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
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
unto which lust hath consented And by how much the soule is better than the body it is by so much the more wickedly corrupted chastity then may there bee preserved whereas there can be no corruption but that which is voluntary neither can it bee violated in our selves by the lust of another Wherefore because no man doubteth that the soule is better than the body therefore the integrity of the minde ought to bee preferred before the integrity of the body seeing it perpetually may bee preserved But who can say that the minde of a lyar is sincere and upright c And so hee concludeth that no man can convince any that it is sometimes lawfull to lye unlesse hee can prove that an eternall good may by lying be obtained And so much concerning the evill of sinne The §. 4. Whether it be lawfull to lye to prevent the evill of punishment and namely 1. the death of others second question respecteth the evill of punishment whether we may avoide it lawfully by telling a ly when we see no other meanes whereby wee may bee preserved from it And because it were endlesse to stand upon all the particulars I will insist onely in one which will cleare the question in all the rest as being the greatest and last of all the rest namely Death which is the king of terrours and therefore to be avoyded by all lawfull Job 18. 14. meanes above all other temporary evills And this we will consider either as it respecteth our neighbours or our selves Concerning the former we will consider the case in two instances propounded by Saint Augustine and not much vary from him in our answere and resolution Suppose that a Father and his deere and onely Son were at the same time dangerously sicke in severall places or rooms and that the Son in whose life the life of the Father is bound up as it is said of Iacobs in Benjamins should dye the Father continuing in great weakenesse yet in some hope of recovery If the Father in this case should inquire suspecting the worst whether his Sonne be dead or alive what answere should be given him If it be said that he is alive it is a lye but yet such an one as comforteth and strengtheneth the Fathers heart and may prove a good meanes of his recovery but if it bee told him that he is dead or which is all one in effect if the hearers refuse to give any answere because he will surely presume upon their silence that hee is departed seeing otherwise they would not withhold newes which would cheare him the griefe hereof will presently strike him to the heart and bee a certaine cause of his death and ruine But I answer with him that though the case be lamentable and much commiseration to bee had of the sicke Father yet it is not lawfull to save his life by telling a lye For this is but a meanes of our owne for his recovery and wee know not whether God will blesse it or no yea we may well suspect that if we distrust in his All-sufficiency who hath in his hand the issues of life and death and is able to bring to the grave and to returne backe againe and trust more to our lye and meanes unlawfull it will prove rather a hindrance than a furtherance to our desires Whereas on the other side we are certaine that lying is a sinne and that all sinne will slay our soules if the wound be not recured by repentance which wee cannot promise unto our selves seeing it is not in our owne power but the gift of God which hee giveth when and to whom he pleaseth Finally if it bee lawfull by sinning to prevent the death of another the death of their body which is temporall with the death of our soule which is eternall why might it not bee lawfull also much more if an adulteresse should so desperately love us that if she might not have her lust satisfied shee would hang or drowne her selfe to prevent her death by yeelding to her desire seeing by one act of uncleannesse wee should prevent her murther and by prolonging her life procure time for her repentance that shee may bee saved whereas by the other course shee not repenting plungeth her selfe into Hell The other instance is this If an August Contra mendacium ad Consentium lib. 1. cap. 13. innocent religious man should be pursued by murtherous ruffians or bloody persecutors with a full intention to deprive him of his life for the preventing whereof hee is forced to flye from them or to hide himselfe in some secret place with which his flight or place of hiding we onely are acquainted The question is if the pursuers aske us which way he is gone or if hee be hidden with us or no whether we may not by an officious ly preserve his life directing them to take a wrong way in their pursuit that so he may escape or telling them that he is gone from us and not in our house seeing if we speake the truth we shall thereby expose him to certaine danger of death and if we refuse to answer we shall not onely be indangered to taste of their rage but also doe no good to the party whom we have received and hidden seeing upon our silence they will certainly presume that hee is hidden with us or else we would make no scruple to deny it To which I answere with Saint Augustine that wee must not lye and so by sinning offend Gods infinite Majesty and indanger