Correcting and Overlooking, Zeal and Gentleness

It should also be known that the faults of those under us ought sometimes to be wisely overlooked, but in such a way that it is made plain that they are being overlooked. Some things, even when they are openly known, ought at times to be tolerated until the right moment; others, though hidden, ought to be closely investigated. Some ought to be gently reproved, and others sharply censured. For some things, as we have said, ought to be wisely overlooked, yet with a sign that they are being overlooked. Then, when the offender knows that he has been found out and is being borne with, he will be ashamed to add to faults that he sees are being tolerated in silence, and he will punish himself in his own judgment, as one whom his ruler’s patience mercifully excuses in his heart. With this kind of overlooking the Lord rebukes Judah well when he says through the prophet, “You have lied, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart, because I held my peace and was like one who did not see.” So he both overlooked faults and made them known, since he held his peace against the sinner, and yet declared this very thing, that he had held his peace. But some things, even when openly known, ought to be tolerated until the right moment, that is, when circumstances offer no suitable opportunity for correcting them openly. For sores that are cut at the wrong time become all the more inflamed, and if medicines do not suit the time, it is beyond doubt that they lose their power to heal. But while a fitting time for correcting those under him is being sought, the prelate’s patience is exercised under the very weight of their offenses. That is why the psalmist says well, “Sinners have built upon my back.” For we carry burdens on our back, and so he complains that sinners had built upon his back, as if to say plainly, “Those whom I cannot correct I carry like a burden laid on me.” [a]

Some hidden things, however, ought to be closely investigated, so that from certain signs breaking out, the ruler may discover everything that lies hidden in the minds of those under him, and, by reproof coming in at just the right moment, may learn of greater things from very small ones. That is why it is rightly said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, dig in the wall.” And the prophet goes on at once: “And when I had dug in the wall, a door appeared. And he said to me, ‘Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they are doing here.’ So I went in and looked, and there was every likeness of creeping things, and the abomination of beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel were portrayed on the wall.” Now Ezekiel stands for those in authority, and the wall signifies the hardness of those under them. And what is digging in a wall but opening up the hardness of the heart by searching inquiry? When he had dug into the wall, a door appeared, because when hardness of heart is pierced, either by careful questioning or by well-timed reproof, a kind of door is shown, through which the inner thoughts of the one reproved can be seen. That is why it follows well in that place, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are doing here.” He goes in, as it were, to see the abominations who, by examining certain signs that appear outwardly, so penetrates the hearts of those under him that he comes to know all their unlawful thoughts. That is why he added, “And I went in and looked, and there was every likeness of creeping things, and the abomination of beasts.” Creeping things signify thoughts that are wholly earthly; but beasts signify thoughts that are indeed raised a little above the earth, yet still crave the rewards of earthly recompense. For creeping things cling to the earth with their whole body, while beasts have a large part of their body raised above the earth, yet are always bent toward it by the greed of the belly. So there are creeping things within the wall when thoughts are turned over in the mind that never rise above earthly cravings. There are beasts within the wall too when, though some just and some honorable thoughts are entertained, they still serve the appetite for passing gain and honor; and though in themselves they are raised, so to speak, above the earth, still through the desire to win favor, as through the craving of the throat, they stoop to what is lowest. That is why it is well added, “And all the idols of the house of Israel were portrayed on the wall,” since it is written, “And greed, which is idolatry.” Rightly, then, idols are spoken of after beasts, because some, though they lift themselves above the earth, as it were, by honorable action, still lower themselves to the earth by dishonorable ambition. And it is well said, “were portrayed,” since when the appearances of outward things are drawn into one’s inner self, whatever is pondered in imagined pictures is, as it were, portrayed on the heart. We should notice, then, that first a hole in the wall is seen, and afterward a door, and only then is the hidden abomination laid bare. For of every single sin, signs are first seen outwardly; afterward a door is shown that opens the wickedness to view; and only then is every evil that lies hidden within disclosed. [c]

Some things, however, ought to be gently reproved. For when a fault is committed not out of malice but only from ignorance or weakness, the rebuke of it must certainly be tempered with great moderation. It is true that all of us, as long as we live in this mortal flesh, are subject to the weaknesses of our corruption. So each of us ought to learn from himself how he should pity another’s weakness, lest, if he is carried away too hotly into words of rebuke against a neighbor’s weakness, he should seem to have forgotten his own. That is why Paul admonishes well when he says, “If anyone is overtaken in any fault, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.” It is as if he said plainly, “When what you see of another’s weakness displeases you, consider what you are, so that your spirit may restrain itself in its zeal to rebuke, while it fears for itself what it rebukes.” [e]

