Part 21 (1/2)
4. _He is generally a coward in respect to men, and a contemner of G.o.d._--”To say a man lieth,” says Montaigne, ”is to say that he is audacious towards G.o.d, and a coward towards men.” ”Whosoever lies,”
observes Hopkins, ”doth it out of a base and sordid fear lest some evil and inconvenience should come unto him by declaring the truth.” ”A liar,” remarks Bacon, ”is brave towards G.o.d and a coward towards man.
For a lie faces G.o.d, and shrinks from man.” ”The meanness of lying,”
says Gilpin, ”arises from the cowardice which it implies. We dare not boldly and n.o.bly speak the truth, but have recourse to low subterfuges, which always show a sordid and disingenuous mind. Hence it is that in the fas.h.i.+onable world the word _liar_ is always considered as a term of peculiar reproach.”
”Lie not, but let thy heart be true to G.o.d, Thy mouth to it, thy actions to them both.
Cowards tell lies, and those that fear the rod; The stormy working soul spits lies and froth.”
Again, says the poet:--
”Dishonour waits on perfidy. The villain Should blush to think a falsehood; 'tis the crime Of cowards.”
5. _As a rule he is the most condemned and shunned of all the talkers in society._--Those who have any self-respect avoid him. The n.o.ble and virtuous stand aloof from his company. He is regarded as a dangerous person, possessed of deadly weapons, subject to a deadly malady. He is not depended upon at any time, or in anything. Even his veracity is suspected, if not discredited altogether; so that when he does speak the truth there is little or no confidence reposed in what he says _as_ the truth. Aristotle, being asked what a man would gain by telling a lie, answered, ”Not to be credited when he shall tell the truth.”
The poet, in a dialogue with Vice, thus represents the liar or falsehood as the greatest fiend on earth. Vice inquires of Falsehood:--
”And, secret one! what hast thou done To compare, in thy tumid pride, with me?
_I_, whose career, through the blasted year, Has been tracked by despair and agony.”
To which Falsehood replies:--
”What have I done? I have torn the robe From Baby Truth's unsheltered form, And round the desolated globe Borne safely the bewildering charm: My tyrant-slaves to a dungeon floor Have bound the fearless innocent, And streams of fertilizing gore Flow from her bosom's hideous rent, Which this unfailing dagger gave....
I dread that blood!--no more--this day Is ours, though her eternal ray Must s.h.i.+ne upon our grave.
Yet know, proud Vice, had I not given To thee the robe I stole from heaven, Thy shape of ugliness and fear Had never gained admission here.”
In view of the enormity of this sin, the language and feeling of the good is, ”I hate and abhor lying;” ”A righteous man hateth lying;” ”The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth.” They pray against the sin, ”Remove from me the way of lying;” ”Remove far from me vanity and lies.”
They do not respect those who are guilty of the sin. ”Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies;” ”He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.” It would be well if all professing Christians would act upon this resolution of the Psalmist, and exclude all liars from their presence.
6. _He is generally characterized for other evils as a.s.sociated and produced by his lying._--The degeneracy of moral principle which can impose upon the credulity of mankind by the invention and statement of what is known to be untrue is capable of other acts of vice and immorality. Hence the prophet Hosea, in speaking to the Israelites of the judgments that should come upon them, declares that ”the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is NO TRUTH, nor mercy, nor knowledge of G.o.d in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery they break out, and blood toucheth blood.” Here we see the brood of evils a.s.sociated with lying. ”A lying tongue,” says Solomon, ”hateth those that are afflicted by it.” It not only afflicts, but hates them whom it does afflict--hates them under the calamity of which itself has been the cause. ”A liar,” he again says, ”giveth ear to a naughty tongue.” He listens to lies, to slander, to cursing, to profanity, and the various evils const.i.tuting a ”naughty tongue.”
7. _He often tries to conceal his previous sins by lying, and to conceal his lying by subsequent sins._--Ananias and Sapphira sinned in keeping back part of the price, and then they lied in endeavouring to cover that (Acts v.). Cain sinned in murdering his brother, and then lied in the attempt to hide it (Gen. iv. 9). Jacob did wrong in appearing before his father as Esau, and sustained his wrong by a lie. The brethren of Joseph transgressed in dealing unkindly with him and selling him into the hands of the Ishmaelites, and then to conceal the matter they deceived their father by lying (Gen. x.x.xvii. 31, 32). Samson committed sin by throwing himself into the power of Delilah, and sought his deliverance from her hands by telling lies (Judges xvi. 10).
And so the liar has to resort to additional sin in defending himself against his lying. One lie begets another lie to sustain it. Sometimes it calls forth an oath, a blasphemy, a curse, perjury, and other kinds of sin. Gehazi lied to Naaman concerning his master, and then to clear himself before his master he lied a second time (2 Kings v. 22, 25).
Peter also lied in saying that he knew not Jesus, and to sustain himself in it, when discovered, he cursed and swore, and thus doubled his crime (Matt. xxvi. 72).
”One lie,” says Owen, ”must be thatched with another, or it will soon rain through.” ”He who tells a lie,” remarks Pope, ”is not sensible how great a task he undertakes, for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one.” ”When one lie becomes due,” says Thackeray, ”you must forge another to take up the old acceptance; and so the stock of your lies in circulation inevitably multiplies, and the danger of detection increases every day.”
It is astounding to a serious mind to observe how some persons can run on in the repet.i.tion of falsehoods; and who, upon an apprehension of discovery, will yet go on paying the price of what they have told by continuing to lie on. It is also humiliating to one's humanity to notice oftentimes the cunning, subtlety, paltry tricks resorted to in order to cover over the lies which are exposed to detection.
”This is the curse of every evil deed,-- That, propagating still, it brings forth evil.”
8. _He is almost invariably discovered in his sin._--”The lip of truth,”
says the wise man, ”shall be established for ever; but a lying tongue is but for a moment” (Prov. xii. 19). The moral government of G.o.d is maintained by truth. It is engaged in the promulgation and defence of truth. He who lies is a violator of its sacred laws, and exposes himself to the searching and grasping power of justice. The agents of the justice of G.o.d are numerous, and by one or the other the rebel is sure to be discovered and brought to public exposure in his criminality.