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
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
as it is disguised with some shaddow or colour of truth an untruth thus mistaken cannot be accounted a lye because the will agreeth with the minde and the tongue is directed by the will so that though a man speaketh a lye yet hee is no lyer because he neither thinketh that hee lyeth nor would willingly doe it if hee knew it to bee so Interest enim inter mentientem mendacem nam mentiens est qui mentitur invitus c. Ad Consent lib. 1. c. 11. To this purpose Saint Augustine There is a difference saith hee betweene one that telleth a lye and one that is a lyer for one may tell a lye that lyeth unwillingly but a lyar loveth to lye and dwelleth with his minde in the delight of lying The third thing that concurreth in a lye is that §. 6. That a lye is uttered with a purpose to deceive it is an untruth alwayes uttered with a purpose and desire to deceive and to make the party to whom wee speake thinke that to bee so which is not So that such an untruth as is uttered without any purpose to deceive is not to be esteemed a lye because it aymeth not at that end which a lyer alwaies propoundeth For howsoever some appropriate this end to pernicious lies that the lier intendeth it therein onely yet indeed it belongeth also to those lyes that are officious and in jest It is true that there are some lyers that have a will and desire to deceive him unto whom they speake without his losse yea it may be for his profit and delight as those that use officious and merry lyes and some lye with a will and desire to hurt and endammage him as pernicious lyers but all agree in this that all would deceive though the one for their good the other for their hurt for whosoever speaketh that which is false wittingly and willingly whether it doth good or hurt hee alwayes speaketh it to this end that the Truth may not be understood by him that heareth him and consequently to deceive him I say it is his next end to deceive although his remote end at which hee aimeth bee to delight or profit him which hee useth as a meanes to attaine unto his desire As when a Physitian telleth his sicke Patient that the potion which he willeth him to take is sweete and pleasant though intruth it be bitter and loathsome that so hee may perswade him to drinke it for the recovery of his health the maine end at which herein hee aimeth is the welfare of the sicke Man but the next end is to deceive him by telling an untruth which he useth as a meanes to further the other end of curing him which is principally in his intention and desire The last thing in the definition to bee considered §. 7. Of the divers manner and meanes whereby a lye is expressed of is the divers manner and meanes whereby a lye is expressed and committed and that is either positively and directly when as the Truth is contradicted and opposed or else privatively and indirectly when as it is suppressed and betrayed The former is done by any outward signification of the inward notions and thoughts of the minde especially by our speech and actions By our speach a lye is expressed and committed when as wee speake otherwise than that which wee conceive in our mindes either affirming that to be which wee thinke is not or denying that to bee which as we conceive is By our actions when by our outward showes gestures and deeds wee deceitfully faine dissemble and disguise the Truth that we may deceive our neighbour by making him to thinke that to bee which is not or that not to bee which is and to conceive by our outward shewes and carriage that wee intend that which is least in our thought to this end that wee may deceive and hurt him Secondly a lye is committed privatively and indirectly when as the Truth is suppressed and betrayed and that is done when as by silence it is concealed at such times and before such persons wherein and before whom wee are bound in conscience to reveale and confesse it for the glory of God and good of our neighbours For truth and falshood being contraries without meane the suppressing of the one is the exalting of the other and we may bee truely said to lye when wee deny the truth and to deny it when wee conceale it by silence at such times as wee are lawfully called to confesse it And therefore our Saviour as appeareth by his antithesis and opposition maketh this to be all one to deny him and not to confesse him Whosoever shall confesse mee before men him will I confesse Matth. 10. 32 33. also before my Father which is in Heaven but whosoever shall deny me before men him will I deny also before my Father which is in Heaven So that our silencing of truth when it ought to be spoken and confessed is no better than a denyall seeing by such silence it is betrayed and the contrary errour and truth advanced and maintained And therefore fitly doth the Apostle Iohn in that Catalogue of Apoc. 21. 8. sinners which shall have their part in that Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone ranke the fearefull with lyers because as the one bely the truth so the other through their cowardize and infidelity dare not confesse it which is all one as to betray and deny it CHAP. III. Of divers sorts and formes of speach which are to bee acquitted from the censure of a Lye ANd these are the things which alwayes §. 1. Of hyperâ—olâ—es and that they are no lyes concurre in every Lye whereby it appeareth that divers formes of speaking which are suspected and accused as lyes are acquitted and cleared hereof at the Barre before the seat of Justice by a right sentence of true judgement as namely hyperbolicall speeches fables parables and ironies In all which though there bee not the same spoken which is meant punctually and literally yet the same in the sense and intention of the speaker in whom there is no will to lye or speake contrary to the truth with a love and delight in falshood but a divers expression of the same truth conceived in the minde in other words and phrases than are ordinary namely such as are tropicall metaphoricall parabolicall and hyperbolicall not onely for the greater elegancy but also for the more profit of the hearer and not to blinde him with untruthes or deceive him with lyes but rather the better to convince him of the truth and to move him to imbrace it with greater profit and delight As first for hyperboales or hyperbolicall speeches which is the raising of things to their highest pitch and the inlarging of them above all due proportion not to deceive for then some measure should bee observed to make the thing probable and credible but to expresse the conceits of the minde in an extraordinary
