An exposition of the morall lavv, or Ten Commandements of almightie God set dovvne by vvay of exercitations, wherein is contained an explanation of diverse questions and positions for the right understanding thereof, together with an explication of these scriptures which depend upon, or belong unto every one of the commandements, all which are cleared out of the originall languages, the customes of the Iewes, and the distinctions of the schoolemen / by Iohn Weemse ...

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.

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, 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 wa∣ters faile not: in the originall it is, whose waters lie not. So when men speake and make a shew of words in one thing, and thinke another, it is a lie, but this doth not ful∣ly 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, 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 men∣tem ire, expresseth not the full nature of a lie, for a man may speake a lie, and not speake contrary to his minde.

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 dan∣ger; 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 re∣joyceth in the truth, 1. Cor. 13.6.

There are three sorts of lyers. First, the naturall lyer. Secondly, the habituall lier: And thirdly, 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 men∣daces, The Cretians are alwayes lyers, Tit. 1.12. 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, 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. 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 ex∣cogitate and finde out a lie: but in this sort of husban∣dry, 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 birth∣right already: but it was a lie, if ye will respect Iacob him∣selfe, because hee deceived his father by it: a tropicall speech is not a lye; as Herod is a fox, so neither is a figu∣rative speech, Matt. 11.14. Iohn is Elias, Iacob might have called himselfe Esau, if hee had not done this to de∣ceive 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 Pa∣triarches, and admire the great mercies of God in par∣doning them.

Whether David made a lie.

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.] 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 pernici∣ous 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.] 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. 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, 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 man∣ner 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 denomi∣nation 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.

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.

Notes

• A man may be a lier two wayes.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Mentitum est opus oli∣vae.
• If the words and minde differ, it is a lie.
• August.
• Three sorts of lyes.
• There are three sorts of lyers.
• Suidas.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Assuunt mendacium mendacio.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Septuag. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 arantes absurda. ARARE MENDA∣CIVM quid apud He∣braeos.
• Neither a tropicall, nor a figurative speech is a lie.
• The first lye that Da∣vid made.
• Christ justifieth David in the necessity, but not in the fact of the lye.
• David made but an offi∣cious lye to Ahimelech, for he had gotten the bread before hee saw Doeg.
• Whether David caused Ionathan to make a lye to Saul.
• Whether David made a lye to Achis.
• Conclusion.