lesse than them because in some respects we commit a greater sinne than they seeing they maintaine their errours out of ignorance but we lye against knowledge and conscience as hee also speaketh And Lib. â— cap. 8. therefore if we can by no other meanes pull impious Heretikes out of their secret dennes unlesse our Orthodoxe and Catholike tongues doe stray out of the path of truth it is more tolerable that they should still lie hid than that truth should bee impeached better that these Foxes should lurke in their holes than that those who hunt them that Tolerabilius in suis foveis delitescerent vulpes quampropter illas capiendas in blasphemiae foveam caderent venaâ—ores Aug. Contra mendacium lib. 2. cap. 7. they may take them should fall into the pit of lyes and blasphemy as the same Author affirmeth To say nothing that the sinne in using this lying policy is certaine but the good issue and event aimed at uncertaine seeing that being in Gods hand hee might justly crosse and curse this unlawfull means so that they shall not conduce to their conversion but rather to their further confirming and hardning in their heresie and impiety But though it be unlawfull by lying to prevent §. 3. Whether it be lawfull to lye that wee may greater sinnes in our selves aâ— nameâ—â— rape and ravishment sinne in others yet perhaps it may be lawfull yea commendable to use it when wee may thereby prevent greater sinnes not onely in others but also in our selves As suppose that a vertuous Matrone or chaste Virgine should be assaulted by an adulterer with violence to defile or deflowre them and they might escape the rape by putting him off with a lye is it not lawfull to doe it in such a case to prevent so great a mischiefe I answere that though a stony heart could not chuse but relent and be much affected to heare of such a villany and though the tentation be so strong that it is scarsely to be expected humane strength should be able to resist it yet in clearing of the truth wee must not consider what we would but what we should doe being so assaulted and brought into such straites Indeede if it were a sinne to bee meere patients in the sinne of others the question were easily answered but it is not so for the greatest sinne in others is not the least sinne in us if wee onely bee the subjects of their sinne through unresistable violence and doe not give the least consent unto it For here it is all one as in the case of persecution oppression murther or robbery all which though they be hainous sinnes in the agents yet none at all in the patients when they have no will to consent or allow the commission of such sinnes nor power to prevent or shun them Yea in such cases that is lawfully suffered which cannot but unlawfully be avoided and no act is to bee judged sinfull if the will bee wholly averse unto it For it is the very forme that giveth unto sinne its life and being to be in some kinde or degree voluntary and though the will give not its consent in all sinnes yet it hath some kinde of operation in or about it as in sinnes of ignorance though wee doe not consent unto sinne as knowing it to bee so yet wee consent to that action which is sinfull the will being misled through the errour of our judgement And so in concupiscence which goeth before consent there is that which we call inescation or the bayting of the hooke of sinne with some pleasure profit or other allurement which is Sathans tentation and not imputed unto us as sinne if we wholly resist it and there is that which we call titillation or the retaining and revolving of the tentation with some delight and as it were the itching of the desire and the watring of the teeth after it if wee might injoy it upon no hard conditions But when they are so propounded as that wee cannot injoy the pleasure or profit of sin unlesse we displease God and indanger our owne soules then the will rejects the tentation and will by no meanes give its consent Notwithstanding that retaining of the tentation with some tickling delight is a sinne of concupiscence and this very parlying with the Divell is a transgression of Gods Law though wee doe not yeeld up unto him the Fort of our hearts nor give our consent that sin shall enter Of which sinne the will is guilty which though it did not consent to the Act yet it gave way to the Divels dispute and that with some tickling delight wee should listen to his tentation alluring us to sinne But if as in this case of a violent rape the will bee wholly averse unto it and the heart abhor it even as the terrours of death though the agent and ravisher committeth an horrible sinne yet the patient or party forced and ravished is wholly cleare of it For the body onely is violated but the soule not vitiated and though that bee defiled yet it is not corrupted or at least with such a corruption that is not sinful as S. Augustine speaketh For there is onely the matter of sin which giveth it no being in a subject forced by outward violence but not the forme which giveth onely being and denomination seeing the will is wholly averse unto it So that if this bee granted which cannot bee denied that it is a sinne to lye but no sin to be forced and ravished then the case is easily cleared namely that it is not lawfull by the evill of sinne to shun such an evill as is not sinfull actively to defile the soule that the body may not passively be defiled or only in hope that wee may shun the outrage of the adulterous ravisher to cast our selves certainely into the snares of the Divell by lying and sinning and so to be defiled by spirituall filthinesse and to be deflowred and deprived inwardly in our soules of their purity and chastity And of this judgement is Saint Augustine who speaketh excellently Nulla est pudicitia corporis nisi 〈…〉 itate ani 〈…〉 deat 〈…〉 mend lib. 1. c. 7. to our present purpose There is saith hee no chastity of the body which doth not depend upon the integrity of the minde which being pulled from the other it must needs fall although it may seeme untainted and untouched and for this cause is not to bee numbred amongst temporall things seeing they may be taken from those that are unwilling to leave them And therefore by no means the minde must corrupt it selfe with a lye for its body which it knoweth to remaine incorrupt if the incorruption doth not depart from the soule For what the body suffreth through violence there being no precedent lust it is rather to bee reputed vexation than corruption Or if every such vexation bee corruption yet every corruption is not then dishonest but onely that which lust hath procured or
