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
than truthes when hee judgeth them evill And againe certainly it is a thing intolerable to tell lyes Another telleth us that he is equally his enemy as the gates of Hell who conceaveth one thing in his minde and speaketh another thing with his mouth And that Iupiter the great father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Iliad lib. 4. Phocyllides who helpeth all yet will not be helpfull unto lyars Another perswadeth thus tell saith hee no lyes but speake all truthes And againe doe not hide one thing in thy heart and utter another with thy tongue Another affirmeth that every prudent Cleobulus and wise man hateth a lye And the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as before was shewed deriveth the Greeke word signifying a lye from another which signifieth a thing dishonest and worthy reprehension because every lye is of this nature Finally Plato in many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Theat lib. 2. de Repub. places condemneth lies and pleadeth for the truth To thinke the truth saith he is honest but a filthy and dishonest thing to lye And againe a lye is odious not onely to the gods but also to men And therefore if the Heathens could discover the fowlnesse and deformities of this vice by the dimme light of nature what a shame is it for us to bee so blinde in our understandings and ignorant as not to discerne the uglinesse of it when as we have the cleare sun-shine of the Gospell and the illumination of Gods Holy Spirit to guide and direct us But let us come more particularly to shew the §. 3. That Lying is opposite to Gods nature haynousnesse of this vice which will better bee cleared if we prove that it hath in it all relations of sinne as it is committed either against God our neighbours or our selves and is not onely a sinne in it selfe but also the cause and the effect of many other evills both of sinne and punishment as it will appeare if wee examine some particulars For first lying is in this respect a great sinne because it is contrary to God the chiefe goodnesse whether we consider his Nature or his Persons In his Nature and Essence he is in and of himselfe and the fountaine of Being and in this sense it is most true that being Truth and Goodnesse are convertible and all one He is not only True but Truth it selfe and all other things are true in and for him And thus he describeth himselfe Mercifull Gracious Exod. 34. 6. Long-suffering and aboundant in Goodnesse and Truth So Moses in his song He is a God of Truth and without Deut. 32. 4. iniquitie just and right is he So Esay Hee that sweareth in the Earth shall sweare by the God of Truth Esay 65. 16. yea hee is so essentially True as that there is none true besides him according to that of the Apostle Let GOD be True but every man a lyar and though Rom. 3. 4. it be at mans choyce to speake the truth or to lye yet truth being of Gods Essence and the Truth of God nothing but the True God hence it followeth that God can no more deny the Truth than deny Himselfe And therefore it is said that God is not a man that he should lye yea though he can doe Numb 23. 19. all things yet He cannot lye yea that it is impossible Tit. 1. 2. Heb. 6. 18. for God to lye which doth not argue any impotency in him but perfection of Being seeing if hee could lye hee could also deny himselfe and so not be seeing Truth in him and Being are all one And as the former places are affirmed of the whole Divine nature and so primarily of God the Father the Fountaine of Truth and Being so other places testifie the like of the Sonne namely that Hee is full of a John 1. 14. Grace and Trueth and that all b vers 17. Grace and Trueth come by him yea that hee is the c John 14. 6. Way the Truth and Life it selfe And so also of the Holy Ghost who is called the d John 14. 17. Spirit of Truth yea e 1 John 5. 6. Truth it selfe who proceedeth f John 15. 26. from the Father and the Sonne And those whom by regeneration hee maketh his Children g John 16. 13. He leadeth into all Truth and worketh in them all sanctifying and saving Graces and Truth amongst the rest which is therefore by the Apostle numbred among the h Eph. 5. 9. fruits of the Spirit In all which respects as it must needs follow that Truth is a Vertue most acceptable unto God as being according to his owne Likenesse so also that those best please him who resemble him in Truth by loving imbracing and speaking it approving themselves hereby to bee his Children because they are like him according to that of the Prophet Esay Surely they are my people Children Esa 63. 