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
to be abhorred of all Christians yea though such breach of promise might be coloured and excused by equivocations mentall reservations or any other pretence whatsoever seeing such lyes and falsifying of promises are not onely most dishonourable unto God especially when as by oath he is brought in as a witnesse to a lye but also most hurtfull to humane societies and common wealths when as this chiefe bond of peace and justice is violated seeing none thus deceived would be willing afterwards to trust another or to make truce or peace upon any conditions when as they can have no assurance that they wil be observed and performed Yea such lyes and breach of promises are above all most pernicious to the parties themselves seeing through Gods just judgement they are either taken in their owne net and miscarry in their enterprise or have the same measure from others measured unto them who taking them upon advantage falsifie their faith to them whom they have found faithlesse For he that is Lord of hoasts and God of battailes Who giveth salvation to Kings Psal 144. 10. and delivereth David his servant from the hurtfull sword is also the God of truth and therefore as wee may expect that hee will crowne Justice and Truth with conquest and triumph so that he will execute vengeance upon lyers and not suffer falsehood to goe unpunished The like may be said of spies and intelligencers who if any other might in many respects pleade for a liberty in lying But howsoever it may bee lawfull for such to disguise themselves and their intentions and to use all good policies to conceale an unprofitable and unseasonable truth yet it is in no wise lawfull for them to use meanes that are evill and sinnefull to effect their desire as to deny the truth renounce their religion to make profession of a false religion as Judaisme Mahumetisme Popery by going to Masse and joyning with them in any superstitious service or finally by telling lyes or using any other falsehood to deceive and blinde their eyes with whom they converse that they may atchieve their designes the better when as they live among them unsuspected The second question is concerning simulation §. 3. The second question propoundedand discussed and first of simulation lawfull and unlawfull or faining and dissimulation or disguising Simulation is when by word action or any other signe that is fained to be which is not Dissimulation is when as by any of these means any thing is disguised and hid which in truth is Now the question is whether either of these can be judged lawfull and justly acquitted from being a lye For the former we must answer by distinction for either the thing fained hath no being at all either in reality and truth or in reason and signification or else though it have no existence properly and in the very nature of the thing yet it hath an improper and figurative being by which it signifieth and representeth something that is If the thing fained have no being at all then is it all one with a lye but though it have no being in reality yet if it haue a being in the reason of the thing and bee brought to signifie demonstrate and illustrate something that is then is it no lye but wholly tendeth to the setting forth of truth and of this kinde are many poeticall fictions fables apologies and parables So Saint Augustine not all that which wee Non omne quod singimus mendaciū est sed quando id singimus quod nihil significat c. Quaest Evangel lib. 2. cap. 51. faine is a lye but then it is a lye when as we faine that which signifieth nothing But when our fiction is referred to some signification it is not a lye but some figure of truth otherwise all those things which are spoken figuratively of wise and holy Men yea even God himselfe should bee thought lyes because according to common understanding truth is not in such speeches As for example the parable of the prodigall was not really and properly true but figuratively and in the reason and signification of it So our Saviours comming to looke for fruite on the figge tree when the time of bearing was not had in it no reall intention to finde fruite upon it seeing every one might know that in such a season it could have none but it was fained that as it were under this reall parable he might signifie that they who brought forth no Fictio quae ad aliquam veritatem refertur figura est quae non refertur mendacium est Aug. ibid. fruites were under the curse And therefore as he saith a fiction which is referred to some truth is a figure and that which is not thus referred is a lye Secondly wee may distinguish of the purpose and resolution of our minde and heart of doing or not doing what we faine and make shew of For either it is absolute or conditionall Now if in shew or words I faine that I will doe that which I have absolutely resolved not to do then doe I lye whether I doe or doe it not because my words and significations disagree from my minde and heart But if my resolution were onely conditionall then it dependeth upon the performance of the condition and I may doe a thing resolved on or not doe it without lying as the condition is observed or not observed As for example if I goe to a friendes house with a resolution to returne home to my owne supper if he doe not use some importunity in desiring