But let us examine this question yet more fully §. 3. That the truth of Religion is to be confessed when wee are lawfully called thereunto and distinctly in what cases the truth is to be spoken or concealed and when the Glory of God and good of our neighbour or our owne good doth require the profession of it and when wee should conceale and hide it by silence or otherwise For the understanding whereof wee are to distinguish of truth namely that it is either religious or civill Religious truth is the truth of religion or the doctrine of Faith the which we are upon all occasions to professe being lawfully called thereunto when the Glory of God or good of our neighbour doth require it according to that of the Apostle Peter Sanctifie the Lord in your hearts and be 1 Pet. 3. 15. ready alwayes to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekenesse and feare Neither is it enough to beleeve the truth and keepe it to our selves but we must also openly professe it for as with the heart man beleeveth unto Rom. 10. 10. righteousnesse so with the mouth confession is made unto salvation as the Apostle Paul telleth us For if wee conceale the truth when wee are called to professe it we doe not onely deny the truth but also the Lord of Truth who is the Author and Patrone of it and whosoever shall deny him before Math. 10. 33. men him will he deny before his Father which is in Heaven But when are wee called lawfully to make this confession of truth surely at all times when by our confession wee may glorifie God or benefit our neighbours As when wee are called before a lawfull Magistrate and required an account of our faith then wee must in no case suppresse the truth though we confesse it with the danger of our lives for he standeth in Gods stead as his Deputy and to hide or deny the truth before him is as it were to deny or hide it in Gods sight and presence And then also God is glorified by our Christian apology when as wee will not shrinke from the truth whatsoever we suffer for it So also we are bound to professe the truth of our religion before private men when as wee conceive that thereby wee shall glorifie God by propagating his Truth and edifie them to whom wee confesse it Otherwise if there be no cause why we should conceive this hope because we know them to bee scorners and enemies of Gods true Religion who would but deride it and our profession wee may yea in Christian discretion wee ought to conceale it seeing we shall by our confession dishonor God by exposing his Truth to contempt and wrong our owne persons by laying our selves open to scorne and derision if not to the danger of their rage and violence For which wee have our Saviour Christs Word for our warrant Give not that which is Holy unto Dogs neither cast yee your Pearles Math. 7. 6. before Swine lest they trample them under their feete and turne againe and rent you Secondly there is a civill truth which is exercised §. 4. That civill truth is to bee confessed when Gods glory or our neighbours good doth require it about the affaires of this life the which also is to bee spoken and professed when the glory of God and our owne and neighbours good doth require it or to bee hid and concealed when by the profession of it God is dishonoured and our selves and neighbours endammaged Now if we further enquire when Gods glory and our owne and neighbours good doth require it to be spoken and when it ought to be concealed wee are to distinguish of it either as it is to be spoken publikely before the lawfull Magistrate sitting judicially upon the judgment seate or privately to ordinary men in our common course of conversation When wee are judicially called before the lawfull Magistrate and required according to law to speake the truth we ought not to conceale it whether it bee for us or against us And for this wee have the same reason that we have for speaking of religious truth for the Magistrate sitteth in the place of God as his Deputy to enquire and examine the truth and therfore to deny or dissemble it unto him in a legal maner inquiring after it is as it were to deny and dissemble it unto God himselfe the which in this respect is the more grievous sinne because in course of law men are examined upon oath and are bound thereby to speake not onely the truth but also the whole truth in which they call God as Witnesse to what they say and so grosly abuse his Majesty being the God of truth if they draw him as much as in them lyeth to countenance and confirme a lye Secondly hereby they transgresse in a high degree Gods expresse Commandement by which as he forbiddeth us to beare false witnesse in the negative part so in the affirmative hee requireth that we speake the truth to his glory and our neighbours good Finally wee sinne against the common wealth and against all good policy order and government which cannot stand if in these legall Uterque reus est qui veritatem occultat qui mendacium dicit quia ille prodesse non vult ille nocere desiderat Ad Casulanum proceedings the truth should bee denyed or suppressed In all which respects Saint Augustine speaketh fitly to our purpose either of these are guilty and faulty both hee that hideth the truth and he that telleth a lye because the one denyeth to profit and the other desireth to hurt Upon which grounds and reasons I conclude §. 5. That the Truth must bee confessed before the Magistrate when hee requireth it in a Legall manner that being convented before a lawfull Magistrate and by him examined we are bound in conscience to speake the truth and whole truth if he proceed legally and in judiciall manner and demand of us such things as we may answere unto piously without dishonouring God and justly without any prejudice to the Church and Common-wealth or wrong to any particular person For if such questions bee propounded as are not lawfully demanded nor we bound by the Law of God and of the Common-wealth to answere wee may in such a case refuse and conceale the truth So likewise when the discovery of it tendeth to Gods dishonour to the hindering or suppressing of his true religion to the hurt and dammage of the Common-wealth by betraying unto the enemy the secrets of State or the delivering of the innocent into the hands of impious and unjust men that are in authority and seeke their ruine and the taking away of their goods liberties and lives we are not bound to answere the truth of the things demanded yea wee ought in such cases to hide and conceale it though it bee with the extreame and imminent
