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
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
as it is disguised with some shaddow or colour of truth an untruth thus mistaken cannot be accounted a lye because the will agreeth with the minde and the tongue is directed by the will so that though a man speaketh a lye yet hee is no lyer because he neither thinketh that hee lyeth nor would willingly doe it if hee knew it to bee so Interest enim inter mentientem mendacem nam mentiens est qui mentitur invitus c. Ad Consent lib. 1. c. 11. To this purpose Saint Augustine There is a difference saith hee betweene one that telleth a lye and one that is a lyer for one may tell a lye that lyeth unwillingly but a lyar loveth to lye and dwelleth with his minde in the delight of lying The third thing that concurreth in a lye is that §. 6. That a lye is uttered with a purpose to deceive it is an untruth alwayes uttered with a purpose and desire to deceive and to make the party to whom wee speake thinke that to bee so which is not So that such an untruth as is uttered without any purpose to deceive is not to be esteemed a lye because it aymeth not at that end which a lyer alwaies propoundeth For howsoever some appropriate this end to pernicious lies that the lier intendeth it therein onely yet indeed it belongeth also to those lyes that are officious and in jest It is true that there are some lyers that have a will and desire to deceive him unto whom they speake without his losse yea it may be for his profit and delight as those that use officious and merry lyes and some lye with a will and desire to hurt and endammage him as pernicious lyers but all agree in this that all would deceive though the one for their good the other for their hurt for whosoever speaketh that which is false wittingly and willingly whether it doth good or hurt hee alwayes speaketh it to this end that the Truth may not be understood by him that heareth him and consequently to deceive him I say it is his next end to deceive although his remote end at which hee aimeth bee to delight or profit him which hee useth as a meanes to attaine unto his desire As when a Physitian telleth his sicke Patient that the potion which he willeth him to take is sweete and pleasant though intruth it be bitter and loathsome that so hee may perswade him to drinke it for the recovery of his health the maine end at which herein hee aimeth is the welfare of the sicke Man but the next end is to deceive him by telling an untruth which he useth as a meanes to further the other end of curing him which is principally in his intention and desire The last thing in the definition to bee considered §. 7. Of the divers manner and meanes whereby a lye is expressed of is the divers manner and meanes whereby a lye is expressed and committed and that is either positively and directly when as the Truth is contradicted and opposed or else privatively and indirectly when as it is suppressed and betrayed The former is done by any outward signification of the inward notions and thoughts of the minde especially by our speech and actions By our speach a lye is expressed and committed when as wee speake otherwise than that which wee conceive in our mindes either affirming that to be which wee thinke is not or denying that to bee which as we conceive is By our actions when by our outward showes gestures and deeds wee deceitfully faine dissemble and disguise the Truth that we may deceive our neighbour by making him to thinke that to bee which is not or that not to bee which is and to conceive by our outward shewes and carriage that wee intend that which is least in our thought to this end that wee may deceive and hurt him Secondly a lye is committed privatively and indirectly when as the Truth is suppressed and betrayed and that is done when as by silence it is concealed at such times and before such persons wherein and before whom wee are bound in conscience to reveale and confesse it for the glory of God and good of our neighbours For truth and falshood being contraries without meane the suppressing of the one is the exalting of the other and we may bee truely said to lye when wee deny the truth and to deny it when wee conceale it by silence at such times as wee are lawfully called to confesse it And therefore our Saviour as appeareth by his antithesis and opposition maketh this to be all one to deny him and not to confesse him Whosoever shall confesse mee before men him will I confesse Matth. 10. 32 33. also before my Father which is in Heaven but whosoever shall deny me before men him will I deny also before my Father which is in Heaven So that our silencing of truth when it ought to be spoken and confessed is no better than a denyall seeing by such silence it is betrayed and the contrary errour and truth advanced and maintained And therefore fitly doth the Apostle Iohn in that Catalogue of Apoc. 21. 8. sinners which shall have their part in that Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone ranke the fearefull with lyers because as the one bely the truth so the other through their cowardize and infidelity dare not confesse it which is all one as to betray and deny it CHAP. III. Of divers sorts and formes of speach which are to bee acquitted from the censure of a Lye ANd these are the things which alwayes §. 