the eternall salvation of our soules in hope to preserve the momentary life of anothers body What then must wee tell the truth and so betray his life into their hands that seeke it No by no meanes for this is much worse than the other Must we then say nothing when as silence is no lesse dangerous then speaking the truth Nor this neither seeing this as little conduceth to our end of preserving our neighbours life as if wee confessed the truth What then must bee done surely as Saint Augustine also resolveth it we are in such a case called by God to put on Christian courage and resolution and to endure any extremities rather than we will either betray the truth or the innocent man who hath intrusted his life to our secrecy And therefore wee ought boldly to professe that wee know what is become of the party whom they pursue but will not by telling them expose him to the danger of their cruelty because we will neither betray him nor offend God by telling a lye And of this Saint Augustine bringeth an example of a Bishop called Firmus whom he commendeth to have beene more firme in his will and resolution than in his name who when he had with all diligence hid a persecuted Christian from the rage of an heathen Emperor and being by his Pursevants which hee had sent to apprehend him demanded where they might finde him couragiously answered them that he could neither lye nor betray
the man for which though they put him to many tortures yet hee remained constant in his resolution Who afterwards being brought to the Emperor seemed unto him so admirable in his faith and constancy that without any difficulty hee obtayned pardon for him whom he had hidden The other part of the question concerneth our § 6. Whether we may lawfully lye to save our owne lives selves namely whether wee ought for the preservation of our owne lives tell a lye when as all other meanes are wanting and this onely promiseth security Unto which a short answere may suffice if we consider what hath beene already said in the former cases for it is a sin to lye but no sinne to dye and our life is not so much worth that wee should spinne out the thread thereof to a further length with wicked hands nor buy it at so deare a rate as the price of sin which is an offence against Gods infinite Majesty and therefore of infinite guilt from the condemnation whereof wee could not be redeemed at any lower price than the precious death and blood shed of the Eternall Sonne of God Againe by voluntary sinning we expose our soules to death everlasting and at the most by not sinning and lying we indanger but our bodies to a temporall death which either sooner may bee brought by some unexpected sicknesse or by nature it selfe a little later so that in effect long life is but the addition and untimely death but the substraction of a few dayes or yeeres And therefore as much as the soule is to be preferred before the body and life Eternall before this life of mortality with so much more care and circumspection wee must shun lying more than dying seeing by that the losse of our chiefest jewell is indangered and by this wee have no great losse Excellently Saint Augustine to this purpose who saith hee Quis observat vanitatem qui timendo mori mentitur timendo enim morimentitur moritur antequam moriatur qui idcò mentiebatur ut vivcret c. In Psal 30. observeth vanity Hee that lyeth fearing to dye For fearing to dye hee lyeth and so dyeth before he should dye who therefore lyeth that he might live Thou wilt lye lest thou shouldest dye and so lyest and dyest And when thou shunnest one death which thou canst onely put off but not escape thou fallest into two first dying in thy soule and afterwards in body c. Finally it is so farre of from being lawfull to lye §. 7. That wee may not lawfully lye to advance Gods glory officiously in the behalfe of men that it is unlawfull to doe it for the advancement of Gods glory for though he requireth that we should propound it as the maine end of all our actions according to that of the Apostle Whether you eate drinke or 1 Cor. 10. 31. whatsoever you doe doe all to the glory of God yet hee will not have us onely to seeke his Glory in respect of the end but also in regard of all lawfull meanes which conduce to the furthering of this end and being the God of Truth hee esteemeth himselfe more dishonoured than glorified by our lye though our chiefe end and aime therein be to advance his Glory For as one saith well It is no lesse evill Pet. Mart. in 2 Sam. 9. 8. to speake false things to Gods prayse than not to beleeve of him those that are true And therefore Iob reprooveth his friendes for those untruthes which they spoke against him though their maine end was to Justifie God and to Glorifie him in his Justice Will you saith hee speake wickedly Job 13. 7. 8 10. for God and talke deceitfully for Him Will yee accept his Person Will yee contend for God Hee will surely reprove you if yee doe secretly accept persons So Saint Paul though for the glory of Christ and 1 Cor. 15. 