A Christian Directory Volume I Part 90

[Sidenote: How sin is voluntary.]

I conclude then, that a lie is the voluntary a.s.serting of a falsehood.

And the more it tendeth to the injury of another, the more it is aggravated; but it is one thing to be injurious, and another thing to be a lie. When I name a falsehood, I mean that which is apt to deceive the hearer. So that it is necessary to the being of a lie, that it be deceitful, though the purpose of deceiving be found only in the more explicit sort of lies; for _falsum dicitur a fallendo_, it were not false, if it were not deceitful, or apt to deceive. For an unapt or figurative expression which hath a right sense as used by the speaker and hearer, is no falsehood. In one language a double negative affirmeth; and in another a double negative is a more vehement kind of denial; and yet neither is to be called by the others an untruth. By a.s.serting, I mean any expression that maketh the falsehood our own, as distinct from an historical narration; for it is not lying to repeat a lie, as only telling what another said. By voluntary, I mean not only that which is done knowingly, upon actual will and deliberate choice, or consent; but also that which is done _ex culpa voluntatis_, by the fault of the will, and is to be imputed to the will.[500] For it is of great necessity to observe this about every sin, that whereas we truly say, that all sin is voluntary, and no further sin than voluntary; yet by voluntary, here, is not meant only that which is actually willed; but all that the will is guilty of. For it is true that Austin saith, _Ream linguam non facit nisi rea mens_, The tongue is not made guilty, but by a guilty mind. But then it must be known, that the mind or will is guilty of forbidden omissions as well as actions: and so it is a lie or voluntary untruth, when the mind and will do not restrain the tongue from it when they ought. As, 1. When a man erreth or is ignorant through wilful sloth or negligence, and so speaketh falsely when he thinks it true; this is a culpable falsehood, and so a lie; because he might have avoided it and did not: and this is the case of most false teachers and heretics. So, also, if a man will through pa.s.sion, custom, or carelessness, let his tongue run before his wits, and speak falsely for want of considering or heeding what he saith, this is a culpable untruth, and a lie, and it is voluntary; because the will should have prevented it and did not; though yet there was no purpose to deceive.

You see then that there are two degrees of lying. 1. The grossest is the speaking of a known falsehood, with a purpose to deceive. 2. The other is the speaking falsely through culpable ignorance, error, or inconsiderateness.

_Direct._ I. Be well informed of the evil of the sin of lying; for the common cause of it is, that men think that there is no great harm in it, unless some one be greatly wronged by it: but it is not forbidden by G.o.d only because it wrongeth others, but it hath all this evil in it.

1. Lying is the perverting of man's n.o.ble faculties, and turning them clean contrary to their natural use. G.o.d gave man a tongue to express his mind, and reveal the truth; and lying doth monstrously turn it to the hindering of the mind and truth, yea, to the venting of the contrary to both. And as it is the evil of drunkenness to be a voluntary madness or corruption of so n.o.ble a faculty as reason, so it is the fault of lying, to be corrupting, perverting, and deforming both of the mind and tongue; and by confusion, a destroying of G.o.d's work and creature as to its proper use.[501]

