Common Places, Part 2 · Chapter 13 · Section 9
VVhether for modeſtie ſake it be lawfull to lie; vponupon the ſecond of Samuel, chapter the 9. verſe the 8.
Looke In 1. King. 17, 1840 There be ſome ſo importunate men, as although God hauehave heaped his benefits vponupon them, yet are they alwaies complaining; We hauehave borne the burthen and heate of the daie, Matt. 20, 12and yet dooeſt thou make vsus equall vntounto them? Some alſo be ſo modeſt, as euen in proſperitie they humble themſelues. Others be broken with miſerie, and are become more humble. But they, which in their loſſes and afflictions reteine ſtill the fearſenes of nature, be too inſolent and obſtinate. Humilitie is like a bridle, Humilitie or modeſtie.wherewith the inſolencie of our nature muſt be held in his dutie. And men be moſt of all reclaimed vntounto modeſtie, when they begin to conſider how verie little they hauehave of themſelues. Howbeit, the ſame humbling of our ſelues ought to be ioined with the acknowledging of Gods benefits. For manie, while they be either ignorant thereof, or elſe diſſemble it, become like vntounto beaſts; as they, which cannot one whit vnderſtand, with what benefits they be indued by God. But there muſt be a ſpeciall regard had, that we doo not counterfet that modeſtie; and that the ſame conſiſt not onelie in words, but in the mind alſo.
Yet to reteine that vertue, A man may not for modeſtie ſake lie of himſelfe. Rom. 3, 8.it is not lawfull for thée to make a lie vponupon thy ſelfe for modeſtie ſake. For Ariſtotle himſelfe, in his Ethiks, reckoneth a lie among vnhoneſt things. And (as Paule ſaith; Wee muſt not doo euill, that good may come of it. Auguſtine, in his 8. epiſtle to Ierom, touching this matter, citeth the words of Paule to the Corinthians; 1. Co. 15, 14) If Chriſt be not riſen, in vaine is our preaching, and your faith alſo is in vaine. For we be found falſe witneſſes of God, when we ſaie, that God raiſed vp Chriſt from the dead; whom he raiſed not vp, if the dead doo not riſe againe. But here (ſaith Auguſtine) a man might ſaie vntounto Paule; Why dooeſt thou ſo much deteſt lieng, ſince the ſame tendeth to the ſetting foorth of the glorie of God? And he maketh Paule to anſwer, that he dooth deteſt ſuch lies, and that it is no leſſe euill, to commend things that be not true concerning God, than not to beléeue things that be true of him. Hereby we gather this argument; If it be not lawfull to lie for the honour of God, it is much leſſe lawfull to lie for the reteining of anie vertue. Yea, and it is no leſſe euill to aſcribe to thy ſelfe euill, which thou haſt not committed, than to arrogate vntounto thy ſelfe anie good, which thou haſt not doone.
41 Contrariwiſe neuertheleſſe, An obiection.Paule vntounto Timothie ſéemeth ſomwhat to make a lie of himſelfe; Chriſt (ſaith he) came to ſaue ſinners, 1. Tim. 1, 15of whom I am the cheefe. For Paule was not the chéefe, or the greateſt ſinner. And in the 30. chapter of the Prouerbs, the prophet Agur, whether he were Salomon himſelfe, or ſome other man; verſe. 2.I am (ſaith he) more fooliſh than all men, and the wiſdome of man is not in me; I hauehave learned no knowledge, neither hauehave I the vnderſtanding of holie things. Yet was he both a prophet, and a wiſe man, and anſwered prudentlie vntounto queſtions. And Chriſt himſelfe, of himſelfe; I am (ſaith he) a woorme and no man, Pſal. 22, 7.a verie ſcorne of men, and the outcaſt of the people. Some defend theſe ſpéeches on this wiſe, ſaieng; that They, which hauehave thus amplified their ſinnes, they onelie reſpected their owne ſtrength, which they themſelues had by themſelues, and a certeine naturall inclination of their owne vntounto euill. For they themſelues ſawe, that they ſhould gréeuouſlie hauehave fallen, vnleſſe God had ſtaied them. Theſe in verie déed be no ſmall prouocations, to make vsus iudge humblie and lowlie of our owne ſelues. But it is one thing for a man to ſaie that he is prone and readie bent vntounto euill; and an other thing to confeſſe that he hath doone ſome euill, which he hath not doone. For there is as much difference betwéene theſe, as there is betwéene act and power. Certeinlie, we may euerie one of vsus ſlip, yet no man ought to ſaie that he hath ſlipped, when he hath not. We ought all to confeſſe our ſelues to be ſinners, but none ought to aſcribe vntounto himſelfe anie ſinne by name, which he hath not committed.
