Vigils Reading – Martyrdom of St John the Baptist

HOW JOHN THE BAPTIST

REBUKED SIN

From a sermon by St John Henry Newman

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St John the Baptist has a most difficult office to fulfill; that of rebuking a

king… The Holy Baptist rebuked Herod without making him angry; therefore he

must have rebuked him with gravity, temper, sincerity, and an evident good-will

towards him. On the other hand, he spoke so firmly, sharply, and faithfully, that

his rebuke cost him his life…

Now, if it be asked, what rules can be given for rebuking vice? – I observe,

that, as on the one hand to perform the office of a censor requires a maturity and

consistency of principle seen and acknowledged, so is it also the necessary result

of possessing it. They who reprove with the greatest propriety, from their weight

of character, are generally the very ones who are also best qualified for

reproving. To rebuke well is a gift which grows with the need of exercising it. Not

that any one will gain it without an effort on his part; he must overcome false

shame, timidity, and undue delicacy, and learn to be prompt and collected in

withstanding evil; but after all, his mode of doing it will depend mainly on his

general character. The more his habitual temper is formed after the law of

Christ, the more discreet, unexceptionable, and graceful will be his censures,

the more difficult to escape or to resist.

What I mean is this: cultivate…a cheerful, honest, virile temper; and you

will find fault well, because you will do so in a natural way. Aim at viewing all

things in a plain and candid light, and at calling them by their right names. Be

frank, do not keep your notions of right and wrong to yourselves, nor, on some

conceit that the world is too bad to be taught the Truth, suffer it to sin in word or

deed without rebuke. Do not allow friend or stranger…to advance false

opinions, nor shrink from stating your own, and do this in singleness of mind

and love.

Persons are to be found, who tell their neighbors of their faults in a

strangely solemn way, with a great parade, as if they were doing something

extraordinary; and such persons not only offend those whom they wish to set

right, but also foster in themselves a spirit of self-complacency. Such a mode of

finding fault is inseparably connected with a notion that they themselves are far

better than the parties they blame; whereas the single-hearted Christian will

find fault, not austerely or gloomily, but in love; not stiffly, but naturally, gently,

and as a matter of course, just as he would tell his friend of some obstacle in his

path which was likely to throw him down, but without any absurd feeling of

superiority over him, because he was able to do so. His feeling is, “I have done a

good office to you, and you must in turn serve me.”

And though his advice be not always taken as he meant it, yet he will not

dwell on the pain occasioned to himself by such a result of his interference;

being conscious, that in truth there ever is much to correct in his mode of doing

his duty, knowing that his intention was good, and being determined any how to

make light of his failure, except so far as to be more cautious in the future

against even the appearance of rudeness or intemperance in his manner.