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
unto which lust hath consented And by how much the soule is better than the body it is by so much the more wickedly corrupted chastity then may there bee preserved whereas there can be no corruption but that which is voluntary neither can it bee violated in our selves by the lust of another Wherefore because no man doubteth that the soule is better than the body therefore the integrity of the minde ought to bee preferred before the integrity of the body seeing it perpetually may bee preserved But who can say that the minde of a lyar is sincere and upright c And so hee concludeth that no man can convince any that it is sometimes lawfull to lye unlesse hee can prove that an eternall good may by lying be obtained And so much concerning the evill of sinne The §. 4. Whether it be lawfull to lye to prevent the evill of punishment and namely 1. the death of others second question respecteth the evill of punishment whether we may avoide it lawfully by telling a ly when we see no other meanes whereby wee may bee preserved from it And because it were endlesse to stand upon all the particulars I will insist onely in one which will cleare the question in all the rest as being the greatest and last of all the rest namely Death which is the king of terrours and therefore to be avoyded by all lawfull Job 18. 14. meanes above all other temporary evills And this we will consider either as it respecteth our neighbours or our selves Concerning the former we will consider the case in two instances propounded by Saint Augustine and not much vary from him in our answere and resolution Suppose that a Father and his deere and onely Son were at the same time dangerously sicke in severall places or rooms and that the Son in whose life the life of the Father is bound up as it is said of Iacobs in Benjamins should dye the Father continuing in great weakenesse yet in some hope of recovery If the Father in this case should inquire suspecting the worst whether his Sonne be dead or alive what answere should be given him If it be said that he is alive it is a lye but yet such an one as comforteth and strengtheneth the Fathers heart and may prove a good meanes of his recovery but if it bee told him that he is dead or which is all one in effect if the hearers refuse to give any answere because he will surely presume upon their silence that hee is departed seeing otherwise they would not withhold newes which would cheare him the griefe hereof will presently strike him to the heart and bee a certaine cause of his death and ruine But I answer with him that though the case be lamentable and much commiseration to bee had of the sicke Father yet it is not lawfull to save his life by telling a lye For this is but a meanes of our owne for his recovery and wee know not whether God will blesse it or no yea we may well suspect that if we distrust in his All-sufficiency who hath in his hand the issues of life and death and is able to bring to the grave and to returne backe againe and trust more to our lye and meanes unlawfull it will prove rather a hindrance than a furtherance to our desires Whereas on the other side we are certaine that lying is a sinne and that all sinne will slay our soules if the wound be not recured by repentance which wee cannot promise unto our selves seeing it is not in our owne power but the gift of God which hee giveth when and to whom he pleaseth Finally if it bee lawfull by sinning to prevent the death of another the death of their body which is temporall with the death of our soule which is eternall why might it not bee lawfull also much more if an adulteresse should so desperately love us that if she might not have her lust satisfied shee would hang or drowne her selfe to prevent her death by yeelding to her desire seeing by one act of uncleannesse wee should prevent her murther and by prolonging her life procure time for her repentance that shee may bee saved whereas by the other course shee not repenting plungeth her selfe into Hell The other instance is this If an August Contra mendacium ad Consentium lib. 1. cap. 13. innocent religious man should be pursued by murtherous ruffians or bloody persecutors with a full intention to deprive him of his life for the preventing whereof hee is forced to flye from them or to hide himselfe in some secret place with which his flight or place of hiding we onely are acquainted The question is if the pursuers aske us which way he is gone or if hee be hidden with us or no whether we may not by an officious ly preserve his life directing them to take a wrong way in their pursuit that so he may escape or telling them that he is gone from us and not in our house seeing if we speake the truth we shall thereby expose him to certaine danger of death and if we refuse to answer we shall not onely be indangered to taste of their rage but also doe no good to the party whom we have received and hidden seeing upon our silence they will certainly presume that hee is hidden with us or else we would make no scruple to deny it To which I answere with Saint Augustine that wee must not lye and so by sinning offend Gods infinite Majesty and indanger the eternall salvation of our soules in hope to preserve the momentary life of anothers body What then must wee tell the truth and so betray his life into their hands that seeke it No by no meanes for this is much worse than the other Must we then say nothing when as silence is no lesse dangerous then speaking