15. God his Father he had testified that he had raised him up from the dead yet hee acknowledgeth that hee should deservedly bee esteemed no better than a false witnesse of God if Christ indeede were not yet risen So that we must not lye though our end bee that God thereby may have Glory seeing hee needeth not our lye being able to glorifie himselfe by us when wee use lawfull meanes to lawfull endes In which respect I have much misliked those fained miracles recorded in some Ecclesiasticall Stories wrought upon sleight occasions and to as little end purposely as it seemeth devised by the Authors to glorifie Christ and propagate the Gospell and much more the lying miracles and minte of untruthes invented and stamped by the Pope and his Emissaries in their Legends to worke as they pretend an higher esteeme of the Christian Truth in the hearts of the people though they grace them with the title of Piae fraudes Pious deceits seeing they 1 Thes 2. 9. not onely use lying meanes but also aime at wicked ends not to confirme and grace the truth but to seduce the people and leade them into errors CHAP. X. Objections in defence of officious Lyes propounded and answered ANd thus have I fully prooved that §. 1. The objection that officious lyes are not against charity answered no lyes though never so officious to God or men may bee lawfully used the which being clearely understood and well weighed it will bee easie to answere all objections which are usually made by the Authors of them whether they be grounded on seeming reasons or on the examples of the faithfull who have sometimes used them Concerning the former It is first objected that these officious lyes are lawfull because they are not against charity which is the end and summe of the Law but they advance our neighbours good at which we should aime in all our words and actions and doe not offend against humane societies but rather preserve them seeing thereby men are kept safe and freed from dangers So the Apostle saith that the end of the Commandement is Charity 1 Tim. 1. 5. Rom. 13. 8. Matth. 22. 37. and hee that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law I answere If wee take Charity in a generall sense it is the summe of the whole Law as our Saviour maketh it and includeth both all duties towards God required in the first Table and towards our neighbours commanded in the second in both which we are injoyned that our love should bee in truth For first God requireth that wee should John 4. 24. Psal 51. 17. worship him in spirit and in truth and in all his Service Hee requireth Truth in the inward partes without Psal 17. 1. Jer. 3. 10. Esay 29. 13. which all religious duties are odious unto him for hee abhorreth such prayers as are made with fained lippes and if there be a distance betweene our tongues and our hearts when wee draw nigh unto him our prayers will be rejected and reproved So also our love towards our neighbours must bee joyned
bring an habite and he who often lyeth for his profit will within a while be so inured unto it that he will bee ready to lye out of meere vanity and love of lying for his pleasure and delight Yea he will be ready to lye when hee never thinketh of it and as the skilfull Musition who hath brought his hand by much practice to an habite will play his lesson when his minde is on some other matter so when by custome men are come to an habite of lying they will lye at unawares and if they bee challenged for it they are ready to lye againe by denying that they lyed In respect of which habite and custome Saint Chrysostome saith that a lyar will continue to lye even after death He that lyeth saith he being not deceived by the seduction of the Divell but willingly and of set purpose will never leave to lye no not after death for death separateth the soule from the body but doth not change the purpose of lying wilt thou know this consider those lyars even after death Lord in thy name we have done this and that Did not they know in themselves that they never loved Christ nor did his Will yes but they thinke that as in this world they have deceived men so also there that they can deceive even God himselfe and therefore hee doth not say depart from me ye that have wrought iniquity but ye that now worke it because wicked men cease not to be wicked no not after death seeing though they cannot now sin yet they retain still their purpose of sining Thirdly the lyar sinneth against his owne soule §. 4. That the Lyar robbeth himselfe of his good name and credit Eccles 7. 1. Prov. 22. 1. in that by his lying hee robbeth himselfe of a most precious jewell even of a good name which is better than a precious oyntment and much to be preferred before great riches for a poore man being true and honest is better than alyar though never so rich Prov. 19. 22. as the wise man telleth us Neither is it possible that a man should hold his reputation when hee hath by lying lost all opinion of his truth but his words are esteemed no better than winde and if there be no clearer evidence for what he saith then his bare word hee is no more beleeved when hee speaketh truth than when he lyeth according to that of the sonne of Syrach Of an uncleane thing what Eccli 34. 