A TREATISE AGAINST LYING WHEREIN IS SHEVVED VVHAT IT IS THE NATVRE AND CAVSES OF this sinne the divers kindes of it and that all of them are sinfull and unlawfull with the motives and meanes to preserve us from it or to cure us of it BY JOHN DOVVNAME B. of D. and Preacher of Gods Word EPH. 4. 25. Wherefore putting away Lying speake every man Truth with his neighbour for we are members one with another LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Nicolas Bourne and are to bee sould at his shop at the South Entrance of the Royall Exchange 1636. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDWARD LORD NEWBVRGH Chancellour of the DVTCHIE of Lancaster one of his Majesties most Honourable privie Counsell and to the vertuous LADY his Wife J. D. wisheth all temporall happinesse in this life and everlasting blessednesse in the Life to come THere are no diseases right Honourable so dangerous to a Country or Common-wealth as those which being Epidemicall infectious and of a spreading nature are also mortall and yet so desperately neglected by the people that they have not any providence to prevent them or care to cure them neither do any more neede the skill and care of the learned Physitian seeing the Patient being insensible of his sickenesse is carelesse of his owne recovery And the same also as it may bee truely said of all vices the sickenesses of the Soule which are then most perillous when as they are common over-spreading all sorts of men with an universall infection deadly dangerous and yet so stupifying those that are tainted and taken with them that they are insensible of their disease and shunne carelessely the meanes of cure so especially it may fitly be applied to this vitious habite of Lying which is so universall an infection that wee may particularly apply unto it Salomons question who can say I have made my heart Prov. 20. 9 Psal 5. 6. Apoc. 22. â—â— 21. 8. cleane I am pure from this sinne So mortally dangerous that without repentance it bringeth certaine destruction excludeth us from Heavenly Happinesse and casteth us headlong into the fire of Hell and yet so pleasing to corrupt nature and so availeable as men thinke for the atchieving of their worldly and carnall ends that they are insensible of their danger love their disease and neglecting all meanes of cure doe live and die in it without repentance In which regard as it is the duety of those whom God hath called to bee the Soules Physitians that they shew their skill and care in discovering this dangerous disease and in using all good meanes both for the preventing and curing of it So I thought my selfe interessed in this worke and the rather because being an argument of such necessary importance yet there hath beene hitherto little written of it Of which my poore labours I have made choyce of your Honours as Patrons being hereunto mooved partly by that experimentall knowledge which I have had of your piety and love to religion approved by your practice of Christian duties in your daily exercise your good respect to the Ministers of Christ and all that feare God as also your delighting in Truth Justice and all other Vertues For who are more fitte to protect those workes that oppose vice than such whose course and conversation is ennobled with Vertue and Goodnesse and partly that hereby I might make an acknowledgement how much I am obliged to your Honours for your undeserved favours And because Iam so deepely indebted that it is not in my power to make any satisfaction to leave unto the world a gratefull rememberance of my many obligations Not doubting but that our great LORD and MAISTER whose rewardes and retributions are like Himselfe Infinite and Everlasting and hath taken whatsoever kindnesse is done unto any of his poore Disciples and Ministers upon his owne account and made it his owne debt will out of his All-sufficiency bountifully supply what is wanting on my part through inability and richly recompence all your many favours towards me with the Blessings of this life and Eternall Happinesse in the Life to come which shall bee the dayly prayer of Your Honours most obliged in all Christian duties JOHN DOWNAME Recensui librum hunc cui titulus est A Treatise against the sinne of Lying In quo nihil reperio quò minùs cum utilitate publica imprimatur modò intra tres menses proximè sequentes typis mandetur Exaedibus Londin Novem. 3. 1635. SAM BAKER A TREATISE AGAINST THE SINNE OF LYING 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the vice of Lying is very common CHAP. I. That the vice of Lying is so common and universall that it hath corrupted all sorts and conditions of Men. AS good is most commendable §. 1. That the vice of Lying is most common when as it is most common and communicable because it multiplies it selfe and increases the happinesse of many in whom it is so vice and sinne is so much the more sinfull and pernicious by how much the more it diffuseth and spreadeth it selfe as a common Plague or Leprosie to the infection and destruction of many and utter ruine of all humane societies In which regard this sinne of lying of which I now purpose God assisting me to intreate may challenge unto it selfe a speciall preheminence aboue almost all other vices there being none more common and universall whether wee respect persons times or places It begunne with our first Parents as soone almost as they had their beginning who no sooner left their innocency and integrity than they left their Truth and falling into sinne they fell to lying hiding it in this darke shade and covering it under this blacke vayle because they saw it so foule and loathsome that they were ashamed to bring it unto the light For being asked by God why they hid themselves from his Presence among the trees of the Garden they alleadge two false causes and conceale the Truth The one was because they heard Gods Voyce which made them affraid the other because they saw their owne nakednesse whereas they had often before heard God speaking unto them and were not terrified and had seene themselves naked and were not ashamed neither was it their want of cloathing but of the robe of Innocency and their sinne that brought this shame and feare And from their loynes this corruption is naturally propagated to all their Posterity from their sinfull breasts wee have all sucked this deadly poyson which hath so generally infected the corrupted nature of all Mankinde that there is scarce any vice or sinne unto which we are more inclined than unto this of lying The which will better appeare if wee consider §. 2. That all Nations and conditions of Men are subject to this vice that there is no Country or Nation no place age or condition of Men priviledged and exempted from this contagion no people so rude and savage but have attained to the Art and skill of lying and dissembling
