may speak a direct and express falsehood to any persons who in our
esteem have no right to the truth in their enquiry; this seems to break
all the bands of human society, violate all the faith of men, and render
the divine commands of veracity, and the prohibitions of falsehood
almost useless. The consciences of men would find a way of escape from
the greatest part of the bonds of duty, and yet think they committed no
sin.
For let us consider, who it is that must judge whether the person to
whom we speak has a right to truth or no. Is it not the speaker himself
who will be the judge? Now if the speaker must judge whether his
neighbour has a right to truth, there is no case, wherein the speaker’s
interest may be any ways endangered by the truth, but his own sinful
heart will readily whisper to him, that the hearer has no right to truth
in such a question: and conscience will easily be warped aside, and
comply to pronounce a known falsehood, under the colour and pretence of
this exception: As for instance; if the buyer asks the seller, how much
he gave for any merchandize? The seller by this rule may tell him double
the price that it cost; for he will say, the buyer has no right to truth
in such a question as this is. So if I ask an artificer, how he fashions
his work, or what tools he uses in it? He may by this rule give me a
very false answer, under pretence that I have no right to truth.
I readily grant in these cases, that the enquirer has no right to demand
and claim an answer to such questions; therefore the seller or the
artificer may refuse to inform him. But it is surprising to think that
any man should persuade himself, that such a question being once asked,
gives him a right to tell a lie! That any person should ever believe,
that the mere enquiry of a thing improper to be told, absolves the
answerer from all the obligations of truth, which his duty to God and
man have laid upon him! Surely such a rule of conduct as this, had need
have better arguments to establish it. But those who maintain this
principle, must rather recur to the character of the person who makes
the enquiry: and here indeed they give a little better colour to their
cause.
I come therefore now to give particular answers to the instances
alledged; 1. Concerning children. 2. Concerning knaves and cheats.
Instance I. Will you say, that children have no right to truth, because
they are not capable of civil society?
But I reply, they are capable of knowing what truth and falsehood are,
and of being influenced by the one or the other; they are capable of
being deceived, and of knowing when they are deceived, they are capable
of judging when they are treated with truth and sincerity, and acting
according to the things you tell them; or else to what purpose do you
speak falsehood to them instead of truth, and try to impose a lie upon
them?
They are capable of resenting your conduct, when they find out the
falsehood; and of refusing to believe you another time; For the very
reason why they believe your falsehood at first, is, because they
suppose you speak truth to them, and would not deceive them: And it is
only upon this very principle that you yourselves can attempt to impose
upon them.
Again, They are capable of learning from you and imitating your conduct,
and they will be so much more ready to practise lying, and to deceive
you with it, when they have found you practising lies, in order to
deceive them. Suppose a mother has now and then persuaded a child to
take a wholesome bitter medicine, by saying, it is not bitter, or has
allured it to bed or to school by some of the arts of falsehood, and
this child should imitate the mother’s example, and grow up to a
confirmed liar; what inward and piercing reflections must the mother
feel? Alas! I have taught my child this sinful practice, I myself have
led it into the ways of the devil: How can I chide and correct by my
reproof that vice, which I have taught by my example!
It is sufficiently evident therefore, that though children are not
capable of half the duties of the social life, yet they are so far
capable of them, as to know what truth and falsehood are, and to resent,
and to practise accordingly: And this is sufficient to the present
argument, and fully answers the objection. I think therefore it is
infinitely better to allure those, whose understandings are weak, and
whose wills are obstinate, to the practice of duty, by all the gentle
arts of softness and fondness, of persuasion and love, than by venturing
to make an inroad upon our own sincerity, and to trifle with so sacred a
thing as truth.
But the querist may say, Suppose these softer arts have been tried, and
have no effect, and children may be in danger of destroying themselves,
if they are not immediately prevented by some plain and express
falsehood; is it then unlawful to preserve their lives by a lie? Answer.