the truth Nor this neither seeing this as little conduceth to our end of preserving our neighbours life as if wee confessed the truth What then must bee done surely as Saint Augustine also resolveth it we are in such a case called by God to put on Christian courage and resolution and to endure any extremities rather than we will either betray the truth or the innocent man who hath intrusted his life to our secrecy And therefore wee ought boldly to professe that wee know what is become of the party whom they pursue but will not by telling them expose him to the danger of their cruelty because we will neither betray him nor offend God by telling a lye And of this Saint Augustine bringeth an example of a Bishop called Firmus whom he commendeth to have beene more firme in his will and resolution than in his name who when he had with all diligence hid a persecuted Christian from the rage of an heathen Emperor and being by his Pursevants which hee had sent to apprehend him demanded where they might finde him couragiously answered them that he could neither lye nor betray
as much as wee hate death and destruction so much let us abhor lying which is the cause thereof and with as much care and endeavour let us shunne the one as well as the other And as God thus punisheth lyes in this life so §. 8. That God punisheth lyars with everlasting condemnation much more fearefully in the life to come For first it excludeth lyars out of the Kingdome of Heaven seeing none are admitted to dwell in Gods Holy Psal 15. 2. Hill but those that speake the Trueth from their hearts and the Gates of this Heavenly Citty are onely opened that the righteous Nation which keepeth Esa 26. 2. the Truth may enter in And as the Apostle Iohn telleth us there shall in no wise enter into it any thing Apoc. 21. 27. that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lye And that without the gates of the Citty Apoc. 22. 15. are dogges and sorcerers and whoremongers and murtherers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye Yea not onely doth this sinne of lying exclude lyars out of the Kingdome of Heaven but also if they live and dye in it without repentance it will irrecoverably plunge them headlong into Hell For the same Apostle telleth us that the fearefull and unbeleeving and the abominable and murtherers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all lyars without any difference made of their divers kindes of lyes shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second Apoc. 21. 8. death And therefore as we love to injoy eternall happinesse in Heaven so let us love to speake the Truth from our hearts which will assure us of it and as wee abhorre everlasting torments in Hell fire so let us hate and abhorre Lyes which are the meanes that will bring us to them CHAP. XIV Divers other motives to make us hate the Vice of Lying ANd thus have I shewed that lyes are §. 1. That lyes are odious because most opposite to truth accompanied with all manner of evils both of sinne and punishment and that both in this life and in the Life to come Unto which divers other motives might be added to bring us into a further detestation of this vice though none more effectuall than those already named if wee have any respect to Gods glory our Neighbours good our owne present comfort and well-being and the everlasting salvation of our body and soules As first that as lyes are friends and fanters of all vices causing and incouraging men to fall into them and to live in them without repentance so they are enemies and opposites to all Vertues and especially to Truth Justice and Charity First they stand in direct opposition to Truth so that where they are set up there Truth falleth and fayleth and where Truth is magnified and imbraced lyes are condemned and banished And this opposition betweene lyes and Truth the Apostle Iames noteth Jam. 3. 14. Lye not saith he against the Truth and the Apostle Iohn likewise where hee saith that hee who braggeth 1 John 2. 4. 21 27. that hee knoweth God and keepeth not his Commandements hee is a lyar and the Truth is not in him Yea they are such contraries as have no meane but the presence of the one argueth the absence of the other and the same heart at the same time cannot love and delight in both but if it loveth and delighteth in lyes it hateth and abhorreth the Truth And therefore seeing Truth is a most excellent Vertue and exceeding pleasing and acceptable unto God as being like unto him in his owne Nature It must needs follow by the rule of contraries that lying is a most base and dishonourable vice and most odious and abominable unto God as being opposite to his owne Nature Neither may wee qualifie and extenuate the sinne by our distinction of merry officious and pernicious lyes for howsoever these severall kindes may in other respects bee much more hainous and wicked one than another much more odious to God and men and will condemne lyars to greater or lesser punishments in Hell fire yet all of them are alike odious and abominable in this that they are all opposite to that excellent vertue of Truth and in every kinde of them contrary to Gods pure and perfect Nature who is essentially true and Truth it selfe In which regard even the best sort of officious lyes are evill and sinfull as namely when as men will tell them to confirme the Truth of Scripture and to perswade men more strongly and effectually to imbrace professe and practice the true religion by reporting fained miracles that have beene for