2. Lying is the enemy and destroyer of truth: and truth is a thing divine, of unspeakable excellency and use. It is G.o.d's instrument by which he maketh men wise, and good, and happy. Therefore if he should not make strict laws for the preservation of so excellent a thing as truth, he should not secure the happiness of the world. As to the securing of men's lives it is not enough to make a law that you shall not kill men without just cause (though that be all that the law intendeth to attain); for then every man being left to judge, would think there were just cause whenever his pa.s.sion or interest told him so; but the law is, You shall not kill at all without the judgment of the magistrate: so, if the law against lying did intend no more than the securing men from the injuries of error and deceit, yet would it not have been a sufficient means, to have said only, You shall not injure men by lying; for then men would have judged of the injury by their own interests and pa.s.sions; but much more is it needful to have a stricter law, when truth itself is the thing that G.o.d intendeth to secure, as well as the interest of men. In the eyes of christians, and heathens, and all mankind that have not unmanned themselves, there appeareth a singular beauty and excellency in truth. Aristotle could say, that the nature of man is made for truth. Cicero could say, that _Quod verum, simplex, sincerumque est, id naturae hominis accommodatissimum est_: Verity and virtue were ever taken as the inseparable perfections of man. Pythagoras could say, that to love truth and do good, were the two things that made man likest to G.o.d, and therefore were his two most excellent gifts. Plato could say, that truth was the best rhetoric and the sweetest oration. Epictetus could say, that truth is a thing immortal, eternal, of all things most precious; better than friends.h.i.+p, as being less obnoxious to blind affections. Jamblichus could say, that as light naturally and constantly accompanieth the sun, so truth accompanieth G.o.d and all that follow him. Epaminondas is praised for that he would not lie, no not in jest. Pomponius Atticus was so great a hater of a lie, that all his friends were desirous to trust him with their business, and use him as their counsellor. He knoweth not what use man's understanding or his tongue were made for, that knoweth not the excellency of truth.[502] Let a Pilate only ask as a stranger, "What is truth?" John xviii. 38, as Pharaoh asked, "Who is the Lord?" "For this end Christ himself came into the world, to bear witness to the truth, and every one that is of the truth will hear him," John xviii. 37. "He is the truth," John xiv. 6, and "full of grace and truth," John i. 14. "Grace and truth came by him," John i. 17. His Spirit is given to "guide his servants into the truth," John xvi. 13, and to "sanctify them by the truth," John xvii. 19, that "knowing the truth, it might make them free," John viii. 32. "The fruit of the Spirit is in all truth," Eph.

v. 9. His ministers can "do nothing against the truth, but for the truth," 2 Cor. xiii. 8. "Truth" is the "girdle" that must "gird our loins," Eph. vi. 14. The "church" is the "pillar" and "ground of truth," 1 Tim. iii. 15. The faithful are "they that believe and know the truth," 1 Tim. iv. 3. "Speaking the truth in love," is the way of the churches' growth and edification, Eph. iv. 15. "Repentance" is given men, "to the acknowledging of the truth, that they may escape out of the power of the devil," 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26. The dullards are they that are "never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," 2 Tim. iii. 7. "They are men of perverse minds that resist the truth," 2 Tim. iii. 8. "They that receive not the truth in the love of it cannot be saved," 2 Thess. ii. 10. All they "are d.a.m.ned that believe not the truth," 2 Thess. ii. 12, 13. You see what truth is in the judgment of G.o.d and all the sober world. Therefore a lie, that is contrary to truth as darkness to light, must be equally odious as truth is amiable: no wonder therefore if it be absolutely forbidden of G.o.d.

3. You may the easier perceive this by considering, that other faults of the tongue, as idle talk, swearing, and such like, are forbidden, not only because they are a hurt to others, but for the intrinsical evil in the thing itself: great reason therefore that it should be so in this.

4. Lying is a vice which maketh us most unlike to G.o.d. For he is called the "G.o.d of truth," Psal. x.x.xi. 5; Deut. x.x.xii. 4. All his "ways" are "mercy and truth," Psal. xxv. 10. His "judgment is according to truth," Rom. ii. 2. "It is impossible for G.o.d to lie,"

Heb. vi. 18; t.i.t. i. 2. His word is the "word of truth," Psal. cxix.

43; Col. i. 5; 2 Tim. ii. 15; Jam. i. 15; 2 Cor. vi. 7. And who shall "dwell in his tabernacle," but those that "speak the truth in their hearts," Psal. xv. 2.[503] The disconformity of the soul to G.o.d, then, being its greatest deformity, in things wherein it is made to be conformed to him, it may hence appear that lying is an odious sin.