1. Of hyperâ—olâ—es and that they are no lyes concurre in every Lye whereby it appeareth that divers formes of speaking which are suspected and accused as lyes are acquitted and cleared hereof at the Barre before the seat of Justice by a right sentence of true judgement as namely hyperbolicall speeches fables parables and ironies In all which though there bee not the same spoken which is meant punctually and literally yet the same in the sense and intention of the speaker in whom there is no will to lye or speake contrary to the truth with a love and delight in falshood but a divers expression of the same truth conceived in the minde in other words and phrases than are ordinary namely such as are tropicall metaphoricall parabolicall and hyperbolicall not onely for the greater elegancy but also for the more profit of the hearer and not to blinde him with untruthes or deceive him with lyes but rather the better to convince him of the truth and to move him to imbrace it with greater profit and delight As first for hyperboales or hyperbolicall speeches which is the raising of things to their highest pitch and the inlarging of them above all due proportion not to deceive for then some measure should bee observed to make the thing probable and credible but to expresse the conceits of the minde in an extraordinary
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
conceale the Truth if it bee not masked with a lye in whole or in part when the Glory of God the good of our neighbour either publike or private and our owne good in particular doth require it and utterly unlawfull when it is otherwise for though it be not lawfull at any time to deny it yet is it both lawfull and expedient to conceale it in such cases by our silence or any other way which is not sinnefull And thus ought wee to conceale the truth in whole if we be left to our selves and not necessitated to declare it or in part if wee bee examined making use of that part which wee reveale to bee as a cover or colour to hide that part which we conceale which being discovered would impeach and hinder Gods Glory or our owne and neighbours good An example whereof wee have in Ieremie who being examined by the Princes The example of Jeremie and asked what king Zedechiah said unto him he confesseth the Truth in part namely his supplication to the king that hee would not send him backe to Ionathans house to die there but concealed his counsell in advising him to yeeld up himselfe and the Cittie into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar Jer. 38. 27. because this discovery would not have conduced to the former ends but onely have exasperated the Princes against both the King and Prophet and caused them to crosse this counsell if he should afterwards resolve to follow it Now if any except against this that Ieremie might doe it through infirmity and that therefore it is no president for us to The example of Samuel follow we have another example above all exceptions namely of Samuel who by God himselfe 1 Sam. 16. 2. was appointed by uttering one part of truth to conceale the other if the matter should come to bee examincd and to say if his going to Iesse his house came to Sauls eare that the end of his going was to offer sacrifice that so hee might hide from him the other part which was the maine end of his going thither namely to annoint David King in Sauls stead And thus as Saint Augustine thinketh Abraham §. 2. The speach of Abraham in calling Sarah his sister examined may bee acquitted of telling a lye when hee said that Sarah was his sister seeing shee was his neere kinswoman who according to the usuall speech of the Hebrewes were called sisters Neither did he say She is not my wife but she is my sister the which was no lye but the truth being rightly understood And so Abraham himselfe excuseth it yet indeed shee is my sister she is the daughter that is the Grandchilde of my Father c. Therefore saith hee Abraham concealed something of the truth but said nothing that was false when he concealed that she was his wife and said that shee was his sister And it is not a lye when the truth is Non est mendacium cum silendo absconditur verum sed cum loquendo promitur falsū Contra mendac ad Consent lib. 2. cap. 10. concealed by silence but when by speaking wee utter that which is false unto which might bee added that Abraham had no will to lye nor desire to deceive but to preserve his owne life and the people with whom hee conversed from the sinne of murther But saving his better judgement these reasons alleadged doe not justifie Abraham as innocent but onely thus farre excuse his fact that it was a fault of infirmity into which feare and not maliciousnesse thrust him For there is great difference betweene the fact of Ieremy and Samuel and this of Abraham seeing they concealed onely one part of truth and acknowledged another but he in the same speech uttered as I may say a truth and untruth a truth in the reality of it but an untruth in his intention a truth in some sense as himselfe understood it but not in that sense wherein hee would have them to conceive it for it was his purpose in speaking it to make them falsly to thinke that shee was onely his sister and not his wife or else it would not have secured him from that danger which he feared And a speech is not true when as it is so in a reserved sense but when it is so in that sense wherein wee would have the hearer to take it And so Abrahams speech could not be true but a plaine equivocation which is no better than a lye for in saying that she was his sister his desire was that they should conceive that shee was not his wife And though it were not Abrahams absolute and free will to ly yet it was his will by accident as he thought