It is a command of God indeed to preserve life, but it must be done by
lawful means. May a man rob on the high-way, to get money to feed and
clothe him? Surely we ought to trust the kind care and providence of God
with our own lives and others in the way of duty, and not do evil that
good may come, as was said under the former question.
Thus much shall suffice for the case of children, on pretence of their
being incapable of civil society. But the querist will insist still on
the next instance:
Instance II. Cheats, and knaves, and thievish criminals, have no right
to truth; for they have broken the bonds of civil society, though not by
a public renunciation of them, and therefore we may use all manner of
deceit toward them, and treat them with express falsehood and lying,
wheresoever it may promote our own interest and safety.
To this I reply, that the rule of Christ is, _Whatsoever ye would that
men should do unto you, do ye also that unto them_; Mat. vii. 12. But
this licentious doctrine cancels this divine rule, and substitutes
another in the room of it, _viz._ _Whatsoever men do unto you, do ye
also that unto them_; which is as widely different from the sacred rule
of Christ, as light is from darkness, or heaven from hell. By this new
rule we are no longer bound to practise that truth, that justice, that
goodness to others, which we think reasonable they should practise
towards us; but we have leave to practise that falsehood and knavery,
that fraud, and injustice, and mischief to others, which they do
actually practice towards us, or which we suspect they design to
practise.
If one half of a city or a nation were fallen into knavish practices,
through the great degeneracy of the age, or were become thievish
pilferers, the other half would, by this rule, practise knavery with
licence toward them, and deal out falsehoods to them by divine
permission. And then the charge would quickly be just and universal,
_There is no truth in the land_, as Hos. iv. 1.
There is indeed scarce any censure of a degenerate and corrupt age under
the Old Testament, but fraud and deceit, lies and falsehood, make a
considerable part of the accusation or complaint; and surely God would
never allow any principles or practices that have so pernicious a
tendency. Hear how the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah lament their
multiplied transgressions in _conceiving and uttering from the heart
words of falsehood_: _Truth is fallen into the street, yea, truth
faileth, and equity cannot enter_; Is. lix. _This is a nation that
obeyeth not the voice of the Lord. Truth is perished, and is cut off
from their mouth. They deceive every one his neighbour, and will not
speak the truth; they bend their tongues like their bow for lies_; Jer.
vii. and ix. Now if this licentious principle were allowed, neither God
nor his prophets would ever want matter of complaint.
By this means also it will come to pass, that if a man happen once to
get the name and character of a thief or a cheat, all his neighbours
will think themselves authorized to have no regard to truth or honesty
in all their dealings and discourse with him; for this rule affirms that
he has no right to truth. And when any person fancies that he has seen
reason to suspect or disbelieve his neighbour’s honesty, he will think
himself absolved from all obligations to speak truth to him. But what a
wide and dreadful flood-gate would be opened by this means, to let in an
inundation of fraud and falsehood, and to practise all manner of deceit!
Let it be remarked also, that this doctrine is near a-kin to the popish
abomination, “That no faith is to be kept with heretics; for they are a
sort of dangerous men, who would ruin the church, and therefore they
have no right to truth.” Now what shameful and horrid perjuries, and
what execrable mischiefs, have sprung from this one impious principle of
the church of Rome? The word of God gives no manner of indulgence to
such licentious principles as these. We must wrong no man, defraud no
man; we must not render to any man evil for evil, nor falsehood for
falsehood, but overcome his evil with our good: and we must _provide
things honest in the sight of men_.
It will be said, perhaps, that the scripture most frequently mentions a
neighbour, or a brother, or a fellow-christian, in the prohibitions of
lying and falsehood, as in the ninth commandment, _Bear no false witness
against thy neighbour_; 1 Thess. iv. 6. _No man defraud his brother._
Eph. iv. 25. _Speak every man truth to his neighbour._ Lev. xix. 11.
