deceitfull tongue And againe They onely consult to cast Psal 62. 4. him downe from his excellency they delight in lyes Now this kinde admitteth of another distinction §. 3. Of religious lyes concerning matters of faith and doctrine in respect of the divers subjects whereabout it is exercised for either it is in points that concerne matters of faith and the doctrine of Religion in which respect it may bee called a religious lye or matters civill and politicall in humane affaires and the things of life either publike or private in which regard it may bee called a politicall or civill lye The former is so much more pernicious than the latter as the glory of God and the eternall salvation of our soules which are hindred and impeached by it are more precious and highly to bee esteemed than our present corporall estate and the momentany things of this life Neither is any deceit so dangerous as this in matters of religion seeing this as wee say toucheth our free hold and leadeth us into such errours as will hinder our ever lasting salvation In which respect these errours and untruthes in matters of religion the Apostle calleth the doctrine of Divels because as hee invented 1 Tim. 4. 8. it and his instruments teach it so is it no lesse than he such an enemy that hindreth our heavenly happinesse the confirming wherof by lying wonders is by the same Apostle made a marke of Antichrist who speaking lyes in hypocrisie ratifieth his false doctrines with no lesse false miracles All which lyes 2 Thes 2. 9. are to be abhorred above all other which concerne our temporall goods or lives So Saint Augustine Contra mendacium ad Consentium lib. 1. cap. 13. If saith he a lye which is spoken against the temporall life of any man bee detestable how much more that which is against life eternall as every lye is which is made in the Doctrine of religion Enchirid. ad Laurent cap. 18 And againe he doth not hurt so much who by lying putteth a traveller out of the right way as hee that by a deceiving Lye depraveth the way of Life A modest ly is when as a man denieth or extenuateth §. 4. Of a modest lye and what it is Gods graces in him his vertues good parts and commendable actions which hee knoweth to be in him or done by him The which proceedeth either from humility whereby a man undervalueth himselfe and his gifts either in the sight and sense of his contrary corruptions or when he compareth the little which he hath received with that that he wanteth which he thinketh so far short in proportion that his little in comparison seemeth nothing And thus an humble man speaking what he thinketh cannot properly be said to lye because his tongue and heart agree although hee uttereth an untruth not speaking as the thing is or else it proceedeth from inward pride which pursueth glory and praise though not in the ordinary way yet as it were by a backe doore or posterne gate dispraysing those things in themselves which they know to bee praise-worthy and denying or extenuating those gifts and good parts which they not onely know to be in them in some good measure but also in selfe-conceite much over-value them above their true worth The which Art they use to draw on the hearer to crosse their words though not their hearts with excessive prayses which they thinke no more than their due and would be much displeased if hee should take them at their word and crossed in their ends and desires if he should not crosse them in their undervaluing of themselves and take occasion thereby to fasten upon them the greater commendations CHAP. VIII Whether any sorts of Lyes are lawfull ANd thus having shewed the diverse §. 1. Though some lyes are more sinnefull than others yet all sorts are unlawfull and against the ninth Commandement sorts of lyes it now followeth that we examine whether any of them at any time or upon any occasion bee lawfull and warrantable And surely it cannot be denyed but that there is great difference in the degree of sinfulnesse betweene some sorts of lyes and others and that the guilt of merry and officious lyes is much extenuated by many circumstances and considerations by their nature the will and desire of the speakers who love and delight not in the lye for it selfe but as they thinke it fitte to further some good end and because their end is not at all to hurt nor principally to deceive but to profit or delight their neighbours Even as contrariwise the guilt of pernicious lies is much aggravated because they are most opposite to Truth and those that tell them doe it willingly with love and delight And finally because their chiefe aime and end is to deceive and by deceite to hurt and wrong their neighbours in their goods or good name life or liberty But though some lyes are lighter and of lesse guilt than others yet all in some degree are sinnefull and unlawfull as being forbidden in the ninth Commandement For whereas some object that they are not condemned by this precept because it onely forbiddeth such untruths as are against our neighbour whereas officious and merry lyes are not against but for him and for his good even for his profit and delight and offend not against charity which is the summe of the Law To this I answere that all untruth is forbidden in this Commandement whether it be for or against our neighbour neither doth the Hebrew word Beth used here signifie only against but also toward or concerning about or touching our neighbour neither is hurt onely forbidden but also any falshood and untruth by any meanes signified of unto or concerning our neighbour for the word which is translated bearing witnesse as if it were Legally and before a Judge signifieth in the originall thou shalt not answere which is as much in the Hebrew phrase as thou shalt not say or cause to be said as appeareth in divers a Prov. 15. 