merly wrought for the confirmation of this Truth which as also others of like nature are called pious lyes For first they are contrary to Truth an excellent Vertue and therefore must needes be vicious they are opposite to Gods Nature and dishonourable unto him as though hee were not able to maintaine his Truth unlesse wee helped him with our lyes neither do they so much grace and confirme the Truth of religion when they are kept secret as disgrace and weaken it when they are discovered and come to light nor so much strengthen mens faith in beleeving it being thus countenanced with lying wonders as weaken it when the deceit is knowne seeing these pious and officious lyes will make men when they are discerned jealous and suspicious of reall truths and take away from their teachers all power in perswading making their arguments and motives unto piety of no credit or efficacy seeing they that are moved and perswaded are ready to suspect that their speeches are all alike that seeing they have told them of false miracles therefore there are none true but all of one kinde although some more than other are more cūningly acted and that all the reasons and motives which they use to perswade men to a godly life are nothing but officious lyes which their teachers out of a pious affection and intention use to countenance religion and to make their exhortations and perswasions unto piety and honesty more forcible and efficacious And this was the reason which made Saint Augustine August lib. Epistol Epist 15. oppose Saint Ierome who maintained the lawfulnesse of such officious and pious lyes because if this were once permitted as lawfull or tolerable it would take away all authority in the teacher all faith and beliefe in the hearer yea make the Scriptures themselves to bee suspected so as no admonitions reproofes or counsells can bee given with any fruite because the hearers and readers will easily surmise that the things they heare and read are but pious and officious lyes to bring into and keepe men in the right way and not because they have in them any reallity of Trueth And therefore seeing these lyes are also unlawfull as being opposite to Truth I conclude that there are not any lawfull according to that of Saint
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
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
lesse than them because in some respects we commit a greater sinne than they seeing they maintaine their errours out of ignorance but we lye against knowledge and conscience as hee also speaketh And Lib. â— cap. 8. therefore if we can by no other meanes pull impious Heretikes out of their secret dennes unlesse our Orthodoxe and Catholike tongues doe stray out of the path of truth it is more tolerable that they should still lie hid than that truth should bee impeached better that these Foxes should lurke in their holes than that those who hunt them that Tolerabilius in suis foveis delitescerent vulpes quampropter illas capiendas in blasphemiae foveam caderent venaâ—ores Aug. Contra mendacium lib. 2. cap. 7. they may take them should fall into the pit of lyes and blasphemy as the same Author affirmeth To say nothing that the sinne in using this lying policy is certaine but the good issue and event aimed at uncertaine seeing that being in Gods hand hee might justly crosse and curse this unlawfull means so that they shall not conduce to their conversion but rather to their further confirming and hardning in their heresie and impiety But though it be unlawfull by lying to prevent §. 3. Whether it be lawfull to lye that wee may greater sinnes in our selves aâ— nameâ—â— rape and ravishment sinne in others yet perhaps it may be lawfull yea commendable to use it when wee may thereby prevent greater sinnes not onely in others but also in our selves As suppose that a vertuous Matrone or chaste Virgine should be assaulted by an adulterer with violence to defile or deflowre them and they might escape the rape by putting him off with a lye is it not lawfull to doe it in such a case to prevent so great a mischiefe I answere that though a stony heart could not chuse but relent and be much affected to heare of such a villany and though the tentation be so strong that it is scarsely to be expected humane strength should be able to resist it yet in clearing of the truth wee must not consider what we would but what we should doe being so assaulted and brought into such straites Indeede if it were a sinne to bee meere patients in the sinne of others the question were easily answered but it is not so for the greatest sinne in others is not the least sinne in us if wee onely bee the subjects of their sinne through unresistable violence and doe not give the least consent unto it For here it is all one as in the case of persecution oppression murther or robbery all which though they be hainous sinnes in the agents yet none at all in the patients when they have no will to consent or allow the commission of such sinnes nor power to prevent or shun them Yea in such cases that is lawfully suffered which cannot but unlawfully be avoided and no act is to bee judged sinfull if the will bee wholly averse unto it For it is the very forme that giveth unto sinne its life and being to be in some kinde or degree voluntary and though the will give not its consent in all sinnes yet it hath some kinde of operation in or about it as in sinnes of ignorance though wee doe not consent unto sinne as knowing it to bee so yet wee consent to that action