me to stay supper with him then if I faine that I will goe home and use some earnestnesse that I may take leave I lye not if I goe away though I desired to stay being not at all or but sleightly intreated nor yet if I stay though I made shew that I would depart if importunity bee used because my resolution was conditionall and I was truely purposed to depart if not earnestly invited or to stay and suppe with my friend if he instantly desired it Lastly wee may distinguish of the divers ends which they that faine do aime at in their faining For either their aime is to deceive their neighbour in making him to beleeve that which is not true or to doe him some other hurt or else that they may hereby benefit themselves or others The former is to be reputed a lye yea such a lye as is hurtfull and pernicious as when men faine themselves to be pious and religious when as in truth they are impious and prophane the which is damnable hypocrisie and this fained piety double iniquity or when outwardly by their words and shewes they faine love and friendship when as their hearts are full of enmity that they may get the fitter opportunity of revenge and executing their malice These men lye in their faining seeing their minds disagree from their words and shewes and because also their end and aime is to deceive and hurt Now
whereby hee is able not onely to kill the body of him that lyeth as hee did Ananias and Sapphira but also to cast both body and soule into hell and in the meane time to frustrate all our hopes and ends which we propound unto our selves in lying either by detecting our untrueths or by crossing us in them so as they shall not effect our desires but rather hinder them and finally if wee did know that he is a God of trueth who hateth and abhorreth lyes and will according to his Word give lyars their portion in that lake which burneth Apoc. 21. 8. with fire and brimstone if they doe not prevent their just damnation by unfained repentance wee would not take pleasure in lyes nor bee hyred to tell them with the base wages of worldly vanities But it is our ignorance of these things that causeth us so easily to fall into this sinne when as Sathan or the World tempteth us unto it And therefore the Prophet joyneth them together as the Cause and Effect They bend saith hee their tongue like Jer. 9. ◠their bow for lyes but they are not valiant for the trueth upon the earth for they proceed from evill to evill and they know not me saith the Lord. Another Cause is oblivion and forgetfulnesse of God for many that know Gods Nature and Attributes and will acknowledge that he is omniscient omnipotent just and true in all his Word and wayes yet fall into this sinne through forgetfulnesse not pondering and considering what they know when they should make use of it to keepe them from sinning And of this the Prophet Esay speaketh Of whom saith hee hast thou beene affraid or feared that thou Esay 57. 11. hast lyed and hast not remembred mee nor laid it to thy heart A third Cause of lying is our inordinate and §. 4. A third Cause is immoderate feare of men immoderate feare of men more than of God the which the Prophet implyeth in the same words Of whom hast thou beene affraid that thou hast lyed and hast not remembred me whom thou hast more cause to feare than all men or devils For they at the most can but kill the bodie but God can also cast body and soule into hell Neither is either man or devill Mat. 10. 28. so able to protect us against the stroke of Gods vengeance when wee speake lyes as hee is both able and willing to defend and preserve us against all their might and malice whilest wee make conscience of speaking the trueth for according to his gracious promise Hee shall cover us with his feathers Psal 91. 4. and under his wings shall we trust his trueth shall bee our shield and buckler But because men looke onely unto the present and take care to avoid imminent danger and live by sense more than by faith beholding the arme of flesh ready to strike them and not the power of God which is all-sufficient to protect them nor seeing him that is invisible Therefore they make lyes their refuge and hide Esay 28. 15. themselves under falshood and vanitie And this appeareth principally in the practise of inferiours as children and servants who having committed any fault doe usually colour and cover it with a lye that so they may escape the displeasure of their governors whereas if they feared God more than men they would bee much more fearefull to fall into his hands than theirs seeing he is a consuming Heb. 12. 24. Fire who is able in his just wrath utterly to destroy them and would rather choose to speake the trueth though they lost the favour of mortall men than by lyes to loose the favour of the immortall God yea they would know that their greatest safety would be in speaking the trueth seeing God the authour and lover of it hath the hearts of all men in his hands and can move superiours to pardon what is done amisse yea to love them more for their trueth and ingenuity than to mislike them for their faults and errours A fourth Cause of lying is carnall confidence and security whereby men blesse themselves in §. 