I ſaie therefore, that thoſe ſpéeches, which I hauehave made mention of, if they be throughlie weighed, they be true. For ſome be vttered after that ſort, bicauſe abſolutelie they be ſo; ſome, for that they be extolled by an exceſſiue ſpéech; ſome, bicauſe they be compared with an other thing by contention. In what reſpect Paule calleth himſelfe the principall ſinner.Paule calleth himſelfe the principall ſinner, either bicauſe he was the firſt that came vntounto Chriſt, among thoſe that perſecuted the church of GOD; or bicauſe he iudged himſelfe in verie déed to be chéefe and greateſt of the ſinners. Not as if there had béene no man that had ſinned more heinouſlie (for there were ſuch as had ſinned againſt the holie Ghoſt, there were thoſe which had ſinned without anie repentance:) but bicauſe that among all them, which were redéemed by Chriſt, and had obteined the merciemercy of God, he thought himſelfe to hauehave ſinned moſt gréeuouſlie. For ſome had ſinned of infirmitie, ſome of plaine error and incredulitie; ſome had procéeded ſo farre, as they crucified Chriſt, who neuertheleſſe were afterward, by the preaching of the word of God, called home vntounto repentance. Acts. 3, 17.Therefore ſaith Peter in the Acts; I knowe brethren that ye did it by ignorance, euen as did your rulers. But Paule had no recourſe vntounto the ſermons of the apoſtles: there was néed of greater bonds for the drawing of him vntounto Chriſt. Wherevpon Chriſt ſpake thus vntounto him from heauen; Acts. 9, 4.Saule, Saule, whie perſecuteſt thou me? With theſe men therefore he compareth himſelfe: and of theſe he ſaith he is the principall.
And ſo Chryſoſtome, vponupon this place, ſaith; that Theſe words be againſt other words of his in the epiſtle to the Philippians. Phil. 3, 6.For there he ſaith, that he was conuerſant in the Iewiſh religion, without crime, and without complaint. But theſe things (ſaith he) are nothing repugnant. For euen they themſelues, which had performed the righteouſneſſe of the lawe, yet were they ſinners neuertheleſſe. And although Paule ſpake thoſe things modeſtlie of himſelfe, yet did he not aſcribe an vntruth vntounto himſelfe. For, notwithſtanding he granteth himſelfe to hauehave béene a perſecuter, and a blaſphemer; yet he ſaith not, that he was an adulterer, or a fornicatour, or a théefe; ſéeing theſe things ſhould not hauehave béene true. The things obiected out of the Prouerbs, touching Agur the prophet, How Agur had no wiſdome.were true by waie of comparing them vntounto thoſe things, whereof a demand was made. He ſaith that he had no wiſdome; not in reſpect that the wiſdome which he had, was no wiſdome; but bicauſe the ſame, being compared vntounto ſo great matters, might ſéeme to be none. So Socrates was woont to ſaie; This onlie I knowe, that I knowe nothing: bicauſe that knowledge, which he had, would be nothing, in compariſon of the multitude of thoſe things that he knew not. Pſal. 22, 6.So Chriſt called himſelfe a woorme, and a reproch of the people; bicauſe men ſo accompted of him, by reaſon of his afflictions and croſſe. Alſo in ſpeaking, there hapneth ſomtime an exceſſiue or hyperbolicall ſpéech; ſuch indéed as is not ioined with a a lie, but which may ſerue for the better ſetting foorth of the matter.