_Lie not one to another._
But let it be replied, that the scripture demands righteousness for the
strangers also; Deut. i. 16. and in several other places. And when God,
by his prophet Malachi, forbids _treacherous dealing with a brother_, he
gives this reason for it, _Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God
created us?_ Therefore all mankind are brethren in this sense. Our duty
to speak and practise truth, arises from our obligations to the law of
God; and since God has not released us by any such exceptions, the lying
and deceitful carriage of men does not authorise us to practise deceit
and lying. It is indeed a piece of an old latin verse, that is in the
mouth of many, “_Fallere fallentum non est fraus_;” which may be
Englished thus, To cheat a knave is no cheating: But I know no verse in
scripture that gives us this liberty. And I think we may by the same
rule steal from them that would steal from us, or plunder those who
would plunder us.
I will readily grant, that when a contract or bargain is made, whereby
both parties are obliged mutually to perform something to or for each
other, whether this contract be expressed in verbal promises, or implied
in the nature of things, and by the known customs of mankind, then if
one of the parties fail of performance, the other is thereby released
from his promise or engagement: and the reason is most evident, because
the promise or engagement was made in a conditional manner; and if the
condition on one side be not fulfilled, the agreement or bargain on the
other side is void, and utterly ceases; so that a man is innocent in
this case, though he does not perform his promise. Now this is so well
known to all men by the light of nature, and the easiest reasoning, that
there is no need to enlarge upon it.
According to this general and known rule, suppose a merchant order any
quantity of goods from his correspondent by the first ship, and promise
payment by such a day; if the sending of those goods be neglected, and
carelessly delayed, the merchant is not bound to keep his first
appointed time for payment. An hundred instances there are of the like
nature, which a small degree of reason, and an honest conscience, will
easily determine, without intrenching upon truth. Such is the case of
all conditional promises and contracts. But if a man be never so great a
knave, and I should make him a lawful and an absolute promise of any
thing, surely I ought to perform it, and not satisfy my conscience in
the practice of deceit and falsehood, under a pretence that he had no
right to truth.
There are other cases which may occur in human affairs, and create
difficulty in the minds of sincere christians, a solution of which may
be found in books written on those subjects: But I think most of them
may be easily answered by the general principles before laid down: And,
to finish this subject, I add, that I know of no circumstances that can
make a plain, and express, and known lie to become lawful: If life
itself were in danger, yet the express prohibitions of falsehood and
lying in the law of God, make it safer, in point of conscience, to
venture the loss of any earthly comfort, and life also, rather than
venture upon a plain and solemn lie.
And, in my opinion, that man, who, being assisted by divine grace,
maintains the truth boldly, or refuses to speak a known falsehood to a
murderer, or a bloody tyrant, and bravely resigns his life upon the
spot, he dies a martyr to truth; his name shall be registered with
honour among the saints of God on earth, and his soul shall have its
place among the martyrs in the upper world.
HYMN FOR SERMON XXII.
_Faithfulness._
Hath God been faithful to his word,
And sent to men the promis’d grace,
Shall I not imitate the Lord,
And practise what my lips profess?
Hath Christ fulfill’d his kind design,
The dreadful work he undertook,
And died to make salvation mine,
And well perform’d whate’er he spoke?
Doth not his faithfulness afford
A noble theme to raise my song?
And shall I dare deny my Lord,
Or utter falsehood with my tongue?
My King, my Saviour, and my God!
Let grace my sinful soul renew,
Wash my offences with thy blood,
And make my heart sincere and true.
SERMON XXIII.
_Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Gravity, Decency, &c._
PHILIP. iv. 8.—Whatsoever things are honest, _or grave_, &c. think on
these things.
Οσα σεμνα, &c.
Since the translation of the bible into the English tongue is so
excellent a performance in itself, and so necessary a service to the
church: I feel a sensible regret, whensoever there is occasion to
complain of it, or to correct it. In the main, I may venture to say
boldly, it teaches us all the necessary doctrines and duties of
christianity in a very ample and complete manner, and sets them in an
evident light: And what the Spirit of God spoke in ancient times in
Greek and Hebrew, is sufficiently manifested to us for our salvation in
the English bible.