himselfe necessitated hereunto to save his life and though it were not his principall and maine end to deceive by speaking untruth but to escape the danger of being killed yet it was his next and mediate end which he used to advance the other Neither doth Abrahams speach to the King imply that hee was wholly faultlesse but rather the contrary For if hee had spoken a cleare and ingenuous truth in saying that she was his sister why should he excuse it that he did it not upon free choyce but because hee was necessitated thereunto being in danger of his life And his saying that indeede shee was his sister tendeth not wholly to acquit him of all fault but onely to extenuate it seeing she was so truely in some sense though not in that where in he desired that they should understand him Finally Abimelech even by the light of nature discerned that notwithstanding Abrahams excuse Sarah had equivocated in saying that she was his sister and therefore Gen. 20. 16. reproved her for it because it was such an untruth as had exposed her to the danger of being defiled But though it be unlawfull to lye or equivocate yet it is lawful to conceale the truth wholly by silence if we be not examined or to conceale it in part if wee bee questioned so that the other part which wee speake be not onely true in it selfe Non autem hoc est occultare veritatem quod est proferre medacium c. Contra mendac ad Consentium lib. 2. cap. 10. and in our owne sense but also in his understanding to whom we utter it or at least as we desire to have him understand it And of this judgement is Saint Augustine himselfe else where It is not all one saith he to hide the truth and to tell a lye for although every one who lyeth desireth to conceale what is true yet not every one lyeth who willeth to conceale it For very often we conceale things that are true not by lying but by our silence Neither did our Lord lye when hee said I have many things to say unto you but as yet yee cannot John 16. 12. beare them He concealed truthes but did not speake untruthes because hee judged such truthes as yet unfit for them to heare
But let us examine this question yet more fully §. 3. That the truth of Religion is to be confessed when wee are lawfully called thereunto and distinctly in what cases the truth is to be spoken or concealed and when the Glory of God and good of our neighbour or our owne good doth require the profession of it and when wee should conceale and hide it by silence or otherwise For the understanding whereof wee are to distinguish of truth namely that it is either religious or civill Religious truth is the truth of religion or the doctrine of Faith the which we are upon all occasions to professe being lawfully called thereunto when the Glory of God or good of our neighbour doth require it according to that of the Apostle Peter Sanctifie the Lord in your hearts and be 1 Pet. 3. 15. ready alwayes to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekenesse and feare Neither is it enough to beleeve the truth and keepe it to our selves but we must also openly professe it for as with the heart man beleeveth unto Rom. 10. 10. righteousnesse so with the mouth confession is made unto salvation as the Apostle Paul telleth us For if wee conceale the truth when wee are called to professe it we doe not onely deny the truth but also the Lord of Truth who is the Author and Patrone of it and whosoever shall deny him before Math. 10. 33. men him will he deny before his Father which is in Heaven But when are wee called lawfully to make this confession of truth surely at all times when by our confession wee may glorifie God or benefit our neighbours As when wee are called before a lawfull Magistrate and required an account of our faith then wee must in no case suppresse the truth though we confesse it with the danger of our lives for he standeth in Gods stead as his Deputy and to hide or deny the truth before him is as it were to deny or hide it in Gods sight and presence And then also God is glorified by our Christian apology when as wee will not shrinke from the truth whatsoever we suffer for it So also we are bound to professe the truth of our religion before private men when as wee conceive that thereby wee shall glorifie God by propagating his Truth and edifie them to whom wee confesse it Otherwise if there be no cause why we should conceive this hope because we know them to bee scorners and enemies of Gods true Religion who would but deride it and our profession wee may yea in Christian discretion wee ought to conceale it seeing we shall by our confession dishonor God by exposing his Truth to contempt and wrong our owne persons by laying our selves open to scorne and derision if not to the danger of their rage and violence For which wee have our Saviour Christs Word for our warrant Give not that which is Holy unto Dogs neither cast yee your Pearles Math. 7. 6. before Swine lest they trample them under their feete and turne againe and rent you Secondly there is a civill truth which is exercised §. 