5. A fourth Cause of Lying is Carnall Confidence and Security this sinfull course presuming that their lyes shall bee so cunningly contrived and so boldly and impudently outfaced that they shall never come to light and that as they have long practised them and yet have escaped both the punishment of God and men so they may still goe on securely in their sinne without feare of danger And of such the Prophet Esay speaketh Who had made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell promising unto Esay 28. 1◠themselves that when the overflowing scourge should passe thorow it should not come unto them because they had made lyes their refuge and hid themselves under falshood And againe they trust in vanitie and speake lyes hoping through their cleanly conveiance Chap. 54. 4. that they shall never be discovered But the truth which they oppose is as a shining light which will lay open all these hidden workes of darkenesse and bring them at length to shame and punishment And whereas they presume that they shall still escape because having long lived in this sinne they finde no hurt in it nor have felt Gods hand in punishing of it and so encourage themselves to go on in their wickednesse according to that of the Preacher Because sentence against an evill worke is Eccles 8. 11. not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sonnes of men is fully set in them to doe evill Let them know that though they are respited yet they are not remitted and though the overflowing scourge hath Esay 28. 18. passed over and not yet whipped them yet at last they shall as God hath threatned be trodden downe by it if they doe not prevent his judgement by true repentance or though they should wholly escape in this life yet this is but cold comfort if they consider that they are hereby hardened in their sinne that living and dying in it without remorse they may at last receive their full payment without mercie Apoc. 21. 8. in the world to come The last Cause of Lying which I intend to §. 6. A fifth Cause of Lying is Covetousnesse speake of is Covetousnesse whereby men immoderately loving worldly wealth will not stay Gods leisure in the use of lawfull meanes for the compassing of their desires but resolving to bee rich and making all haste in satisfying their greedy avarice they leave no stone unmoved no meanes untryed which may advance their ends Amongst the rest they finde none more fitting for their purpose than this of Lying as being a speciall helpe whereby they are inabled to supplant and deceive one another and to enrich themselves by their neighbours ruines especially when they have any entercourse of Trading buying and selling in which all manner of deceit is used to defraude one another and all disguised and hid
deceitfull tongue And againe They onely consult to cast Psal 62. 4. him downe from his excellency they delight in lyes Now this kinde admitteth of another distinction §. 3. Of religious lyes concerning matters of faith and doctrine in respect of the divers subjects whereabout it is exercised for either it is in points that concerne matters of faith and the doctrine of Religion in which respect it may bee called a religious lye or matters civill and politicall in humane affaires and the things of life either publike or private in which regard it may bee called a politicall or civill lye The former is so much more pernicious than the latter as the glory of God and the eternall salvation of our soules which are hindred and impeached by it are more precious and highly to bee esteemed than our present corporall estate and the momentany things of this life Neither is any deceit so dangerous as this in matters of religion seeing this as wee say toucheth our free hold and leadeth us into such errours as will hinder our ever lasting salvation In which respect these errours and untruthes in matters of religion the Apostle calleth the doctrine of Divels because as hee invented 1 Tim. 4. 8. it and his instruments teach it so is it no lesse than he such an enemy that hindreth our heavenly happinesse the confirming wherof by lying wonders is by the same Apostle made a marke of Antichrist who speaking lyes in hypocrisie ratifieth his false doctrines with no lesse false miracles All which lyes 2 Thes 2. 9. are to be abhorred above all other which concerne our temporall goods or lives So Saint Augustine Contra mendacium ad Consentium lib. 1. cap. 13. If saith he a lye which is spoken against the temporall life of any man bee detestable how much more that which is against life eternall as every lye is which is made in the Doctrine of religion Enchirid. ad Laurent cap. 18 And againe he doth not hurt so much who by lying putteth a traveller out of the right way as hee that by a deceiving Lye depraveth the way of Life A modest ly is when as a man denieth or extenuateth §. 