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
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
danger of our goods liberties and life it selfe As for example when in the times of persecution wee are examined by wicked tyrants whom we know to be of our religion or who were present with us and accompanied us in such a place and at such a time in Gods divine Service Prayer and hearing of the Word we should in such a case indure any losses and tortures rather than betray them into their hands that seeke their lives But though wee may not discover the secrets and counsells of the innocent when it tendeth to their hurt and ruine yet wee may and ought to confesse when wee are examined to reveale the faults and crimes of those that are guilty and have offended against the Lawes of God or the Land yea though wee have beene copartners with them in their wickednesse and by solemne promise or oath have mutually bound our selves to secrecy because such oathes and promises are unlawfull as tending to Gods dishonour the hindring of Justice the nourishing of Vice and the great prejudice of Church and Common-wealth But here another question commeth to bee resolved §. 6. Whether malefactours are bound in conscience to confesse the truth thogh it bee with the hezard of their lives whether a man that is guilty of a fault or crime that concerneth his life being examined in a Legall manner before a lawfull Magistrate bee bound in conscience to confesse the Truth and so by accusing himselfe to indanger his life To this I answere that every one who is guilty is bound to testifie the Truth if he be required by the lawfull Magistrate though it bee with the hazard of his life and sinneth if he hide his fault with a lye and better it is to expose the body to the danger of death by confessing the Truth than by lying and sinning to offend God and cast both soule and body into Hell But yet men thus guilty are more or lesse bound to confesse the truth and accuse themselves and doe sinne more or lesse haynously by concealing it in divers cases and considerations For if the Judge having no evidence of Truth nor competent witnesses to cleare the cause and direct him in giving a right sentence doth seriously examine the offendor charging him upon his Conscience to testifie the Truth that God may be glorified when he his Deputy doth Justice and if thus strictly examining him hee doth in some degree rest upon his testimony for his direction and judgement in such a case the guilty person sinneth greatly if he conceale the truth or hide his offence with a lye for Judgement being the Lords hee dishonoureth him that hindreth the execution of justice with a lye And therefore Iosuah thus strictly examining Josh 7. 19. Achan in a waighty cause willeth him to give Glory unto God by confessing the Truth implying hereby that hee should much dishonour him if hee did otherwise Besides by concealing the truth and telling a lye in such a case he blindeth §. 7. Whether offenders at the barre are bound to plead guilty of those crimes which are justly laid to their charge in our judiciary proceeding and misleadeth the Judge and causeth him to pervert justice and to pronounce an unrighteous sentence But if as it is in our judiciary proceeding the question bee asked whether the offender at the Barre be guilty or not guilty hee is not so strictly bound as in the former case to confesse the Truth nor sinneth so much if hee doth conceale it For in this case the Judge greatly regardeth not the testimony of the person arraigned when he pleadeth not guilty thereby to bee directed in passing his sentence but onely in a Legall proceeding he demandeth this question that in a formall and orderly manner he may put himselfe upon another tryall namely of the Jewry who are in no sort directed by the offenders testimony but by the testimony of competent witnesses and evidence of reason Neither doth our law in these criminall causes of life and death binde an offender to accuse himselfe nor inflicteth any punishment if hee refuseth to doe it Yea rather if pleading not guilty he put himselfe upon tryall of his Countrey he hath a faire and sometime favourable proceeding and issue being often acquitted when being guilty he hath deserved punishment whereas if he concealeth the truth by silence and refusing to put his cause upon tryall doth condemne himselfe as guilty because hee will not use the Legall forme in pleading not guilty he hath no favour of law but is adjudged to greater and more torturing punishment than if he were found guilty by the Jewry or his owne voluntary confession Againe there is great difference betweene the offences which are confessed or concealed for if in themselves they are haynous and capitall both by the morall Law of God the law of Nature and Nations as Treasons Parricides Murthers and the like for which every naturall Conscience will condemne the offenders as worthy of death then doe they much more haynously sinne if being examined by a lawfull