8. that will not lye To which purpose an Heathen Philosopher speaketh excellently who being asked Pythagoras in what thing men were most like unto God answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. if they speake the Truth And in this respect their magi or magitians affirmed that their greatest god whom they called Oromagden Serm. 11. was in his body like unto the light and in his mind or soule like unto truth as Stobaeus recordeth it And excellent to this use is the etymologie of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which they signifie Truth which Iamblichus bringeth ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deducta sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because as the Greeke word signifying the Truth so Truth it selfe is derived from the gods although others give another Etymology deriving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the privative participle because the Truth cannot lye hid Whereby it appeareth that as Truth is deare unto God so a lye which opposeth it is a great sinne and most odious unto him seeing it opposeth himselfe and his owne nature who is a God of Truth for hee who lyeth denieth the Truth and he who denieth it denieth God himselfe Again Truth which hath its existence in the minde against which the lyar speaketh is of the Spirit of God who is the Author of all Truth and therefore what is it to lye but to make the tongue speake against the Truth ingraven in the minde by the Spirit and consequently to speake against the Holy Spirit himselfe who is the Lev. 6. 2. Author of it Secondly by lying we sin immediately against §. 4. That Lying is a breach of Gods Commandement God in that we breake and violate his Word and holy Commandements which injoine us to speake the Truth and not to lye in any thing nor at any time For in the ninth Commandement under the name of bearing false witnesse against our neighbour as in the affirmative part hee requireth all Truth so in
voluntate fallendi c. August Enchir. ad Laurent cap. 22. against that which he thinketh in his minde with a will to deceive Now words were therefore instituted not that by them men should deceive one another but that every one might thereby make knowne his thoughts to others And therefore to use words that wee may deceive and not for that end for which they were ordained is a sinne And as this sinne of lying is pernicious to the §. 8. That lying is pernicious to every particular family Common-wealth so also unto every particular family where it raigneth as being the common cause of all confusion and disorder of all evills and mischiefes which happen unto it For as it bringeth Gods judgements upon those families where it is tolerated as the deserved punishment of their sin so doe they suffer many evills from one another which are the effects of it For if the Governours be such as doe love and listen after lyes it maketh all the servants wicked because there will bee no Justice executed no difference betweene well and ill-deserving no rewards for the one nor punishments for the other when as the innocent and faithfull shall by lyes be traduced and branded and the faulty and faithlesse excused and commended No marvell then if the governement become lame and much weakned when as rewards and punishments which are the sinewes of it are cut in sunder and if there bee no good governement how can there be any true obedience And this is that which Salomon observeth If saith hee a Ruler Prov. 29. 12. hearken unto lyes all his servants are wicked Againe if in a family there be no conscience made of lying all that live in it become negligent of their duetie and are much emboldned to commit any fault so it be not knowne and to breake burne spoile steale and loose any thing that belongeth to their governours when as they can by a lye deny or excuse it neither is there any feare of shame or punishment to restraine them seeing they can by lying so shift and shuffle off the fault from one to another that the master of the family cannot possibly discerne who is faulty or faultlesse and therefore is put to his choice whether he will let the offender escape or indanger himselfe to punish the innocent and so either to suffer evill in others or to bee evill himselfe whilest his severity is not guided by knowledge and truth And all this made David so out of love with lyars that hee professeth hee would not suffer one of them to dwell in his family Hee that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house hee that telleth Psal 101. 7. lyes shall not tarry in my sight CHAP. XIII That the Lyar sinneth most of all against himselfe BUt as lyes are in these and many other §. 1. That lying defaceth Gods Image in us and stampeth on us the image of Sathan respects hurtfull to our neighbours so are they much more pernicious to our selves and that both in respect of the evill of sinne and also of the evill of punishment Concerning the former lying is most pernitious unto our selves in many considerations For first it defaceth and blotteth out Gods Image in us seeing wee resemble him not onely in wisedome holinesse and righteousnesse but also in truth which hath such relation unto them all that it is necessarily required to their very essence and being so that wisedome righteousnesse and holinesse are of no worth and existence unlesse truth be joyned with them And therefore the Apostle exhorting us to bee renewed according to Gods Image doth bid us to put on the new man which after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4. 