A Lie Never Justifiable | Page 2

VI.
CENTURIES OF DISCUSSION.
Wide Differences of Opinion.--Views of Talmudists.--Hamburger's
Testimony.--Strictness in Principle.--Exceptions in Practice.--Isaac
Abohab's Testimony.--Christian Fathers not Agreed.--Martyrdom Price
of Truthtelling.--Justin Martyr's Testimony.--Temptations of Early
Christians.--Words of Shepherd of Hermas.--Tertullian's
Estimate.--Origen on False Speaking.--Peter and Paul at Antioch.--
Gregory of Nyssa and Basil the Great.--Deceit in Interests of
Harmony.--Chrysostom's Deception of Basil.--Chrysostom's Defense of
Deceit.--Augustine's Firmness of Position.--Condemnation of
Lying.--Examination of Excuses.--Jerome's Weakness and Error.--Final
Agreement with Augustine.--Repetition of Arguments of Augustine

and Chrysostom.--Representative Disputants.--Thomas
Aquinas.--Masterly Discussion.--Errors of Duns Scotus.--John
Calvin.--Martin Luther.-- Ignatius Loyola.--Position of
Jesuits.--Protestants Defending Lying. --Jeremy Taylor.--Errors and
Inconsistencies.--Wrong Definitions.-- Misapplication of
Scripture.--Richard Rothe.--Character, Ability, and Influence. in
Definition of Lie.--Failure to Recognize.--Error Love to God as Only
Basis of Love to Man.--Exceptions in Favor of Lying.--Nitzsch's Claim
of Wiser and Nobler Methods than Lying in Love.--Rothe's Claim of
Responsibility of Loving Guardianship--No Countenance of Deception
in Example of Jesus.--Prime Error of Rothe. --Opinions of
Contemporary Critics.--Isaac Augustus Dorner.-- Character and
Principles.--Keen Definitions.--High Standards.-- Clearness and
Consistency.--Hans Lassen Martensen.--Logic Swayed by
Feeling.--Right Premises and Wavering Reasonings.--Lofty Ideals.--
Story of Jeanie Deans.--Correct Conclusions.--Influence of Personal
Peculiarities on Ethical Convictions.--Contrast of Charles Hodge and
James H. Thornwell.--Dr. Hodge's Correct Premises and Amiable
Inconsistencies.--Truth the Substratum of Deity.--Misconceptions of
Bible Teachings.--Suggestion of Deception by Jesus Christ.--Error as to
General Opinion of Christians.--Dr. Hodge's Conclusions Crushed by
his Premises.--Dr. Thornwell's Thorough Treatment of Subject.-- Right
Basis.--Sound Argument.--Correct Definitions.--Firmness for
Truth.--Newman Smyth's Manual.--Good Beginning and Bad Ending.--
Confusion of Terms.--Inconsistencies in Argument.--Loose Reasoning.
--Dangerous Teachings.--James Martineau.--Fine Moral
Sense.--Conflict between Feeling and Conviction.--Safe
Instincts.--Thomas Fowler.-- Higher Expediency of
Veracity.--Importance to General Good.--Leslie Stephen.--Duty of
Veracity Result of Moral Progress.--Kant and Fichte.--Jacobi
Misrepresented.--False Assumptions by Advocates of Lie of
Necessity.--Enemies in Warfare not Justified in Lying.--Testimony of
Cicero.--Macaulay on Lord Clive's Treachery.--Woolsey on
International Law.--No Place for Lying in Medical Ethics.--Opinions
and Experiences of Physicians.--Pliny's Story of Roman
Matron.--Victor Hugo's Sister Simplice.--Words of Abbé Sicard.--Tact
and Principle.--Legal Ethics.--Whewell's View.--Opinion of

Chief-Justice Sharswood.--Mistakes of Dr. Hodge.--Lord Brougham's
Claim.--False Charge against Charles Phillips.--Chancellor Kent on
Moral Obligations in Law and in Equity.--Clerical Profession Chiefly
Involved.--Clergymen for and against Lying.--Temptation to Lies of
Love.--Supreme Importance of Sound Principle.--Duty of Veracity to
Lower Animals.--Dr. Dabney's View.--Views of Dr. Newman
Smyth.--Duty of Truthfulness an Obligation toward God.--Lower
Animals not Exempt from Principle of Universal
Application.--Fishing.--Hunting.--Catching Horse.--Professor Bowne's
Psychological View.--No Place for Lying in God's Universe.--Small
Improvement on Chrysostom's Argument for Lying.--Limits of
Consistency in Logical Plea.--God, or Satan.
VII.
THE GIST OF THE MATTER.
One All-Dividing Line.--Primal and Eternal Difference.--Lie Inevitably
Hostile to God.--Lying Separates from God.--Sin per se.--Perjury
Justifiable if Lying be Justifiable.--Lying--Lying Defiles Liar, apart
from Questions of Gain in Lying.--Social Evils Resultant from
Lying.--Confidence Essential to Society.--Lying Destructive of
Confidence.--Lie Never Harmless.
INDEXES.
TOPICAL INDEX. SCRIPTURAL INDEX.

I.
A QUESTION OF THE AGES.
Whether a lie is ever justifiable, is a question that has been in
discussion, not only in all the Christian centuries, but ever since
questions concerning human conduct were first a possibility. On the
one hand, it has been claimed that a lie is by its very nature
irreconcilable with the eternal principles of justice and right; and, on
the other hand, it has been asserted that great emergencies may
necessitate a departure from all ordinary rules of human conduct, and
that therefore there may be, in an emergency, such a thing as the "lie of
necessity."
It is not so easy to consider fairly a question like this in the hour when
vital personal interests pivot on the decision, as it is in a season of rest
and safety; yet, if in a time of extremest peril the unvarying duty of

truthfulness shines clearly through an atmosphere of sore temptation,
that light may be accepted as diviner because of its very power to
penetrate clouds and to dispel darkness. Being forced to consider, in an
emergency, the possible justification of the so-called "lie of necessity,"
I was brought to a settlement of that question in my own mind, and
have since been led to an honest endeavor to bring others to a like
settlement of it. Hence this monograph.
In the summer of 1863 I was a prisoner of war in Columbia, South
Carolina. The Federal prisoners were confined in the common jail,
under military guard, and with no parole binding them not to attempt an
escape. They were subject to the ordinary laws of war. Their captors
were responsible for their detention in imprisonment, and it was their
duty to escape from captivity, and to return to the army of the
government to which they owed allegiance, if they could do so by any
right means. No obligations were on them toward their captors, save
those which are binding at all times, even when a state of war suspends
such social duties as are merely conventional.
Only he who has been