Magistrate they conceale the Truth and excuse themselves by telling lyes Yea in such cases it is probably thought that if there were no other to bring these haynous crimes to light they are bound in conscience that Justice may be executed to discover and accuse themselves But if the offences be such as are not capitall by the morall Law and the Law of Nations but are onely made so by the Positive lawes of particular Common-wealths which admit rather of a particular mischiefe than a generall inconvenience and respect in their punishments the universall good of the Common-wealth more than the demerit of the offender punishing with more severity lesse faults which being through the disposition of the people inclining thereunto more commonly committed to the hurt and damage of the whole State than greater offences which being rarely committed bring no such prejudice then is it much more tolerable and lesse sinnefull when the offenders by pleading not guilty doe put themselves in a Legall forme upon tryall of the Jury in hope to be acquitted by their verdict when the law affords them no favour upon their confession As for example in the case of stealth and small thefts which the Law of God punisheth not with death but restitution yet is so punished by positive lawes with all severity because it is generally necessary that it should so be for the preservation of the Common-wealth although in some particular cases there may bee a lawfull and conscionable mitigation of punishment which in Legall proceedings that respect the common good more than the preservation or immunity of some private persons cannot bee so lawfully used by inferiour Magistrates who are bound to judge according to law if the offender confesse his fault and plead guilty In such a case I say it is more excusable if the truth bee concealed by such a deniall as is to be understood onely as a forme in pleading whereby he putteth himselfe
upon a Legall tryall that he may have the favour of the law for the remitting of his small offence and not as a reall cordiall and resolute deniall of the truth For when they plead not guilty it is not much unlike in sense though different in words as if they should say I will not discover my faults by acknowledging my selfe guilty and accuse my selfe seeing the law doth not require it but I will for my purgation put my selfe upon tryall and stand upon the examining of witnesses to the verdict of the jury to bee acquitted or condemned according to their evidence directing their Conscience And thus I have shewed how it is lawfull or expedient §. 8. Of confessing or concealing the truth to private men to confesse the truth when as wee are examined in a legall manner before a lawfull Magistrate now concerning the confessing or concealing of it in our private conversation the case is much different seeing therein we have a liberty to utter or hide it from those that have no authority to examine us according as our occasions shall require and Christian prudence direct us It is true that commonly and ordinarily we must speake that truth with our tongues which our minds conceive because they were given us to this end that they should be as faithfull Interpreters of our hearts to discover our thoughts one to another but yet this is no farther required than as in our speech we may be usefull and profitable one to another In which regard it is not onely lawfull but very expedient that wee should conceale the truth in many cases from those that have no authority to examine us of it And thus wee may yea ought to conceale such secrets as are intrusted to our keeping when as they are lawfull as also the faults and infirmities of our neighbors seeing love doth cover a multitude of sins yea to discover them when we are not necessitated thereunto by some great and necessary cause doth not onely shew want of love but also of honesty and justice which requireth that wee should doe unto others as we would have them to doe unto us And the like also may be said of our owne faults and infirmities which wee ought by all lawfull meanes to hide and conceale from all men unlesse it be to our spirituall Physicians that they may the better cure us or to our weake Patients troubled and afflicted in minde that we may comfort and cure them by making our selves examples unto them of the same infirmities wherewith they thinke none so troubled as themselves Otherwise except it be in these and such like cases it is not only permitted as lawfull but required as expedient and necessary to hide and conceale our owne sinnes and infirmities For first whereas in the ninth Commandement in the affirmative part God injoyneth us to use all good meanes both by giving a true testimony and also by our silence whereby we may preserve the good name of our neighbour setting forth their virtues and good parts and concealing their faults and failings he requireth also the same at our hands for the preserving of our owne fame and reputation for charity begins at home and the love of our selves is the rule of our love towards our neighbours And whereas it may bee objected that this Commandement injoyneth us to give a true testimony whether it be with or against us and that God requireth that every man should speake the truth to his neighbour Zach. 8. 