And this may the easilier appear, if you consider, what a case the world were in if G.o.d could lie, and were not of undoubted truth: we should then be sure of nothing; and therefore could have no sure information by his word, no sure direction and guidance by his precepts, and no sure consolation in any of his promises. Therefore that which maketh us so unlike to the true G.o.d, must needs be odious.

5. Lying is the image or work of the devil, and liars are his children in a special sort: for Christ telleth us that he "abode not in the truth, for there is no truth in him; when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it," John viii. 44. The proud, the malicious, and the liars, are in a special sort the children of the devil; for these three are in Scripture in a special manner made the devil's sins.[504] Therefore sure there is an intrinsical evil and odiousness in a lie. It was Satan that filled the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Ghost, Acts v. 3. To change the "truth of G.o.d into a lie," and "to make G.o.d a liar," are therefore the most odious sins, Rom. i. 25; 1 John v. 10; because it is a feigning him to be like the devil: and should we make ourselves like him then by the same vice? If you love not the devil's sin and image, love not a lie.

6. Lying destroyeth human converse, and bringeth most pernicious confusion into the affairs of mankind. If truth be excluded, men cannot buy and sell, and trade, and live together. It would be sufficient to destroy their rational converse if they had no tongues; but much more to have false tongues: silence openeth not the mind at all; lying openeth it not when it pretendeth to open it, and falsely representeth it to be what it is not. And therefore though you say, that your lies do no such hurt; yet seeing this is the nature and tendency of lying as such, it is just and merciful in the righteous G.o.d, to banish all lying by the strictest laws:[505] as the whole nature of serpents is so far at enmity with the nature of man, that we hate and kill them though they never did hurt us, because it is in their nature to hurt us; so G.o.d hath justly and mercifully condemned all lying, because its nature tendeth to the desolation and confusion of the world; and if any indulgence were given to it, all iniquity and injustice would presently like an inundation overwhelm us all.

7. Lying tendeth directly to perjury itself. It is the same G.o.d that forbiddeth them both: and when once the heart is hardened in the one, it is but a step further to the other. Cicero could observe, that he that is used to lie, will easily be perjured. A seared conscience that tolerateth one, will easily be brought to bear the other.

8. There is a partiality in the liar that condemneth himself, and the sin in another, which in himself he justifieth; for there is no man that would have another lie to him. As Austin saith, I have known many that would deceive, but never any that would be deceived.[506] If it be good, why should not all others lie to thee? If it be bad, why wilt thou lie to others? Is not thy tongue under the same law as theirs?

Dost thou like it in thy children and in thy servants? If not, it should seem much worse to thee in thyself, as thou art most concerned in thy own actions.

9. Judge what lying is by thy own desire and expectation to be believed. Wouldst thou not have men believe thee, whether thou speak truth or not? I know thou wouldst; for the liar loseth his end if he be known to lie, and be not believed. And is it a reasonable desire or expectation in thee to have men to believe a lie? If thou wouldst be believed, speak that which is to be believed.

10. Lying maketh thee to be always incredible, and so to be useless or dangerous to others; for he that will lie doth leave men uncertain whether ever he speak truth, unless there be better evidence of it than his credibility. As Aristotle saith, A liar gets this by lying, that n.o.body will believe him when he speaks the truth. How shall I know that he speaketh truth to-day who lied yesterday? unless open repentance recover his credibility. Truth will defend itself, and credit him that owneth it at last; but falsehood is indefensible, and will shame its patrons. Saith Petrarch excellently, As truth is immortal, so a fiction and lie endureth not long: dissembled matters are quickly opened; as the hair that is combed and set with great diligence is ruffled with a little blast of wind; and the paint that is laid on the face with a deal of labour, is washed off with a little sweat: the craftiest lie cannot stand before the truth; but is transparent to him that nearly looketh into it; every thing that is covered is soon uncovered: shadows pa.s.s away; and the native colour of things remaineth: it is a great labour to keep hidden long. No man can live long under water; he must needs come forth, and show the face which he concealed.[507] At the furthest G.o.d at the day of judgment will lay open all.