4. Of a modest lye and what it is Gods graces in him his vertues good parts and commendable actions which hee knoweth to be in him or done by him The which proceedeth either from humility whereby a man undervalueth himselfe and his gifts either in the sight and sense of his contrary corruptions or when he compareth the little which he hath received with that that he wanteth which he thinketh so far short in proportion that his little in comparison seemeth nothing And thus an humble man speaking what he thinketh cannot properly be said to lye because his tongue and heart agree although hee uttereth an untruth not speaking as the thing is or else it proceedeth from inward pride which pursueth glory and praise though not in the ordinary way yet as it were by a backe doore or posterne gate dispraysing those things in themselves which they know to bee praise-worthy and denying or extenuating those gifts and good parts which they not onely know to be in them in some good measure but also in selfe-conceite much over-value them above their true worth The which Art they use to draw on the hearer to crosse their words though not their hearts with excessive prayses which they thinke no more than their due and would be much displeased if hee should take them at their word and crossed in their ends and desires if he should not crosse them in their undervaluing of themselves and take occasion thereby to fasten upon them the greater commendations CHAP. VIII Whether any sorts of Lyes are lawfull ANd thus having shewed the diverse §. 1. Though some lyes are more sinnefull than others yet all sorts are unlawfull and against the ninth Commandement sorts of lyes it now followeth that we examine whether any of them at any time or upon any occasion bee lawfull and warrantable And surely it cannot be denyed but that there is great difference in the degree of sinfulnesse betweene some sorts of lyes and others and that the guilt of merry and officious lyes is much extenuated by many circumstances and considerations by their nature the will and desire of the speakers who love and delight not in the lye for it selfe but as they thinke it fitte to further some good end and because their end is not at all to hurt nor principally to deceive but to profit or delight their neighbours Even as contrariwise the guilt of pernicious lies is much aggravated because they are most opposite to Truth and those that tell them doe it willingly with love and delight And finally because their chiefe aime and end is to deceive and by deceite to hurt and wrong their neighbours in their goods or good name life or liberty But though some lyes are lighter and of lesse guilt than others yet all in some degree are sinnefull and unlawfull as being forbidden in the ninth Commandement For whereas some object that they are not condemned by this precept because it onely forbiddeth such untruths as are against our neighbour whereas officious and merry lyes are not against but for him and for his good even for his profit and delight and offend not against charity which is the summe of the Law To this I answere that all untruth is forbidden in this Commandement whether it be for or against our neighbour neither doth the Hebrew word Beth used here signifie only against but also toward or concerning about or touching our neighbour neither is hurt onely forbidden but also any falshood and untruth by any meanes signified of unto or concerning our neighbour for the word which is translated bearing witnesse as if it were Legally and before a Judge signifieth in the originall thou shalt not answere which is as much in the Hebrew phrase as thou shalt not say or cause to be said as appeareth in divers a Prov. 15. 1. Matth. 11. 25. b Joh. 1. 7. places And the word witnesse signifieth any manner of shewing any thing and so it is taken in other Scriptures So that the sense of the Commandement 1 Cor. 15. 15. extends further than the words outwardly portend Neither doth it onely forbid all false but also all vaine and idle speech as merry lyes for the most part are nor yet only lyes which are against our neighbour but also such as are for him either for his delight as merry lyes or for his profit and advantage as those lyes which wee call officious And therefore seeing all lyes are the transgression of the Law it followeth by the Apostle 1 Joh. 3. 4. Iohns definition that they are sinnes yea seeing every lye is a sinne against a precept of the decalogue it followeth that even by the opinion of the Schoolemen themselves who otherwise so much extenuate officious and merry lyes they
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
scio me nihil scire I onely know this that I know nothing Fourthly hee may bee said thus to speake not as hee was now sanctified and inlightned with the spirit of Grace and understanding but as he was in the state of nature in which respect the Prophet saith Every man is brutish in Jer. 10. 1◠his knowledge understanding nothing in spirituall 1 Cor. 2. 14. things which concerne his eternall salvation till hee be regenerate and in Christ The which sense the words will best beare if with Iunius wee thus render them for I am a beast or brutish since I was a man that is even from my birth and the wisedome of a man is not in me that is like that which was in man by his first creation before by his fall hee became brutish and so ought to be in him still Secondly the example of the Apostle Paul is §. 3. The example of Paul objected and answered 1 Cor. 15. 9. Eph. 3. 8. 1 Tim. 1. 15. 2 Cor. 11. 5. 1 Cor. 15. 10. Phil. 3. 5. Act. 26. 