1. Matth. 11. 25. b Joh. 1. 7. places And the word witnesse signifieth any manner of shewing any thing and so it is taken in other Scriptures So that the sense of the Commandement 1 Cor. 15. 15. extends further than the words outwardly portend Neither doth it onely forbid all false but also all vaine and idle speech as merry lyes for the most part are nor yet only lyes which are against our neighbour but also such as are for him either for his delight as merry lyes or for his profit and advantage as those lyes which wee call officious And therefore seeing all lyes are the transgression of the Law it followeth by the Apostle 1 Joh. 3. 4. Iohns definition that they are sinnes yea seeing every lye is a sinne against a precept of the decalogue it followeth that even by the opinion of the Schoolemen themselves who otherwise so much extenuate officious and merry lyes they
lesse than them because in some respects we commit a greater sinne than they seeing they maintaine their errours out of ignorance but we lye against knowledge and conscience as hee also speaketh And Lib. â— cap. 8. therefore if we can by no other meanes pull impious Heretikes out of their secret dennes unlesse our Orthodoxe and Catholike tongues doe stray out of the path of truth it is more tolerable that they should still lie hid than that truth should bee impeached better that these Foxes should lurke in their holes than that those who hunt them that Tolerabilius in suis foveis delitescerent vulpes quampropter illas capiendas in blasphemiae foveam caderent venaâ—ores Aug. Contra mendacium lib. 2. cap. 7. they may take them should fall into the pit of lyes and blasphemy as the same Author affirmeth To say nothing that the sinne in using this lying policy is certaine but the good issue and event aimed at uncertaine seeing that being in Gods hand hee might justly crosse and curse this unlawfull means so that they shall not conduce to their conversion but rather to their further confirming and hardning in their heresie and impiety But though it be unlawfull by lying to prevent §. 3. Whether it be lawfull to lye that wee may greater sinnes in our selves aâ— nameâ—â— rape and ravishment sinne in others yet perhaps it may be lawfull yea commendable to use it when wee may thereby prevent greater sinnes not onely in others but also in our selves As suppose that a vertuous Matrone or chaste Virgine should be assaulted by an adulterer with violence to defile or deflowre them and they might escape the rape by putting him off with a lye is it not lawfull to doe it in such a case to prevent so great a mischiefe I answere that though a stony heart could not chuse but relent and be much affected to heare of such a villany and though the tentation be so strong that it is scarsely to be expected humane strength should be able to resist it yet in clearing of the truth wee must not consider what we would but what we should doe being so assaulted and brought into such straites Indeede if it were a sinne to bee meere patients in the sinne of others the question were easily answered but it is not so for the greatest sinne in others is not the least sinne in us if wee onely bee the subjects of their sinne through unresistable violence and doe not give the least consent unto it For here it is all one as in the case of persecution oppression murther or robbery all which though they be hainous sinnes in the agents yet none at all in the patients when they have no will to consent or allow the commission of such sinnes nor power to prevent or shun them Yea in such cases that is lawfully suffered which cannot but unlawfully be avoided and no act is to bee judged sinfull if the will bee wholly averse unto it For it is the very forme that giveth unto sinne its life and being to be in some kinde or degree voluntary and though the will give not its consent in all sinnes yet it hath some kinde of operation in or about it as in sinnes of ignorance though wee doe not consent unto sinne as knowing it to bee so yet wee consent to that action which is sinfull the will being misled through the errour of our judgement And so in concupiscence which goeth before consent there is that which we call inescation or the bayting of the hooke of sinne with some pleasure profit or other allurement which is Sathans tentation and not imputed unto us as sinne if we wholly resist it and there is that which we call titillation or the retaining and revolving of the tentation with some delight and as it were the itching of the desire and the watring of the teeth after it if wee might injoy it upon no hard conditions But when they are so propounded as that wee cannot injoy the pleasure or profit of sin unlesse we displease God and indanger our owne soules then the will rejects the tentation and will by no meanes give its consent Notwithstanding that retaining of the tentation with some tickling delight is a sinne of concupiscence and this very parlying with the Divell is a transgression of Gods Law though wee doe not yeeld up unto him the Fort of our hearts nor give our consent that sin shall enter Of which sinne the will is guilty which though it did not consent to the Act yet it gave way to the Divels dispute and that with some tickling delight wee should listen to his