24. God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse or as the words there signifie holinesse of truth And this the Greeke Oratour saw by the light of nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosthenes for being asked in what things men came neerest to the likenesse of GOD answered in Trueth and beneficence Now this Trueth is most opposed and defaced by Lying and consequently it is most pernicious For if wee esteeme it a great hurt to have our eyes put out our faces gashed and deformed and our bodies maimed and dismembred how much more hurtfull is it to have these blemishes in our soules and to have Gods image defaced in us And yet it doth not onely blot out of us the image of God but it also stampeth on us the image of Sathan and sinne For the Devill is not onely a Lyar himselfe but also the authour and father of lyes according to that of our Saviour He is a Murtherer from the beginning Joh. 8. 44. and abode not in the trueth because there is no trueth in him when hee speaketh a lye he speaketh it of his owne for hee is a Lyar and the father of it where as Saint Basil observeth our Saviour putteth no difference In reg Contract Num. 76. of lyes but speaketh this indefinitely of them all And this wee see in the example of our first Parents unto whom Sathan lyeth even against God himselfe and also teacheth them to lye from whom this corruption and disposition of Lying is propagated to all their posterity in the example of the foure hundred false Prophets in whose mouth Sathan was a lying spirit teaching them to lye perniciously to Ahabs destruction as himselfe confesseth and of Ananias and Saphira Whose hearts 1 Kings 22. 22. Acts 5. 3. Sathan filled with deceit to lye unto the holy Ghost as Saint Peter speaketh Wherein he sheweth himselfe a right Serpent indeed seeing he carrieth his poison in his mouth whereby he killeth both himselfe and others And as the Devill is the Father of Lyars so are they his children in nothing more resembling him than in loving and making lyes For in this particular respect our Saviour chiefly speaketh Yee are of your Father the Devill and the lusts of your Father yee will doe Yea in this also they Joh. 8. 44. shew themselves to bee of this serpentine generation in that Their poison is like the poison of a Serpent Psal 38. 4. 140. 3. sharpening their tongues like him and having Adders poison under their lips Yea herein they goe beyond their Father the Devill in that hee beleeveth the trueth and trembleth whereas they not onely love and make lyes but also beleeve them more than truth yea rather any thing more than it according to the saying of our Saviour Because I tell you the Joh. 8. 45. trueth therefore yee beleeve mee not Now what can bee more pernicious unto man than to have Gods Image defaced in him to become the child of the Devill and to resemble him in sinfull Lying seeing they that are like him in his sinne shall hereafter be made like him in his punishments So also by Lying not onely the Image of Sathan §. 2. That the sinne of Lying encourageth men to commit
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
whereby hee is able not onely to kill the body of him that lyeth as hee did Ananias and Sapphira but also to cast both body and soule into hell and in the meane time to frustrate all our hopes and ends which we propound unto our selves in lying either by detecting our untrueths or by crossing us in them so as they shall not effect our desires but rather hinder them and finally if wee did know that he is a God of trueth who hateth and abhorreth lyes and will according to his Word give lyars their portion in that lake which burneth Apoc. 21. 8. with fire and brimstone if they doe not prevent their just damnation by unfained repentance wee would not take pleasure in lyes nor bee hyred to tell them with the base wages of worldly vanities But it is our ignorance of these things that causeth us so easily to fall into this sinne when as Sathan or the World tempteth us unto it And therefore the Prophet joyneth them together as the Cause and Effect They bend saith hee their tongue like Jer. 9. ◠their bow for lyes but they are not valiant for the trueth upon the earth for they proceed from evill to evill and they know not me saith the Lord. Another Cause is oblivion and forgetfulnesse of God for many that know Gods Nature and Attributes and will acknowledge that he is omniscient omnipotent just and true in all his Word and wayes yet fall into this sinne through forgetfulnesse not pondering and considering what they know when they should make use of it to keepe them from sinning And of this the Prophet Esay speaketh Of whom saith hee hast thou beene affraid or feared that thou Esay 57. 11. hast lyed and hast not remembred mee nor laid it to thy heart A third Cause of lying is our inordinate and §. 4. A third Cause is immoderate feare of men immoderate feare of men more than of God the which the Prophet implyeth in the same words Of whom hast thou beene affraid that thou hast lyed and hast not remembred me whom thou hast more cause to feare than all men or devils For they at the most can but kill the bodie but God can also cast body and soule into hell Neither is either man or devill Mat. 10. 