5. objected who saith that he was the least of the Apostles and not worthy to be called on Apostle yea that he was the least of all the Saints yea which is more that he was the chiefe of sinners whereas elsewhere hee maketh himselfe equall to the chiefe of the Apostles superiour unto them all in his labours and sufferings and as touching the Law a Pharisee yea in respect of his life and conversation of the strictest of that Sect. From whence they conclude that in those speeches wherein hee so much abased himselfe he used a modest lye and therefore that modest lyes are in such cases lawfull To which I answere that hee called himselfe the least of the Apostles and the least of the Saints not simply and generally but respectively as hee expresseth himselfe because he had persecuted the Church of God 1 Cor. 15. 9. 1 Tim. 1. 13. In which regard also he calleth himselfe the chiefest of sinners as it is evident in the same places But how can this bee other than a modest lye that Saint Paul should call himselfe the chiefest of sinners seeing others committed farre greater sinnes than hee and yet upon their repentance were received to mercy as Manasses Some understand the words that hee was the first of sinners as the word may also signifie namely the first of all those that came unto Christ who had before persecuted him in his members But this had beene no great aggravation of Pauls sinne nor amplification of Gods mercy in pardoning it both which the Apostle intendeth in that place And therefore I had rather take it in a litterall sense namely that in truth hee calleth himselfe the greatest sinner that had received mercy First because hee speaketh as hee thinketh and findeth himselfe in his owne sense and feeling for as it is the nature of hypocrisie to make our owne beames moates and others moates beames so it is the nature of true repentance to aggravate our owne sinnes and to extenuate other mens and when the eyes of our mindes are inlightned wee see our sinnes to bee more in number and more haynous in quality either in themselves or in respect of circumstances than wee can charitably suspect to bee in any other of Gods servants Secondly because hee speaketh in my judgement as the thing is For if wee limitte his speech to the faithfull onely who upon their repentance have beene received to grace as wee must needs doe seeing some have lived and died in their infidelity and finall impenitency and others have committed the sinne against the Holy Ghost with whom there is no probability that the Apostle compared himselfe I say restraining the comparison onely to penitent sinners then it is true which the Apostle speaketh that of all sinners he was the chiefe whether wee consider the sinne it selfe or as it was aggravated by circumstances For he madly and maliciously persecuted the Saints of God for their profession of Christ and the Gospell and not being content Act. 26. 11. to blaspheme his holy Name himselfe hee doth as much as in him lyeth compell them also to blaspheeme as hee confesseth and so lacked nothing but this of committing the unpardonable sinne that he did it ignorantly as himselfe acknowledgeeth 1 Tim. 1. 13. Besides hee had great and many meanes of knowledge and of revealing unto him Christ and the Light of the Gospell and some of them hee carelesly neglected and some he utterly despised Of the former sort was the Law of God in which having great skill he might in the ceremonies and sacrifices have seene Christ crucified before his eyes by which through the blindenesse of his minde and hardnesse of his heart hee profitted not Of the latter was the Heavenly and Powerfull Sermons of our Saviour himselfe and of his Apostles which were confirmed by many and wonderfull miracles all which he despised either not vouchsafing to heare them or not receiving or beleeving them so that nothing could touch his heart hardened in his sinne And whereas some had sinned out of simple errour and ignorance and had proceeded in their sinne even to the crucifying of the Lord of Life yet afterwards when by the Preaching of the Apostles they were convinced of their sinne they repented of it and beleeved in Christ hee still proceedeth in his madnesse and fury to persecute the Saints of God not contenting himselfe to heare that they were murthered and massacred unlesse he stood by and satiated his eyes with their death and slaughter Yea so obstinate he was in his sinne and rebellion that either he must perish in it or God must pull him out of it by strong hand and use a miracle upon him for his conversion By all which it appeareth that S. Paul had no neede to use the helpe of a modest lye when he called himselfe the chiefest of sinners Lastly it is objected that our Saviour Christ §. 4. The example of our Saviour Christ objected and answered himselfe who was greater than all the Angels as being the Eternall Sonne of God equall with his Father the Prince of Angels and as hee was our Mediator God and Man yet in that Propheticall Psalme of his Passion and Sufferings hee that was God maketh himselfe lesse than a man But I saith hee am a worme and no man The which is to bee understood not onely of David the Type but also and that chiefly of Christ himselfe the Antitype in whose Person the Psalmist speaketh To which I answere that our Saviour speaketh this not simply but respectively not what he absolutely was nor what he was in his owne nature or in his selfe-conceit but what he was reputed to be in the sight and opinion of the people who looking upon him as a Man forsaken of God and exposed to the malice of his enemies and being astonied at him his visage was so marred with his sufferings more than any
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