But in this part of the verse, which I am now to discourse of, the word
which we render honest, is not so well translated as I could wish; for
honesty is contained in the words true and just, which go before, and
follow my text. But the Greek σεμνος, more properly signifies grave,
decent, or venerable; and so you find it in the margin, which will
oftentimes help you, when the word in the English text is not so
expressive of the original sense. The same word σεμνος is rendered grave
in several other places of scripture: It is three times so expressed in
the third chapter of the first epistle to Timothy, ver. 8. _The deacons
must be grave._ Ver. 11. _Their wives also must be grave._ Ver. 5. _A
bishop must have his children in subjection with all gravity._
It is a word that is used in Greek authors to represent the character of
an aged man, a philosopher, or a magistrate among the heathens. It
carries in it the idea of an honourable gravity, and a venerable decency
of behaviour; and this is what the apostle recommends to the practice of
christians. It is as if he had said, “The character of every common
christian should have something in it so honourable, as may command a
sort of veneration and respect from all persons they converse with, as
much as the character of a wise old man, a magistrate, or a philosopher,
does in the heathen world.”
To improve this subject, I shall shew,
I. Wherein this gravity consists.—II. How the light of nature recommends
it.—III. How the gospel enforces it.—IV. Lay down a direction or two, in
order to obtain it.
_First_, This gravity and venerable decency which the apostle recommends
in my text, may be supposed to consist in these three things.
1. A moderation and decency in our apparel.—2. A gravity and sobriety in
our speech and conversation.—3. Honour, decency, and dignity in our
whole deportment and behaviour.
I. A moderation and decency in our apparel, such as becomes the
profession of persons whose chief ornament is religion and godliness.
This the apostles, both St. Peter and St. Paul, each in their turn,
insist upon, as a necessary qualification of women who profess
christianity, and as an ornament to the doctrine of the gospel of
Christ; 1 Pet. iii. 2, 3. Let your conversation be with fear; _whose
adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and
wearing of gold_; 1 Tim. ii. 9, 10. The apostle Paul bids Timothy the
young evangelist teach the same doctrine and practice. _In like manner_,
I will _also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with
shamefacedness and sobriety; as becometh women professing
godliness_.—Not that all christians must utterly abandon those richer
and costly methods of ornament, gold or pearls, which the apostle there
makes mention of; for every one of us should wear such raiment as suits
our character and our age, our company and business in the world: But
let not these be our chief ornaments, still remembering that we are
christians, and let our apparel, as well as our conversation, shew that
we despise trifles and thus maintain the dignity of our high and holy
calling.
Here, saith a[28] learned commentator, “it is worthy to be noted by the
women that this precept ought not to be slighted by them, as of little
moment, seeing it is so carefully inculcated by the two chief apostles
of the Jew and Gentile, St. Peter and St. Paul; and the contrary is
represented as a practice opposite to godliness.”
Nor while you are dressing, should you forget that you are sinners, and
therefore should put on shamefacedness; for all our ornaments and
clothing are but a memorial of our first sin and shame. And when we take
a pride in our garments, it looks as if we had forgotten the original of
them, the loss of our innocency. Nor is this sort of advice to be
confined to the female world: For, as the same author expresses it, “If
it be so unbecoming a christian woman to be thus concerned in adorning
and tricking up her body, it must be much more unbecoming a christian
man, and that which makes him truly to deserve the name of a fop.” It is
a token of a light and vain mind to be too fond of gaudy habits, a mind
not much affected with sin or with salvation. Surely christians are born
for greater things, and their aim should point at higher excellencies
than these are. Let their chief ornaments be the graces of the Spirit,
and the virtues of the heart and life. A well adorned body, and a
neglected mind, very ill becomes a professor of the gospel.
