A Treatise Against Lying, Treatise · Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
Of divers ſorts and formes of ſpeach which are to bee acquitted from the cenſure of a Lye.
ANd theſe are the things which alwayes §. 1. Of hyper…ol…es, and that they are no lyes.concurre in every Lye, whereby it appeareth that divers formes of ſpeaking which are ſuſpected and accuſed as lyes, are acquitted and cleared hereof at the Barre, before the ſeat of Juſtice, by a right ſentence of true judgement, as namely hyperbolicall ſpeeches, fables, parables and ironies. In all which though there bee not the ſame ſpoken which is meant, punctually and literally, yet the ſame in the ſenſe and intention of the ſpeaker, in whom there is no will to lye or ſpeake contrary to the truth with a love and delight in falſhood, but a divers expreſſion of the ſame truth conceived in the minde, in other words and phraſes than are ordinary, namely ſuch as are tropicall, metaphoricall, parabolicall and hyperbolicall, not onelyonly for the greater elegancy, but alſo for the more profit of the hearer; and not to blinde him with untruthes, or deceive him with lyes; but rather the better to convince him of the truth, and to move him to imbrace it with greater profit and delight. As firſt for hyperboales or hyperbolicall ſpeeches which is the raiſing of things to their higheſt pitch, and the inlarging of them above all due proportion, not to deceive, (for then ſome meaſure ſhould bee obſerved to make the thing probable and credible) but to expreſſe the conceits of the minde in an extraordinary loftineſſe of ſpeech, not onelyonly to delight the hearer, but for the more full informing of him of the truth for his greater profit. As alſo when wee give to things ſenſeleſſe or inanimate motion and life, yea ſometimes the uſe of reaſon. Of the former are ſuch ſpeaches as aſcribe a kinde of infiniteneſſe to things finite; as when ſpeaking of a multitude, we ſay commonly that they are innumerable like the ſands of the Sea, of long laſting things, that they are everlaſting and without end; of thoſe that are of great quantity or capacity, that they are immenſe and above all meaſure. And ſuch phraſes are uſed in the Scriptures, as that the Benjamites were ſo cunning in the uſe of their ſlinges, Judg. 20. 16.that they could caſt their ſtones at an haires bredth and not miſſe; that the ſinnes which the faithfull Pſal. 137. 18.confeſſe themſelves to have committed, were above not onelyonly the haires of their head in number, but even the ſands by the Sea ſhore; and that if all things which Chriſt did ſhould bee wtitten, the John 21. 25.whole World would not containe the volumes that ſhould bee written. By which ſpeeches no man can be deceived, ſeeing if they were taken literally, there were no ſhaddow or ſhew of truth in them; but rather the truth which they perſwade is the more cleared and inforced, namely that the Benjamites were exceeding cunning in the uſe of their ſlings; that the ſins confeſſed were a number almoſt numberles, and the actions done by Chriſt were very many, more than the Evangeliſt had recorded. Of the other we have many examples in the Pſalmes and Prophets, as when the Mountaines are ſaid to skip, the Flouds to clap their hands, the Earth to heare the Word of the Lord; which cannot be taken in their proper ſenſe, but onelyonly as Rhetoricall phraſes, expreſſing the trueth according to the intention of the ſpeaker in a loftineſſe of ſpeech, for the better underſtanding of the hearer and affecting of him with more delight. Neither can they be eſteemed lyes, becauſe they doe not deceive the hearer or reader, ſeeing they doe not beget a falſe conceit in his minde, but rather cauſe him to conceive and imbrace the trueth with greater admiration. So S. Augustine: Whatſoever Quicquid autem figuratè fit aut dicitur non eſt mendacium, &c. Contra mendac. ad Conſent. lib. 1. cap. 5.is done or ſpoken figuratively is not a lye. For every enunciation or ſignification is to be referred vntounto that which it ſignifieth to the underſtanding of thoſe unto whom it is uttered: otherwiſe (as he ſaith in another place) all tropes and metaphors which are not taken in a proper but borrowed cap. 10.ſenſe, by one thing ſignifying another, ſhould be judged lyes; as where it is ſaid that Chriſt is a Rocke, a Doore, a Vine, and that impenitent perſons have hearts of ſtone, all which are not properly and literally true, but in a figurative ſenſe.
The like may bee ſaid of an Ironie, which is a §. 2. Of Ironies, and that they are no lyes.Rhetoricall manner of ſpeaking, whereby we ſignifie one contrarie by another; which is commonly uſed by way of jeſting or deriſion for the diſpraiſing or diſcountenancing of that which is evill, as when we ſay of an unthrift, O he is a good husband, or of a man infamous for deceit and unjuſt dealing; O hee is a very honeſt man. The which manner of ſpeech is eaſily underſtood either by our geſture, or pronunciation, or the palpable difference that is betweene our words, and the thing it ſelfe. The which manner of ſpeaking though it bee often abuſed unto ſinne, as ſcoffing, ſcorning, deriding; yet is it lawfull in it ſelfe and to us alſo, when it is rightly uſed, not to deceive, but the better to cleare the trueth, to diſcountenance ſinne, and to convince offenders of their faults and errors; neither hath he that ſo uſeth it, a will to lie or deceive, but to ſignifie the trueth in an improper way, that it may bee received with more delight. And of this wee have examples in the Scriptures, as in the ſpeech of Michajah the 1 King. 22. 15.Prophet unto wicked Ahab: Goe up and proſper. In Elias deriding the follie of Baals Prieſts: in Iob, to his three friends; No doubt but yee are the 1 King. 18. 27.people, and wiſdome ſhall dye with you. In the Apoſtle Paul convincing the Corinthians of their pride Job 12. 2.and follie. Ye ſuffer (ſaith he) fool…s gladly, ſeeing your 2 Cor. 11. 19.ſelves are wiſe; and elſewhere telling them that he had not been burthenſome unto them as to other Churches, he concludes with an Ironie, forgive me 2 Cor. 12. 13.this wrong. Yea, even God himſelfe uſeth (and by his uſing juſtifieth) this figure and forme of ſpeaking to Iob, that he might thereby the better convince him of his follie and weakeneſſe. Gird up now thy loynes like a man and anſwere me: And, Deeke thy ſelfe now with majestie and excellencie, and array thy ſelfe with glorie and beautie, &c.