which is sinfull the will being misled through the errour of our judgement And so in concupiscence which goeth before consent there is that which we call inescation or the bayting of the hooke of sinne with some pleasure profit or other allurement which is Sathans tentation and not imputed unto us as sinne if we wholly resist it and there is that which we call titillation or the retaining and revolving of the tentation with some delight and as it were the itching of the desire and the watring of the teeth after it if wee might injoy it upon no hard conditions But when they are so propounded as that wee cannot injoy the pleasure or profit of sin unlesse we displease God and indanger our owne soules then the will rejects the tentation and will by no meanes give its consent Notwithstanding that retaining of the tentation with some tickling delight is a sinne of concupiscence and this very parlying with the Divell is a transgression of Gods Law though wee doe not yeeld up unto him the Fort of our hearts nor give our consent that sin shall enter Of which sinne the will is guilty which though it did not consent to the Act yet it gave way to the Divels dispute and that with some tickling delight wee should listen to his tentation alluring us to sinne But if as in this case of a violent rape the will bee wholly averse unto it and the heart abhor it even as the terrours of death though the agent and ravisher committeth an horrible sinne yet the patient or party forced and ravished is wholly cleare of it For the body onely is violated but the soule not vitiated and though that bee defiled yet it is not corrupted or at least with such a corruption that is not sinful as S. Augustine speaketh For there is onely the matter of sin which giveth it no being in a subject forced by outward violence but not the forme which giveth onely being and denomination seeing the will is wholly averse unto it So that if this bee granted which cannot bee denied that it is a sinne to lye but no sin to be forced and ravished then the case is easily cleared namely that it is not lawfull by the evill of sinne to shun such an evill as is not sinfull actively to defile the soule that the body may not passively be defiled or only in hope that wee may shun the outrage of the adulterous ravisher to cast our selves certainely into the snares of the Divell by lying and sinning and so to be defiled by spirituall filthinesse and to be deflowred and deprived inwardly in our soules of their purity and chastity And of this judgement is Saint Augustine who speaketh excellently Nulla est pudicitia corporis nisi 〈…〉 itate ani 〈…〉 deat 〈…〉 mend lib. 1. c. 7. to our present purpose There is saith hee no chastity of the body which doth not depend upon the integrity of the minde which being pulled from the other it must needs fall although it may seeme untainted and untouched and for this cause is not to bee numbred amongst temporall things seeing they may be taken from those that are unwilling to leave them And therefore by no means the minde must corrupt it selfe with a lye for its body which it knoweth to remaine incorrupt if the incorruption doth not depart from the soule For what the body suffreth through violence there being no precedent lust it is rather to bee reputed vexation than corruption Or if every such vexation bee corruption yet every corruption is not then dishonest but onely that which lust hath procured or
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
bring an habite and he who often lyeth for his profit will within a while be so inured unto it that he will bee ready to lye out of meere vanity and love of lying for his pleasure and delight Yea he will be ready to lye when hee never thinketh of it and as the skilfull Musition who hath brought his hand by much practice to an habite will play his lesson when his minde is on some other matter so when by custome men are come to an habite of lying they will lye at unawares and if they bee challenged for it they are ready to lye againe by denying that they lyed In respect of which habite and custome Saint Chrysostome saith that a lyar will continue to lye even after death He that lyeth saith he being not deceived by the seduction of the Divell but willingly and of set purpose will never leave to lye no not after death for death separateth the soule from the body but doth not change the purpose of lying wilt thou know this consider those lyars even after death Lord in thy name we have done this and that Did not they know in themselves that they never loved Christ nor did his Will yes but they thinke that as in this world they have deceived men so also there that they can deceive even God himselfe and therefore hee doth not say depart from me ye that have wrought iniquity but ye that now worke it because wicked men cease not to be wicked no not after death seeing though they cannot now sin yet they retain still their purpose of sining Thirdly the lyar sinneth against his owne soule §. 4. That the Lyar robbeth himselfe of his good name and credit Eccles 7. 1. Prov. 22. 1. in that by his lying hee robbeth himselfe of a most precious jewell even of a good name which is better than a precious oyntment and much to be preferred before great riches for a poore man being true and honest is better than alyar though never so rich Prov. 19. 