Some things, however, ought to be sharply reproved. When a fault is not recognized by the one who committed it, he should be made to feel its seriousness from the mouth of the one who reproves him; and when someone makes light to himself of the evil he has done, the severity of his rebuker should lead him to a serious fear of what it will bring upon him. For it is the duty of a ruler to show, by the voice of preaching, the glory of the homeland above; to disclose how great are the temptations of the old enemy that lie in wait along the journey of this life; and to correct with great severity of zeal those evils among the people under his authority that ought not to be gently borne with, lest, by being too little roused against faults, he himself be held guilty of them all. That is why it is well said to Ezekiel, “Take a tile, and lay it before you, and portray on it the city of Jerusalem.” And immediately it is added, “And you shall lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast up a mound, and set camps against it, and set battering rams against it all around.” And for his own defense it is added at once, “And take an iron frying pan, and set it as a wall of iron between you and the city.” For whom does the prophet Ezekiel represent but teachers, when it is said to him, “Take a tile, and lay it before you, and portray on it the city of Jerusalem”? [f] For holy teachers take a tile when they lay hold of the earthly heart of their hearers in order to teach them. They lay this tile before themselves, because they watch over it with the whole bent of their mind. And on this tile they are commanded to portray the city of Jerusalem, because they take the utmost pains, by their preaching, to set before earthly hearts a vision of the peace above. But since the glory of the heavenly homeland is perceived in vain unless it is also known how great are the temptations of the crafty enemy that assail us here, it is fittingly added, “And you shall lay siege against it, and build forts.” For holy preachers lay siege around the tile on which the city of Jerusalem is drawn when they show a mind that is earthly, but already seeking the homeland above, how great an opposition of vices is arrayed against it in the time of this life. For when it is shown how each sin besets us on our way, it is as though a siege were laid around the city of Jerusalem by the voice of the preacher. But since preachers ought to make known not only how vices assail us but also how well-guarded virtues strengthen us, it is rightly added, “And you shall build forts.” For the holy preacher builds forts when he shows which virtues resist which vices. And since, as virtue grows, the wars of temptation mostly grow too, it is rightly added further, “And you shall cast up a mound, and set camps against it, and set battering rams all around.” For a preacher casts up a mound when he sets forth the mass of growing temptation. He sets camps against Jerusalem when he warns his hearers, whose intention is upright, of the cunning enemy’s ambushes, unforeseen and, as it were, beyond understanding. And he sets battering rams all around when he makes known the darts of temptation that surround us on every side in this life and pierce through our wall of virtues.

But although the ruler may convey all these things with precision, he does not win lasting absolution for himself unless he burns with a spirit of zeal against the offenses of each and all. That is why it is rightly added further in that place, “And take an iron frying pan, and set it as a wall of iron between you and the city.” For the frying pan stands for the frying of the mind, and the iron for the hardness of reproof. But what fries and torments a teacher’s mind more fiercely than zeal for God? Paul was burning in the frying of this frying pan when he said, “Who is made weak, and I am not made weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?” And since whoever is on fire with zeal for God is continually protected by a guard, lest he deserve to be condemned for negligence, it is rightly said, “You shall set it as a wall of iron between you and the city.” For an iron frying pan is set as a wall of iron between the prophet and the city because, when rulers show strong zeal now, they keep that same zeal afterward as a strong defense between themselves and their hearers, lest they should lack the power to punish later through having been slack in reproving before. [g]

But meanwhile it must be borne in mind that, while a teacher’s mind is stirring itself up to rebuke, it is very hard for him to avoid breaking out into something he ought not to say. And it mostly happens that, when the faults of those under him are rebuked with severe denunciation, the master’s tongue is carried away into excess of words. And when rebuke is too hot, the hearts of the offenders are cast down into despair. So when an angered ruler sees that he has wounded the feelings of those under him more than he should, he must turn in his own mind to penitence, so as to win pardon by his laments in the sight of the Truth, even for this, that he sins through the heat of his zeal for it. This is what the Lord commands in a figure through Moses, saying, “If a man goes with his friend into the wood in simplicity of heart to cut wood, and the axe flies from his hand, and the iron slips from the handle and strikes his friend and kills him, he shall flee to one of the cities named and live; lest perhaps the next of kin of the one whose blood was shed, while his heart is hot, pursue him and overtake him and strike him a mortal blow.” For we go with a friend into the wood whenever we turn to look into the offenses of those under us. And we cut wood in simplicity of heart when with devout intention we cut away the vices of offenders. But the axe flies from the hand when rebuke is carried into more harshness than is needed. And the iron leaps from the handle when words too hard come out of the reproof. And he strikes and kills his friend, because insult pushed too far cuts the man off from the spirit of love. For the mind of someone reproved suddenly breaks out into hatred if reproof beyond measure charges it with more than is due. But the one who strikes wood carelessly and kills his neighbor must flee to the three cities, so that in one of them he may live protected; for if he betakes himself to the laments of penitence and is hidden, under hope and love, in sacramental unity, he is not held guilty of the killing he committed. And the next of kin of the slain man does not kill him, even when he finds him; because when the strict Judge comes, who joined himself to us by sharing our nature, he certainly does not demand the penalty of the fault from one whom faith, hope and love hide under the shelter of his pardon. [h]