4. That civill truth is to bee confessed when Gods glory or our neighbours good doth require it about the affaires of this life the which also is to bee spoken and professed when the glory of God and our owne and neighbours good doth require it or to bee hid and concealed when by the profession of it God is dishonoured and our selves and neighbours endammaged Now if we further enquire when Gods glory and our owne and neighbours good doth require it to be spoken and when it ought to be concealed wee are to distinguish of it either as it is to be spoken publikely before the lawfull Magistrate sitting judicially upon the judgment seate or privately to ordinary men in our common course of conversation When wee are judicially called before the lawfull Magistrate and required according to law to speake the truth we ought not to conceale it whether it bee for us or against us And for this wee have the same reason that we have for speaking of religious truth for the Magistrate sitteth in the place of God as his Deputy to enquire and examine the truth and therfore to deny or dissemble it unto him in a legal maner inquiring after it is as it were to deny and dissemble it unto God himselfe the which in this respect is the more grievous sinne because in course of law men are examined upon oath and are bound thereby to speake not onely the truth but also the whole truth in which they call God as Witnesse to what they say and so grosly abuse his Majesty being the God of truth if they draw him as much as in them lyeth to countenance and confirme a lye Secondly hereby they transgresse in a high degree Gods expresse Commandement by which as he forbiddeth us to beare false witnesse in the negative part so in the affirmative hee requireth that we speake the truth to his glory and our neighbours good Finally wee sinne against the common wealth and against all good policy order and government which cannot stand if in these legall Uterque reus est qui veritatem occultat qui mendacium dicit quia ille prodesse non vult ille nocere desiderat Ad Casulanum proceedings the truth should bee denyed or suppressed In all which respects Saint Augustine speaketh fitly to our purpose either of these are guilty and faulty both hee that hideth the truth and he that telleth a lye because the one denyeth to profit and the other desireth to hurt Upon which grounds and reasons I conclude §. 5. That the Truth must bee confessed before the Magistrate when hee requireth it in a Legall manner that being convented before a lawfull Magistrate and by him examined we are bound in conscience to speake the truth and whole truth if he proceed legally and in judiciall manner and demand of us such things as we may answere unto piously without dishonouring God and justly without any prejudice to the Church and Common-wealth or wrong to any particular person For if such questions bee propounded as are not lawfully demanded nor we bound by the Law of God and of the Common-wealth to answere wee may in such a case refuse and conceale the truth So likewise when the discovery of it tendeth to Gods dishonour to the hindering or suppressing of his true religion to the hurt and dammage of the Common-wealth by betraying unto the enemy the secrets of State or the delivering of the innocent into the hands of impious and unjust men that are in authority and seeke their ruine and the taking away of their goods liberties and lives we are not bound to answere the truth of the things demanded yea wee ought in such cases to hide and conceale it though it bee with the extreame and imminent
with these lying arts So that as Covetousnesse is the roote of all 1 Tim. 6. 10. Exod. 18. 21. evill so especially of lyes and therefore when Iethro would describe fit Magistrates hee joyneth these together that they must be such as feare God men of Truth and hating Covetousnesse implying that covetous persons cannot love the Trueth seeing it is one of their chiefest arts in getting wealth to make no other use of Truth but that it may serve sometimes for a shew to colour their lyes In which regard if we would leave this Vice of Lying wee must also forsake our Covetousnesse which maketh men to make more haste than good speede that they may attaine unto riches To which end let us consider with the wise man that treasures of wickednesse profit nothing but righteousnes Prov. 10. 2. delivereth from death That riches thus gotten will Prov. 11. 4 not profit in the day of wrath and that when this day commeth wee shall finde by experience that it is better to be a poore man than a lyar That wealth gotten Chap. 19. 20. by vanity shall be diminished whereas hee that getteth by honest labour shall increase Finally that the Chap. 13. 11. getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed Chap. 21. ◠to and fro of them that seeke death CHAP. VII Of the divers sorts and kindes of Lyes THe next point which now commeth §. 1. The kinds of Lyes diversly distinguished to bee handled is the divers sortes and kindes of lying and lyes In which regard they are diversly distinguished The first distinction is taken from the causes for either they proceede from the Divels tentation or the Worlds instigation or from the corruption of our owne flesh if at least these may be said to bee divers kindes in which these causes ordinarily concurre and meete together And these which proceede from our flesh and the lusts thereof are either lyes which arise from ignorance and forgetfulnesse of God and his Truth or from infirmitie and immoderate feare of men of which sort was that of Abraham and Peter to avoide danger or out of a naturall vanity and delight in lying or finally from covetousnesse which causeth men to lye for their gaine and advantage The second distinction is taken from the very forme and nature of a lye which is as Aquinas saith the most proper 2◠2◠Quaest 110. art 2. and naturall division And so a lye either transcendeth and exceedeth the truth and is called boasting or arrogancy or else it commeth short of that which is true and extenuateth it offending in the defect and so is called an irony And this is the Philosophers division the which is thought to bee Arist eth lib. 4. the most proper because a lye is opposite to Truth which consisteth in an equality and evennesse betweene the speech and the thing and therefore the opposition unto it which is in a lye is according to these two extreames which are either the excesse or defect The third division which is the most common §. 