16. to this I answer that affirmative precepts though they binde us alwaies to performe the duties commanded yet not at all times but when it is seasonable and profitable for Gods glory and our owne and neighbours good And as the Prophet requireth that wee should alwayes speake the truth to our neighbour so the Apostle teacheth how it Eph. 4. 15. must be spoken namely in love Secondly the unnecessary and unseasonable discovery of our owne faults and infirmities tendeth to Gods dishonour who as he is glorified when we bring forth much fruit John 15. 8. Matth. 5. 16. and have the light of our holy lives shining before men so is hee dishonoured by our evill conversation and his holy Name blasphemed by those that are without when they discover our sins and corruptions for the vices and faults of the servants 1 Sam. 2. 30. 2 Sam. 12. 14. doe often redound to the discredit of the master Thirdly the discovery of our faults and failings tendeth to the disgrace of Gods true Religino which wee professe when men that are wtihout discover in us such evill fruits and to the discredit of our Christians profession seeing they are apt to attribute them rather to our religion and profession than to our naturall corruption and are willing through the sides as it were of our fame and reputation to wound the Gospell Fourthly hereby we shall become scandalous and stones of offence to those that are weake and those also that are not yet called encouraging the one to fall into the same vices and sinnes by our evill example and discouraging the other from entring into the profession of our religion when as they heare us say well but see that we doe no better Lastly hereby we shall sinne against our selves in blasting and blemishing our good name with just aspersions and whereas it should bee in higher esteeme with us than great riches and sweeter than the most odoriferous Prov. 22. 1. Eccl. 7. 1. oyntment wee shall deprive our selves of this pretious jewell by unnecessary discovery of our faults and failings Neither can wee when we have once opened a breach stay at our pleasure the current and streame of mens suspitions but when we have spoken much they will bee apt to thinke that we could say more seeing every one is naturally so favourable to himselfe that he will speake the least of that which he knoweth will tend to his prejudice and disgrace And thus much of the second question whether it bee lawfull in whole or in part to conceale the §. 9. Of equivocations and mentall reservations truth and in what cases it is to bee approved as good or disallowed as evill unto which this Treatise would require that I should adde a third namely concerning equivocations and mentall reservations which are not onely in continuall practice among the Papists but also warranted and defended by their doctrine But I shall not neede to speake any thing in this point seeing it is already fully and learnedly handled of late by a reverend Mr. Henry Mason Divine in this Citty Only let me briefly set downe my judgement of it namely that such equivocations and mentall reservations are not onely lyes but in this respect of the worst sort in that there lieth lurking in them the greatest deceit as being masked with the shew of truth For not onely that which is false is in them affirmed both in his sense that speaketh as he desireth to be understood
are mortall sinnes seeing veniall sinnes as they call them are not committed Contra praecepta decalogi sed praeter ea not against the Commandements but besides them Againe it is a sinne against nature to lye in any kinde because words naturally are the signes and significations of those things which are in the minde and therefore it is against nature to speake or signifie any way that which the minde thinketh not Finally in every lye though never so pleasant or profitable there is a losse of Truth which is a vertue most acceptable unto God and therefore the impeachment of it cannot be recompenced by our profit or delight But let us more particularly examine these divers §. 