:wo An Expojition up_~n the How !hould I be able to look good Men in thb 'i'ace again ! Would not this 'Sin brand me for an Hypocrite in their Efteem? Would they ever look u pon me er re· ceive me Whb Affe8:ion, ahcr this Fall? Should I not carry the Difgrace a~d Scar of this Wound, vifibJy upon me to my Grave? No, ona Sin !hall n. ever :uin an the Comfolt, and all the Repute, of fo m•ny Years Piety: And I who h ave been fo long noted and exemplary for Holinefs, will not by this .one Fall make my felf a Scorn to the Wicked, and a Shame to the God ly; and by thofe Confid.erations he rejeCtS a Temptation that perhaps ran down aU other Confid.etations befOre it. But now a Man of a loft and defperate Credit fins impudently, without any fu ch Refiraint up- on him: He thinks it is but in vain for hint to abftain from any WickedmJs. for whether he doth or not People will flill believe him guilty: His Credit is lo diffigurc:d, and his Name fo infamous, that he thinks he cannot be wor fe than he is al- ready reported; and fo rubs his Forehead, and outfaceth Cenfure, an ? wirh a braz..:n Impudence cares not how wicked he is, nor how many knew him to be: 10. Thus you have fi:en bow cautious we ought to bt: in maintaining our own good Name. But this Command requires us alfo to preferve the Repute and •good Name of o· tbers as well as our own. And it forbids, firjl, The Sin of Lying. · S<condly, Detral.lion and Slander. Thirdly, Bafe Soothing, and unworthy Flattery. . . Fir/1, This Command prohibits lying ; a Sin that comprehend• und er it ail o' ther ~iolations of this Precept : For Slander and Flattery are both of rhem lies, different only in Manner and Circumfiance. · And as it is a Sin large and comprehenfive in .its N<~ture, fo it is general and uni# Yerfal in its Pral.lice: We may well complain with the Holy Prophe t, Tbat Trutb if perijhed from the Earth. . . Here I flull firfl !hew you what a Lie is: And then the Heinoufnefs and Aggrava- tion of this common Sin. ,. V'Qlunta... firjl, A Lie, acco1ding to St. Jf. Aufiin's Definition of it, is a ~oluntary fpeaking ria 1<:1/fi of an Untruth, with an intent to deceive. And therefore in a Lie rhere mu fr. be tbefe E.mmdati,, Three Ingredients. f•'"''i firjl, There mufl be the fpeaking of an Untruth. ~au!.11 Je- Secondly, It mufi be known to us to b~: an Untruth, and a Fallhood. And, m:,:dtK. Thirdly, It mufi be with a Wjll and Intent to deceive him to whom 1.\'e fpeak it, ~tdCQn[tn- and to lead him into Error. And therefOre, tiHm, C.4• ·tlrfi, Parables, and Figurative Speeches, are no Lies: For neither as to the Drift and Scope of them are they Fa!lhoods ; nor yet are they fpoken with an Inrem to de- ceive, but rather ro infirua, tbe Hearers, and fo have neither the Maner nor tbe l'orm ofa Lle. The Scripture abounds with dtdC: Tropi,al Expreffions, which <tl.. though in the proper fignification of the Words they cannot be verifie d of the Things to which they-are .applied l ret do very fully agree to them in their figurative and transferred. Senfe: Thus Jotham's Parable of Trees chujing them a King was aptly accommodated to that Scn!e which be meant , and which Lhofe that beard him well enough underil:ood. And thus our Saviour Cbrift calls him a Door ; fignifying by that Metaphor that by him alone we muft enter into Heaven and Erernal Life : A Vine, fignifying, that without our lnciiion into him, and Spiritual Union unto him, whereby we derive Grace ftom his Plenitude, and Fulnefs of Grace, as theBraoches do Sap and Juice from the Stock, we fh•ll be cafl out as withered and fruirlefs Branches, fit for nothing but to be burned. Innumerable other ,Metaphors are every~ where difperfed up and down in the Scriptures. And befides iHeraphors, the Scrip- ture uferh Hyperbolies. I (hall o~ly inftance in that Famous one, John 21. ult. hla- ny other Things Jefus did, whicb if they /hould he fQritten euery one, I fuppofe that even t!Je World itjelf cou'd not contain the Books that fhou!d be wriuen. This high Expreffion the Evangeliil uferh only to exaggerate tbe Number of th e Miracles and remarkable Paffages of our Saviour's Life ; and to fign ifie ro us rhat he did very many other Things which are not upon Record. And fometimes the Scripture ufeth Ironical Taunts. Thus in tb:lt Biner Sucafm of Eltjah ro the Prieft of Baul, 1 King 18. 27. lie mocked them, andjuid, Cry a!o~td, [or be is a God. Which Kinds of Ironical Speeches are fofd! from being imen~;~,:~
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