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 Abbe 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.”