Sermon XXXIII. [LXXXIII. Ben.] On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xvii. 21, “How oft shall my brother sin against me,” etc. 1. Yesterday the holy Gospel warned us not to neglect the sins of our brethren: “But if thy brother shall sin against thee, rebuke him between him and thee alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he shall refuse to hear thee, take with thee two or three more; that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them too, tell it to the Church. But if he shall neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.”2764 To-day also the section which follows, and which we heard when it was read, relates to the same subject. For when the Lord Jesus had said this to Peter, he went on to ask his Master, how often he should forgive a brother who had sinned against him; and he enquired whether seven times would be enough. “The Lord answered him, Not only seven times, but seventy times sev- 363 en.”2765 Then he added a parable very full of terror: That the “kingdom of heaven is like unto an householder, which took account with his servants; among whom he found one that owed ten thousand talents. And when he commanded all that he had, and all his family, and himself to be sold, and the debt to be paid, he fell down at his lord’s feet,”2766 and prayed for delay, and obtained2767 entire remission. For as we have heard, “His lord was moved with compassion, and forgave him all the debt.” Then that man free from his debt, but a bondslave of iniquity, after he had gone out from the presence of his lord, found in his turn a debtor of his own, who owed him, not ten thousand talents, the sum which had been re- mitted to him, but a hundred denarii; and “he began to drag him by the throat, and say, Pay me that thou owest.”2768 Then he besought his fellow-servant as he had done his lord; but he did not find his fellow-servant such a man as the other had found his lord. He not only would not forgive him the debt; but he did not even grant him a delay. He hurried him along with great violence2769 to make him pay, he who had been but just now set free from his debt to his lord. His fellow-servants were displeased; and “went and told their lord what was done;” and the lord summoned his servant to his presence, and said to him, “O thou wicked servant, when thou didst owe me so great a debt, in pity to thee I forgave thee all. 2764 Matt. xviii. 15–17. 2765 Matt. xviii. 22. 2766 Matt. xviii. 23–26. 2767 Meruit. 2768 Matt. xviii. 28. 2769 Contortum. On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xvii. 21, ‘How oft shall my brother sin against me,’ etc. 762 On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xvii. 21, ‘How oft shall my brother sin…