tentation alluring us to sinne But if as in this case of a violent rape the will bee wholly averse unto it and the heart abhor it even as the terrours of death though the agent and ravisher committeth an horrible sinne yet the patient or party forced and ravished is wholly cleare of it For the body onely is violated but the soule not vitiated and though that bee defiled yet it is not corrupted or at least with such a corruption that is not sinful as S. Augustine speaketh For there is onely the matter of sin which giveth it no being in a subject forced by outward violence but not the forme which giveth onely being and denomination seeing the will is wholly averse unto it So that if this bee granted which cannot bee denied that it is a sinne to lye but no sin to be forced and ravished then the case is easily cleared namely that it is not lawfull by the evill of sinne to shun such an evill as is not sinfull actively to defile the soule that the body may not passively be defiled or only in hope that wee may shun the outrage of the adulterous ravisher to cast our selves certainely into the snares of the Divell by lying and sinning and so to be defiled by spirituall filthinesse and to be deflowred and deprived inwardly in our soules of their purity and chastity And of this judgement is Saint Augustine who speaketh excellently Nulla est pudicitia corporis nisi 〈…〉 itate ani 〈…〉 deat 〈…〉 mend lib. 1. c. 7. to our present purpose There is saith hee no chastity of the body which doth not depend upon the integrity of the minde which being pulled from the other it must needs fall although it may seeme untainted and untouched and for this cause is not to bee numbred amongst temporall things seeing they may be taken from those that are unwilling to leave them And therefore by no means the minde must corrupt it selfe with a lye for its body which it knoweth to remaine incorrupt if the incorruption doth not depart from the soule For what the body suffreth through violence there being no precedent lust it is rather to bee reputed vexation than corruption Or if every such vexation bee corruption yet every corruption is not then dishonest but onely that which lust hath procured or
Ezec. 24. 12. not forth out of her And therefore all that are plaine and simple hearted had now if ever need to hearken to Ieremies warning Take ye heed every Jer. 9. 4 5. one of his neighbour and trust yee not in any brother for every brother will utterly supplant and they will deceive every one his neighbour and will not speake the truth they have taught their tongue to speake lyes and weary themselves to commit iniquity Thy habitation Quid Romae faciam mentiri nescio Juvenal Satyr 3. is in the midst of deceit c. And yet let me not bee here mistaken as though I judged all men in these places alike and under the same guilt for I know that there are many of them that truely fearing God doe make conscience of all their words and wayes dealing as they would bee done by and in their trading and conversation abhorring to seeke their advantage by lyes and deceit but I speake onely of the greater part and of the usuall and common practice of the most in these dayes Neither let the countrey people blesse themselves §. 8. That Countrey people also are tainted with this vice as though they were innocent nor suppose that I acquit them because I have not hitherto discovered and reproved them For I doubt not but those that are conversant with them and are daily witnesses of their words and dealings doe finde them as faulty in their kinde as crafty and deceitfull as forward to advance their ends and accomplish their desires with untruths and lyes and as cunning to deceive in their buying and selling their contracts and bargaines by setting trueth to sale at the cheapest rate as those that live in townes and Cities Yea rather as they for the most part are more rude and untaught so they are more subject to this vice and lesse ashamed when they are taken in it than those that are civilized and better instructed Although perhaps they offend more seldome than Citizens because they are not exposed to so many tentations as those that spend their whole time in buying and selling unto which this sinne of lying sticketh as close as the shirt to the backe or the skinne to the flesh And this Salomon observed that the buyer usually disprayseth in words what he liketh and approveth in his heart It is naught it is naught saith the buyer but when hee is gone his way then hee boasteth of his bargaine And Prov. 20. 14. the sonne of Syrach telleth us that as a naile stickes Eccl. 27. 2. fast betweene the joynings of the stones so doth sin sticke close betweene buying and selling Finally as this sinne of lying raigneth in all places §. 9. That inferiours children and servants are most prone to this vice of Lying so in no persons more than in inferiours as children and servants who being not so carefull to avoid the committing of faults as being committed to hide and cover them lest they might hereby incurre the just displeasure of their Superiours and so bring upon themselves deserved punishment doe usually use lying that under this covert they may keepe them from being discovered Yea having told one lye they are ready to second it with another and that with a third and fourth not caring to fall into a greater sinne to excuse a lesse and to make the wound of conscience more deepe and desperate by doubling and redoubling of their fault whereas an humble and penitent confession would be accepted of their Governours as a good part of satisfaction being more pleased with their acknowledgement which giveth some hope of amendment for the future then displeased with the fault it selfe But let such take notice of their vanity and solly whilest they runne headlong into greater evills out of a bare hope to avoid the lesse which often deceiveth them and maketh their faults more haynous and unexcusable For what is the displeasure of mortall man which they indeavour to avoide in comparison of the wrath of the immortall GOD which they certainely incurre What are the momentany corrections and punishments inflicted by men in comparison of those torments easelesse and endlesse in that Lake Apoc. 21. 