4. [What say I, brethren? Not that I
am a sinless person; not that my life is not full of numberless
faults. I know myself; and indeed I cease not my tears for my
sins, if by any means I may be able to appease my God, and to escape
the punishment threatened against them. But this I say: let
him who judges me, hunt for motes in my eye, if he can say that his own
is clear.] I own, brethren, that I need the care of the sound and
healthy, and need much of it. If he cannot say that it is clear,
and the clearer it is the less will he say so—(for it is the part
of the perfect not to exalt themselves; if they do they will certainly
come under the charge of the pride of the Pharisee, who, while
justifying himself, condemned the publican) let him come with me to the
physician; let him not “judge before the time until the Lord
come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and
will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.”
1 Cor. iv. 5. Let him remember the words,
“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged;”
Matt. vii. 1. and “Condemn not, and ye shall not be
condemned.”
Luke vi. 37. [In a word,
brethren, if my offences admit of cure, why does not such an one obey
the teacher of the Churches, “Reprove, exhort,
rebuke”?
2 Tim. iv. 2. If, on the
other hand, my iniquity be past cure, why does he not withstand me to
the face, and, by publishing my transgressions, deliver the Churches
from the mischief which I bring on them?] Do not put up with the
calumny uttered against me within the teeth. υπ᾽
ὀδόντα. Ben. Lat.,
intra dentes. This is the abuse which any slave-girl
from the grindstone might utter; this is the kind of fine shewing-off
you might expect from any street vagabond; their tongues are whetted
for any slander. But [there are bishops; let appeal be made to
them. There is a clergy in each of God’s
dioceses; The Greek is
παροικία which
is used both for what is meant by the modern “diocese”
and by the modern “parish.” Of the sense of
diocese instances are quoted among others in D.C.A. s.v.
“Parish,” from Iren. ad Florin. apud Euseb. H.E.
v. 20; and Alexand. Alexandrin. Ep. apud Theodoret, H.E. i.
3. let the most
eminent be assembled. Let whoso will, speak freely, that I may
have to deal with a charge, not a slander.] Let my secret
wickedness be brought into full view; let me no longer be hated, but
admonished as a brother. It is more just that we sinners
should be pitied by the blessed and the sinless, than that we should
be treated angrily.