Sermon XXXII. [LXXXII. Ben.] On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xviii. 15, “If thy brother sin against thee, go, shew him his fault between thee and him alone;” and of the words of Solomon, he that winketh with the eyes deceitfully, heapeth sorrow upon men; but he that reproveth openly, maketh peace. 1. Our Lord warns us not to neglect one another’s sins, not by searching out what to find fault with, but by looking out for what to amend. For He said that his eye is sharp to cast out a mote out of his brother’s eye, who has not a beam in his own eye. Now what this means, I will briefly convey to you, Beloved. A mote in the eye is anger; a beam in the eye is hatred. When therefore one who has hatred finds fault with one who is angry, he wishes to take a mote out of his brother’s eye, but is hindered by the beam which he carries in his own eye. A mote is the beginning of a beam. For a beam in the course of its growth, is first a mote. By watering the mote, you bring it to a beam; by nourishing anger with evil suspi- cions, you bring it on to hatred. 2. Now there is a great difference between the sin of one who is angry, and the cruelty of one who holds another in hatred. For even with our children are we angry; but who is ever found to hate his children? Among the very cattle too, the cow in a sort of weariness will sometimes in anger drive away her sucking calf; but anon she embraces it with all the affection of a mother. She is in a way disgusted with it, when she butts at it; yet when she misses it, she will seek after it. Nor do we discipline our children otherwise, than with a degree of anger and indignation; yet we should not discipline them at all, but in love to them. So far then is every one who is angry from hating; that sometimes one would be rather convicted of hating, if he were not angry. For suppose a child wishes to play in some river’s stream, by whose force he would be like to perish; if you see this, and patiently suffer it, this would be hating; your patient suffering him, is his death. How far better is it to be angry and correct him, than by not being angry to suffer him to perish! Above all things then is hatred to be 358 avoided, and the beam to be cast out of the eye. Great is the difference indeed between one’s exceeding due limits in some words through anger, which he afterwards wipes off by repent- ing of it; and the keeping an insidious purpose shut up in the heart. Great, lastly, the differ- ence between these words of Scripture; “Mine eye is disordered because of anger.”2732 Whereas of the other it is said, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.”2733 Great is the difference between an eye disordered, and clean put out. A mote disorders, a beam puts clean out. 3. In order then that we may be able well to do and to fulfil what we have been admon- ished of to-day, let us first persuade ourselves to this, above all things to have no hate. For 2732 Ps. vi. 8, Sept. (7, English version). 2733 1 John iii. 15. On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xviii. 15, ‘If thy brother sin against thee, go, shew him his fault between thee and him alone;’ and of the words of Solomon, he that winketh with the eyes deceitfully, heapeth sorrow upon men; but he that reproveth openly, maketh peace. 752 On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xviii. 15, ‘If thy brother sin against…