28. so able to protect us against the stroke of Gods vengeance when wee speake lyes as hee is both able and willing to defend and preserve us against all their might and malice whilest wee make conscience of speaking the trueth for according to his gracious promise Hee shall cover us with his feathers Psal 91. 4. and under his wings shall we trust his trueth shall bee our shield and buckler But because men looke onely unto the present and take care to avoid imminent danger and live by sense more than by faith beholding the arme of flesh ready to strike them and not the power of God which is all-sufficient to protect them nor seeing him that is invisible Therefore they make lyes their refuge and hide Esay 28. 15. themselves under falshood and vanitie And this appeareth principally in the practise of inferiours as children and servants who having committed any fault doe usually colour and cover it with a lye that so they may escape the displeasure of their governors whereas if they feared God more than men they would bee much more fearefull to fall into his hands than theirs seeing he is a consuming Heb. 12. 24. Fire who is able in his just wrath utterly to destroy them and would rather choose to speake the trueth though they lost the favour of mortall men than by lyes to loose the favour of the immortall God yea they would know that their greatest safety would be in speaking the trueth seeing God the authour and lover of it hath the hearts of all men in his hands and can move superiours to pardon what is done amisse yea to love them more for their trueth and ingenuity than to mislike them for their faults and errours A fourth Cause of lying is carnall confidence and security whereby men blesse themselves in §. 5. A fourth Cause of Lying is Carnall Confidence and Security this sinfull course presuming that their lyes shall bee so cunningly contrived and so boldly and impudently outfaced that they shall never come to light and that as they have long practised them and yet have escaped both the punishment of God and men so they may still goe on securely in their sinne without feare of danger And of such the Prophet Esay speaketh Who had made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell promising unto Esay 28. 1◠themselves that when the overflowing scourge should passe thorow it should not come unto them because they had made lyes their refuge and hid themselves under falshood And againe they trust in vanitie and speake lyes hoping through their cleanly conveiance Chap. 54. 4. that they shall never be discovered But the truth which they oppose is as a shining light which will lay open all these hidden workes of darkenesse and bring them at length to shame and punishment And whereas they presume that they shall still escape because having long lived in this sinne they finde no hurt in it nor have felt Gods hand in punishing of it and so encourage themselves to go on in their wickednesse according to that of the Preacher Because sentence against an evill worke is Eccles 8. 11. not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sonnes of men is fully set in them to doe evill Let them know that though they are respited yet they are not remitted and though the overflowing scourge hath Esay 28. 18. passed over and not yet whipped them yet at last they shall as God hath threatned be trodden downe by it if they doe not prevent his judgement by true repentance or though they should wholly escape in this life yet this is but cold comfort if they consider that they are hereby hardened in their sinne that living and dying in it without remorse they may at last receive their full payment without mercie Apoc. 21. 8. in the world to come The last Cause of Lying which I intend to §. 6. A fifth Cause of Lying is Covetousnesse speake of is Covetousnesse whereby men immoderately loving worldly wealth will not stay Gods leisure in the use of lawfull meanes for the compassing of their desires but resolving to bee rich and making all haste in satisfying their greedy avarice they leave no stone unmoved no meanes untryed which may advance their ends Amongst the rest they finde none more fitting for their purpose than this of Lying as being a speciall helpe whereby they are inabled to supplant and deceive one another and to enrich themselves by their neighbours ruines especially when they have any entercourse of Trading buying and selling in which all manner of deceit is used to defraude one another and all disguised and hid
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