danger of our goods liberties and life it selfe As for example when in the times of persecution wee are examined by wicked tyrants whom we know to be of our religion or who were present with us and accompanied us in such a place and at such a time in Gods divine Service Prayer and hearing of the Word we should in such a case indure any losses and tortures rather than betray them into their hands that seeke their lives But though wee may not discover the secrets and counsells of the innocent when it tendeth to their hurt and ruine yet wee may and ought to confesse when wee are examined to reveale the faults and crimes of those that are guilty and have offended against the Lawes of God or the Land yea though wee have beene copartners with them in their wickednesse and by solemne promise or oath have mutually bound our selves to secrecy because such oathes and promises are unlawfull as tending to Gods dishonour the hindring of Justice the nourishing of Vice and the great prejudice of Church and Common-wealth But here another question commeth to bee resolved §. 6. Whether malefactours are bound in conscience to confesse the truth thogh it bee with the hezard of their lives whether a man that is guilty of a fault or crime that concerneth his life being examined in a Legall manner before a lawfull Magistrate bee bound in conscience to confesse the Truth and so by accusing himselfe to indanger his life To this I answere that every one who is guilty is bound to testifie the Truth if he be required by the lawfull Magistrate though it bee with the hazard of his life and sinneth if he hide his fault with a lye and better it is to expose the body to the danger of death by confessing the Truth than by lying and sinning to offend God and cast both soule and body into Hell But yet men thus guilty are more or lesse bound to confesse the truth and accuse themselves and doe sinne more or lesse haynously by concealing it in divers cases and considerations For if the Judge having no evidence of Truth nor competent witnesses to cleare the cause and direct him in giving a right sentence doth seriously examine the offendor charging him upon his Conscience to testifie the Truth that God may be glorified when he his Deputy doth Justice and if thus strictly examining him hee doth in some degree rest upon his testimony for his direction and judgement in such a case the guilty person sinneth greatly if he conceale the truth or hide his offence with a lye for Judgement being the Lords hee dishonoureth him that hindreth the execution of justice with a lye And therefore Iosuah thus strictly examining Josh 7. 19. Achan in a waighty cause willeth him to give Glory unto God by confessing the Truth implying hereby that hee should much dishonour him if hee did otherwise Besides by concealing the truth and telling a lye in such a case he blindeth §. 7. Whether offenders at the barre are bound to plead guilty of those crimes which are justly laid to their charge in our judiciary proceeding and misleadeth the Judge and causeth him to pervert justice and to pronounce an unrighteous sentence But if as it is in our judiciary proceeding the question bee asked whether the offender at the Barre be guilty or not guilty hee is not so strictly bound as in the former case to confesse the Truth nor sinneth so much if hee doth conceale it For in this case the Judge greatly regardeth not the testimony of the person arraigned when he pleadeth not guilty thereby to bee directed in passing his sentence but onely in a Legall proceeding he demandeth this question that in a formall and orderly manner he may put himselfe upon another tryall namely of the Jewry who are in no sort directed by the offenders testimony but by the testimony of competent witnesses and evidence of reason Neither doth our law in these criminall causes of life and death binde an offender to accuse himselfe nor inflicteth any punishment if hee refuseth to doe it Yea rather if pleading not guilty he put himselfe upon tryall of his Countrey he hath a faire and sometime favourable proceeding and issue being often acquitted when being guilty he hath deserved punishment whereas if he concealeth the truth by silence and refusing to put his cause upon tryall doth condemne himselfe as guilty because hee will not use the Legall forme in pleading not guilty he hath no favour of law but is adjudged to greater and more torturing punishment than if he were found guilty by the Jewry or his owne voluntary confession Againe there is great difference betweene the offences which are confessed or concealed for if in themselves they are haynous and capitall both by the morall Law of God the law of Nature and Nations as Treasons Parricides Murthers and the like for which every naturall Conscience will condemne the offenders as worthy of death then doe they much more haynously sinne if being examined by a lawfull Magistrate they conceale the Truth and excuse themselves by telling lyes Yea in such cases it is probably thought that if there were no other to bring these haynous crimes to light they are bound in conscience that Justice may be executed to discover and accuse themselves But if the offences be such as are not capitall by the morall Law and the Law of Nations but are onely made so by the Positive lawes of particular Common-wealths which admit rather of a particular mischiefe than a generall inconvenience and respect in their punishments the universall good of the Common-wealth more than the demerit of the offender punishing with more severity lesse faults which being through the disposition of the people inclining thereunto more commonly committed to the hurt and damage of the whole State than greater offences which being rarely committed bring no such prejudice then is it much more tolerable and lesse sinnefull when the offenders by pleading not guilty doe put themselves in a Legall forme upon tryall of the Jury in hope to be acquitted by their verdict when the law affords them no favour upon their confession As for example in the case of stealth and small thefts which the Law of God punisheth not with death but restitution yet is so punished by positive lawes with all severity because it is generally necessary that it should so be for the preservation of the Common-wealth although in some particular cases there may bee a lawfull and conscionable mitigation of punishment which in Legall proceedings that respect the common good more than the preservation or immunity of some private persons cannot bee so lawfully used by inferiour Magistrates who are bound to judge according to law if the offender confesse his fault and plead guilty In such a case I say it is more excusable if the truth bee concealed by such a deniall as is to be understood onely as a forme in pleading whereby he putteth himselfe
