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CHRISTIAN MORALITY,
VIZ.
ESERM.
XXI...
p4jpf
the truth,
as
I
hinted, in the
former
sermon
;
yet
in
my
opinion
it
is
neither prudent, proper, nor
lawful,
to
speak
a
falsehood
to
deceive
my
neighbour. The
vyhole
truth
may
not
always be
necessary
to
be
spoken
to
men
;
but
such
falsehood
is
always a
sin in
the sight
of
God.
All lying is
utterly
forbidden
;
and
the true
meaning
of
a lie
is,
when
we
speak
that
which
we
believe
to
be false, with
a
design to
deceive the person
to whom
we
speak.
Here
may arise
two
questions
:
Question
I.
If
I have
a good and valuable
end
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
?
Question
2.
Surely
there are
some
sort
of
persons
who
bave
no
right
to
truth,
such
as
children, common liars,
knaves or
cheats;
may
we
not therefore
deceive them
by
direct
falsehoods,
either
for their
good, or for
our
own
?
These are enquiries of
very
great importance
to the
honour of
truth,
to
the satisfaction
of
conscience,
and to
the
welfare
of
mankind
:
And
it
is
my
present opinion
(and
I
think there
is
good
reason for
it)
that
none
of
these
cases
can
make an express and deceitful falsehood
to
be
lawful,
or
change the
nature of
a
lie,
and
make
it
innocent;
but
to
debate
these
two cases as
largely
as
they
deserve, would
too
much
encumber
the
present discourse;
I
leave them
therefore
to be
read
with
an honest and
se-
rious
mind, as
an
Appendix
to
these sermons
pf
truth,
and
so
proceed, to
,the
next direction,
how
to preserve
our
veracity.
II.
The
second rule
to
preserve veracity
is
this
;
ac-
custom yourselves to
a sober,
modest
way
of
speaking,
and
avoid all those methods
of
speech
that border
upon
falsehood.
I
shall mention
a
few
of
them, to
give
suffi-
cient
notice
of
what
I
mean.
Some
persons affect to
be
certain of
every thing they
speak, and
pronounce
all
that
they say with the
highest
assurance.
If
they
are relating
matters
of
fact, which
they only
learn
by
report,
they
tell
you every
circumstance
without
the
least
hesitation, and endeavour
even
in
a
du-
bious
matter
to make the
hearer
believe
it
with
the
highest confidence
:
They
are
never
in
the wrong,
never
doubtful
whether
they
are
in
the
right or
no.
If
they
are