8. which burneth with fire and brimstone which are threatned by God and shall most certainly be suffered unlesse they be prevented by unfained repentance By all which it appeareth that this sin of lying §. 10. That Gods Ministers should indeavour to suppresse this vice hath so much prevailed in all places and also over all sorts of persons in our Land that God may as justly complaine of England as he did heretofore of Ephraim and Israel Ephraim compasseth me about Hos 11. 12. with lyes and the house of Israel with deceit In which regard Gods Ministers should bend their whole strength both by preaching and writing against this vice which so much raigneth in this Land for God hath appointed us to be watchmen who must give the people warning and convince them of Ezec. 3. those sinnes which doe most indanger them to his judgements and lay them open and naked to their enemies They must lift up their voyce like a Esay 58. 1. Trumpet and shew Gods People their transgression and the house of Iacob their sin Neither is it enough that they speake against sinne in generall nor yet that they inveigh against the sinnes of other Nations to which their people are not much subject for this were rather to backebite sinne than to reprove it but they must bend their chiefe strength against the common and raigning sinnes of the times and places where they live and their voyce like the Trumpet must not give an uncertaine or impertinent sound but such as may bee for the use and direction of their owne Troupes The consideration whereof as it moved mee heretofore in the time of my chiefest strength to write against those common vices of swearing whoredome drunkennesse bribery rash and unjust anger which have overflowed our Land like an universall Deluge so doth it now in my old Age and in my greater weakenesse both of body and minde incite mee to write against this vice of Lying both because it is no lesse if not more common than any of the rest and herein more pernitious because Mens consciences are not convinced of the greatnesse of this sinne and therefore securely live in it without repentance And also because I have not knowne of any other that have written of this Subject although many might much better have done it in respect of their greater strength and better abilities CHAP. II. Wherein is shewed what a Lye is NOw in speaking of this vice I will §. 1. What a lye is and what things concurre in it shew 1. What a Lye is 2. The causes of it 3. The kindes and sorts of Lying 4. The meanes to preserve us from it And lastly the uses which wee ought to make of all this Doctrine Saint Augustine briefely defineth Mendacium
these distinctions being received will §. 4. Divers examples of simulation objected and cleared serve to cleare some places of Scriptures objected to maintaine unlawfull faining as first that the holy Angels themselves fained when Lot intreating them to come into his house they refused saying Nay but we will abide in the streete all night contrary Gen. 19. 2. to what they purposed for afterwards they were content to lodge with him and so no doubt were resolved to do before he requested them I answer that their purpose was not absolute but upon the condition of his earnest intreaty which if hee had not vsed they would not have tarried for so it is said that when they refused hee pressed upon them greatly and so they turned in unto him and entred into Luk. 24. 28. his house Secondly it is objected that our Saviour himselfe fained when as travelling with his Disciples to Emaus hee made as though hee would have gone further which hee intended not for afterwards being intreated hee stayed with them and hee knew beforehand that they would thus intreat him To which some answere that this his making as though hee would goe further is to bee referred not to Christs intention but to the opinion and conceit of his Disciples who seeing him still goe on thought that hee had purposed to proceed in his journey and therefore stayed him with their earnest importunity But though this would not stand good seeing unlesse Christ had shewed some purpose of going they should not have needed to have constrained him upon this reason that it was too late to travell the night approaching yet the former answere will serve that it was his purpose to stay yet not absolutely but upon the condition of their importunity which hee knew they would use neither did hee herein as Saint Augustine observeth faine any thing which was false seeing hee was indeed a stranger upon earth and was not here to stay but to goe further till hee came into his owne Countrey and Heavenly Kingdome Neither was it his end to deceive but to convince the Disciples of the truth as of their incredulity of the necessity of his sufferings for the redemption of his People and of the certainty of his resurrection Lastly it is objected that David being in the Court of Achish fained 1 Sam. 21. 