2. Lyes distinguished into 3. kindes merry officious and pernicious Lyes and received is taken from the divers ends which men in their lying propound unto themselves for either their end is to delight themselves and their hearers and then it is called mendacium jocosum a merry lye or their end is to profit and doe good to themselves or others the which is called mendacium officiosum an officious lye or finally their end is to doe hurt and mischiefe which is called mendacium perniciosum a pernicious lye In which division I purpose to insist onely adding thereunto a fourth kinde which is called mendacium modestum or a modest lye when men in a kinde of humility deny or extenuate their vertues and good parts A merry lye is that wherein the lyer propoundeth A merry lye what it is this end onely that hee may delight his hearer and not deceive him or so farre onely to deceive as that thereby he may delight him For there are some as Saint Augustine saith who Contra mendacium ad Consentium lib. 1. cap. 10. desire by their lyes to please men not that they may injure or reproch any but that they may bee sweete and pleasant in their talke Now these differ from other lyars in this that they delight to lye rejoycing in the deceit it selfe but these delight to please with the urbanity and sweetnesse of their speech who notwithstanding had rather please by uttering truthes but when as they cannot easily finde true things which are acceptable to their hearers they choose rather to lye than to hold their peace Now such lyes are either so cunningly fram'd and coloured with likely hoods and similitude of truth that they deceive the hearer with their specious shewes and afterwards delight him when he discerneth the jest and findeth his errour or else spun with so course a threed by the teller of them having no probability or shew of truth that the hearer plainely discovereth them and is onely delighted with the artificiall absurdities and prodigious hyperboles of the tale which transcend all truth and likelyhood So that the hearer is no way deceived by it knowing that it is spoken in jest to move delight An officious lye is when as the speaker wittingly and willingly uttereth An officious lye what it is an untruth either out of Piety that hee may glorifie God or out of Charity and love of Justice and Mercy that he may thereby doe good to himselfe or his neighbour either to prevent or free him or himselfe from some losse danger disgrace or other mischiefe or to procure unto either some profit and benefit and that without the hurt or dammage of any other A pernicious lye is A pernicious lye what it is when as the speaker intendeth by lying not onely to deceive his hearer but also to damnifie and hurt his neighbour in his person name or state and that wittingly and willingly In which kinde concurre all the sinnefull evils that are in a lye in the highest degree For first hee that thus lyeth not onely speaketh that which is false but also falsely against his minde and knowledge Secondly hee thus speaketh willingly loving and delighting in his lye and lastly with a purpose and desire to deceive and to doe hurt and mischiefe by his deceit In all which respects this sort of lyes is above all others most abominable unto God pernicious to our Neighbours and damnable to our owne soules In the practice whereof men then grow to the highest pitch of this hellish impiety when with the Divell the Father of lyes they not onely use them for profit or necessity but also love and delight in them more than in the truth like those of whom the Psalmist speaketh Thou lovest evill Psal 52. 3 4. more than good and lying rather than to speake righteousnesse Thou lovest all devouring words O thou
17. 10. and deceitfull above all things that none can know them nor search the gulph of corruption and sinke of sin to the bottome and because wee have in us naturally the seeds of all wickednesse and flagitious impieties which are ready to sproute and to bring forth their cursed fruite upon all occasions if they be not checked and nipt with Gods grace and holy Spirit so that wee doe not wrongfully accuse our selves of those grosse acts of sinne as murther adultery drunkennesse and the like of which our consciences in the sight of God doe cleare and acquit us because hereby we give glory unto God magnifying his mercy and bounty who hath forgiven unto us such great debts and because we doe also exercise our repentance and increase our sorrow for sinne and worke our hearts to a true hatred of it according to that of the Prophet Then shall Ezech. 36. 