AN APPENDIX To the threeforegoing Sermons, wherein two important Questions about TRUTH and LYING, are debated at large. QúEBTION I. IF I have a good and valuable end in speaking, and my de- sign 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 knownfalsehood, without sin ? Did not Rahab the harlot practise this ; Josh. ii. 4, 5. when she hid the spiesof Israel, and told the messengers of theking of Jericho, that she knew not whence theycame, nor whither they went ? And yet she is commended by the apostle Paul'; Heb. xi. 31. That byfaith the harlot Rahab perishednot with unbelievers, when she received the spies inpeace. Answer I. When any action, considered in itself, is utterly unlawful, it is not possible that the goodness oftheendor design, can so change the law of God, or alter the natureof things, as to make that action lawful. Theapostle Paul brings the same ob- jection ; Rom. iii. 7. If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why am I judged as a sinner 2 But in the next verse, he speaks of it with indignation, as a heinous slander cast upon him, that he should maintain this pernicious doctrine, ,Letus do evil that good may come : And he adds con- cerning these slanderers, . or concerning those who hold this doctrineof doing evil with a good design, that their damnation is just; ver. 8. Answer II. The case of Rahab is easily adjusted in this manner, without allowing a lie to be lawful : Rahab, though she was a woman of evilfame in Jericho, yet had heardof the pro- mise of God to Israel, to establish them in the land of Canaan ; she believed this promise, and under the influence of this faith she entertained the spies, and thereby assisted the Israelites in the conquest ofthat city ; so far her, action is approved of God, and mentioned with honour : But she used a very sinful method in compassing this design, when she told a plain lie to the messen- gers of the king. The timorousness of her temper was a sore. temptation to her ; and though she fell into a criminal action, yet God so far excusedthe ill asto forgive the falsehood, and thereby put a more signal honour upon the eminenceof her faith. Hername stands therefore recorded with honour inscrip- ture amongbelievers. But the lie, though it was pardoned, re- mains still a blemish to her character.
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