13. himselfe mad that he might escape the danger of his life To which I answere that though David were an holy Man and according to Gods owne heart yet he had his failings and infirmities as well as others and therefore we must not in all things propound him unto our selves as an example for our imitation It is true that this fact and fault of his may admit of some excuse and extenuation namely that he thus fained not out of any love or liking of this course but transported and perplexed with a great and sudden feare by the apprehension of imminent danger wherein hee shewed much weakenesse of faith seeing hee had speciall promises that God would keepe him in all his wayes and notwithstanding the malice of all his enemies would settle him upon the Throne and give unto him the Crowne and Kingdome The like also may be said of dissimulation whereby §. 5. Of dissimulation lawfull and unlawfull wee hide and disguise that which is the which is either lawfull or unlawfull lawfull when as we onely dissemble and hide the truth but doe not deny or falsifie it with a lye neither use it to hurt or deceive our neighbour but for his profit and benefit not to lead him into errour but to reserve our selves and to conceale our good counsells and intentions that they may succeede the better and not be hindered by their discovery And thus our Saviour Christ the eternall Sonne of God dissembled and hid his Divine nature under the vaile of our flesh not by denying but by not discovering that he was God and hindering also his Apostles Matth. 17. 9. from making it knowne till after his resurrection which hee did not with a purpose to deceive men but that hereby hee might further their salvation by laying downe his life as the price of their redemption The which his counsell would not have beene effected if it had beene discovered seeing the people would not have killed and crucified him had they knowne him to be the Lord of Glory as the Apostle speaketh And thus also God himselfe 1 Cor. 2. 8. Act. 3. 17. Job 42. 2. John 21. 17. Heb. 4. 13. doth graciously dissemble our sinnes not that he doth not see and know them for hee knoweth all things and they lye open and naked in his sight but because hee will take no notice of them to impute them unto us for condemnation And thus Saul laudably dissembled his displeasure when hee 1 Sam. 10. 27. was despised and neglected by the sons of Belial and David his just indignation against Shemei that 2 Sam. 19. 22. by this his clemency hee might more firmely knit unto him the hearts of his revolted people And thus may we lawfully dissemble such wrongs and injuries as have beene offered us by such friends as we are willing so to forgive as that wee are unwilling to call them to account either because wee would not grieve their hearts by such repetitions or would not make them suspicious of the sincerity of our love out of the apprehension of their owne guiltinesse Thus also wee may dissemble the good parts of our neighbour when as taking notice of them will but make them proud and much more our owne which though it be unlawfull to deny as being truth yet in modesty ought to bee dissembled seeing it is vaine glory to vaunt of them or to bee Trumpets of our owne prayse Unlawfull dissimulation is when as it is joyned with untruth or is used to deceive or hurt our neighbour seeing it is opposed not onely to Truth and Justice but also to candidous ingenuity and honest simplicity As when men hide and disguise their malice under the shew of love and friendship that they may get the fitter opportunity to take sharpe revenge as we see in the example of Absolon towards Amnon and of Ioab towards Abner and Amasa Or when they dissemble their pride and ambition under the shew of Humilitie and Affabilitie that becomming popular they may rayse themselves into the seate of Honour as wee see in Absolon who by these cunning subtilties stole the hearts of the People from his Father and made way for his owne usurpation CHAP. V. Whether it bee lawfull to dissemble the Truth BUt for the better clearing of this point §. 1. In what cases it is lawfull to conceale and dissemble the truth let us further consider whether it bee lawfull to suppresse hide or dissemble the Truth in whole or in part and in what cases it is lawfull or unlawful For the understanding whereof I will set downe this conclusion that it is lawfull to
scio me nihil scire I onely know this that I know nothing Fourthly hee may bee said thus to speake not as hee was now sanctified and inlightned with the spirit of Grace and understanding but as he was in the state of nature in which respect the Prophet saith Every man is brutish in Jer. 10. 1◠his knowledge understanding nothing in spirituall 1 Cor. 2. 14. things which concerne his eternall salvation till hee be regenerate and in Christ The which sense the words will best beare if with Iunius wee thus render them for I am a beast or brutish since I was a man that is even from my birth and the wisedome of a man is not in me that is like that which was in man by his first creation before by his fall hee became brutish and so ought to be in him still Secondly the example of the Apostle Paul is §. 3. The example of Paul objected and answered 1 Cor. 15. 9. Eph. 3. 8. 1 Tim. 1. 15. 2 Cor. 11. 5. 1 Cor. 15. 10. Phil. 3. 5. Act. 26. 