Finally, upon the ſame grounds we acquit and §. 3. Parables acquitted from the cenſure of lying.exempt from lying; firſt, Parables, whereby the trueth of things is ſignified and repreſented unto us by fained ſtories of other men and their actions, wherein the circumſtances are ſo fitted, as though they had been truely done, that by them the truth may bee ſignified, as it were in reall words, and portraied in living and ſpeaking pictures for the better convincing of the hearers to the acknowledgement of the trueth, when they without partialitie may judge of it in other mens perſons, as we ſee in Nathans Parable to David; and our Saviours 2 Sam. 12.to the Scribes and Phariſees concerning the vineyard let out to thoſe unjuſt farmers that killed the heire to get poſſeſſion of it; which drew Matth. 21. 33, 41.from both a juſt ſentence againſt their owne ſinnes, which they would rather have minced and excuſed, if directly and plainely they had beene charged with them. So alſo they ſerve ſometimes to dazle the underſtanding, when they are darkely propounded and not applied to uſe, the which our Saviour uſed, when hee ſpoke to thoſe whom in juſt judgement he would have heare and not underſtand; ſometimes to make what is ſaid more cleare and evident when things are illuſtrated by ſuch examples as are common and familiar; by which as the hearer is made docible and capable of what is taught, ſo are the things learned much the better imprinted in his memorie. Neither is there any lie in ſuch formes of ſpeech, ſeeing the end of the ſpeaker is not to deceive the hearer, but rather to diſcover the trueth in a more familiar manner, the minde and tongue agreeing together, and ayming at the ſame end, although the words muſt not be taken as proper and direct, but by analogie and way of ſimilitude.
Not much unlike unto theſe is the way of teaching §. 4. Of fables and poeticall fictions, and that they are not to bee reputed lyes.by Fables and Poeticall fictions, in which, beaſts and birds, yea, trees and plants are brought in ſpeaking and reaſoning one with another; which were purpoſely invented to teach men ſome politicke leſſon or morall inſtruction, that thereby they might be made more wiſe or more vertuous, provoked to ſome good dutie, or made more cautious in ſhunning ſome evill either of ſinne or puniſhment, which fabulous tales cannot juſtly be reputed lyes, becauſe he that telleth them ſpeaketh the truth, though not in a proper and literall ſenſe, yet in the reaſon and morall of his ſpeech; and becauſe it is not his purpoſe to deceive his hearer, but to teach him the truth in an eaſie and familiar manner, that it may bee better conceived and remembred. In which reſpects fabulous tales are of beſt uſe when as they are told to rude and ſimple people, who not being capable of arguments, ſyllogiſmes and demonſtratiue reaſons, give no heede unto them, but when the truth is repreſented in a fabulous tale which they underſtand, being allured with the noveltie of the thing, they liſten unto it, that they may know what will be the iſſue, and ſo at unawares are taken with the reaſon and morall of it, when as ſtronger reaſons would not perſwade them. And being informed in the trueth the leſſon which they have learned is more firmely imprinted in their memorie; for things which are ſtrange and pleaſant doe extraordinarily delight; and being delightfull are not eaſily forgotten. And of ſuch fables we have examples in the Scriptures; as that of Iotham, who by that fable of Judg. 9.the trees, convinced the people of their ungratitude and folly, in preferring ambitious and wicked Abimelech before all the ſonnes of Gedeon who were vertuous and modeſt. And that of Iehoaſh in which he reſembled Amaziah to a Thiſtle and himſelfe to 2 King. 14. 9.a Cedar, that by the inequalitie of their ſtrength hee might diſſwade him from provoking him to battaile. And ſuch was the fable of Menius Agrippa to the mutinous people of Rome, about the diſaagreement betweene the reſt of the members of the body with the belly or ſtomacke, whereby hee perſwaded them to come backe and joyne with the Senators. The which kinde of fables are lawfull, as being no lyes, but repreſentations of truth under fictions, and not to deceive the hearer, but to draw him on more eaſilie to the acknowledgement of the truth; onelyonly in them that deviſe them care muſt bee had to avoide all obſceaneſſe and ſcurrilitie, becauſe as the Apoſtle ſpeaketh, ſuch 1 Cor. 15.rotten ſpeeches doe corrupt good manners. For whereas it may be objected, that the Apoſtle Paul 2 Tim. 4. 4.condemneth thoſe that turne away their eares from the truth, and hearken unto fables, and forbiddeth Timothy to give heede unto them; and 1 Tim. 1. 4. 2 Pet. 1. 16.the Apoſtle Peter ſaith, that hee had not followed cunningly deviſed fables, they doe not ſpeake of all fables, but onelyonly of profane old wives and Jewiſh fables, which did not tend to edification and inſtruction in the knowledge of the trueth, but onelyonly by pleaſing the eare to fill the minde with unprofitable vanities and miſleade the judgement into errors and lyes. And that he ſpeaketh of ſuch onelyonly and not of the other which have their politicke 1 Tim. 4. 7. Tit. 1. 14.and morall uſe, he plainely expoundeth himſelfe in divers other places.