Rom. 6. 23. body from which we cannot be freed by all Men and Angels seeing nothing can satisfie Gods Justice for it but a price of an infinite value which no finite creature could pay but onely the LORD JESUS CHRIST God and Man whose death and sufferings were an All-sufficient price for our redemption in respect of the Dignity of the Person that thus suffered Againe if it bee a sinne to lye then we ought not voluntary to commit it for the effecting of the greatest good seeing the Scripture teacheth us that wee may not doe evill that Rom. 3. 8. good may come thereof And they also teach us that all lyes without exception or distinction are odious and abominable unto God and that hee will destroy them that speake leasings And what good Prov. 12. 22. 6. 17 19. Psal 5. 6. can any lyes procure that being put into the ballance can countervaile all these evills Finally when wee lye out of hope to effect thereby any good the sinne committed is our owne but the issue and effect is not in our power for issues and future events are onely in Gods hand and therefore wee doe not know whether upon the sinne committed the good will follow yea rather wee have just cause to feare the contrary for how can wee expect Gods blessing upon the use of the meanes which hee hath cursed Especially seeing in trusting unto our owne sinnefull inventions we distrust his Power and Providence as though he were not sufficient without the helpe of our lye to effect our good ends and desires in freeing any from imminent evills or preserving them in the most desperate dangers CHAP. IX Divers questions and Cases concerning officious Lyes propounded and resolved NOw these things being well weighed §. 1. That it is not lawfull to lye for good ends or that wee 〈◊〉 doe good will serve as a thread to guide us out of the most intricate labyrinth of the most difficult cases that are usually propounded and inable us to answere the hardest questions and objections First it may be demanded whether it may not bee lawfull to tell a lye when therein wee propound unto our selves some speciall good end as either the obtaining of some great benefit or the avoyding of some great and imminent danger of falling into some evill of sinne or punishment Concerning the former I answere that there can accrew unto us no such benefit by lying as is sufficient to counterpoise the losse to wit of our soules by sinning if God in mercy should not give us repentance Secondly that is not to bee esteemed a benefit which is procured by unjustice for even the Heathen man could teach us that Nihil utile quod non honestum Cic. offic there is nothing profitable which is not honest as no lye is seeing truth is opposed by it And the doctrine of Christian religion informeth us in this truth that it is not sufficient for the making of an action good and lawfull that our end bee good unlesse also the meanes be so by using whereof wee attaine unto this end Thirdly if this were granted that wee might doe a lesse evill for the advancing of a greater good then as Saint Augustine Contra mendacium ad Consentium lib. 2. cap. 8. saith all good Lawes and manners should be quite overthrowne and a wide doore opened to all wickednesse For then it might be lawfull for a theefe to rob a rich covetous man that hordeth up his wealth and doth no good with it if he propound this end to his theft that hee will bestow the greatest part of what he hath stollen for the reliefe of the poore or for a man to beare false witnesse before a Judge if it tend to the clearing of the innocent and condemning of the nocent party or to burne a Will or Testament when the Testator hath made choice of a bad Heire and to substitute a false Will in the place thereof that the inheritance or goods may not come to the hands of such as will do noe good but may by this meanes fall unto them who will feede the hungry cloath the naked lodge strangers redeeme captives and build Churches Why should not all these evills bee done for these ends that be so good if for these good things they cease to be evill Yea saith he if this were allowed Cur non fiant illa mala propter haec bona si propter haec bona nec illa sunt mala Aug. Contr. mendaâ—â—d Consentium lib. 2. cap. 7. that we might doe evill to good ends what fact so flagitious what offence so hainous and dishonest what sacriledge so impious which might not bee said to be done rightly and justly not onely without feare of punishment but boldly and gloriously in hope of reward Concerning the latter it may bee questioned §. 2. Whether it be lawfull to lye to prevent a greater sinne in others whether it bee lawfull to lye which is a lesse evill to avoide a greater evill either of sinne or punishment Concerning sinne we may consider it either in another or in our selves In another it may bee demanded whether we may not commit this small sinne of an officious lye to pull one or many of our neighbours out of a great sinne in which if they live and dye there were no hope for them to escape damnation As when wee see men to live in some damnable heresie the which they keepe so secret that there is no meanes to discover them to the Magistrate that they may be examined confuted and reformed unlesse some orthodoxe Christian by telling a lye whereby he faineth himselfe to be of the same opinions doe dive into their secrets and come acquainted with the most of them that are of this hereticall society that so afterwards he may lay them open unto those that are best able to reclaime them And this was the case of Consentius dealing with those cunning heretiques called the Priscillianistes which occasioned Saint Augustine to write those two books of this argument wherein hee commendeth Consentius his love of truth zeale learning and elocution but withall confuteth his opinion and practice For to say nothing of that ill companion which accompanieth this kinde of lying which is treachery joyned with deceit a vice odious in the eyes of all that are vertuous and ingenuous and to consider of the lye used to the former good end what charity will teach a man to fall into one sinne that hee may pull his neighbour out of another or to offend God our selves that wee may keepe others from offending him or to endanger our owne soules that wee may deliver theirs out of danger For true charity beginneth at home and teacheth us to love our neighbour as and not better than our selves and to love them in the same quality and trueth of affection and not in the same quantity and proportion Yea if we should take this course to reclaime Heretikes wee should love our selves