22. as the wise man telleth us Neither is it possible that a man should hold his reputation when hee hath by lying lost all opinion of his truth but his words are esteemed no better than winde and if there be no clearer evidence for what he saith then his bare word hee is no more beleeved when hee speaketh truth than when he lyeth according to that of the sonne of Syrach Of an uncleane thing what Eccli 34. 4. can be cleansed and from that which is false what truth can come Now what greater mischiefe can befall a man in this life than to live infamous what greater losse than to loose a good name And when it is once lost what can againe bee more hardly recovered If wee loose our riches by labour and industry we may recover them If wee loose our health by physicke and good dyet it may be regained If our bodies be sore wounded they may be cured but if we once loose our fame and have woundes inflicted into our good names and reputation they hardly admit of any cure or if the wound bee healed there will ever after remaine a scarre But there is no more ready way to bring this evill of dishonour upon us than to bee accounted common lyars for as the son of Syrach telleth us The disposition of a lyar is dishonourable and Eccli 20. 26. his shame is ever with him And the wise man teacheth us the same lesson A righteous man saith hee hateth lying but the wicked man that is as the antithesis Prov. 13. 5. inferreth such an one as loveth lyes is loathsome and commeth to shame Neither can there in common repute a greater shame befall a man than to bee esteemed and called a lyar whereof it is that the very name is so much abhorred in all Nations and amongst all conditions of Men yea even those that make no conscience of committing the sinne that by a certaine kinde of propriety or eminency it is called the word of disgrace and no greater injury or affront can be offered unto them than that any upon any cause yea even when they deserve it shall give them the lye Although I thinke that our great gallants doe not take the word so much to heart because their truth is questioned and impeached for then they would hate the vice it selfe as much as the name as because it toucheth them in their valour and courage seeing lying is a base and cowardly vice into which men oftentimes fall out of meere feare and because they dare not speake or stand to the truth Fourthly this vice of lying maketh us odious §. 5. That lyes make men odious unto God and men both to God and men First God abhorreth lyars and hateth lyes because they are contrary to his Nature and to his Law and not onely very sinfull in themselves but also the causes of much wickednesse And therefore Salomon numbreth it amongst those seaven abominations which God abhorreth A proude looke a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent Prov. 6. 17. Prov. 12. 22. blood And againe lying lippes are an abomination to the Lord but they that deale truly are his delight And wisedome even that eternall Word and Wisedome of the Father his onely deare Sonne professeth that his mouth should speake truth and that Prov. 8. 7. wickednesse that is the iniquity of lying as the antithesis sheweth is an abomination to his lippes now how odious ought this vice to be unto us that maketh us odious unto God and how ought we to love and imbrace Truth which God so much loveth according to that of Ieremy O Lord are not Jer. 5. 3. thine eyes upon the Truth namely to approve love and reward it for he loveth Truth and desireth it above all things in the inward parts as the Psalmist Zech. 8. 19. speaketh And who would not love that which God loveth and embrace and delight in that in which God delighteth and will reward Secondly it maketh lyars odious unto men as being a dishonest and dishonourable vice reprehended and condemned of all as unworthy an ingenuous civill man and much more a Christian who professeth himselfe a servant and childe of the God of Truth But especially it is hurtfull to those that feare God and love his truth and maketh those that make and love lyes odious in their eyes according to that of the wise Salomon A righteous man hateth lying but Prov. 13. 5. a wicked man that is a wicked lyar is loathsome and commeth to shame An example whereof wee have in David I have saith hee hated them that regard Psal 31. 5. lying vanities And againe I hate and abhorre lying Psal 119. 163. but thy Law doe I love Yea hee maketh this a note and signe of a blessed man that hee dis-respecteth lyars Blessed is the man saith he that respecteth not Psal 40. 4. the proud nor such as turne aside to lyes
Lyes because they looke onely to the present and not to eternity and chuse rather thereby to hazard their soules and bodies to everlasting destruction than to suffer temporary evils or to endanger themselves to present punishments And therefore if we would avoid Lying let us mortifie this carnall feare and consider for this end how much more fearefull it is to fall into the hands of the everliving God who is a consuming Fire than into the hands of mortall men who when they have done their worst can but punish or kill the body whereas he Matth. 10. 28. is able to cast body and soule into hell as our Saviour speaketh Secondly wee must if wee would avoid Lying mortifie our carnall love of the world and earthly things whereby wee are ordinarily tempted to the committing of this sin For who doth not see that they who set their hearts immoderately on riches are ready upon all occasions to lye and deceive that they may get and encrease their wealth and that they who dotingly affect honours make no scruple to supplant others by their Lyes and machievellian policies and deceits that they may raise themselves by their ruine The fourth meanes is that we bee more carefull §. 