_Direct._ II. If you would avoid lying, take heed of guilt.[508]

Unclean bodies need a cover; and are most ashamed to be seen.

Faultiness causeth lying; and lying increaseth the fault. When men have done that which they are afraid or ashamed to make known, they think there is a necessity of using their art to keep it secret. But wit and craft are no good subst.i.tute for honesty; such patches make the rent much worse. But because the corrupted heart of man will be thus working and flying to deceitful s.h.i.+fts, prevent the cause and occasion of your lying. Commit not the fault that needs a lie.

Avoiding it is much better than hiding it, if you were sure to keep it never so close. As indeed you are not; for commonly truth will come to light. It is the best way in the world to avoid lying, to be innocent; and do nothing which doth fear the light: truth and honesty do not blush, nor desire to be hid. Children and servants are much addicted to this crime: when their folly, or wantonness, or appet.i.tes, or slothfulness, or carelessness hath made them faulty, they presently study a lie to hide it with; which is to go to the devil to entreat him to defend or cover his own works. But wise, and obedient, and careful, and diligent, and conscionable children and servants, have need of no such miserable s.h.i.+fts.

_Direct._ III. Fear G.o.d more than man, if you would not be liars.[509]

The excessive fear of man is a common cause of lying; this maketh children so apt to lie, to escape the rod; and most persons that are obnoxious to much hurt from others, are in danger of lying to avoid their displeasure. But why fear you not G.o.d more, whose displeasure is unspeakably more terrible? Your parents or master will be angry, and threaten to correct you; but G.o.d threateneth to d.a.m.n you; and his wrath is a consuming fire: no man's displeasure can reach your souls, and extend to eternity: will you run into h.e.l.l to escape punishment on earth? Remember, whenever you are tempted to escape any danger by a lie, that you run into a thousandfold greater danger, and that no hurt that you escape by it, can possibly be half so great as the hurt it bringeth. It is as foolish a course as to cure the tooth-ache by cutting off the head.

_Direct._ IV. Get down your pride, and over-much regard of the thoughts of men, if you would not be liars. Pride makes men so desirous of reputation, and so impatient of the hard opinion of others, that all the honest endeavours of the proud are too little to procure the reputation they desire, and therefore lying must make up the rest. Shame is so intolerable a suffering to them, that they make lies the familiar cover of their nakedness. He that hath not riches, hath pride, and would be thought somebody, and therefore will set out his estate by a lie. He that hath not eminency of parentage and birth, if he have pride will make himself a gentleman by a lie. He that is a contemptible person at home, if he be proud, will make himself honourable among strangers by a lie. He that wanteth learning, degrees, or any thing that he would be proud of, will endeavour by a lie to supply his wants: even as wanton women by the actual lie of painting, would make themselves beautiful, through a proud desire to be esteemed. Especially he that committeth a shameful crime, if he be proud will rather venture on a lie than on the shame. But if your pride be cured, your temptation to lying will be as nothing; you will be so indifferent in matters of honour or reputation, as not to venture your souls on G.o.d's displeasure for it: not that any should be impudent, or utterly regardless of their reputation; but none should overvalue it, nor prefer it before their souls, nor seek it by unlawful means. Avoid shame by well-doing, and spare not: (only see that you have a higher end.) Seneca saith, There are more that abstain from sin through shame, than through virtue or a good will: it is well when virtue is so much in credit, and vice in discredit, that those that have not the virtue would fain have the name, and those that will not leave the vice, would escape the shame; and it is well that there are human motives to restrain them that care not for divine ones. But as human motives cause no saving virtues; so devilish and wicked means are far from preventing any pernicious hurt, being the certain means to procure it.[510]

