1. Luke xvi. 10, 12.
POLITICAL WRITINGS 319 fore saith the Lord Jesus Christ, He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much; and agam He saith, // ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who will give you that which is your own? ^
However, brethren, observe the waters of Babylon. The waters of Babylon are all things which here are loved, and pass away. One man, for example, loveth to practise husbandry, to grow rich thereby, to employ his mind therein, thence to gain pleasure: let him observe the issue, and see that what he hath loved is not a foundation of
Jerusalem, but a stream of Babylon. Another saith,
It is a grand thing to be a soldier: all husbandmen fear those who are soldiers, obey them, tremble at them: if I be a husbandman, I shall fear soldiers; if a soldier, farmers will fear me. Madman! Thou hast cast thyself headlong into another stream of Babylon, and that still more boisterous and sweeping. Thou wishest to be feared by thine inferior; fear Him that is greater than thou. He who fears thee may on a sudden become greater than thou, but never will He Whom thou oughtest to fear become less. To be a pleader, saith another, is a grand thing, ever to have clients hanging on the tongue of &eir eloquent advocate, and from his words looking for loss or gain, death or life, ruin or safety. Thou knowest not whither thou hast cast thyself; this too is another stream of Babylon, and its loud sound is the din of the waters dashing against the rocks. Mark that it flows, it glides on; and if thou markest that it flows and glides on, ihark also that it carries things along with it. To traverse the seas, saith another, and to trade, is a grand thing, to know
1. Luke xvi. 10, 12.
320 ST. AUGUSTINE many lands, to make gams from every quarter, never to be obnoxious in thy country to any powerful man, and to feed thy mind with the various habits of the nations thou visitest, and to return enriched with the increase of thy gains. This too is a stream of Babylon; when will thy gains stop? When wilt thou rely upon and be secure in the gains thou makest? The richer thou art, the more fearful wilt thou be. Once shipwrecked, thou wilt come forth stripped of all, and deservedly wilt thou bewail thyself in the rivers of Babylon, because thou wouldest not sit down and weep by the waters of Babylon.
But then other citizens of the holy Jerusalem, understanding their captivity, mark how the natural wishes and the various lusts of men hurry and drag them hither and thither, and drive them into the sea; they see this, and they throw not themselves into the waters of Babylon, but sit down by the waters of Babylon, and by the waters of Babylon weep, either for those who are being carried away by them, or themselves whose deserts have placed them in Babylon, but sitting, that is, humbling themselves. By the waters of Babylon then we sat down and wept, when we remembered
Sion. O holy Sion, where all stands firm and nothing flows! Who hath thrown us headlong into this? Why nave we left thy Foimder and thy society?
Behold, placed where all things are flowing and gliding away, scarce one, if he can grasp the tree, shall be snatched from the stream and escape. Himibling ourselves then in our captivity, let us sit by the waters of Babylon, let us not dare to plunge ourselves in those streams, nor to be proud and lifted up in the evil and sadness of our captivity, but let us sit, and so weep. Let us sit by