2. That merry Lyes are sinfull and unlawfull sorts of lyes and consider how and in what measure and degree they are sinfull and unlawfull And first for pernicious lyes there is no question made by any but that they are in a high degree sinfull as being against Trueth Justice and Charitie and wholly tend to Gods dishonor the hurt of our neighbors and our own destruction and damnation as I shall more fully shew hereafter And therefore passing them over I will examine the other kinds And first for merry lyes it is coÌ„monly conceived that if there bee no scurrility in them they may passe as tolerable because they doe no hurt unto our selves or neighbours but delight and recreate both and they that tell them intend not to deceive their hearers or but a while that they may the more delight them For either they are apparant in themselves to be but jests and lyes by the grosse absurdities that are seene at the first view or are discoverd to be so by the gesture and pronunciation So that they are not much unlike unto Hyperboles or Ironies in respect of the outward forme and shew saving that they differ in their end and use seeing they are used to teach and expresse the Trueth in a Rhetoricall manner but these onely to delight the hearer And of this minde Saint Augustine seemeth to have beene Contra mendacium ad Consentium lib. 1. cap. 2. who thinketh that they can scarcely bee taken for lyes Jests therefore saith hee are to be excepted which were never thought to be lyes because they have a most evident signification by the pronunciation or the disposition of him that thus jesteth and procede from a minde not willing to deceive although it uttereth not truthes And surely there is saith Peter Martyr but a litle of a lye in these merry tales seeing though they willingly speake that which is not true yet the falsity is easily discerned and cannot deceive the hearer But whether these merry tales or lyes ought to bee used by perfect men or strict Christians S. Augustine doubteth in Chap. 3. that place though he cleareth it in another where he saith that hee lyeth who hath one thing in his minde and uttereth another thing by his words or any other signification the which the merry lyar alwayes doth And though hee doth not deceive or hurt this doth not cleare his tales from being lyes but onely sheweth that they are not lyes of the worst kinde or such as are pernicious seeing he lyeth who doth speake willingly otherwise than he thinketh And as he speaketh in another Contra mendacium ad Consentium lib. 1. cap. 11. place Those lyes are not to bee admitted which although they doe not hurt another yet they doe not profit any and doe hurt themselves with lyes gratis and for nothing who properly Duo sunt genera mendaciorum in quibus non magna culpa est sed tamen non sunt sine culpâ cum aut jocamur aut ut proximis prosimus mentimur There are two sorts of Lyes in which is no great fault and yet they are not without fault when we jest or lye to profit our neigâ—â—â—rs Aug. in Psal 5. Tom. 8. Col. 27. Matth. 12. 36. are to bee called lyars For there is this difference betweene one that telleth a lye and a lyar For he telleth a lye who lyeth unwillingly but a lyar loveth to lye and hath a minde that delighteth in lying And though such lyes hurt not the hearer yet they greatly hurt the lyars themselves because in so lying they forsake the truth and delight in falsity and choose rather to please men than to speake the Truth Againe these merry lyes are not onely in their falsity opposite to Trueth but are also vaine and idle speeches and our Saviour telleth us that Wee must give an account at the day of judgement of every idle word Yea Epaminondas though an Heathen shall at this day rise up in judgement against merry lyars who was so strict and severe in embracing Trueth that hee would not allow a lye to bee spoken so much as by way of jest Furthermore if it bee unlawfull to tell officious lyes though they tend to our owne and others benefit as wee shall shew hereafter how much lesse these merry lyes which tend onely to carnall delight For if as wee ought to bee wee were spiritually minded why should wee rather take pleasure to heare or speake lyes than to speake and heare the Trueth Moreover the Apostle requireth that We speake the Trueth one to another and put away lying and that our speech be alwayes with grace seasoned with Ephes 4. 25. salt and tending to the use of edifying that it may minister Col. 4. 6. Ephes 4. 29. grace to the hearers Finally if they were condemned who made the hearts of Kings and Princes glad with their lyes who in respect of their great Hos 7. 3. cares and serious studies about their weighty affaires may bee allowed an over-measure of pleasure and delight how much more are they unlawfull if they bee used to ordinary persons who stand in neede of such meanes to glad and cheere their hearts Secondly it may bee demanded whether it bee §. 3. Whether officious Lyes bee unlawfull altogether unlawfull to tell officious lyes seeing these in divers respects may seeme both justifiable and commendable for he that telleth them hath no will simply to lye but to doe good nor delighteth in lying but only as it conduceth to this end neither hath hee any desire to deceive or hurt his neighbour but mainly aimeth at this end that hee may benefit him by delivering him from some dangers or free him from some great evill which hee is not able to effect by any other meanes To which I answere that if it be a sinne to lye as before I have shewed and shall more fully proove hereafter because it is opposite to truth a vertue which is in high esteeme with the God of Truth and a direct breach of his Commandement then it is unlawfull to lye out of a desire to produce the greatest good For every sinne is an offence against Gods infinite Majesty and therefore deserveth an infinite and endlesse punishment both in soule and