_Direct._ V. Avoid ambition, and human, unnecessary dependence, if you would avoid lying. For the ambitious give up themselves to men; and therefore flattering must be their trade; and how much of lying is necessary to the composition of flattery, I need not tell you. Truth is seldom taken for the fittest instrument of flattery. It is contrarily the common road to hatred: _Libere et sine adulatione veritatem praedicantes, et gesta pravae vitae arguentes, gratiam non habent apud homines_, saith Ambrose. They that preach truth freely and without flattery, and reprove the deeds of a wicked life, find not favour with men. _Veritatem semper inimicitiae persequuntur_:[511]

Hatred is the shadow of truth, as envy is of happiness. When Aristippus was asked why Dionysius spake so much against him, he answered, for the same reason that all other men do; intimating that it was no wonder if the tyrant was impatient of truth and plain dealing, when it is so with almost all mankind: they are so culpable, that all but flatterers seem to handle them too hard, and hurt their sores. And herein lieth much of the misery of great men, that few or none deal truly with them, but they are flattered into perdition: saith Seneca, _Divites c.u.m omnia habent, unum illis deest; scilicet qui verum dicat: si enim in clientelam faelicis hominis potentumque perveneris, aut veritas aut amicitia perdenda est_: One thing rich men want when they have all things, that is, a man to speak the truth: for if thou become the dependant or client of prosperous or great men, thou must cast away (or lose) either the truth or their friends.h.i.+p.[512] Hierom thought that therefore Christ had not a house to put his head in, because he would flatter n.o.body, and therefore n.o.body would entertain him in the city. And the worst of all is, that where flattery reigneth, it is taken for a duty, and the neglect of it for a vice: as Hieron. (ad Cel.) saith, _Quodque gravissimum est, quia humilitatis ac benevolentiae loco ducitur, ita fit ut qui adulari nescit, aut invidus aut superbus reputetur_, i. e. And, which is most grievous, because it goes for humility and kindness, it comes to pa.s.s that he that cannot flatter is taken to be envious or proud. But the time will come, that the flatterer will be hated even by him that his fallacious praises pleased. Deceit and lies do please the flattered person but a while; even till he find the bitterness of the effects, and the fruit have told him that it was but a sugared kind of enmity: and therefore he will not long be pleased with the flatterer himself.

Flattery ever appeareth at last, to be but _perniciosa dulcedo_, as Austin calls it. Saith the same Austin, (in Psal. lix.) There are two sorts of persecutors, the opposer (or dispraiser) and the flatterer: but the tongue of the flatterer hurteth more than the hand of the persecutor.[513] And think not that any man's greatness or favour will excuse thee or save thee harmless in thy lies; for G.o.d that avengeth them is greater than the greatest. Saith Austin, (li. de Mendac.) _Quisquis autem esse aliquod genus mendacii, quod peccatum non sit putaverit, decipiet semetipsum turpiter, c.u.m honestum se deceptorem arbitretur aliorum_, i. e. Whoever thinks that there is any kind of lie that is no sin, he deceiveth himself foully, whilst he thinks himself an honest deceiver of others. "Be not the servants of men," 1 Cor. vii. 23, if you would be true.

_Direct._ VI. Love not covetousness, if you would not be liars.[514] A lie will seem to a covetous man an easy means to procure his gain, to get a good bargain, or put off a cracked commodity for more than it is worth. _Rupere fdus, impius lucri furor, et ira praeceps._ Sen. Hip.

He that loveth money better than G.o.d and conscience, will for money displease G.o.d and conscience, by this or any other sin.

_Direct._ VII. Learn to trust G.o.d, if you would not be liars.[515] For lying is the practice of him that thinks he must provide and s.h.i.+ft for himself. Even Abraham's and Isaac's equivocation, (saying their wives were their sisters,) and David's feigning himself mad, proceeded from some distrust in G.o.d: they would not have thought it necessary so to s.h.i.+ft for their lives, if they had fully trusted G.o.d with their lives. Gehazi's covetousness and lying did both proceed from a want of confidence in G.o.d. If a man were confident of G.o.d's protection, and that he had better stand to G.o.d's choice in all things than his own, what use could he think he hath for lying, or for any sinful s.h.i.+ft?