31. ye remember your owne evill wayes and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your owne sight for your iniquities and abominations But when wee have to deale with men wee must speake the truth as we in our understanding conceive of it as well of our selves as of other men and though we ought for the most part modestly to conceale those things which concerne our owne prayses and may to the full lay open our wants and infirmities when just occasion shall bee offered yet when wee are necessarily put to speake of either we must not out of a sinnefull modesty lye and betray the truth but ingenuously speake what wee truely conceive neither denying or too much extenuating Gods gifts and graces in us nor accusing our selves of those sinnes imperfections and corruptions of which we know that wee are as cleare as other of Gods servants yea if we be unjustly suspected and accused of them we are bound in conscience to excuse and defend our selves and to manifest what we can our owne innocency For first Gods Law requireth that wee should give a true testimony of our selves as well as of others and use all good means to preserve our owne fame and good name as well as our neighbours Secondly by denying Gods gifts and graces in us wee ungratefully dishonour him not acknowledging his bounty and goodnes towards us and refusing to ascribe unto him the Glory of these gifts whereof hee is the Author Thirdly we put out these lights which were given Matth. 5. 16. us to this end that shining before men they might take occasion thereby to glorifie our Heavenly Father Fourthly wee wrong our neighbours by working in their mindes a false opinion and by causing them unjustly to sleight and disesteeme us when as they thinke that our gifts and good parts are much lesser and our faults and sinnes far greater than in truth they are seeing men for the most part speake of themselves rather better than worse than they deserve And secondly whilest wee suppresse deny or extenuate our vertues and aggravate our failings and corruptions wee neglect this Christian duty of edifying one another by our good example and contrariwise make our selves scandalous and offensive And finally wee wrong our owne persons for if it bee an injury to belye another it is no lesse if we belye our selves and if it bee an unjust and uncharitable act to robbe our neighbors of their good name by false extenuatiōs of the good things which are in them or aggravations of their faults and faylings how can it bee lesse sinnefull if wee use the same meanes to spoile our selves of this precious jewell To this purpose though in another case Saint Augustine excellently speaketh for confuting the Pelagians and Coelestianians who affirmed that they were pure and free from sin and yet for humility sake against their conscience and perswasion confessed their sinnes of which they thought themselves pure and cleare hee thus convinceth them of their errour Dost thou saith he lye for humility Thou art just and without sinne but for humilities sake thou Propter humilitatem ergo mentiris c. August de verbis Apostoli Serm. 29. Tom. 10. callest thy selfe a sinner how shall I receive thee as a Christian for a witnesse against another whom I finde to bee a false witnesse against thy selfe Thou art just thou art without sinne and yet thou sayest that thou hast sinne therefore thou art a false witnesse against thy selfe God will not accept of thy lying humility examine thy life and looke into thy conscience c. How shall I take thee for a witnesse in another mans cause who lyest in thine owne Thou makest Saints guilty whilest thou bearest against thy selfe a false testimony what wilt thou doe to another who slanderest thy selfe I demand art thou just or a sinner thou answerest a sinner Thou lyest because thou doest not say that with thy mouth which thou beleevest of thy selfe in thy heart And therefore though thou wilt not be a sinner before now thou beginnest to bee since thou lyest For thou sayest for humilities sake that thou callest thy selfe a sinner c. But can there be humility where there is falsity But against this is objected that we have many §. 2. The Example of Agur in defence of modest lyes objected and answered examples of holy men in the Scriptures that in modesty and humility have abased themselves in the acknowledgement of their wants infirmities and sinnes beyond all boundes of Truth against some whereof wee can take no exceptions seeing they were Pen-men of the Scriptures and immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. 21. The first is of Agur who being a Prophet of great wisedome and understanding thus abaseth and vilifieth himselfe Surely I am more brutish than any Prov. 30. 2. man and have not the understanding of a man I neither learned wisedome nor have the knowledge of the Holy I answere that we must not understand these wordes simply and absolutely but respectively First in respect of the Person to whom he speaketh and in whose presence hee standeth to wit Ithiel which signifieth the strong God with us and Veal signifying one who having all power in his hand is able to doe whatsoever he will By both which he understandeth our Lord JESUS CHRIST the Wisedome and Power of his FATHER in comparison of whom the wisest in the world are brutish and destitute of knowledge Secondly he maketh this acknowledgement in respect of the subject matter which he was to speake of namely divine and heavenly Wisedome which as much transcended his reach and capacity as reason in man excelleth brutish sense according to that of the Psalmist Such knowledge is too wonderfull for me Psal 139. 6. It is high I cannot attaine unto it And that of the Apostle And who is sufficient for these things 2 Cor. 2. 16. Thirdly hee speaketh not simply but respectively comparing the little which hee knew with the much which hee knew not like that of Socrates hoc unum
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
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
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