as much as wee hate death and destruction so much let us abhor lying which is the cause thereof and with as much care and endeavour let us shunne the one as well as the other And as God thus punisheth lyes in this life so §. 8. That God punisheth lyars with everlasting condemnation much more fearefully in the life to come For first it excludeth lyars out of the Kingdome of Heaven seeing none are admitted to dwell in Gods Holy Psal 15. 2. Hill but those that speake the Trueth from their hearts and the Gates of this Heavenly Citty are onely opened that the righteous Nation which keepeth Esa 26. 2. the Truth may enter in And as the Apostle Iohn telleth us there shall in no wise enter into it any thing Apoc. 21. 27. that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lye And that without the gates of the Citty Apoc. 22. 15. are dogges and sorcerers and whoremongers and murtherers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye Yea not onely doth this sinne of lying exclude lyars out of the Kingdome of Heaven but also if they live and dye in it without repentance it will irrecoverably plunge them headlong into Hell For the same Apostle telleth us that the fearefull and unbeleeving and the abominable and murtherers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all lyars without any difference made of their divers kindes of lyes shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second Apoc. 21. 8. death And therefore as we love to injoy eternall happinesse in Heaven so let us love to speake the Truth from our hearts which will assure us of it and as wee abhorre everlasting torments in Hell fire so let us hate and abhorre Lyes which are the meanes that will bring us to them CHAP. XIV Divers other motives to make us hate the Vice of Lying ANd thus have I shewed that lyes are §. 1. That lyes are odious because most opposite to truth accompanied with all manner of evils both of sinne and punishment and that both in this life and in the Life to come Unto which divers other motives might be added to bring us into a further detestation of this vice though none more effectuall than those already named if wee have any respect to Gods glory our Neighbours good our owne present comfort and well-being and the everlasting salvation of our body and soules As first that as lyes are friends and fanters of all vices causing and incouraging men to fall into them and to live in them without repentance so they are enemies and opposites to all Vertues and especially to Truth Justice and Charity First they stand in direct opposition to Truth so that where they are set up there Truth falleth and fayleth and where Truth is magnified and imbraced lyes are condemned and banished And this opposition betweene lyes and Truth the Apostle Iames noteth Jam. 3. 14. Lye not saith he against the Truth and the Apostle Iohn likewise where hee saith that hee who braggeth 1 John 2. 4. 21 27. that hee knoweth God and keepeth not his Commandements hee is a lyar and the Truth is not in him Yea they are such contraries as have no meane but the presence of the one argueth the absence of the other and the same heart at the same time cannot love and delight in both but if it loveth and delighteth in lyes it hateth and abhorreth the Truth And therefore seeing Truth is a most excellent Vertue and exceeding pleasing and acceptable unto God as being like unto him in his owne Nature It must needs follow by the rule of contraries that lying is a most base and dishonourable vice and most odious and abominable unto God as being opposite to his owne Nature Neither may wee qualifie and extenuate the sinne by our distinction of merry officious and pernicious lyes for howsoever these severall kindes may in other respects bee much more hainous and wicked one than another much more odious to God and men and will condemne lyars to greater or lesser punishments in Hell fire yet all of them are alike odious and abominable in this that they are all opposite to that excellent vertue of Truth and in every kinde of them contrary to Gods pure and perfect Nature who is essentially true and Truth it selfe In which regard even the best sort of officious lyes are evill and sinfull as namely when as men will tell them to confirme the Truth of Scripture and to perswade men more strongly and effectually to imbrace professe and practice the true religion by reporting fained miracles that have beene for merly wrought for the confirmation of this Truth which as also others of like nature are called pious lyes For first they are contrary to Truth an excellent Vertue and therefore must needes be vicious they are opposite to Gods Nature and dishonourable unto him as though hee were not able to maintaine his Truth unlesse wee helped him with our lyes neither do they so much grace and confirme the Truth of religion when they are kept secret as disgrace and weaken it when they are discovered and come to light nor so much strengthen mens faith in beleeving it being thus countenanced with lying wonders as weaken it when the deceit is knowne seeing these pious and officious lyes will make men when they are discerned jealous and suspicious of reall truths and take away from their teachers all power in perswading making their arguments and motives unto piety of no credit or efficacy seeing they that are moved and perswaded are ready to suspect that their speeches are all alike that seeing they have told them of false