4. can be cleansed and from that which is false what truth can come Now what greater mischiefe can befall a man in this life than to live infamous what greater losse than to loose a good name And when it is once lost what can againe bee more hardly recovered If wee loose our riches by labour and industry we may recover them If wee loose our health by physicke and good dyet it may be regained If our bodies be sore wounded they may be cured but if we once loose our fame and have woundes inflicted into our good names and reputation they hardly admit of any cure or if the wound bee healed there will ever after remaine a scarre But there is no more ready way to bring this evill of dishonour upon us than to bee accounted common lyars for as the son of Syrach telleth us The disposition of a lyar is dishonourable and Eccli 20. 26. his shame is ever with him And the wise man teacheth us the same lesson A righteous man saith hee hateth lying but the wicked man that is as the antithesis Prov. 13. 5. inferreth such an one as loveth lyes is loathsome and commeth to shame Neither can there in common repute a greater shame befall a man than to bee esteemed and called a lyar whereof it is that the very name is so much abhorred in all Nations and amongst all conditions of Men yea even those that make no conscience of committing the sinne that by a certaine kinde of propriety or eminency it is called the word of disgrace and no greater injury or affront can be offered unto them than that any upon any cause yea even when they deserve it shall give them the lye Although I thinke that our great gallants doe not take the word so much to heart because their truth is questioned and impeached for then they would hate the vice it selfe as much as the name as because it toucheth them in their valour and courage seeing lying is a base and cowardly vice into which men oftentimes fall out of meere feare and because they dare not speake or stand to the truth Fourthly this vice of lying maketh us odious §. 5. That lyes make men odious unto God and men both to God and men First God abhorreth lyars and hateth lyes because they are contrary to his Nature and to his Law and not onely very sinfull in themselves but also the causes of much wickednesse And therefore Salomon numbreth it amongst those seaven abominations which God abhorreth A proude looke a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent Prov. 6. 17. Prov. 12. 22. blood And againe lying lippes are an abomination to the Lord but they that deale truly are his delight And wisedome even that eternall Word and Wisedome of the Father his onely deare Sonne professeth that his mouth should speake truth and that Prov. 8. 7. wickednesse that is the iniquity of lying as the antithesis sheweth is an abomination to his lippes now how odious ought this vice to be unto us that maketh us odious unto God and how ought we to love and imbrace Truth which God so much loveth according to that of Ieremy O Lord are not Jer. 5. 3. thine eyes upon the Truth namely to approve love and reward it for he loveth Truth and desireth it above all things in the inward parts as the Psalmist Zech. 8. 19. speaketh And who would not love that which God loveth and embrace and delight in that in which God delighteth and will reward Secondly it maketh lyars odious unto men as being a dishonest and dishonourable vice reprehended and condemned of all as unworthy an ingenuous civill man and much more a Christian who professeth himselfe a servant and childe of the God of Truth But especially it is hurtfull to those that feare God and love his truth and maketh those that make and love lyes odious in their eyes according to that of the wise Salomon A righteous man hateth lying but Prov. 13. 5. a wicked man that is a wicked lyar is loathsome and commeth to shame An example whereof wee have in David I have saith hee hated them that regard Psal 31. 5. lying vanities And againe I hate and abhorre lying Psal 119. 163. but thy Law doe I love Yea hee maketh this a note and signe of a blessed man that hee dis-respecteth lyars Blessed is the man saith he that respecteth not Psal 40. 4. the proud nor such as turne aside to lyes
are mortall sinnes seeing veniall sinnes as they call them are not committed Contra praecepta decalogi sed praeter ea not against the Commandements but besides them Againe it is a sinne against nature to lye in any kinde because words naturally are the signes and significations of those things which are in the minde and therefore it is against nature to speake or signifie any way that which the minde thinketh not Finally in every lye though never so pleasant or profitable there is a losse of Truth which is a vertue most acceptable unto God and therefore the impeachment of it cannot be recompenced by our profit or delight But let us more particularly examine these divers §. 