_Direct._ VIII. Be not too credulous of bad reports, if you would not be liars. Malice is so mad, and so unconscionable a sin, and the tongues of men are commonly so careless of what they say, that if you easily believe evil, you do but easily believe the devil, and thereby make yourselves his servants in divulging malicious lies. You think because they are spoken by many, and spoken confidently, you may lawfully believe or report what you hear. But this is but to think that the commonness of liars, and their malice and impudence, will warrant you to follow them, even because they are so bad. Will you bark and bite because that dogs do so? If a man be stung with an adder, you should help to cure him, and not desire yourselves to sting him: selfish, and interested, and malicious, and partial, factious persons, are so commonly liars, and impudent in their lies, that it behoveth you, if you would not be liars yourselves, to take heed of reporting any thing they say. These spiders will weave a web of the air, or out of their own bowels.[516]

_Direct._ IX. Be not rash in speaking things before you have tried them.

Consider what you say, and know before you speak. Is it not a shame when you have spoken falsely, to come off with saying, I thought it had been true? But why will you speak upon thought, and not stay till you better understood the case? If the matter required such haste in speaking, you should have said no more than, I think it is so. "Prove all things," and then "hold that which is good," and a.s.sert that which is true. Saith Cicero, de Nat. Deor. 1. 1. _Nihil est temeritate turpius, nec quicquam tam indignum sapientis gravitate aut constantia, quam out falsum sentire, aut quod non satis explorate perceptum sit et cognitum, sine ulla dubitatione defendere_: Nothing is more unseemly than temerity: nor any thing so unworthy the gravity or constancy of a wise man, than either to hold a falsehood, or confidently to defend that which is not received and known upon sufficient trial.[517]

_Direct._ X. Foresee that which is like to entrap you in a lie, that you may prevent it. Let not the occasion and temptation surprise you unprepared. Foresight will make the temptation easy to be overcome, which unforeseen will be too strong for you.

_Direct._ XI. Get a tender conscience, and walk as in the sight and hearing of G.o.d, and as one that is pa.s.sing to his judgment.[518] A seared conscience dare venture upon lies or any thing; but the fear of G.o.d is the soul's preservative. What makes men lie, but thinking they have to do with none but men? For they think by a lie to deceive a man, and hide the truth; but if they remembered that they have most to do with G.o.d, and that he is always present who cannot be deceived, and that his judgment will bring all secret things to light, and detect all their lies before all the world, they would not hire a torn and dirty cloak at so dear a rate, for so short a time. No wonder if men are liars that fear not G.o.d, and believe not the day of judgment.

_Direct._ XII. To save others from lying as well as yourselves, be sure to watch against it in your children, and wisely help them to see the evil of it. For children are very p.r.o.ne to it; and unwise correction frighteneth them into lies to save themselves, as indulgence and connivance do encourage them to it. Make them oft read such texts as these: Lev. xix. 11, "Ye shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie one to another." Psal. xv. 2, "He that speaketh the truth from his heart," &c.[519] Isa. x.x.xvi. 8, "He said, Surely they are my people; children that will not lie; so he was their Saviour."

John viii. 44, "The devil is a liar, and the father of it." Rev. xxi.

