SEAM. XXI.] TRATH, SINCERITY, &C. 357' God our Judge, God who shall bring to light the hidileìi things of darkness, and shall judge the secrets of etry, heart one day by Jesus Christ our Lord, .1 Cor. iv: 5':' ort. ii. 16. If we did but always place ourselves as in the sight of the great and dreadful God, whose eye ¡be-' holds every falsehood we practise, and all the hidden pocrisy, the lurking deceit of the soul, whose ear attends. to every word of falsehood we speak, and records it 'all' in his book against that great and terrible day of ac count; surely we should find a more effectual influence of it upon our spirits, to guard us from such words and actions as are inconsistent with the sincerity of a Christian. And let our hearts be melted into repentance for our past iniquities of this kind, and moulded into the loveof truth by a delightful meditation of the faithfulness of our Lord Jésus Christ to us, in performing his kind and dreadful undertaking to suffer for our sins. Let us dwell upon the thoughts of his faithfulness to all his' pro-. mises, and think thus with ourselves, that he has engaged us to truth of every kind by the strongest bonds of.duty and love, : And if we are false and unfaithful to hire- in this world; how justly may he cut us off fióm all our glorious hopes and expectations in the world which is to come. But this leads me to the fourth general head that I pro posed; which was to lay down some directions how christians may be preserved in the ways of truth, how' they may secure and maintain this blessed character of integrity and uprightness which I have described. And I think this may be better performed by .distinguishing truth, or integrity, into those three distincts parts, under which I treated of it before, viz. veracity, faithful- ness, and constancy, and by giving some rules for the preservation of each. The rules to preserve veracity, or to keep our words conformable to our hearts, are such as these : 1. Be persuaded in your own minds, that no circum- stances whatsoever can make a lie lawfúl. Though when a question is asked, there are many cases wherein it may be lawful to turn the discourse' aside, to wave a direct answer, to be entirely silent; or in some circumstances it may be both lawful, .prudent, and proper,- to conceal. a 2A
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