than truthes when hee judgeth them evill And againe certainly it is a thing intolerable to tell lyes Another telleth us that he is equally his enemy as the gates of Hell who conceaveth one thing in his minde and speaketh another thing with his mouth And that Iupiter the great father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Iliad lib. 4. Phocyllides who helpeth all yet will not be helpfull unto lyars Another perswadeth thus tell saith hee no lyes but speake all truthes And againe doe not hide one thing in thy heart and utter another with thy tongue Another affirmeth that every prudent Cleobulus and wise man hateth a lye And the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as before was shewed deriveth the Greeke word signifying a lye from another which signifieth a thing dishonest and worthy reprehension because every lye is of this nature Finally Plato in many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Theat lib. 2. de Repub. places condemneth lies and pleadeth for the truth To thinke the truth saith he is honest but a filthy and dishonest thing to lye And againe a lye is odious not onely to the gods but also to men And therefore if the Heathens could discover the fowlnesse and deformities of this vice by the dimme light of nature what a shame is it for us to bee so blinde in our understandings and ignorant as not to discerne the uglinesse of it when as we have the cleare sun-shine of the Gospell and the illumination of Gods Holy Spirit to guide and direct us But let us come more particularly to shew the §. 3. That Lying is opposite to Gods nature haynousnesse of this vice which will better bee cleared if we prove that it hath in it all relations of sinne as it is committed either against God our neighbours or our selves and is not onely a sinne in it selfe but also the cause and the effect of many other evills both of sinne and punishment as it will appeare if wee examine some particulars For first lying is in this respect a great sinne because it is contrary to God the chiefe goodnesse whether we consider his Nature or his Persons In his Nature and Essence he is in and of himselfe and the fountaine of Being and in this sense it is most true that being Truth and Goodnesse are convertible and all one He is not only True but Truth it selfe and all other things are true in and for him And thus he describeth himselfe Mercifull Gracious Exod. 34. 6. Long-suffering and aboundant in Goodnesse and Truth So Moses in his song He is a God of Truth and without Deut. 32. 4. iniquitie just and right is he So Esay Hee that sweareth in the Earth shall sweare by the God of Truth Esay 65. 16. yea hee is so essentially True as that there is none true besides him according to that of the Apostle Let GOD be True but every man a lyar and though Rom. 3. 4. it be at mans choyce to speake the truth or to lye yet truth being of Gods Essence and the Truth of God nothing but the True God hence it followeth that God can no more deny the Truth than deny Himselfe And therefore it is said that God is not a man that he should lye yea though he can doe Numb 23. 19. all things yet He cannot lye yea that it is impossible Tit. 1. 2. Heb. 6. 18. for God to lye which doth not argue any impotency in him but perfection of Being seeing if hee could lye hee could also deny himselfe and so not be seeing Truth in him and Being are all one And as the former places are affirmed of the whole Divine nature and so primarily of God the Father the Fountaine of Truth and Being so other places testifie the like of the Sonne namely that Hee is full of a John 1. 14. Grace and Trueth and that all b vers 17. Grace and Trueth come by him yea that hee is the c John 14. 6. Way the Truth and Life it selfe And so also of the Holy Ghost who is called the d John 14. 17. Spirit of Truth yea e 1 John 5. 6. Truth it selfe who proceedeth f John 15. 26. from the Father and the Sonne And those whom by regeneration hee maketh his Children g John 16. 13. He leadeth into all Truth and worketh in them all sanctifying and saving Graces and Truth amongst the rest which is therefore by the Apostle numbred among the h Eph. 5. 9. fruits of the Spirit In all which respects as it must needs follow that Truth is a Vertue most acceptable unto God as being according to his owne Likenesse so also that those best please him who resemble him in Truth by loving imbracing and speaking it approving themselves hereby to bee his Children because they are like him according to that of the Prophet Esay Surely they are my people Children Esa 63. 