Exposition of the Moral Law, Book 2 · Commandment 9 · Exercitation 4
EXERCITAT. IV. Againſt lies. Commandement. IX.
Revelat. 21.27. And there ſhall in no wiſe enter into the holy Ieruſalem, any thing that defileth, or maketh a lie.
A man may be a lier two wayes.THe lier is a falſe witneſſe as well out of judgement as in judgement.
In naturall things, a thing is ſaid to lie, when it maketh a faire ſhew, but it performeth not that which it promiſeth,foreign Mentitum eſt opus olivae. Habak. 3.17. The labour of the olive ſhall faile, but in the originall it is, Kichas, it ſhall lie the olive is ſaid to lie, when it bloſſometh pleaſantly in the ſpring, but when it cometh to the harveſt it faileth. Eſay 58.11. Thou ſhalt be like a ſpring of water, whoſe waters faile not: in the originall it is, whoſe waters lie not. So when men ſpeake and make a ſhew of words in one thing,If the words and minde differ, it is a lie. and thinke another, it is a lie, but this doth not fully expreſſe the nature of a lie, for if a man ſpeake a thing thinking it to be a truth, and it be not a truth in it ſelfe,Auguſt. it is a lie; for every untruth is a lie, Ioh. 8. When a man teacheth an untruth, thinking that it is a truth, then he is a lier, and therefore mentiri, contra mentem ire, expreſſeth not the full nature of a lie, for a man may ſpeake a lie, and not ſpeake contrary to his minde.
Three ſorts of lyes.Lies are commonly divided into three ſorts. The firſt they call mendacium jocoſum, when a man …ttereth a lie in ſport to make others merry, Hoſea. 7.3. They make the King glad with their wickedneſſe, and the Princes with their lies. If, Wee may not teach the truth to pleaſe men, Gal. 1.10. much leſſe may wee tell an untruth to pleaſe men: & if a man may not lie to helpe a man out of danger; much leſſe to delight him. For as the Schoolemen ſay well, Bonum utile prefertur bono delectabili.
The ſecond ſort of lie, is Officioſum mendacium, when a man maketh a lie to helpe others; will ye ſpeake wickedly for God, and talke deceitfully of him. Iob. 13.7. will any man make a lie for Gods cauſe; hee that ſtandeth not in need of our goods, Pſalm. 16. farre leſſe ſtandeth hee in need of any of our evill: Nullum verum fundatur in falſo, omne tamen falſum innititur alicui vero: God who is truth, will not be ſerved by a lie, and if wee may not lie for Gods cauſe, and for his glory; much leſſe may wee lie for mans good, to make a lie in charity, is to make charity the daughter of a lie, and the devill to be the grandfather. Charity rejoyceth not in iniquity, but rejoyceth in the truth, 1. Cor. 13.6.
There are three ſorts of lyers. Firſt, the naturall lyer. Secondly, the habituall lier: And thirdly,There are three ſorts of lyers. the ſubtile lier.
The naturall lier, as Pſalm 116. All men are liers. So Sarah made a lie, Gen. 18.
The habitual lier, as thoſe of Crete; Cretenſes ſunt mendaces, The Cretians are alwayes lyers, Tit. 1.12.Suidas. the ground of this proverbe aroſe from Theſeus, when hee went againſt Crete, and overcame it, one of the Cretians went to Greece, and told his father Aegaeu…; that he was ſlaine, and hee for diſpleaſure drowned himſelfe,foreign Aſſuunt mendacium mendacio. whereupon the proverbe roſe, Cretenſes mendaces. So Pſal. 119.69. The proud have forged lies againſt me, in the originall it is taphiu gnalai ſheker, They have ſowed one lie to another.
The third ſort of liers, are the ſubtile liers, Prov. 3.25.foreign Septuag. foreign arantes abſurda. ARARE MENDACIVM quid apud Hebraeos. Deviſe not evill againſt thy neighbour, In the Hebrew it is, al tacharoſh, noli arare mendacium: plow not a lie: it is a ſpeech borrowed from husbandry, for as the husband man ploweth up the ground, and ſearcheth into the earth with the ſhare of the plough, ſo doth a wicked man turne over and over the heart of him, how to excogitate and finde out a lie: but in this ſort of husbandry, as he ploweth iniquity and ſoweth wickedneſſe, ſo he ſhall reape the ſame.
Whether Jacob made a lye.
WHen Iacob ſaid to his father Iſaac, I am your ſonne Eſau, your firſt borne, Gen. 27.19. this was not a lie, if ye will reſpect Eſau, for Eſau had ſold him his birthright already: but it was a lie, if ye will reſpect Iacob himſelfe,Neither a tropicall, nor a figurative ſpeech is a lie. becauſe hee deceived his father by it: a tropicall ſpeech is not a lye; as Herod is a fox, ſo neither is a figurative ſpeech, Matt. 11.14. Iohn is Elias, Iacob might have called himſelfe Eſau, if hee had not done this to deceive his father, and there concurred a number of lies beſides here: firſt I have done as thou haſt commanded me, Verſ. 19. he bad bring him veniſon, and he brought him kids fleſh. Againe he ſaid, The Lord my God brought it to me. Verſ. 20. here is a greater lie in abuſing the name of God, and laſt he made a reall lie in putting on the skins of the kids of goats, that he might deceive his old father Iſaac, but here we may lament the infirmities of the Patriarches, and admire the great mercies of God in pardoning them.