5. objected who saith that he was the least of the Apostles and not worthy to be called on Apostle yea that he was the least of all the Saints yea which is more that he was the chiefe of sinners whereas elsewhere hee maketh himselfe equall to the chiefe of the Apostles superiour unto them all in his labours and sufferings and as touching the Law a Pharisee yea in respect of his life and conversation of the strictest of that Sect. From whence they conclude that in those speeches wherein hee so much abased himselfe he used a modest lye and therefore that modest lyes are in such cases lawfull To which I answere that hee called himselfe the least of the Apostles and the least of the Saints not simply and generally but respectively as hee expresseth himselfe because he had persecuted the Church of God 1 Cor. 15. 9. 1 Tim. 1. 13. In which regard also he calleth himselfe the chiefest of sinners as it is evident in the same places But how can this bee other than a modest lye that Saint Paul should call himselfe the chiefest of sinners seeing others committed farre greater sinnes than hee and yet upon their repentance were received to mercy as Manasses Some understand the words that hee was the first of sinners as the word may also signifie namely the first of all those that came unto Christ who had before persecuted him in his members But this had beene no great aggravation of Pauls sinne nor amplification of Gods mercy in pardoning it both which the Apostle intendeth in that place And therefore I had rather take it in a litterall sense namely that in truth hee calleth himselfe the greatest sinner that had received mercy First because hee speaketh as hee thinketh and findeth himselfe in his owne sense and feeling for as it is the nature of hypocrisie to make our owne beames moates and others moates beames so it is the nature of true repentance to aggravate our owne sinnes and to extenuate other mens and when the eyes of our mindes are inlightned wee see our sinnes to bee more in number and more haynous in quality either in themselves or in respect of circumstances than wee can charitably suspect to bee in any other of Gods servants Secondly because hee speaketh in my judgement as the thing is For if wee limitte his speech to the faithfull onely who upon their repentance have beene received to grace as wee must needs doe seeing some have lived and died in their infidelity and finall impenitency and others have committed the sinne against the Holy Ghost with whom there is no probability that the Apostle compared himselfe I say restraining the comparison onely to penitent sinners then it is true which the Apostle speaketh that of all sinners he was the chiefe whether wee consider the sinne it selfe or as it was aggravated by circumstances For he madly and maliciously persecuted the Saints of God for their profession of Christ and the Gospell and not being content Act. 26. 11. to blaspheme his holy Name himselfe hee doth as much as in him lyeth compell them also to blaspheeme as hee confesseth and so lacked nothing but this of committing the unpardonable sinne that he did it ignorantly as himselfe acknowledgeeth 1 Tim. 1. 13. Besides hee had great and many meanes of knowledge and of revealing unto him Christ and the Light of the Gospell and some of them hee carelesly neglected and some he utterly despised Of the former sort was the Law of God in which having great skill he might in the ceremonies and sacrifices have seene Christ crucified before his eyes by which through the blindenesse of his minde and hardnesse of his heart hee profitted not Of the latter was the Heavenly and Powerfull Sermons of our Saviour himselfe and of his Apostles which were confirmed by many and wonderfull miracles all which he despised either not vouchsafing to heare them or not receiving or beleeving them so that nothing could touch his heart hardened in his sinne And whereas some had sinned out of simple errour and ignorance and had proceeded in their sinne even to the crucifying of the Lord of Life yet afterwards when by the Preaching of the Apostles they were convinced of their sinne they repented of it and beleeved in Christ hee still proceedeth in his madnesse and fury to persecute the Saints of God not contenting himselfe to heare that they were murthered and massacred unlesse he stood by and satiated his eyes with their death and slaughter Yea so obstinate he was in his sinne and rebellion that either he must perish in it or God must pull him out of it by strong hand and use a miracle upon him for his conversion By all which it appeareth that S. Paul had no neede to use the helpe of a modest lye when he called himselfe the chiefest of sinners Lastly it is objected that our Saviour Christ §. 4. The example of our Saviour Christ objected and answered himselfe who was greater than all the Angels as being the Eternall Sonne of God equall with his Father the Prince of Angels and as hee was our Mediator God and Man yet in that Propheticall Psalme of his Passion and Sufferings hee that was God maketh himselfe lesse than a man But I saith hee am a worme and no man The which is to bee understood not onely of David the Type but also and that chiefly of Christ himselfe the Antitype in whose Person the Psalmist speaketh To which I answere that our Saviour speaketh this not simply but respectively not what he absolutely was nor what he was in his owne nature or in his selfe-conceit but what he was reputed to be in the sight and opinion of the people who looking upon him as a Man forsaken of God and exposed to the malice of his enemies and being astonied at him his visage was so marred with his sufferings more than any