very accoimt, tha,t they have lived under the warm sunshine of the gospel, Rev. xiv. 1-4, and xix. 1-8. And therefore I shall not charge this vile sin of slighting, scorning, and contemning the gospel upon them who, above all other men, were most exercised in a serious and hearty blessing and praising of God for his glorious gospel. Some there were that blessed God for their yearly incomes, and others there were that blessed God for their prosperous relations and friends, and many there were that blessed God for their deliverance from various perils and dangers ; but those that had the gospel working in power upon them, they made it their business and work above all to bless the Lord for the gospel ; and therefore who dare charge upon them the contempt of the gospel ? But,
[7.] Seventhly and lastly, There loere none loUMn nor ivithout the walls of Lo7idon that have suffered so many things and such hard things, for the eiijoyment of the gospel in its power and purity, as they have done ivho have found the -powerful a7id saving ivoi'Jc of the gospel upon their oivn souls. Such have been as signs and wonders in Israel, in London, Isa. viii. 18. Now what folly and vanity would it be to charge them . with slighting, scorning, and contemning of the gospel, who have been the only sufferers for the gospel's sake. And thus much for the twelfth i sin that brings the fiery dispensation upon cities and people.
7. The sin that hrings the fiery dispensation upon a people, and that provokes the Lord to lay their cities desolate, is a course, a trade of lying : Nahum iii. 1 , ' Woe to the bloody city, it is full of lies ; ' ver. 7, ' And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste, who will bemoan her ? whence shall I seek comforters for thee ?' ver. 13, ' Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women : the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thine enemies : the fire shall devour thy bars,' that is, thy strongholds ; for so the word hars is frequently taken, as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin. 2 Nineveh was a great city, a rich city, a populous city, a trading city, it was a city that was wholly made up of fraud and falsehood ; it was all full of lies, or it was full of all sorts of lies ; there was no truth to be found either in her private contracts or in her public transactions and capitulations with other nations ; and therefore the Lord resolves to lay her desolate, and to consume her with fire. So Jer. ix. 3, ' And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies;' ver. 5, 'And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth : they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity ;' ver. 9, ' Shall I not visit for these things ? saith the Lord : shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?' ver. 10, 'For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wil- derness a lamentation, because they are burnt uj) ; so that none can pass through them, neither can men hear the voice of the cattle ; both the fowl of the heavens and the beasts are fled, they are gone;' ver. ] 1, ' And I will make Jerusalem heaps,' (as London is this day,) ' and a
1 Qu. ' sixth ? '—Ed.
" 1 Sam. xxiii. 7; 1 Kings iv. 13; 2 Ciiron. viii. 5, and xiv. 7 ; Jer. xlix. 31, and 11. 30 ; Lam. ii. 9 ; Amos i. 5.
00 • London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judali desolate, without an inhabitant ;' ver. 12, ' Who is the wise man that may understand this ? and who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth, and is burnt up like a wilderness that none passeth through ?' Jer. xiii. 23. The Jews had so inured and accustomed their tongues to speak lies, they had got such a haunt, a habit, and custom of lying, that they could not leave it ; and this was the procuring cause of that dreadful and utter devas- tation that befell their city and country : Hosea iv. 1-3, ' Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel, for the Lord hatha controversy, with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of Grod in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that "dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven ; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.' This people made it their conmion practice to lie ; they were given up to a course, a trade of lying, which God here threatens to punish with an extreme and universal desolation. A lie is a voluntary and wilful telling of an untruth, with a purpose to deceive ; so that three things are required to the nature of a lie: (1.) There must be an untruth and falseness in the thing; (2.) This untruth must be known to be so, he must be conscious to himself that it is false ; (3.) He must have an intent and purpose to utter this falsehood with a desire or design to deceive another by it. Augustine makes eight sorts of lies, but the schoolmen reduce all to three : 1. Is Jocosum, the sporting lie ; 2. Is qfficiosmn, the helpful lie ; 3. Is permciosum, the pernicious and hurtful lie.
(1.) First, There is mendacmm jocomim, the sporting lie; and this is when men wiU lie and tell untruths to make men sport, to make men merry. Of this sin the prophet Hosca complains, chap. vii. 3, ' They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies' ^ Courtiers frame fictions, and tell ridiculous stories to delight princes. Among many courtiers loud lies are esteemed orna- ments and elegancies of speech ; and none are accounted so sweet and pleasant in their discourse as those that can tell the most pleasing lies ; but s.uch mirth-mongers and mirth-makers may do well to remember that sucli kind of mirth will bring bitterness in the end. If for ' every idle word that men shall speak, they must give an account in the day of judgment,' IMat. xii. 30, then surely nuich more for every lying word. And if foolish talking and jesting be condemned, then surely lying talking and jesting shall be nuich more condemned, if not here, yet in the great day, when all lying jesters shall holil up their hands at Christ's l)ar. Now were there none within nor without the walls of London that were guilty of merry lies, of sporting lies ? But,
(2.) Secondly, There is mendacium ojficiosum, the officious lie, the help/id lie ; and that is when a man lies to help himself or others at a pinch, at a dead lift. When men lie, either to prevent some danger they fear, or else to bring about some good they desire, then they tell an officious lie. Thus the Egyptian midwives lied, and thus Ilahab
Mt is a received opinion in these days, that, Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit vivere.