flattery, no speaking smoothly to a man before
his face, while all the time there is a disapproval of his conduct in
the heart. The thing we want in Christianity is not politeness, it is
sincerity.

There are three things which we remark in this truthfulness of John.
The first is its straightforwardness, the second is its
unconsciousness, and the last its unselfishness. The
straightforwardness is remarkable in this circumstance, that there is
no indirect coming to the point. At once, without circumlocution, the
true man speaks. "It is not lawful for thee to have her." There are
some men whom God has gifted with a rare simplicity of heart, which
make them utterly incapable of pursuing the subtle excuses which can
be made for evil. There is in John no morbid sympathy for the
offender: "It is not lawful." He does not say, "It is _best_ to do
otherwise; it is unprofitable for your own happiness to live in this
way." He says plainly, "It is wrong for you to do this evil."

Earnest men in this world have no time for subtleties and casuistry.
Sin is detestable, horrible, in God's sight, and when once it has been
made clear that it is not lawful, a Christian has nothing to do with
toleration of it. If we dare not tell our patron of his sin we must
give up his patronage. In the next place there was unconsciousness in
John's rebuke. We remark, brethren, that he was utterly ignorant that
he was doing a fine thing. There was no sidelong glance, as in a
mirror, of admiration for himself. He was not feeling, This is brave.
He never stopped to feel that after-ages would stand by, and look at
that deed of his, and say, "Well done." His reproof comes out as the
natural impulse of an earnest heart. John was the last of all men to
feel that he had done anything extraordinary. And this we hold to be
an inseparable mark of truth. No true man is conscious that he is
true; he is rather conscious of insincerity. No brave man is conscious
of his courage; bravery is _natural_ to him. The skin of Moses' face
shone after he had been with God, but Moses wist not of it.

There are many of us who would have prefaced that rebuke with a long
speech. We should have begun by observing how difficult it was to
speak to a monarch, how delicate the subject, how much proof we were
giving of our friendship. We should have asked the great man to accept
it as a proof of our devotion. John does nothing of this. Prefaces
bet