Chapter III.
By the process of human wisdom represented in Abel and Cain, who were not found in Christ alone, it is indicated; by the order in which each of the brothers is named, as well as by their functions, it is signified that Abel, although younger, is superior to his brother.
Therefore, let us complete what we have proposed: Abel added, he said, to obey, that is, to produce a better Eve who had sinned heavily before, the decision to abolish the error of the previous judgment. I lie if this is not confirmed in all. For we are born in such a way that before there is a weak sense of infancy in us, later knowing only the care of the body in childhood, having no worship, having no observance of the divine. And to prove the birth of Jesus Christ from a virgin by a clear novelty of nature, the prophet says: Behold, a virgin will conceive in her womb and bear a son, and his name will be called Emmanuel: he will eat butter and honey, before he knows how to refuse evil or choose good. He will not believe in wickedness, in order to choose what is good (Isaiah VII, 14 et seq.). And later: Before the child knows how to call his father or mother, he will receive the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria against the king of Assyria (Isaiah VIII, 4). For he alone was not captivated by the vanity and carnal swelling of this world; because he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, far different from each one of us who are foolishly exalted in the mind of the inflated flesh. Therefore, no one is without sin, not even an infant of one day: but he did not commit sin. And thus in us, Cain is born before Abel, preferring himself: afterwards Abel is generated, in whom there is reverence for divinity. Therefore, first evil creeps in, then goodness is recognized. Where goodness is, there is justice; where justice is, there is holiness, that is, Abel who clings to God.
11. And it happened, he said, that Abel became a shepherd of sheep, but Cain worked the land (Gen. IV, 2). It is not insignificant that even though Cain was born first, as the reading teaches, Abel was preferred in this place; nor is the order of names the same as the order of nature. What does the change of order mean; that it should remember the younger one first, when the state of life and the use of work are described? Let us inquire into the difference of duties, so that we may gather the cause of preference. To work the land is to use it before grace, to pasture sheep. For this is like that of a certain teacher and prince, and rightly an elder has begun what is elder, a younger has preferred what is more recent, which would bear no thorns, no prickles, subject to no judgments. Finally, guilty of sin, Adam was dismissed from paradise's pleasures, so that he might work the land. Therefore, rightly, where these brothers are born, the order of nature is also preserved in preaching: where discipline of living is expressed, the elder is preferred before the younger; for although younger in age, he is more excellent in virtue. For innocence is younger in time than evil, and in a certain sense more aged by the nobility of merits. Indeed, old age is venerable not by years grown grey, but by character. And the age of senescence, it is said, is a blameless life. Therefore, wherever generation is expressed, let Cain come first; wherever preaching of discipline is made, let Abel run ahead. Who would deny that even youth and itself in the beginnings of young adulthood fervently burn with the various allurements of passions? But when a more mature age is succeeded, as if by the storm of a youth's lasciviousness being dissipated, tranquility is restored and the weary soul withdraws its ship into certain quiet harbors. Thus, the tumultuous movements of our youth are calmed by the steady presence of faithful old age.