SERMON XX. gig thing which we sincerely believe,, and it happens not to be true, that is properlycalled a attsTexe, for we had no design to de- ceive the person weconvcrse with. But when we speak the thing, that is false, andwe know it to be false, or do notbelieve. it to he true, this is wilfully to deceive our. neighbour ; and is properl3l called by the odious name of LYING. It is granted also, that no person is always obliged to speak, all that he knows, when he is giving an account of some par- ticular affair or concern of life. There are several seasons, wherein it is a. piece of prudence tobe silent, and not.topub- lish all the truth. Wehave almost, remarkable instance of this in the prophet Jeremiah, when he had been admitted. to the speech of Zedekiah. the king, andhad given him divine counsel, that the should submit himself to the Chaldean, and save his life, and preserve the city from burning, and at the same time hadintreated for himself, that hemight not return. to Jonathan's houseand 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 business from the princes, which was about submission to theChaldeans,. and told them that he presented his supplication to the king, that he would not cause him to return to Jonathan'shouse, so the princes left ofspeaking with him, and the matter was not perceived; Jer. xxxviii. 24, &c. Thera may be various occasions. in life, wherein it is proper tokeep, ourselves upon the reserve. Silence is much commended by Solomon, who was made divinely wise ; Prov. xxix. 1:1. A fool utterethall his mind; but a wise man keepetlt it in till afterward. Yet.it must be -confessed too, thst sometimes the conceal- ment. of part of the truth, when it is necessarily dite to the hearer, in .order to pass a right judgment of the whole, is almost as criminal- as a lie : And herein consists the guilt of partial representations. But L cannot stay to discuss this point. at large. The great. rule n£ veracity in general lies in being just and fair in our narratives and. representations of things and in say- ing nothing butwhat we believe to be true. Whatsoever there- fore we have to speak. to aur fellow=creatures, let us lay a charge upon our consciences perpetually, that we speak according to . the sentiments of our hearts; and remember, that what dis- guises soever our tongues put on, God our Judge sees through them all. Andnot only when 'we relate matters of fact, but when we express our sentiment of the characters of men, let ùs be just,to truth. I confess, brotherly love generally requires us to put the most favourable colours on a blemished character, and say the
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