Esa 52. 14. man and his forme more than the sonnes of men and seeing in him no forme comelinesse nor beauty that they should desire him Hee was despised and rejected of men as a man of sorrowes and acquainted with griefes and they hid as it were their faces from him hee was Esa 53. 2 3. despised and they esteemed him not as the Prophet Esay prophecied of him and in this regard he saith that hee was a worme and not a man as if hee should have said I am so vilified of my enemies by reason of my sufferings and so despised and contemned because they see no forme or beautie in mee being defaced and marred with afflictions and persecutions that they number mee not among men but esteeme me no better than a contemptible worme which is good for nothing but to be trodden under foote And that he speaketh this of his enemies false opinion and not as himselfe thought or would have others to conceive the words following doe sufficiently shew I am a worme saith he and no man areproach of men and despised of the people All they that see mee laugh me to scorne they shoote out the lippe and shake the head c. CHAP. XII Of the meanes to disswade us from Lying and first because it is an hainous sinne HAving spoken of the divers sorts of lyes §. 1. That Lying is an hainous sin proved by the Scriptures and proved that they are all sinnefull and unlawfull It now followeth according to the order which I first propounded that I set downe the meanes whereby we may be preserved from this sinne The which are of two sorts the first is to shew the dangerousnesse and desperatenesse of this disease of lying that so wee may with more earnestnesse desire to be cured and then the remedies which may further the cure For so much doe men sleight this sickenesse of the soule as though there were no danger in it yea so farre are the most in love with it so loath to leave it and so willing to live and die in this disease which in their carnall reason they finde so pleasant and profitable that in this if in any other the question of our Saviour may be well propounded to our sicke and impotent Patients wilt thou bee made whole For as those that John 5. 6. are sicke of a Lethargy delight in sleeping though it will bring assured death and being rouzed out of it by their friends are much displeased with them because they are disturbed and disquieted so is it with the most men in this case apprehending no danger and sensually feeling delight in this sickenesse they love their disease and loath the remedies That men therefore may not securely sleepe in this sinne of Lying as apprehending no danger I will first shew the greatnesse and hainousnesse of it in the sight of God and all good men that so all may be brought into a hatred and detestation of it and then prescribe some means which may strengthen us against it Concerning the former though lying were but a small sin in it selfe yet it were not small unto us if wee allow and approve it love and delight in it seeing it is joyned with presumption and impenitency neither as one saith is there any sinne so veniall which is not Augustine made criminall whilst it pleaseth and delighteth But it is not so in Gods sight how lightly soever men esteeme of it as will easily appeare by the following discourse For the Apostle Paul setting downe a Catalogue of most hainous sinners as prophane persons parricides murtherers adulterers 1 Tim. 1. 10. Sodomites men-stealers and perjur'd persons doth ranke lyars in the reare of them and the Apostle Iohn numbereth them with dogs sorcerers Apoc. 22. 15. whore-mongers and idolaters all which shall bee excluded out of the gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem And the Holy Ghost in the Hebrew tongue calleth a lye Aven which also signifieth iniquity implying that all lyes are iniquity and that all iniquity is after a sort included in a lye seeing every sinne is in this respect a lye as it is committed against the Truth of God which forbiddeth it And A lyer worse than a theefe howsoever men measuring the guilt of sinnes by their profit and disprofit doe hang up theeves and oftentimes laugh at lyars yea even reward them if they be skilfull in their Art yet is lying in it owne nature worse than theeving and a common lyar than a common theefe according to that of the sonne of Syrach A theefe is better than a man which Eccli 20. 25. is accustomed to lye and they both shall have destruction to heritage For theft is committed immediately against men but a lye against God the God of Truth and is therefore aggravated as being committed against a much more excellent Object Theft spoyleth us of our worldly goods and hurteth our estates but lying exceedeth theft in theft robbing us of a much more excellent jewell even spirituall truth which is the riches and ornament of the mind Yea it depriveth both the liar and him that hearkneth unto lies of eternall salvatiō seeing in this respect the theefe only hurteth himselfe but cannot hinder him from the fruition of blessednes whom he robbeth though he taketh from him his earthly riches Againe the Law of God appointed that the theefe should make satisfaction to him whom hee had wronged by restoring unto him sowre or five fold and so by recompence made the fault in respect of men curable but no satisfaction is appointed to bee made unto those who are wronged by lying there being for it no valuable recompence seeing they are robbed of a Jewell Prov. 23. 23. above all price Finally lying is worse than stealing as being the cause of it and the chiefe incouragement which setteth the theefe on worke to commit his sinne for if men were resolved to speake nothing but truth they would never steale seeing when they are examined they must confesse their offence and receive deserved punishment but because they hope to escape by hiding their sinne with lyes therefore they are imboldned to the committing of it And yet I have said nothing of the malignity of this sinne and sickenesse of the soule more than is in theft whereby it becommeth more contagious infecting others with its poyson for whereas in stealing the theefe himselfe onely sinneth and not he that is robbed by him in lying not onely they sinne who tell the lyes but all they likewise who delight to heare them and are too credulous in beleeving of them Yea not onely the Scriptures but even the Heathen writers Poets and Philosophers by the light §. 2. Lying condemned as a great sinne even by the Heathens of nature have in all ages condemned lying as an hainous and hatefull vice Many of whose sayings Stobaeus recordeth to this purpose One saith that he is unhappy who rather uses lies though seemingly Euripides good