Christians should look like strangers and pilgrims here, and not think
themselves undressed, unless they are conformed to all the niceties and
fashions of the world. Sometimes, it may be, we are too much afraid we
shall not look like the children of this world; whereas the apostle
advises us rather to look like strangers. We are travelling homeward
through a foreign country, having the ornaments of holiness on us, which
is the raiment of heaven. I confess we are not required to affect
singularity, nor to seek a foolish and useless distinction from the
customs of our country, where they are proper, innocent, and becoming;
for the kingdom of God does not consist in any affected peculiarities of
dress or behaviour; but let us remember too, that it is below the glory
of our character, and the dignity of our calling, to have our thoughts
uneasy, if every pin and point that belongs to our apparel be not placed
in the most fashionable manner; to fret and rage, if every fold of our
garment be not adjusted in perfect conformity to the mode.
Then we may be said to fall short of that venerable decency in our
apparel which christianity should teach us, when we are among the first
in any new devised and gaudy fashions; when we are some of the foremost
in the gaieties of the age: When we run to the extremes of every new
mode, and affect to vie with the vainest of our sex: When the business
of dressing is made one of the most frequent, important, and solemn
enquiries and concerns of life; and when it employs some of our most
serious thoughts, and our warmest passions: When we indulge a greater
expence in finery than our circumstances will allow, or our stations
require: When we waste more time in adorning ourselves, than the duties
we owe to God or man, will reasonably permit; and especially if we
intrench upon the hours which should be devoted to sacred purposes. I
should add also, that then we certainly break in upon christian
sobriety, when we indulge such sort of clothing as in its own nature
becomes a temptation to immodesty, and brings fuel to the impure fire of
the eyes, or of the heart.
I would not be thought to treat too largely upon this subject or handle
it too severely; but let us remember, that our biggest danger in this
age is excess, and luxury, and vanity of mind: We are pretty secure
now-a-days from too great a carelessness in this respect.
II. Gravity and sobriety in our speech is another part of that
honourable conduct and character which we ought to maintain, and to
which the holy apostle invites us. In the second chapter of Titus, ver.
6, 7, 8. you have this direction of the apostle to Titus the evangelist,
how he ought to behave himself, and what he speaks to him chiefly as a
minister, may be given as a rule to all christians whom he must instruct
in all things, _shewing thyself a pattern of good works_; _in doctrine_,
or in discourse, _shewing incorruptness, gravity, and sincerity; sound
speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part
may be ashamed, having no evil to say of you_. He gives the christians
at Ephesus the same advice; Eph. iv. 29. _Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of
edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers._ Talk of
something that may improve one another in knowledge, in virtue, in
religion: And let each of us be ashamed to think that we have been an
hour or two in each other’s company, and have neither spoke nor heard
any thing that is worth remembrance. How often, after a visit among
friends, must we take up this just and shameful complaint, “Alas, I have
said nothing for their improvement, nor heard any thing for my own!”
In Eph. v. 4, the apostle there secludes some sort of conversation from
the lips of christians, _Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting, which are not convenient_, which are ουκ ανηκοντα, not
agreeable to our profession. Foolish talking and jesting are here
forbidden, as well as filthiness. By foolish talking, we may suppose
such sort of language to be intended, from which it is impossible any
profit or advantage, should arise to a wise or a good man. And by
jesting the apostle here designs such sharp and biting jests that wound
the reputation of a person concerning whom they are spoken. Such a turn
of wit, as the original word signifies, that at the same time wounds a
good name, and gives a bitter reproach: Not that every thing pleasantly
spoken is supposed to be unlawful; or that the apostle any where forbids
all manner of mirth and jesting in conversation; for there are proper
times and seasons for such sort of discourse: And there may be valuable
ends in it too, when it is innocently used, on purpose to recreate
nature, and refresh the mind. And how far this may be indulged, I shall
have occasion to speak toward the end of this sermon.
III. Another thing that is included in this word gravity, is honour and
decency in our whole deportment and behaviour. Each of us should be
careful to maintain our public character as a christian, with a due
sense of the dignity of it. Christians should be ashamed to debase the
powers of their nature, to practise any thing that is sordid and
unworthy; nor make the members of their flesh, nor the faculties of
their mind, slaves to that which is ridiculous or foolish.