8. The fourth meanes is that we be more carefull to flie sinne than the punishment due unto it to flie sinne than the punishment due unto it and to avoid Lying than the evils of smart and shame that doe accompany it For what is the reason which moveth men so often to fall into this sin of Lying but because they make no conscience of sinne and when they have committed it and expect disgrace or punishment if it should come to light they use all their lying Arts to hide it facing and out-facing the Trueth that their faults may not be discovered nor they punished according to their demerits Whereas if men should labour in all things to keepe a good conscience they would not feare to have what they doe knowne unto any and if they walked in the wayes of innocency they would not feare to goe in the wayes of Trueth And therefore if we would not lye wee must carefully avoid the doing of any thing which being done if we be examined we are not willing to confesse or if through frailty and infirmity we have failed in our duty let us rather acknowledge our fault than hide and excuse it by a lye and chuse rather to undergoe the penalty and punishment than to free our selves from it by committing sinne To which end let us consider that sinne is the greatest evill as being an offence against an infinite Justice and Majestie provoking an infinite wrath and so deserving as the due merit of it an infinite and everlasting punishment And therefore what is all the shame and punishment of this world unto which wee shall indanger our selves by acknowledging our faults and confessing the Truth in comparison of Gods wrath which is a consuming fire and which by lying wee kindle against us and those everlasting Torments in the flames of Hell The fifth meanes is to use all our lawfull indeavour §. 9. The fifth meanes that we with all lawfull indeavour shun poverty for the preventing of poverty and to get such a sufficiency and competency of estate as that we may have wherewith to provide necessaries for our selves and those that belong unto us and to supply craving and pressing wants when they importune us For as the immoderate love and desire of riches and aboundance is a strong tentation to draw men to this sinne of lying as I have shewed so the feare of want and the sense and smart of penury is no lesse potent and powerfull to make them leave truth and to tell lyes when they seeme helpefull for the bettering of their estate And this wee finde by dayly experience for who seeth not that lyes above all sorts of men are most frequently used among them that are of poorest condition being necessitated hereunto by their pinching wants and penury And this the wise Agur well knew who having intreated God to remove Prov. 30. 8. farre from him vanity and lyes prayeth in the next place that he would give unto him neither poverty nor riches but feede him with foode convenient for him because as they who desire abundance commonly use lying that they may get and increase their wealth so they that live in want and misery doe as usually fall into this sinne of lying that they may supply their necessities and free themselves from the smart of penury In which respect those that will avoide this sinne of lying must doe their best to preserve themselves from extreame poverty and to this end use all good providence in getting and keeping a sufficient competency of estate and all industry diligence and painefulnesse in the duties of their particular callings craving Gods blessing upon their labours who onely giveth power to get riches and except he build the house they labour in Prov. 10. 22. Deut. 8. 18. Psal 127. 1. vaine that build it For as the Apostle speaketh of stealing so I may say the same of lying let him that lyed lye no more but rather let him labour working Eph. 4. 28. with his hands the thing that is good that hee may have to give to him that needeth seeing it is no lesse possible to avoide lying than stealing if through negligence in our callings wee fall into want and penury The last and chiefe meanes is fervent and effectuall §. 10. The sixth meanes is effectuall Prayer prayer unto God that he will fill our hearts with Grace and Trueth and with his Holy Spirit leade and guide us in it that hee will worke an high esteeme and love of Truth in us and an utter detestation of lying which is so dishonourable unto him and pernicious unto us and that hee will set a watch before our mouthes and keepe the doore of our Psal 141. 3. lippes that no lyes may issue out of them wherein we have David for our example who prayeth earnestly that God would remove from him the way of lying in which hee was apt to walke if he should Psal 119. 29. be left unto his naturall corruption as hee had divers times found by woefull experience and also the wise Agur who prayeth fervently that God would remove farre from him vanity and lyes the which it seemeth hee so much detested that hee could not indure the very neighbor-hood of them Neither is it inough that we use the former means unlesse God by his blessing give such vertue and power unto them that they may preserve us from this sinne nor with David that we resolve to looke to our wayes and keepe our mouthes with a bridle that wee offend not with our tongues for as the Apostle Iames telleth us The tongue is a fire and a world of iniquity Jam. 3. 6 8. and an unruly evill which no man can tame unlesse the Lord joyne with