APPENDIX TO SERMONS XX, XXI.y.kAND -XXII. 371 ledge, consent, or . approbation; adding or blotting out any thing from divine writings ; or doing the same to the writings of men in civil affairs or contracts, whereby one party or another may receive damage; practising fraud or deceit, or any criminal concealment in matters of traffic, or in matters of trust; and, in general, ,for- gery and knaveryof all kinds whatsoever : some of thèse may, by natural and easy consequences, be reduced to the heads I have spoken of, and are effectually pre- cluded by the large description of moral truth, which I have given: Others of them fall as naturally under" the general head of justice and injustice, which will be the subject of one of the following discourses. ANAPPENDIX To the three foregoing SERMONS, wherein two important Questions about TRUTH and LYING, are debated at large. QUESTION I. .1111 have a good and valuable énd in speaking, and my design is to serve the glory of God, or the good ;of my neighbour, may I not then use the art of lying, or speak a known falsehood, without sin? Did not Rahab the harlot practise this, Josh. ii. 4, 5. when she hid the spies of Israel, and told the messengers of the king of Jericho, that she knew not whence they came, nor whi- ther they went ? And yet she is commended by the apos- tle Paul, lIeb. xi. 31. That by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with unbelievers, when she received the spies in peace. Answer I. When any action, considered in itself, is utterly unlawful, it is not possible that the goodness of the end or design, can so change the law of God, or alter the nature of things, as to make that action lawful. The apostle brings the same objection; Rom. iii. 7. If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why am I judged as a sinner?" Rut in the next verse, he speaks of it with indignation, as a heinous slander cast upon him, that he should'maintain this pernicious doctrine, ` Let us do evil that good may 2B2
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