of widest empire "the house of Assaracus,"(1) meaning the Romans, who were descended through the Trojans from Assaracus.He also calls them the house of AEneas, because Rome was built by those Trojans who had come to Italy under AEneas.(2) For that poet imitated the sacred writings, in which the Hebrew nation, though so numerous, is called the house of Jacob.

CHAP.20.--HOW IT IS THAT CAIN'S LINE TERMINATES IN THE EIGHTH GENERATION, WHILENOAH, THOUGH DESCENDED FROM THE SAME FATHER, ADAM, IS FOUND TO BE THETENTH

FROM HIM.

Some one will say, If the writer of this history intended, in enumerating the generations from Adam through his son Seth, to descend through them to Noah, in whose time the deluge occurred, and from him again to trace the connected generations down to Abraham, with whom Matthew begins the pedigree of Christ the eternal King of the city of God, what did he intend by enumerating the generations from Cain, and to what terminus did he mean to trace them? We reply, To the deluge, by which the whole stock of the earthly city was destroyed, but repaired by the sons of Noah.For the earthly city and community of men who live after the flesh will never fail until the end of this world, of which our Lord says, "The children of this world generate, and are generated."(3) But the city of God, which sojourns in this world, is conducted by regeneration to the world to come, of which the children neither generate nor are generated.In this world generation is common to both cities; though even now the city of God has many thousand citizens who abstain from the act of generation; yet the other city also has some citizens who imitate these, though erroneously.For to that city belong also those who have erred from the faith, and introduced divers heresies; for they live according to man, not according to God.And the Indian gymnosophists, who are said to philosophize in the solitudes of India in a state of nudity, are its citizens; and they abstain from marriage.For continence is not a good thing, except when it is practised in the faith of the highest good, that is, God.Yet no one is found to have practised it before the deluge; for indeed even Enoch himself, the seventh from Adam, who is said to have been translated without dying, begat sons and daughters before he was translated, and among these was Methuselah, by whom the succession of the recorded generations is maintained.

同类推荐
  • 南华真经章句音义余事

    南华真经章句音义余事

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Notes on Life and Letters

    Notes on Life and Letters

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 南诏德化碑

    南诏德化碑

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 吴佩衡医案

    吴佩衡医案

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 京师坊巷志稿

    京师坊巷志稿

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 超级军工科学家

    超级军工科学家

    重生平行空间成为超级军工科学家。
  • 科技西游

    科技西游

    盘古开天地,洪荒裂成型,女娲补天石,落地孕石猴。西方争气运,十世金蝉子,与道争人族,计谋西游记。看似佛道争洪荒气运,其实不然,西游背后佛教的计谋,确另有圣人都不可预测的阴谋,而和洪荒宇宙相平行的鸿蒙宇宙中的李争鸣来到了洪荒宇宙,这一切是否又有什么不可告人的隐秘呢?顶尖文明科技和神仙术法之间差距如何?西游最后的真正结局是什么?洪荒宇宙和鸿蒙宇宙又有何关联?大家看完后不要细思极恐!
  • 红楼丫鬟启示录:看红楼 思职场

    红楼丫鬟启示录:看红楼 思职场

    红楼就是一个社会的缩影,不光有宝黛动人的爱情,红楼里的职场智慧也让人们津津乐道。除了凤姐的爽利、探春的明达、宝钗的稳重,红楼里那些丫头们也有着她们别样的魅力。也许她们的形象不那么光辉、各有着自己小心思,她们挣扎在大观园这个复杂的小社会中,谁不是命如纸薄?又是谁心比天高?她们演绎了怎样的故事,又对我们有着怎样的启示?本书从职场的角度解析红楼、从红楼的角度讲解职场。就让我们聊一聊她们鲜活而又有趣的职场人生吧。
  • 龙纹天帝