Whether David made a lie.
The firſt lye that David made.THe firſt lie that David made was to Ahimelech the Prieſt that he might get of the ſhew bread, 1. Sam. 21.1. Davia ſaid, that the king had commanded him a buſineſſe, whereas hee had no ſuch commandement from the king.
Ob. Anſw. Chriſt juſtifieth David in the neceſſity, but not in the fact of the lye.But Chriſt juſtified Davids fact, Matt. 12. therefore he made not a lie.
Chriſt juſtified him that in neceſſity hee went and got of the ſhew-bread, but hee juſtified not his lie; ſo God willeth that Iacob ſhould get the bleſſing; but hee juſtified neither Rebeceahs deceit, nor Iacobs lie. David knew that the Prieſt might make bold to give him this bread, and therefore he made a lye.
Whether was it an officious, or a pernicious lie in David. Queſt. Anſw. Obj.
It was but an officious lie to ſave his life.
But it may be ſaid that this lie of David was a pernicious lie, becauſe this lie was the occaſion of the death of the Prieſts. 1 Sam. 22.22. And David ſaid unto Abiather, I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that hee would ſurely tell Saul, I have occaſioned the death of all theſe perſons in thy fathers houſe; here hee taketh the blame upon him, as though he were the cauſe of this murther.
When David ſaw Doeg there, Anſw. David made but an officious lye to Ahimelech, for he had gotten the bread before hee ſaw Doeg.he conjectured that hee would tell Saul, but hee knew not of the tragicall event, that hee would kill all the prieſts, and by all probability hee had ſpoken firſt with the Prieſt, and gotten the ſhew bread from him before that he ſaw Doeg, for if hee had ſene him before, hee would have gone more warily to worke.
The ſecond lie that David made, is alleaged, 1.Whether David cauſed Ionathan to make a lye to Saul. Sam. 20.6. If thy father at all miſſe me, then ſay; David earneſtly asked leave of me, that he might run to Bethleem his city, for there is a yearely ſacrifice there, for all the family: hee was going now to the field to hide himſelfe for feare, from Saul, how then biddeth hee Ionathan tell that hee was gone to Bethleem to keepe the feaſt?
In charity wee are rather to thinke that hee both hid himſelfe, and kept the feaſt at Bethleem, Anſ. then that only he hid himſelfe, and ſo made a lie: hee that telleth one part of the truth, and hideth the other, doth not alwayes lie, as Ieremie 38.24, 25, 26. was commanded by Zedekiah.
1. Sam. 27.10. And Achis ſaid to David, Whether David made a lye to Achis.whither have yee made a rode to day? and David ſaid, againſt the South of Iuda, and againſt the ſouth of the Ierachmelites, and the South of the Kenites, and David ſaved neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to Gath, ſaying leſt they ſhould tell on us, ſaying ſo did David, and ſo will his manner be all the while that hee dwelleth in the country of the Philiſtims: And Achis beleeved David, ſaying, hee hath made his people utterly to abhorre him, therefore hee ſhall be my ſervant for ever. Here it ſeemes David made a lie to Achis.
Anſw. Either wee may ſee here that David made this rode upon the ſouth of Iuda his country men, and killed them, which had beene a great cruelty and barbaritie, or rather through infirmity, that hee ſpake ſomewhat ambiguouſly to the king, telling him that hee had made a rode upon the South, but how farre hee made a rode upon the ſouth, he telleth him not: he ſaid that he had killed a number of the ſouth, but he told him not whether they were Iewes or Philiſtims; for they were Philiſtims whom he killed, and not Iewes, Verſ. 11.
Queſt. Whether made Raphael a lie or not when hee called himſelfe Azarias the ſonne of Ananias of the tribe of Nephtalim, Tobit. 5.
Anſ. Hee made a lie, therefore that part of the hiſtory ſeemes a fable, as alſo that of the liver of the fiſh to conjure Aſmodeus the evill ſpirit.
Obj. But many things in the Scripture take their denomination from that which they ſeeme to be, as the angels which appeared to Abraham are called men. Gen. 18.
Anſw. If the angels had called themſelves men that had beene a lie, as Raphael if hee had beene an angell to call himſelfe a man.
Concluſion.The concluſion of this is; Let us ſhun all lies, for if we delight in lies, then we are the children of the devil, Iob. 8.44 and to lie is a part of the old man, which muſt be mortified and laid aſide, Epheſ. 4.25. Coloſſ 3.9.