2. That merry Lyes are sinfull and unlawfull sorts of lyes and consider how and in what measure and degree they are sinfull and unlawfull And first for pernicious lyes there is no question made by any but that they are in a high degree sinfull as being against Trueth Justice and Charitie and wholly tend to Gods dishonor the hurt of our neighbors and our own destruction and damnation as I shall more fully shew hereafter And therefore passing them over I will examine the other kinds And first for merry lyes it is coÌ„monly conceived that if there bee no scurrility in them they may passe as tolerable because they doe no hurt unto our selves or neighbours but delight and recreate both and they that tell them intend not to deceive their hearers or but a while that they may the more delight them For either they are apparant in themselves to be but jests and lyes by the grosse absurdities that are seene at the first view or are discoverd to be so by the gesture and pronunciation So that they are not much unlike unto Hyperboles or Ironies in respect of the outward forme and shew saving that they differ in their end and use seeing they are used to teach and expresse the Trueth in a Rhetoricall manner but these onely to delight the hearer And of this minde Saint Augustine seemeth to have beene Contra mendacium ad Consentium lib. 1. cap. 2. who thinketh that they can scarcely bee taken for lyes Jests therefore saith hee are to be excepted which were never thought to be lyes because they have a most evident signification by the pronunciation or the disposition of him that thus jesteth and procede from a minde not willing to deceive although it uttereth not truthes And surely there is saith Peter Martyr but a litle of a lye in these merry tales seeing though they willingly speake that which is not true yet the falsity is easily discerned and cannot deceive the hearer But whether these merry tales or lyes ought to bee used by perfect men or strict Christians S. Augustine doubteth in Chap. 3. that place though he cleareth it in another where he saith that hee lyeth who hath one thing in his minde and uttereth another thing by his words or any other signification the which the merry lyar alwayes doth And though hee doth not deceive or hurt this doth not cleare his tales from being lyes but onely sheweth that they are not lyes of the worst kinde or such as are pernicious seeing he lyeth who doth speake willingly otherwise than he thinketh And as he speaketh in another Contra mendacium ad Consentium lib. 1. cap. 11. place Those lyes are not to bee admitted which although they doe not hurt another yet they doe not profit any and doe hurt themselves with lyes gratis and for nothing who properly Duo sunt genera mendaciorum in quibus non magna culpa est sed tamen non sunt sine culpâ cum aut jocamur aut ut proximis prosimus mentimur There are two sorts of Lyes in which is no great fault and yet they are not without fault when we jest or lye to profit our neigâ—â—â—rs Aug. in Psal 5. Tom. 8. Col. 27. Matth. 12. 36. are to bee called lyars For there is this difference betweene one that telleth a lye and a lyar For he telleth a lye who lyeth unwillingly but a lyar loveth to lye and hath a minde that delighteth in lying And though such lyes hurt not the hearer yet they greatly hurt the lyars themselves because in so lying they forsake the truth and delight in falsity and choose rather to please men than to speake the Truth Againe these merry lyes are not onely in their falsity opposite to Trueth but are also vaine and idle speeches and our Saviour telleth us that Wee must give an account at the day of judgement of every idle word Yea Epaminondas though an Heathen shall at this day rise up in judgement against merry lyars who was so strict and severe in embracing Trueth that hee would not allow a lye to bee spoken so much as by way of jest Furthermore if it bee unlawfull to tell officious lyes though they tend to our owne and others benefit as wee shall shew hereafter how much lesse these merry lyes which tend onely to carnall delight For if as wee ought to bee wee were spiritually minded why should wee rather take pleasure to heare or speake lyes than to speake and heare the Trueth Moreover the Apostle requireth that We speake the Trueth one to another and put away lying and that our speech be alwayes with grace seasoned with Ephes 4. 25. salt and tending to the use of edifying that it may minister Col. 4. 6. Ephes 4. 29. grace to the hearers Finally if they were condemned who made the hearts of Kings and Princes glad with their lyes who in respect of their great Hos 7. 3. cares and serious studies about their weighty affaires may bee allowed an over-measure of pleasure and delight how much more are they unlawfull if they bee used to ordinary persons who stand in neede of such meanes to glad and cheere their hearts Secondly it may bee demanded whether it bee §. 3. Whether officious Lyes bee unlawfull altogether unlawfull to tell officious lyes seeing these in divers respects may seeme both justifiable and commendable for he that telleth them hath no will simply to lye but to doe good nor delighteth in lying but only as it conduceth to this end neither hath hee any desire to deceive or hurt his neighbour but mainly aimeth at this end that hee may benefit him by delivering him from some dangers or free him from some great evill which hee is not able to effect by any other meanes To which I answere that if it be a sinne to lye as before I have shewed and shall more fully proove hereafter because it is opposite to truth a vertue which is in high esteeme with the God of Truth and a direct breach of his Commandement then it is unlawfull to lye out of a desire to produce the greatest good For every sinne is an offence against Gods infinite Majesty and therefore deserveth an infinite and endlesse punishment both in soule and