all other wickednesse is stamped upon us but also the Image of sinne and as thereby wee prove our selves to bee the children of the Devill so also the servants and slaves of sinne For as it is a great sinne in it selfe having in it all relations of sinne as before I have shewed so is it the cause of many other sins and a fruitfull mother and nurse of much other wickednesse even as it is also the bastardly Brat and hellish of spring of other sinnes which like cursed fathers beget it First it is the Cause of sinne because it is the common encouragement which setteth men on to worke wickednes whilest they hope to hide and disguise it so with their lyes that they shall never come to light This emboldeneth the adulterers to commit filthinesse because if they be questioned Expè delinqueÌ„tibus promptissimum est mentiri Lysâ—â—s apud Stobaeum Serm. 12. they resolve to deny it and none can prove it but only their Partners in wickednesse This heartneth men to kill and slay to coozen and deceive to rob and steale and what not Because if they bee suspected and examined they by their cunning lyes can hide their sinnes from the sight of men and so escape shame and punishment Whereas if they did not trust in lyes Adam would not eate the forbidden fruite Cain would not murther his brother Iacob would not deceive his father Iosephs brethren would not sell him to the Ismaelites Gehazi would not take a bribe the Harlot would not entice her young Lover to commit whoredome and then wipe her mouth as though she had not committed filthinesse Ananias and Saphira would not play the Hypocrites and withold part of the price of their possession the servant would not defraude his master the thiefe would not steale his neighbours goods nor the subject commit treason against his Prince and as the Prophet speaketh Israel shall doe no iniquitie if they will not Zeph. 3. 13. speake lyes to hide and cover it But when men have made lyes their refuge and have hid themselves under falshood then they are ready to make a covenant with death and an agreement with hell and to let loose the reines to all wickednesse because they hope for immunity and to escape punishment and that when the overflowing scourge shall passe through it shall Esay 28. 15. not come nigh unto them And as Lying is the Cause so also the Effect of sinne which followeth it as the shadow doth the body as we see in the example of our first Parents who having committed sinne did seeke to hide it with lyes and frivolous excuses even as they did with figge leaves seeke to hide their shame The which is also the common practice of all their degenerate posterity who are no more ready to sinne than to deny or excuse it with a lye For that which Saint Chrysostome speaketh Mendacil causa ex furto nascitur Chrysost in Mat. 5. Hom. 19. of stealing that the Cause of Lying springeth from theft the same may bee verified of all other sinnes which make men lyable to shame or punishment although indeed the sinne of stealing is a most usuall cause of Lying when as men having stollen doe use it as a colour and cover to hide their theft and therefore the Prophet Nahum joyneth them together as the Cause and the Effect Woe unto the bloody citie it is all full of lyes and robberie Nahum 3. 1. And as Lying is the Cause and Effect of many other sinnes so it is the meanes to make us lye and dye in them without repentance for whereas there is no other meanes to bring us to the sight of our sinnes and unfeined sorrow for it nor to worke in us reformation for the time to come but the carefull and conscionable hearing of Gods Word and Law which convinceth us of our wickednesse and sheweth our miserable condition whilest wee continue in it Lying doth stop our eares that we will not listen unto it nor beeleve it as the Prophet implyeth in those words This is a rebellious people lying children children that will not heare the Esay 30. 9. Law of the Lord. And this commeth to passe partly because they make lyes their refuge and sheltring and hiding themselves under this covert they imagine that as they deceive men with their lyes so they shall also deceive God and preserve themselves from his just judgements because he taketh no notice of their wickednesse and partly because being accustomed to Lying they give no credit to the words of his Ministers and Ambassadours nor beleeve God or man in any thing which is spoken against them as thinking that there is no more Truth in them than they finde in themselves Secondly the Lyar maketh himselfe guilty of §. 3. That the Lyar abuseth his tongue and speech a great sin by abusing of his tongue which should bee his glory and which was given unto him by God as an excellent instrument to set forth his praise to speake the trueth which his minde conceiveth and to discover it to others for their mutuall good a privilege wherein God hath advanced man above all the rest of the creatures but Lyars shamefully abuse this singular gift of God and whereas it was given unto them as an instrument of righteousnesse and trueth and for the setting forth of Gods praise they make it to become a weapon or instrument of iniquity by their lying wherewith they dishonour God and hurt their neighbors whereby they make it appeare that they are subjects of Sathan For whereas there are two kingdomes the one of light the other of darkenesse and God the King of the one the Devill of the other they have also two severall languages the one of trueth which is the language of the spirituall Canaan the other of lyes which is the idiome or language of hell So that by our speech we may be knowne unto what Kingdome wee belong either of God when we speake the truth from Psal 15. â— our hearts or of Sathan when wee commonly lye and deceive which language when wee usually speake it may bee said unto us as it was unto Saint Peter thou art a subject of the Kingdome of darknesse for thy speech bewraieth thee Now if any lyar shall object that this is not his ordinary language Incredibile est non mentiri hominem ne capiatur qui mentitur ut capiat i. It is not to bee beleeved but that a man will lye that he 〈…〉 bee 〈…〉 who 〈…〉 not to â—â— that he may 〈…〉 â—nd overâ—â—â—â—â— August Senâ—â—â—â— 2 3. Ubi causa meÌ„tiâ—nâ—i sublata est mentimur ex consuetudine Sen. Epi. 46. Qui non seductione diaboli deceptus mentitur sed proposito mendax est nunquam desinit esse mendax neque post mortem Chrysost in Matth. 6. Hom. 10. Matth 7. â—2 but that he only useth it when it may seeme for his advantage to this I answere that a frequent act will