miracles therefore there are none true but all of one kinde although some more than other are more cūningly acted and that all the reasons and motives which they use to perswade men to a godly life are nothing but officious lyes which their teachers out of a pious affection and intention use to countenance religion and to make their exhortations and perswasions unto piety and honesty more forcible and efficacious And this was the reason which made Saint Augustine August lib. Epistol Epist 15. oppose Saint Ierome who maintained the lawfulnesse of such officious and pious lyes because if this were once permitted as lawfull or tolerable it would take away all authority in the teacher all faith and beliefe in the hearer yea make the Scriptures themselves to bee suspected so as no admonitions reproofes or counsells can bee given with any fruite because the hearers and readers will easily surmise that the things they heare and read are but pious and officious lyes to bring into and keepe men in the right way and not because they have in them any reallity of Trueth And therefore seeing these lyes are also unlawfull as being opposite to Truth I conclude that there are not any lawfull according to that of Saint
leave their Prov. 〈…〉 lying and labour to regaine their favour by speaking of Truth whereas If a Ruler hearken unto lyes Prov. 29. 12. all his servants are so wicked as to tell them if the King will be made glad with wickednesse and the Princes Hos 7. 3. with lyes those that are about them will to their uttermost skill use all their lying Arts to please and delight them But though the care of reforming this vice §. 4. The fourth use is that wee doe our best to prevent this sin in others ought to be chiefly in Rulers and Magistrates yet not in them onely but every Christian ought to doe his best to maintaine and nourish Trueth and to suppres this Vice of lying both in himselfe and others Especially it concernes every man to take heed that hee so carry himselfe in his entercourse and dealings that he be not a cause or occasion unto his neighbor of falling into this sin And because it is most frequently cōmitted in buying and selling the Seller labouring to raise his commodity by telling untrueths and the Buyer to pull downe the price by dispraising it therefore let us not only watch over our owne tongues that wee doe not offend but also avoid all occasions whereby our neighbour with whom we deale may fall into this sinne Now this is done when as wee doe not in driving our bargaine delight in using many words which are seldome free from lyes but take a plaine and faire course in our asking and offering with all convenient sparingnesse of speech And as the Seller is not by his lavish prayses to draw on the Buyer to speake worse of the commodity than either it deserves or he thinkes so let not the Buyer by his dispraises moove the Seller to use untrue commendations that hereby hee may dazle his eyes and allure him to a better liking And as the one must not aske at the first excessive prices for his wares from which height he doth not usually descend to his selling price but as it were by the steps and staires of lyes and untruthes so must not the other by too much hucking and niggardly offers as much under the just price move him to the practice of his lying arts and eloquence nor by distrusting his words when he speaketh truth occasion him to further the bargaine by speaking lyes because he seeth that the one is beleeved as well as the other To conclude all that I have to say in this discourse §. 5. Tbat governours of Families should doe their best to suppresse or reforme this vice in their inferiours seeing this vice of lying is so sinnefull and pernicious let Parents and Governours of Families use their best care and indevour in the education of their children and governement of their servants to suppresse and reforme it by all good meanes that those under their charge be not tainted and poysoned with it And to this end they must make themselves in all their speeches examples of truth unto their inferiours and such as hate and shunne lyes In which respect I have much misliked and condemned their practise which make no scruple of telling lyes to their little children either by promising unto them that which they meane not to performe that hereby they may allure them to doe what they would have them or by skaring them with bug-beares and faise frights that they may make them leave their crying or doing other things amisse whereby they usually loose their credit and authority with them so that they doe not beleeve them when as they are serious in speaking truth and withall poyson Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu Horat. their tender natures which in themselves are too apt to receive any sinnefull impression and make them apt and ready to follow their evill example and so by custome habituate them unto it that they can hardly bee brought to leave it when they come to riper age Another meanes is to make it one part of their chiefest care in observing their Children and Servants