27; xxii. 15, "There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth--or maketh a lie--For without are dogs--and whoever loveth and maketh a lie." Psal. lxiii. 11, "The mouth of him that speaketh lies shall be stopped." Psal. ci. 11, "He that speaketh lies shall not tarry in my sight." Prov. xix. 5, 9, "A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape" (shall perish). Prov. xxix. 12, "If a ruler hearken to lies all his servants are wicked:" so Psal. x.x.xi. 18; lii. 3. Psal. cxix. 163, "I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love." Prov. xiii. 5, "A righteous man hateth lying." Eph. iv. 35, "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another:" q.

d. A man would not lie to deceive his own members; no more should we to deceive one another. In a word, where the love of G.o.d and man prevaileth, there truth prevaileth; but where self-love, partiality, and carnal self-interest prevail, there lying is a household servant, and thought a necessary means to these ends.

But because lying is so common and so great a sin, and many cases occur about it daily, though I think what is said offereth matter enough to answer them, I shall mention some more of them distinctly, to help their satisfaction who cannot accommodate general answers to all their particular cases.

_Quest._ I. Is frequent known lying a certain sign of a graceless state, that is, a mortal sin, proving the sinner to be in a state of d.a.m.nation?

_Answ._ The difficulty of this case doth no more concern lying, than any other sin of equal malignity. Therefore I must refer you to those places where I have opened the difference between mortal, reigning sins, and infirmities. At present take this brief solution. 1. It is a thing of too great difficulty, to determine just how many acts of a great sin may consist with a present state of grace (that is, of right by covenant to heaven). 2. All sin which consisteth with an habitual, predominant love of G.o.d and holiness, consisteth with a state of life, and no other. 3.

He that seldom or never committeth such external crimes, and yet loveth not G.o.d, and heaven, and holiness above all the pleasures and interests of the flesh, is in a state of death. 4. It is certain that this love to G.o.d and holiness is not predominant, whose carnal interest and l.u.s.t hath ordinarily in the drift and tenor of his life, more power to draw him to the wilful committing of known sin, than the said love of G.o.d, and heaven, and holiness have to keep him from it. For his servants men are, whom they obey, whether it be sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness, Rom. vi. 16. 5. Therefore the way to know whether sin be mortified, or mortal, is, (1.) By feeling the true bent of the will, whether we love or hate it. (2.) By observing the true bent and tenor of our lives, whether G.o.d's interest in us, or the contrary, be predominant when we are ourselves, and are tempted to such sins. 6. He that will sin thus as oft as will stand with saving grace, shall never have the a.s.surance of his sincerity, or the peace or comfort of a sound believer, till he repent and lead a better life. 7. He that in his sin retaineth the spirit of adoption, or the image of G.o.d, or habitual divine love, hath also habitual and virtual repentance for that very sin, before he actually repenteth; because he hath that habitual hatred of it, which will cause actual repentance, when he is composed to act according to his predominant habits. 8. In the mean time the state of such a sinner is, neither to be unregenerate, carnal, unholy, as he was before conversion, and so to lose all his right to life; nor yet to have so full a right as if he had not sinned: but a bar is put in against his claim, which must be removed before his right be full, and such as is ripe for present possession. 9. There are some sins which all men continue in while they live. As defect in the degrees of faith, hope, love, &c.; vain thoughts, words, disorder, pa.s.sions, &c. And these sins are not totally involuntary; otherwise they were no sins. Yea, the evil is prevalent in the will against the good, so far as to commit those sins, though not so far as to vitiate the bent of heart or life. 10.

There are some sins which none on earth do actually repent of, viz.

those that they know not to be sins; and those that they utterly forget; and those faults which they are guilty of just at the time of dying. 11.

In these cases, virtual, or implicit, or habitual repentance doth suffice to the preventing of d.a.m.nation. As also a will to have lived perfectly sufficeth in the case of continued imperfections.[520] 12.

Things work not on the will as they are in themselves; but as they are apprehended by the understanding: and that which is apprehended to be either of doubtful evil, or but a little sin and of little danger, will be much less resisted, and ofter committed, than sins that are clearly apprehended to be great. Therefore, where any sort of lie is apprehended thus, as of small or doubtful evil, it will be the ofter committed. 13.