us and give us helpe by Judg. 12. 6. setting also his Watch before our mouthes and keeping the doore of our lippes that no lying and lisping Sibboleth may passe out of them nor any speech which bringeth not with it the Watch-word of Trueth CHAP. XVI Of the uses which wee ought to make of the former discourse ANd thus having through Gods gracious §. 1. The first use that wee have Truth in high esteeme assistance handled the pointes which in the beginning of this Treatise I propounded and shewed the nature of this vice what it is the causes and kindes of it with the meanes whereby we may bee preserved from this common infection or cured if we bee tainted with it it now followeth in the last place that I adde a word or two by way of use And first seeing Truth is such an excellent Vertue and precious Jewell let this move us highly to prise and dearely love it and following the wise mans counsell let us buy it though it cost us Prov. 23. 23. deare but never sell it at any rate For though it may seeme at the first sight that we have much damage and disadvantage by it and that by speaking the simple truth wee make our selves a prey to the crafty who have great helpe by their lyes to circumvent and deceive us that wee have much losse in our trading and bargaining buying and selling when wee are restrained in our liberty of lying whilest that others that make no conscience of it have many helpes and advantages thereby to further their ends and advance their gaine And finally that wee shall by confessing the Truth when we have offended incurre much displeasure and expose our selves to the hard opinions of those that are set over us yea oftentimes to rigour and punishment whereas others more faulty by the helpe of their Iyes doe frame such excuses that they are acquitted as blamelesse held in good esteeme yea sometimes praysed and rewarded as innocent and well deserving yet let us rest assured that by loving and speaking Truth wee shall finde our selves gainers in the end For first Truth it selfe is such an unvaluable Jewell that it is sufficient to inrich its owners by it selfe and to make full amends for all the inconveniences disadvantages losses and punishments which they have by it seeing it is accompanied with the inward peace of a good conscience and Spirituall joy in the assurance of Gods Love and our Salvation Besides it will make us acceptable unto God who is in himselfe alone All-sufficient to reward our loving and imbracing of Truth in obedience to his Commandement and to recompence abundantly all inconveniences and disadvantages which we have by it For he is infinitely wise and knoweth how to uphold us in our simplicity and Truth against all the cunning machinations of crafty Machiavells He Psal 24. 1. is infinitely rich as being the Lord and Owner of Heaven and Earth and therefore able abundantly to recompence all losses which wee have by speaking Truth and shunning lyes and to give us sufficient riches by honest meanes and together with them such inward joy and peace that wee shall experimentally say with the Psalmist A little that a Psal 37. 1◠righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked and with the wise man Better is a little with Prov. 16. ◠righteousnesse than great revenewes without right Finally by his Power and Providence he ruleth our rulers and so disposeth of their hearts that they will as much like us for our truth and simplicity when we acknowledge our faults as mislike us for the committing of them and spare us for our ingenuity rather than punish our defects and failings or otherwise if they inflict upon us as much or much more than we have deserved if wee beare it with meekenesse and patience we shall have more peace and comfort in our suffrings than we should have had if wee had prevented and escaped them by telling of lyes In which respects let us not only Jer. 9. 3. stand for the Truth but be valiant also in defending and preserving of it seeing all that wee can doe or suffer is not comparable unto those benefits which we shall receive by it Secondly seeing it hath beene shewed and proved §. 2. The second use is that wee abborre lyes to the convincing of all mens Consciences not wilfully blinde that lying is a most odious vice dishonourable unto God and pernicious to our selves and neighbours let us not upon any pretence of pleasure or profit bee allured to like or love it or if wee have formerly beene overtaken with it yet let us not continue in it but rise out of this sinne by unfained repentance For howsoever heretofore our ignorance might make it the more excusable because wee did not know that it is so odious unto God so hainous in it selfe and pernicious unto us yet now that the light of Truth hath laid it open in its owne colours and shape if we still make no conscience of committing it nor lay it to heart to bewaile hate and turne from it by unfained repentance wee shall be left unexcusable and sinning against the light of our owne knowledge wee shall hereby aggravate our sinne and increase our punishment Finally seeing this vice is so hatefull and abominable §. 3. The third use is that Magistrates should indeavour by all meanes to suppresse this vice and bringeth with it so many and great evils both to private Persons and to all Families and Societies Church and Common-wealth and after this life hellish misery and eternall condemnation Let this moove all men in their severall places and callings to use their best indeavours to suppresse this vice and to amend and reforme it both in themselves and others And first Magistrates should be perswaded to doe all they can to discountenance this vice by making good lawes against it and seeing them duely executed because it is no lesse dangerous to a State than any other vices as being an incourager to all wickednesse and the colour and cover which doth conceale and hide it And therefore as Plato thought those Common-wealthes most miserable which abounded with Lawyers and Physitians because in them contentions and suites sickenesses and diseases abound also so may it much more truely bee spoken that those States and Kingdomes are most miserable in which lyes are most frequent without controule or punishment because it argueth plainely the abounding of all other vice seeing their chiefe use is to cover all other sinne and incourage to all wickednesse whilst they promise to hide it But especially it must be the care of Governors and Rulers to stoppe their eares to tale-bearers and lyars because it is the receivers that make theeves and if they had no eare to listen unto lyes men would have no tongues to tell them if they with their countenance as a North winde the raine would drive them away they would quickely