3. Notliing maketh us more like tlie devil, who is a liar from the beginning, and the father of lies : John viii. 44, ' Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do ; he was a murderer
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from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him : when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own ; for he is a har, and the father of it' All sins call him father, but chiefly a lie ; for he brought sin into the world by the way of lying at the first. And therefore to be given to lying argueth too much prevalency of the satanical nature. The disposition to lie is the iiuiige of the devil, the act is the work of the devil : Acts v. 3, ' Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost ? ' and should the children of light be like the father of lies?
4. It is a sin most contrary to the new nature wrought in the saints, and seemeth to offer more violence to it than other sins. The new nature may be considered doubly, either as to mortification or vivifica- tion ; the sins we put off, or the graces it produceth : both from the one and the other consideration the scripture reasoneth against lying. From the ' corrupt nature' which is put off : Col. iii. 9, ' Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds ; ' that is, never suggest or say any false thing to the injury of another, since this is a principal part of that corrupt nature which we have put off, and course of life which ye have all renounced. Naturally we are all full of guile and falsehood ; now as a battered vessel must be new cast before it be brought into any frame, so till the heart be renewed we aro crooked, perverse, deceitful. Now what the new nature renounceth and destroyeth must not be cherished again. Sometimes from tho ' new nature' which is put on ; as Eph. iv. 24, 25, ' And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness : wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour ; for we are members one of another.' Therefore this is a very odious and unseemly sin in a christian, and inconsistent with the grace which he hath received, or contraiy to that sincerity and true holiness which is the fruit of regeneration. Therefore God pre- sumeth that his people will hate and abhor this sin : Isa. Ixiii. 8, ' For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie.' He expecteth that his children will not deal falsely, nor circumvent and deceive others, since he hath framed them for this very thing, cured and set straight the crooked spirit in them, and disposed and fitted them to deal sincerely, or to do all things as in his sight, according to his will, and for his glory.
5. It is a sin most contrary to human society. Man is by nature t,oiov ttoXltckov, a creature fitted for society. Now all society is founded in truth ; take away truth and you destroy all human converse, and there could be no living, nor trading, nor dwelling together ; for if there be no truth, we are unfit to be trusted, and so iti overthroweth all the commerce of the world. If it weie lawful to vend counterfeit money without any restraint, how suspicious would men be, and cast away true gold and silver as suspecting all ? Now money, which is the material instrument of commerce, is not so necessary as truth and fidelity, which is the root and foundation of it. Therefore God, as for other reasons, so for the good of mankind, hath condemned all lying, that mutual commerce may not be destroyed. Much more doth this hold good where the community is not only human, but christian, and so we nil belong to the same mystical body ; so the apostle
YeK. 9.] SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V, 285
Tirgeth it : Epli. iv. 25, ' Speak every one truth with his neighbour, for ■we are members one of another/ Members should seek one another's welfare as much as they do their own : and it is monstrous for one member to deceive and defraud another ; therefore the Lord com- mandeth truth, and tbe Holy Spirit worketh this truth in us, that we may be heartily and really serviceable and faithful one to another, as members of the same body,
6. Lying is a sin very hateful to God, and against which he hath expressed much of his displeasure. Partly by express declaration of his mind. A lying tongue is reckoned among those six things which God hateth : Prov. vi. 17, ' A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.' Nay, that it may not be forgotten or lost in the crowd, it is again mentioned in ver. 19, ' A false witness that speaketh lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren ; ' so again, Prov, xii. 21, 22, ' There shall no evil happen to the just ; but the wicked shall be filled with mischief : lying lips are an abomination to the Lord ; but they that deal truly are his delight.' Now certainly we should hate what God hateth, and love what God loveth ; for to nill and will the same things is true amity and agreement. Partly by his threatenings of destruction, both in this life and in the life to come: Ps. V, 6, ' Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing ; ' Prov, xix. 5, ' He that speaketh lies shall not escape ; ' first or last God will cut them off as unfit for human converse. The first remarkable instance of God's vengeance in the new testament was for a lie : Acts v. 5, * And Ananias hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the ghost ; and great fear came on all them that heard these things.' And in the life to come : Rev. xxi. 8, ' All liars shall have their part in the lake that burnetii with fire and brimstone.' Now, when God is so express in denouncing his judgments against such kind of sinners, all that have a tender heart will tremble.