    龙纹天帝

    【玄幻爽文】本为天帝强者的楚狂人与祖魔大战,因二人自爆武魂,而双双重生。千年之后,楚天帝醒来,却发现世界大变!大陆还是那片大陆。但,武道规则变了,天地法则变了,武魂成了修炼的障碍!于是,楚元被迫开始了他的逆天崛起之路。
  • 破局

    破局

    1970年代早春的盐阜大地与中国许多地方一样正从沉睡中慢慢苏醒过来,经历了一个个漫长的冬季,许多人已经习惯了一种生活方式,那就是工作听从个人安排,生活画地为牢,不敢越雷池一步,阶级论,成分论,向贫下中农学习论等等,现在看来无法想象的奇思怪论都已经结为同盟,成为一种司空见惯的约束机制。本书为长篇报告文学,小说以主人公殷广平为线索,讲述了主人公从一个知青到最后在教育事业上有所成就的故事,体现了当时的时代背景和国家的教育事业发展。
  • 错位空间正确爱

    错位空间正确爱

    在这个空间错位的时空里,月族隐藏在人类中,表面上看来,他们和普通人无异,然而,月族的公主,却爱上了人族,月族人身份暴露,人类是否能够接受他们?两族能否和平相处?公主的爱情,能否给两族带来不一样的局面?--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 贞观长歌:大唐未央传

    贞观长歌:大唐未央传

    一个阴谋让她们穿越到战乱的隋末,见证唐朝建立,认证贞观之治。也是那个阴谋让慕容未央知道一直以来所谓的好姐妹只不过是口蜜腹剑,重遇后接踵而来的危险和阴谋,却不知道陷害自己的原来就是一同穿越过来的好闺蜜,“只不过是换了一个模样,你便不认识我吗?”她将利剑刺进慕容未央胸膛时眼神狰狞。到底是什么样的怨恨让她一步一步逼害?什么样的男人让曾经友好的姐妹二人反目成仇?深宫之内,哪些阴谋祸害能被识破?谁能辅助君主一统天下?即使如此,万千沧桑过后,青史上又能将谁留名?
  • 玄武门实录

    玄武门实录

    小说讲述了唐太宗李世民玄武门事件的故事。以武德九年六月初三到李世民登基这段时间跨度为行文主线,中间有大量关于人物生平与大唐发迹史的插叙,语言平白如话却又不失生动幽默,最精彩的是人物的心理描写和丝丝入扣的逻辑推理。作者的观点独树一帜,文章可读性很强。不少人误以为但凡小人皆不可交,其实,真正需要帮忙的时候,能指望得上的人,都是小人之交而不是君子之交。但凡于某人有恩者,难免不自以为受某人信任,但凡自以为受某人信任者,鲜有不肯为某人尽力者。原来一场貌似惊天动地的宫廷政变,其实也不过就是如土匪的打家劫舍,最终目的无非是谋财害命而已。
  • 不能爱的挚爱

    不能爱的挚爱

    在我迷失方向是时,一道光芒照亮我的前方。是谁?是你吗?等我好吗,我想要追上你的脚步,与你同在。我虽是个孩子,但我还是想记住你,希望再一次的相遇,我能活成我想活的样子,站在耀眼的地方,等你把我拥入怀,有你的地方,星光灿烂……
  • “水鬼”是这样打天下的

    “水鬼”是这样打天下的

    前两年,央视10频道连续播发将近一年的公益广告引起我们的注意:一位圆脸中年渔民对着镜头说:“生命是无价的,我能在海上救那么多人,感到很幸福。”字幕上写道:“郭文标,浙江省温岭市石塘镇小沙头村渔民。郭文标三十年如一日,守护着浙江东南温岭一带海域,不计报酬、不计得失、不顾个人安危,已在惊涛恶浪中救起了五百多条生命。”在温岭,渔民习惯称他为“标哥”,有事找“标哥”,好使;在那片海域,过往的船老大称他为“水鬼”,或在“水鬼”前加“平安”两字,即“平安水鬼”。不论谁在海上遇到麻烦,第一个想到的就是他,他的手机号码成为海上110。