that they may finde them out in their lyes unto which by naturall corruption they are so much inclined and taking them with the manner to rebuke and discountenance them in their sinne shewing them the hainousnes of it by Gods Word and the punishments which are threatned against them that are guilty of it And if all this will not reclaime them they must adde to their instructions and rebukes seasonable corrections and shew themselves more ready and willing to remit or tenderly to chastize their faults committed against themselves than their sin of lying whereby they deny or excuse them which is committed against God Finally if we would have our inferiours to confesse the truth when they are faulty and guilty and not use lyes and false excuses we must in our government avoid too much rigor and cruelty in our corrections which out of feare and infirmity will move inferiours to hide their faults with lyes and so to hazard their soules rather than indure bodily smart and rather to presume on Gods mercy for the forgivenes of their sins than to confesse them to such governors as are so cruell that they can expect from them no pardon of their fault nor moderation in their punishments whereas if they would leave unto them some hope of finding mercy upon their confession and promise of amendment if they would not alwayes deale with them in severity and strictnesse of justice but pardon some faults because they are sleight and venial and some of an higher nature because of their ingenuity and truth which moveth them by an humble acknowledgement to submit themselves to their pleasure and to rely upon their mercy they would not be so apt to make lyes their refuge especially if they knew that they are so odious to their governours that they will if they be discovered inflict upon them more certaine and severe punishment And as rigour and cruelty must be shunned in correction so also injustice and indiscretion whereby men make no difference of faults but punish with as much severity triviall and small oversights as great and pernicious offences infirmities and unwilling slips and faylings as voluntary and wilfull negligences For when the delinquent doth not lye under any great guilt nor in his conscience is convinced that hee hath deserved much blame and yet knowing in respect of his governours indiscretion that hee shall fare as ill as if hee were more faulty this causeth him to make no scruple to prevent and escape his punishment by lyes and because these light faults happen often and so the offender is put often to his lying shifts at last custome will bring an habite and imbolden him to use lying excuses to hide his greater faults as well as his lesser faylings The like care must bee used by Superiours in their corrections that they avoid all rashnesse and furious passion for if they come masked and disguised under this terrible vizard and fall to execution before they have duely examined and judged they put the offender into a sudden fright and not being able to see the face of his Father or Master whilest it is covered with this rash rage and tyranny for very feare hee denyeth the faults which he hath committed before he well knoweth what hee speaketh and having once said it hee out-faceth the Trueth and stoutly standeth to his first lye being ready to backe it with another lest if the Truth should come to light he should incurre more displeasure and draw upon himselfe double punishment both for his fault and falshoode in hiding it with his lyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS
But though lyars are chiefly odious in their eyes yet not in theirs onely for even ingenuous men though meerely civill doe abhorre lyars as they are pernicious members of a State and bring with them much mischiefe both to the whole Common-wealth and also to private families and particular persons yea oftentimes they that make no conscience of lying for advantage do yet hate it in others when unpartially they looke upon it and doe not behold it through the spectacles of selfe-love and even they that like and love it in themselves yet cannot indure that others should use it Yea so loathsome it is in its owne nature if it be not sugred and sweetned with some profit or pleasure that though they use it yet they are ashamed to owne it and can upon no tearmes indure to bee branded with the name which they hold most odious and reproachfull though they make no scruple so it be unknowne to be tainted and poysoned with the vice Finally as lying maketh men odious both to the innocent and guilty so it maketh the innocent odious to the lyar when as hee knoweth that he hath abused them with his untruthes according to that Italian or rather Machivellian proverbe whom I have wronged I will never forgive And this disposition the wise Salomon observeth to be in malicious lyars and slanderers A lying tongue saith he Prov. 26. 28. hateth those that are afflicted by it Of which this may be the reason because they who have injured others by their lyes doe expect from them just revenge and upon due examination of their fault that they will bring the truth to light and them to suffer deserved shame and punishment §. 