387 / 514
APPE\DIX
T'O
SERMONS XX,
XXI,
AND
XCXTT.
379
form something
to or for each
other, whether
this
con-
tract
be
expressed
in
verbal promises,
-vr
implied
in the
nature of
things,
and
by
the known customs
of
mankind,
then if
one
of
the parties
fail
of
performance, the
otheris
thereby
released from
his
promise
or engagement
and
the
reason
is
most evident, because
the
promise
or
en
gagement
-was
made in
a
conditional manner
;
and
if
the
condition
on
one side
be
not
fulfilled,
the
agreement
or
bargain
on
the
other
side
is
void,
and
utterly
ceases;
so
that a
man
is
innocent
in
this
case,
though he does
not
perform
his promise..
Now
this
is .so
well known
to
a1
men
by
the light
of nature, and
the easiest
reasoning,
that~
there
is
no
need to
enlarge upon
it.
According
to
this
general and known rule, suppose
a
merchant order
any
quantity of
goods from his
corres-
pondentby
the first ship,
and promise payment
by
such
a
day
if
the sending
of
those goods
be
neglected,
and
carelessly delayed,
the merchant
is
not
bound
to
keep his
first
appointed
time
for payment. An
hundred instances
there are of the
like
nature,
which a sthall
degree
of
rea-
son,
and
an
honest
conscience;
will
easily determine:
without intrenching
upon
truth.
Such
is
the
case
of
all.
conditional
promises
and
'contracts.
But if
a
man
bey
never
so
great
a knave,
and
I
should make
him
a
lawful
and
an_
absolute promise
of
any thing, surely
I
ought
to
perform
it,
and
not
satisfy
my
conscience
in
the practice
of
deceit and
falsehood,
under
a
pretence
that
he
had no
right
to
truth.
There
are
other
cases which may
occur
in
human
affairs,
and
create
difficulty in
the minds
of
sincere
christians, a solution
of
which may
be found
in
books
written
on those subjects
:
But I think
most
of
them may
be
easily;
answered
by
the general principles before
laid
do
n
:
And, to
finish
this subject,
I
add,
that
I
know
of
no circumstances
that
can
make a plain,
and
express,
and
known lie
to
become lawful
:
If
life
itself
were
in
dan-
'ger,
yet the express prohibitions
of
falsehood and lying in
the
law
Of
God, make
it
safer,
in
point
of
conscience,
to venture
the
loss
of
any
earthly
comfort, and
life
also,,
rather
than
venture upon a.plain
and solemn
lie.
And,
in
my
opinion,
that
man, who, being assisted by
divine
grace
;
maintains
the truth
boldly,
or refuses to
speak
a
known falsehood to a
murderer,
or a
bloody
tyrant,