8. that will not lye To which purpose an Heathen Philosopher speaketh excellently who being asked Pythagoras in what thing men were most like unto God answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. if they speake the Truth And in this respect their magi or magitians affirmed that their greatest god whom they called Oromagden Serm. 11. was in his body like unto the light and in his mind or soule like unto truth as Stobaeus recordeth it And excellent to this use is the etymologie of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which they signifie Truth which Iamblichus bringeth ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deducta sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because as the Greeke word signifying the Truth so Truth it selfe is derived from the gods although others give another Etymology deriving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the privative participle because the Truth cannot lye hid Whereby it appeareth that as Truth is deare unto God so a lye which opposeth it is a great sinne and most odious unto him seeing it opposeth himselfe and his owne nature who is a God of Truth for hee who lyeth denieth the Truth and he who denieth it denieth God himselfe Again Truth which hath its existence in the minde against which the lyar speaketh is of the Spirit of God who is the Author of all Truth and therefore what is it to lye but to make the tongue speake against the Truth ingraven in the minde by the Spirit and consequently to speake against the Holy Spirit himselfe who is the Lev. 6. 2. Author of it Secondly by lying we sin immediately against §. 4. That Lying is a breach of Gods Commandement God in that we breake and violate his Word and holy Commandements which injoine us to speake the Truth and not to lye in any thing nor at any time For in the ninth Commandement under the name of bearing false witnesse against our neighbour as in the affirmative part hee requireth all Truth so in
voluntate fallendi c. August Enchir. ad Laurent cap. 22. against that which he thinketh in his minde with a will to deceive Now words were therefore instituted not that by them men should deceive one another but that every one might thereby make knowne his thoughts to others And therefore to use words that wee may deceive and not for that end for which they were ordained is a sinne And as this sinne of lying is pernicious to the §. 8. That lying is pernicious to every particular family Common-wealth so also unto every particular family where it raigneth as being the common cause of all confusion and disorder of all evills and mischiefes which happen unto it For as it bringeth Gods judgements upon those families where it is tolerated as the deserved punishment of their sin so doe they suffer many evills from one another which are the effects of it For if the Governours be such as doe love and listen after lyes it maketh all the servants wicked because there will bee no Justice executed no difference betweene well and ill-deserving no rewards for the one nor punishments for the other when as the innocent and faithfull shall by lyes be traduced and branded and the faulty and faithlesse excused and commended No marvell then if the governement become lame and much weakned when as rewards and punishments which are the sinewes of it are cut in sunder and if there bee no good governement how can there be any true obedience And this is that which Salomon observeth If saith hee a Ruler Prov. 29. 12. hearken unto lyes all his servants are wicked Againe if in a family there be no conscience made of lying all that live in it become negligent of their duetie and are much emboldned to commit any fault so it be not knowne and to breake burne spoile steale and loose any thing that belongeth to their governours when as they can by a lye deny or excuse it neither is there any feare of shame or punishment to restraine them seeing they can by lying so shift and shuffle off the fault from one to another that the master of the family cannot possibly discerne who is faulty or faultlesse and therefore is put to his choice whether he will let the offender escape or indanger himselfe to punish the innocent and so either to suffer evill in others or to bee evill himselfe whilest his severity is not guided by knowledge and truth And all this made David so out of love with lyars that hee professeth hee would not suffer one of them to dwell in his family Hee that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house hee that telleth Psal 101. 7. lyes shall not tarry in my sight CHAP. XIII That the Lyar sinneth most of all against himselfe BUt as lyes are in these and many other §. 1. That lying defaceth Gods Image in us and stampeth on us the image of Sathan respects hurtfull to our neighbours so are they much more pernicious to our selves and that both in respect of the evill of sinne and also of the evill of punishment Concerning the former lying is most pernitious unto our selves in many considerations For first it defaceth and blotteth out Gods Image in us seeing wee resemble him not onely in wisedome holinesse and righteousnesse but also in truth which hath such relation unto them all that it is necessarily required to their very essence and being so that wisedome righteousnesse and holinesse are of no worth and existence unlesse truth be joyned with them And therefore the Apostle exhorting us to bee renewed according to Gods Image doth bid us to put on the new man which after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4. 