6. That Lyes weaken faith and hope dispoile us of the girdle of verity and a good conscience Fifthly lyes are pernicious unto the lyars themselves in divers other respects for first they weaken their faith in the assurance of their salvation yea deprive them of all hope of Heavenly happinesse seeing it is an infallible marke of one that shall dwell in this holy Hill that hee speaketh the Psal 15. 2. Truth in his heart Now if we count that pernicious to our persons and state that defaces our evidences of some earthly Patrimony and cuts off all our assurance ever to injoy it how much more is that pernicious that cuts off all our hopes to our everlasting Inheritance and deprives us of that comfortable note and signe that wee have just title unto it Secondly it dispoyles us of a chiefe part of our Christian armour the girdle of verity wherewith Eph. 6. 14. all the rest is buckled unto us and so layeth us open and naked to all the assaults of Sathans tentations to bee thereby foyled overcome and led captive of sinne when as he findeth us so disarmed Thirdly because it depriveth us of a good conscience when as wee make no scruple of such a sinne as is committed directly against it yea it wasteth and woundeth a naturall conscience when as wee live in such a vice as it condemneth For if conscience be not sear'd it is ready as soone as a man hath lyed to accuse him of sinne and to testifie against him that he hath offended God by denying truth and done that which would be a shame and dishonour unto him if it should come to light And this is the cause why having lyed they are so loath to acknowledge it but use all their Art and policy to hide and cover it that so they may seeme not to have lyed yea if they bee convinced or but suspected of it they are ready to discover their inward guilt of conscience by their outward blushing the which is especially to be observed in children who are not by custome hardned and heartned in their sinne because they even naturally knowing that lying is a fowle and dishonourable vice and that they have done evill in falling into it as their consciences are pressed with the guilt of their sinne so their faces are filled with the shame that accompanies it And thus lyars are pernicious unto themselves §. 7. That lyes bring upon lyars the evill of punishment in this life in respect of the evill of sinne Now further it commeth to bee considered how it bringeth upon them the evill of punishment For howsoever it is made but a sleight sinne amongst men and so accordingly for the most part sleightly punished yet it is haynous in Gods sight and punished by him with great severity And though the lyar through his cunning skill can often so hide his lyes that men cannot discover them and so are freed from the punishment both of their fault and lye with which they cover it yet Gods All-seeing eye can easily finde them out in all their subtilties and cunning conveyances and his mighty hand of Justice shall surely reach unto them and inflict upon them Prov. 19. 5. deserved punishments So the wise man saith that howsoever it may fare with others yet he that telleth Psal 63. 11. lyes shall not escape And though they delight to open their mouthes to lye for their advantage yet God will stoppe them with his punishments as the Psalmist speaketh upon which ground in another place by a Propheticall Spirit foreseeing their impenitence he prayeth against them for the sinne of their mouth and the words of their lippes let them even Psal 59. 12. bee taken in their pride and for their cursing and lying which they speake Neither will God lightly punish those who love and make lyes but it causes him to have a controversie with a land to hasten his Assises and to inflict such heavy judgements as will make the land to mourne and every one that dwelleth therein to languish as the Prophet Hosea threatneth Hos 4. 1. 2 3. For he will bring upon lyars utter destruction according to that of the Psalmist Thou shalt destroy Psal 5. 6. them that speake leasings and that of the wise man A false witnesse shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lyes shall perish To the same purpose speaketh Prov. 19. ◠the sonne of Syrach A theefe is better than a man that Eccli 20. 25. is accustomed to lye but they both shall have destruction to heritage And because they are seldome severed either in this life or in the life to come therefore the Prophet joyneth the sinne and punishment together Ephraim daily increaseth lyes and desolation Hos 12. 1. And of this we have examples in the Scripture as in Gehazi whose lie was punished with a perpetuall Leprosie upon himselfe and all his Posterity In Haman who slandering Mordecai and the Jewes and by his lyes plotting their ruine was taken in his owne net and both hee and his sonnes hanged upon the same gallowes which hee had made for innocent Mordecai And in Ananias and Sapphira Hest 3. 8. Act. 5. 2. 3. who for their lye were punished with present and sudden death And therefore