Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
390 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. [PsaLtm LXXXI.
judicial to a lover, than because it is preferred to may look upon with great joy, nor is the madness of the Circus to be compared with this spectacle. That belongeth to the lees, this to the oil. When therefore ye hear the blasphemers babble impudently and say that distresses abound in Christian times; for ye know that they love to say this: and it is an old proverb, yet one that began from Christian times, " God gives no rain ; count it to the Christians!"® Although it was those of old that said thus. But these now say also, " That God sends rain, count it to the Christians! God sends no rain; we sow not. God sends rain; we reap not!" And they wilfully make that an occasion of showing pride, which ought to make them more earnest in supplication, choosing rather to blaspheme than to pray.
the Creator. Why have I said this? With reference to this verse, brethren. Dead, I say, were they that did worship God that it might be well with them after the flesh: " For to be wise after the flesh is death: '?! and dead are they that do not worship God gratis, that is, because of Himself He is good, not because He giveth such and such good things, which He giveth even to men not good. Money wilt thou have of God? Even a robber hath it. Wife, abundance of children, soundness of body, the world's dignity, observe how many evil men have. Is this all for the sake of which thou dost worship Him? Thy feet will totter,? thou wilt suppose thyself to worship without cause, when thou seest those things to be with them who do not worship Him. All these things, I say, He giveth even to evil men, Himself alone He reserveth for good men. "Thou wilt quicken us;" for dead we were, when to earthly things we did cleave; dead we were, when of the earthly man we did bear the image. "Thou wilt quicken us;" Thou wilt renew us, the life of the inward man Thou wilt give us. " And Thy Name we will invoke ;" that is, Thee we will love. Thou to us wilt be the sweet forgiver of our sins, Thou wilt be the entire reward of the justified. 'O Lord God of virtues, convert us, and show Thy face, and we shall be whole" (ver. 20).
When therefore they talk of such things, when they make such boasts, when they say these things, and say them in defiance, not with fear, but with loftiness, let them not disturb you. For suppose that pressures abound ; be thou oil. Let the lees, black with the darkness of ignorance, be insolent ; and let it, as though cast away in the streets, go gibing publicly : but do thou by thyself in thy heart, where He who seeth in secret will requite thee, strain off into the vat.
. . To name some one thing about which even they murmur who make them: How great plunderings, they say, are there in our times, how great distresses of the innocent, how great robberies of other men's goods! Thus indeed thou takest notice of the lees, that other men's goods are seized ; to the oil thou givest no heed, that to the poor are given even men's own. The old time had no such plunderers of other men's goods: but the old time had no such givers of their own goods. . . 2. Wherefore also "on the fifth of the sabbath ''?7 What is this? Let us go back to the first works of God, if perchance we may not there find somewhat in which we may also understand a mystery. For the sabbath is the seventh day, on which " God rested from all His works," ® intimating the great mystery of our future resting from all our works. First of the sabbath then is called that first day, which we also call the Lord's day ; second of the sabbath, the second day; ... and the sabbath itself the seventh day. See ye therefore to whom this Psalm speaketh. For it seems to me that it speaketh to the baptized. For on the fifth day God from the waters created animals: on the fifth day, that
PSALM LXXXI3
1. Fora Title this Psalm hath, " Unto the end for the presses, on the fifth of the Sabbath, a Psalm to Asaph himself." Into one title many mysteries are heaped together, still so that the lintel of the Psalm indicates the things within. As we have to speak of the presses, let no one expect that we shall speak of a vat, of a press, of olive baskets;+ because neither the Psalm hath this, and therefore it indicateth the greater mystery.
No such thing did ye hear in this when it was reading. Therefore take the presses for the mystery of the Church, which is now transacting. In the presses we observe three things, pressure, and of the pressure two things, one to be laid up, the other to be thrown away. There takes place then in the press a treading, a crushing, a weight: and with these the oil strains out secretly into the vat,5 the lees run openly down the streets.
Look intently on this great spectacle. For God ceaséeth not to exhibit to us that which we
6 Duc ad Christianos; al. dicat Christianus, with other variations. The Ben. editor refers to De Civ. Dez, ii. c. 3, where a similar proverb is noticed; and Tertull, AZo/. c. 40, 'If the Tiber rises to the walls, if the Nile rises not wpe the fields, presently the cry is, ' The Christians to the lions!'" and St. Cyprian to Demetrianus, speaking of the like complaints with Sao to other calamities; to which may be added, St. Aug. De Czv. De?, i..c. 1, of the sack of Rome, sucha complaint being the occasion of his writing the book for its refutation. [See this series, vol. ii. p. xi., and A. N. F, vol, iii. 4 7.—€.]
I Rom, viii 6. 2 Ps, Ixxiii. 2. 3 Lat. LXXX. A Sermon to the people of Carthage. [He makes this preface: '' We have undertaken to speak to you of the present Psalm; let your quietness aid our voice, for it is somewhat worn out: the attention of the hearers, and the help of Him who bids me speak, will give it strength." —
7 [Or, "week." —C.] 8 Gen. ii. 2.
4 Fiscinis. 5 Gemellarium.