24. God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse or as the words there signifie holinesse of truth And this the Greeke Oratour saw by the light of nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosthenes for being asked in what things men came neerest to the likenesse of GOD answered in Trueth and beneficence Now this Trueth is most opposed and defaced by Lying and consequently it is most pernicious For if wee esteeme it a great hurt to have our eyes put out our faces gashed and deformed and our bodies maimed and dismembred how much more hurtfull is it to have these blemishes in our soules and to have Gods image defaced in us And yet it doth not onely blot out of us the image of God but it also stampeth on us the image of Sathan and sinne For the Devill is not onely a Lyar himselfe but also the authour and father of lyes according to that of our Saviour He is a Murtherer from the beginning Joh. 8. 44. and abode not in the trueth because there is no trueth in him when hee speaketh a lye he speaketh it of his owne for hee is a Lyar and the father of it where as Saint Basil observeth our Saviour putteth no difference In reg Contract Num. 76. of lyes but speaketh this indefinitely of them all And this wee see in the example of our first Parents unto whom Sathan lyeth even against God himselfe and also teacheth them to lye from whom this corruption and disposition of Lying is propagated to all their posterity in the example of the foure hundred false Prophets in whose mouth Sathan was a lying spirit teaching them to lye perniciously to Ahabs destruction as himselfe confesseth and of Ananias and Saphira Whose hearts 1 Kings 22. 22. Acts 5. 3. Sathan filled with deceit to lye unto the holy Ghost as Saint Peter speaketh Wherein he sheweth himselfe a right Serpent indeed seeing he carrieth his poison in his mouth whereby he killeth both himselfe and others And as the Devill is the Father of Lyars so are they his children in nothing more resembling him than in loving and making lyes For in this particular respect our Saviour chiefly speaketh Yee are of your Father the Devill and the lusts of your Father yee will doe Yea in this also they Joh. 8. 44. shew themselves to bee of this serpentine generation in that Their poison is like the poison of a Serpent Psal 38. 4. 140. 3. sharpening their tongues like him and having Adders poison under their lips Yea herein they goe beyond their Father the Devill in that hee beleeveth the trueth and trembleth whereas they not onely love and make lyes but also beleeve them more than truth yea rather any thing more than it according to the saying of our Saviour Because I tell you the Joh. 8. 45. trueth therefore yee beleeve mee not Now what can bee more pernicious unto man than to have Gods Image defaced in him to become the child of the Devill and to resemble him in sinfull Lying seeing they that are like him in his sinne shall hereafter be made like him in his punishments So also by Lying not onely the Image of Sathan §. 2. That the sinne of Lying encourageth men to commit
liveth unto Sophocles old age And the Oratour telleth us that all Ficta omnia celeriter tanquam flosculi decidunt nec simulatū quicquam potest esse diuturnum Cic. offic lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex eo dicitur quod non possit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est latere Pro Coelio Nihil simulatio proficit paucis imponit leviter extrinsecus inducta facies Veritas in omnem partem sui semper eadem est Quae decipiunt nihil habent solidi Tenue est mendacium perlucet si diligenter inspexeris Sen. Epist 79. §. 5. That lying though it bee sleight yet is a laborious vice Oportet mendacem esse memorem fained things fade and fall like flowers neither can any thing which is false and dissembled hold out long Hence it is that the Graecians call Truth by a name which signifieth such a thing as cannot lie hid but as the same Author speaketh though by the dishonesty of many it may bee depressed yet it riseth againe and though the defence of innocency may be checked and interrupted yet in a while it will breath againe and get life So Seneca like himselfe speaketh to this point wittily and fully No dissembling saith he profitteth it deceiveth but a few sleightly drawing outwardly over it a false semblance Truth is alwayes the same and which way soever ye turne it good on both sides Those things that deceive have in them nothing solid A lye is so thinne a thing that if thou doest diligently looke into it thou mayest see through it And yet which may be another motive to make us hate lying though it bee but a vaine and sleight vice and of short durance yet