If this apprehension be wrong, and come from the predominancy of a carnal or unG.o.dly heart, which will not suffer the understanding to do its office, nor to take that to be evil which he would not leave, then both the judgment and the lie are mortal, and not mortified, pardoned sins. 14. But if this misapprehension of the understanding do come from natural impotency, or unavoidable want of better information, or only from the fault of a vicious inclination, which yet is not predominant, but is the remnant of a vice which is mortified in the main; then neither the error nor the often lying is a mortal, but a mortified sin.

As, for instance, If false teachers (as the Jesuits) should persuade a justified person, that a lie that hurteth no man, but is officious, is but a venial or no sin, it is possible for such a person often to commit it, though he err not altogether innocently. 15. Though it is true that all good christians should not indulge the smallest sin, and that true grace will make a man willing to forsake the least, yet certain experience telleth us, that some constant sinning (aforenamed) doth consist with grace in all that have it upon earth; and therefore that lesser sins, as thoughts, pa.s.sions, are not resisted so much as greater be; and therefore that they are more indulged and favoured, or else they would not be committed. No good men rise up with so great and constant watchfulness against an idle thought or word, or a disorder in prayer, &c. as they do against a heinous sin.

He that would have this and all such cases resolved in a word, and not be put on trying the case by all these distinctions, must take another casuist, or rather a deceiver instead of a resolver: for I cannot otherwise resolve him.

_Quest._ II. Is it not contrary to the light of nature, to suffer, e.

g. a parent, a king, myself, my country, rather to be destroyed, than to save them by a harmless lie?

_Answ._ No. Because, 1. Particular good must give place to common. And if once a lie may pa.s.s for lawful in cases where it seemeth to be good, it will overthrow human converse, and debauch man's nature and the world.

2. And if one evil may be made a means for good, it will infer that others may be so too, and so will confound good and evil, and leave vicious man to take all for good which he thinks will do good. That is not to be called a harmless lie, which is simply evil, being against the law of G.o.d, against the order of nature, the use of human faculties, and the interest and converse of the sociable world.

3. The error of the objectors chiefly consisteth in thinking that nothing is further hurtful and morally evil, than as it doth hurt to some men in corporal respects. Whereas that is evil, which is against the universal rule of rect.i.tude, against the will of G.o.d, and against the nature and perfection of the agent; much more if it also tend to the hurt of other men's souls, by giving them an example of sinning.

4. And though there may sometimes be some human probability of such a thing, yet there is no certainty that ever it will so fall out, that a lie shall save the life of king, parent, or yourselves. For G.o.d can open the eyes of that enemy whom you think to blind by a lie, and cause him to know all the truth, and so take away that life, which you thought thus to have saved.

5. And there are lawful means enough to save your lives when it is best for you to save them. That is, obey G.o.d, and trust him with your lives, and he can save them without a lie, if it be best: and if it be not, it should not be desired.

6. And if men did not erroneously overvalue life, they would not think that a lie were necessary for it. When it is not necessary to live, it is not necessary to lie for life. But thus one sin brings on another: when carnal men overvalue life itself, and set more by it than by the fruition of G.o.d in the glory of heaven, they must needs then overvalue any means which seemeth necessary to preserve it. See Job xiii. 7-10; Prov. xiii. 17; Rom. vi. 15; iii. 7-9; Psal. v. 7; Hos. iv. 2; John viii. 44; Rev. xxi. 27; xxii. 15; Col. iii. 9; 1 John ii. 21.

7. Yet as to the degree of evil in the sin, I easily grant (with Augustine, Enchirid.) that _Multum interest quo animo et de quibus quisque mentiatur: non enim ita peccat qui consulendi, quomodo ille qui nocendi voluntate ment.i.tur: nec tantum nocet qui viatorem mentiendo in adversum iter mitt.i.t, quantum is qui viam vitae mendacio fallente depravat_.

_Object._ Are not the midwives rewarded by G.o.d for saving the Israelitish children by a lie?