loftinesse of speech not onely to delight the hearer but for the more full informing of him of the truth for his greater profit As also when wee give to things senselesse or inanimate motion and life yea sometimes the use of reason Of the former are such speaches as ascribe a kinde of infinitenesse to things finite as when speaking of a multitude we say commonly that they are innumerable like the sands of the Sea of long lasting things that they are everlasting and without end of those that are of great quantity or capacity that they are immense and above all measure And such phrases are used in the Scriptures as that the Benjamites were so cunning in the use of their slinges Judg. 20. 16. that they could cast their stones at an haires bredth and not misse that the sinnes which the faithfull Psal 137. 18. confesse themselves to have committed were above not onely the haires of their head in number but even the sands by the Sea shore and that if all things which Christ did should bee wtitten the John 21. 25. whole World would not containe the volumes that should bee written By which speeches no man can be deceived seeing if they were taken literally there were no shaddow or shew of truth in them but rather the truth which they perswade is the more cleared and inforced namely that the Benjamites were exceeding cunning in the use of their slings that the sins confessed were a number almost numberles and the actions done by Christ were very many more than the Evangelist had recorded Of the other we have many examples in the Psalmes and Prophets as when the Mountaines are said to skip the Flouds to clap their hands the Earth to heare the Word of the Lord which cannot be taken in their proper sense but onely as Rhetoricall phrases expressing the trueth according to the intention of the speaker in a loftinesse of speech for the better understanding of the hearer and affecting of him with more delight Neither can they be esteemed lyes because they doe not deceive the hearer or reader seeing they doe not beget a false conceit in his minde but rather cause him to conceive and imbrace the trueth with greater admiration So S. Augustine Whatsoever Quicquid autem figuratè fit aut dicitur non est mendacium c. Contra mendac ad Consent lib. 1. cap. 5. is done or spoken figuratively is not a lye For every enunciation or signification is to be referred vnto that which it signifieth to the understanding of those unto whom it is uttered otherwise as he saith in another place all tropes and metaphors which are not taken in a proper but borrowed cap. 10. sense by one thing signifying another should be judged lyes as where it is said that Christ is a Rocke a Doore a Vine and that impenitent persons have hearts of stone all which are not properly and literally true but in a figurative sense The like may bee said of an Ironie which is a §. 2. Of Ironies and that they are no lyes Rhetoricall manner of speaking whereby we signifie one contrarie by another which is commonly used by way of jesting or derision for the dispraising or discountenancing of that which is evill as when we say of an unthrift O he is a good husband or of a man infamous for deceit and unjust dealing O hee is a very honest man The which manner of speech is easily understood either by our gesture or pronunciation or the palpable difference that is betweene our words and the thing it selfe The which manner of speaking though it bee often abused unto sinne as scoffing scorning deriding yet is it lawfull in it selfe and to us also when it is rightly used not to deceive but the better to cleare the trueth to discountenance sinne and to convince offenders of their faults and errors neither hath he that so useth it a will to lie or deceive but to signifie the trueth in an improper way that it may bee received with more delight And of this wee have examples in the Scriptures as in the speech of Michajah the 1 King 22. 15. Prophet unto wicked Ahab Goe up and prosper In Elias deriding the follie of Baals Priests in Iob to his three friends No doubt but yee are the 1 King 18. 27. people and wisdome shall dye with you In the Apostle Paul convincing the Corinthians of their pride Job 12. 2. and follie Ye suffer saith he foolâ—s gladly seeing your 2 Cor. 11. 19. selves are wise and elsewhere telling them that he had not been burthensome unto them as to other Churches he concludes with an Ironie forgive me 2 Cor. 12. 13. this wrong Yea even God himselfe useth and by his using justifieth this figure and forme of speaking to Iob that he might thereby the better convince him of his follie and weakenesse Gird up now thy loynes like a man and answere me And Deeke thy selfe now with majestie and excellencie and array thy selfe with glorie and beautie c. Finally upon the same grounds we acquit and §. 3. Parables acquitted from the censure of lying exempt from lying first Parables whereby the trueth of things is signified and represented unto us by fained stories of other men and their actions wherein the circumstances are so fitted as though they had been truely done that by them the truth may bee signified as it were in reall words and portraied in living and speaking pictures for the better convincing of the hearers to the acknowledgement of the trueth when they without partialitie may judge of it in other mens persons as we see in Nathans Parable to David and our Saviours 2 Sam. 12. to the Scribes and Pharisees concerning the vineyard let out to those unjust farmers that killed the heire to get possession of it which drew Matth. 21. 33 41. from both a just sentence against their owne sinnes which they would rather have minced and excused if directly and plainely they had beene charged with them So also they serve sometimes to dazle the understanding when they are darkely propounded and not applied to use the which our Saviour used when hee spoke to those whom in just judgement he would have heare and not understand sometimes to make what is said more cleare and evident when things are illustrated by such examples as are common and familiar by which as the hearer is made docible and capable of what is taught so are the things learned much the better imprinted in his memorie Neither is there any lie in such formes of speech seeing the end of the speaker is not to deceive the hearer but rather to discover the trueth in a more familiar manner the minde and tongue agreeing together and ayming at the same end although the words must not be taken as proper and direct but by analogie and way of similitude Not much unlike unto these is the way of teaching §. 4. Of
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