it is no easie thing but requireth much labour For it putteth the wit to its strongest invention and trieth to the uttermost the memory and even tyreth it with much exercise that the parts of their lyes may agree one with another and when they are repeated may seeme like truth to be alwayes the same wherein if there be for want of wit or weakenesse of memory the least fayling they are taken tripping and tardy in their tale and sometimes punished both for their fault and falsehood but alwayes at the least shamed and disgraced In which regard when they have toyled themselves in their uttermost indeavours to hide their sinne yet are they alwayes upon the racke and even when they are safe they are not secure but still in feare lest their lyes shall come to light If at least their impudence armed with power doe not incourage them to out-face the Truth and restraine their inferiours to whom they lye from pressing them any further than will stand with their liking An example whereof we have in Iacob who intending to steale a blessing from his Father doth use the uttermost of his wit and memory to interweave cunningly the webbe of his lyes that he might not be discovered And yet when he had improoved his lying Arts to the uttermost advantage with what feare doe you thinke was he surprised with what shaking hands and trembling voyce did he utter his lyes whilest he doubted lest his father discovering his fraude hee might bring upon himselfe a curse in stead of a blessing And therefore well might the Prophet speake of Jerusalem that shee had wearied her selfe Ezech. 24. 12. with lyes and yet her great scumme even her polluting sinnes and the guilt of them was not gone out of her for they that delight not to speake the truth but have taught their tongues to speake lyes doe as Ieremy speaketh weary themselves to commit Jer. 9. 5. iniquitie So that the Art of lying may well bee compared to the Spiders web in weaving whereof shee taketh great paines yea spendeth and wasteth out her owne bowels though it serveth for no other use but to catch a few flies and when all is done shee cannot bee secure in her weake hold but might justly feare if shee had as much wit as a lyar that she shall bee beaten out of it with every blast of winde or brush of a broome whereas on the other side the way of truth is so plaine and easie that a weake memory if we have once gone in it will serve our turne to goe it againe and whereas errour is manifold it is ever one and the same so that we may with confidence proceed in it and not feare to bee tripped and catched though wee are examined at severall times and before divers persons because if wee know the truth and speake nothing but what we know the oftner we relate it the more we shall confirme it seeing we shall still speake the same thing without varying in any matter of substance from that we have first spoken And with this the judgement of Saint Augustine accordeth The fictions of a lye saith he are very Difficillima laboriosa sunt figmenta mendacii Qui verum vult dicere non laborat c. Aug. Sentent 66. difficult and laborious whereas hee who desireth to speake the truth is at no great paines For good men are farre quieter than those that are evill and the words of those who speake truth are much more absolute than the lyes of deceivers And therefore if we would not take much pains to little purpose and not with great danger goe the further way about when wee may goe the next way with ease and safety Let us not labour to compasse our endes by false sleights and lyes which have alwayes in them more frothy subtilty than substantiall solidity but seeke to attaine unto them in the plaine and safe wayes of simplicity and truth In which wayes if Iacob had walked hee had prevented many dangers escaped many cares and toilsome labours under a churlish uncle and deceitfull master and with much more speed and safety had attained unto his end and quietly enjoyed both birth-right and blessing CHAP. XV. Of the meanes whereby wee may be preserved from Lying HItherto I have shewed the reasons which §. 1. The first meanes is seriously to meditate of the manifold evils which accompany lyes may move us to loathe and abhorre Lying as a pernicious Vice and if wee bee inclined to this disease or already tainted with it to desire earnestly that wee may be preserved from it or cured of it and now in the next place if this desire by the former motives bee wrought in us it is necessary that wee carefully use all good meanes which may strengthen us against this poisonous contagion like soveraigne antidotes or if wee bee already infected may recover us out of it Now these meanes either respect meditation or affection and action First if we would shun or leave Lying we must often and seriously meditate on the manifold evils both of sin and punishment before spoken of as that it is dishonourable unto God and consequently odious and hatefull to his pure and perfect Nature most injurious to our neighbours and therefore abhorred