SEAM. XX. TRUTH, SINCERITY, &C. :i3á truthwith his neighbour'; for we all are members one off' another : Members one of another, as we belong to the same original, as we are born of the same first parents, as we are made of one flesh and blood, as we are parts of the same civil society or nation, and especially as we that profess christianity are related to one another in nearer and diviner bonds, as we are members of the general church or body of Christ. Now it does not become those who are joined in so near a relation, to lie and speak falsely, and deceive one another, no more than the members of thenatural body should do injury to each other, whose single welfare lies much in the welfare of the whole body. I grant it is possible for the best and wisest of men sometimes to be mistaken in their apprehensions of things, and they may happen to speak something that is false in the course of their conversation : for they may be deceived themselves, and not know the truth. But in matters which they have occasion to speak of, they ought to be as well informed of the truth of things as present circumstances will admit, and to say nothing to their neighbour but what they reallybelieve themselves. When we speak a thing which we sincerely believe, and it happens not to be true, that is properly called a MISTAKE, for we had no design to deceive the person we converse with. But when we speak the thing that is false, and we know it to be false, or do not believe it to be true, this' is wilfully to deceive our neighbour ; and is properly éalled by the odious name of LS1` c. It is granted also, that no person is always obliged to speak all that he knows, when he is giving an account of some particular affair or concern of life. There are se- veral seasons, wherein it is a piece of great prudence to be silent and not to publish all the truth. We have a most remarkable instance of this in the prophet Jeremiah, when he had been admitted to the speech of Zedekiah the king, and had given him divine counsel, that he should submit himself to the Chaldeans, and save his life, and preserve the city from burning, and at the same time had intreated for himself, that he might not return to Jonathan's house and the dungeon, lest he died there. A little after, the princes of Israel demanded of him what discourse he had with the king; he concealed his chief
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