(3.) There is a pernicious lie, that is to the hurt and prejudice of another. Of tliis nature was the first lie, by which all mankind was ruined — the devil's lie to our first parents, ' Ye shall be as gods,' Gen. iii. 4, 5. And of this nature was the patriarchs' lie concerning Joseph, when they spake to his father, Gen. xxxvii. 31, 32, ' This have we found, and know not whether it be thy son's coat or no,' yet they knew well enough ; and that of the Jewish elders that said, Mat. xxviii. 12, 13, ' Say ye, his disciples came and stole him away while we slept.' All these are severely forbidden, but especially in point of witnessing in courts of judicature : Exod. xxiii. 1, ' Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness ; ' and ver. 7, ' Keep thee far from a false matter,' &c. Now some question whether all these lies be sin or no, sporting or officious lies. All these sorts of lies are sins ; for —
1. The scripture condemns all without restriction : Eph. iv. 25, 'Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour ; ' Eev. xxi. 8, all liars are shut out of the New Jerusalem, * And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone ;' and Eev. xxii. 15, ' Whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.'
2. They all violate the natural order and conformity which God hath appointed between the heart and the tongue ; and though ofiicious lies are not for the hurt, but the good of others, yet it is to the hurt and prejudice of truth. A man is not to lie for the glory of God, therefore certainly not for the good of another man ; you hurt your own soul more by sin than you can do him good. Augustine, treating of officious lies, he tells of one Firmus, who was Firmus nomine, et Jirmior voluntate — Firm by name, but more firm and fixed by will and resolved purpose ; therefore, when one was pursued for casual hoihi- cide, he concealed him; and being asked for him, answered, Nee meniiri se j)osse nee liominem 2'>^'odere — he could neither lie nor betray him. So much for the first thing, namely, what is a lie and lying.
282 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. XXX.
Secondly, For the reasons why the children of God should be far from it.
1. In regard of outward commerce. That which is contrary to human society should be odious to the children of God, who, as they are in a peculiar sense members one of another, so are also of the same political body, and therefore should ' speak truth one to another/ Eph, iv. 25. Human society is mostly upheld by truth. Where there is no truth, there can be no trust; where there is no trust, there can be no commerce; it makes men unfit to be trusted. When a man hath much counterfeit money offered to him in payment, though there may be some true gold and silver, yet he casts it away, and suspecteth it all. Men that are given to lying can have no credit nor faith with man, so they are unfit for human commerce ; therefore it should be far from men ; nay, it is the right of our neighbour that we should speak truth, for speech is a kind of traffic and commerce, and therefore it is a kind of theft to defraud your neighbour of his right, if you give him false words for true. Xow, because it is the band and foundation of human society, therefore it should be far from the children of God.
2. It is a perversion of the order of nature. The tongue is the interpreter of the mind, and therefore if the interpreter of another man speak contrary to what he pronounceth, there were a manifest wrong and disorder ; so when the tongue speaks otherwise than the man thinks, there is a great disturbance and deordination,
3. We resemble Satan in nothing so much as in lying, and we resemble God in nothing so much as in truth. Falsehood is the devil's character : John viii. 44, ' He was a liar from the beginning ; ' that is, the first inventor of lies, as Jubal was the father of them that played upon the harp, the first inventor ; and herein we most resemble Satan. On the contrary, there is nothing Avherein a man resembleth God so much as in truth. Truth is no small part of the image of God, for he is called ' the God of truth ; ' and it is said of him, Titus, i. 2, that he ' cannot lie ; ' it is contrary to the perfection of his nature ; nor command us to lie. God hath commanded many other things which otherwise were sinful; as to kill another man, as Abraham to slay his son ; to take away the goods of others, as lord of all, as when the Israelites spoiled the Egyptians of their jewels; but God cannot lie, it is against his nature : Eph. iv. 24, 25, ' Put off the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts ; and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.' Then presently, ' Wherefore put away lying ; speak every man truth with his neighbour.' Wherefore — that is, from your re- generation, when the image of God is planted in you. So the same : Col. iii. 9, ' Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.' There may be sin in the children of God, but there should be no guile in them. Habituated guile is the old man that is deceitful; the new man is framed to truth, and according to the will of God.