Centuries of discussion have only brought out with added clearness the essential fact that a lie is eternally opposed to the truth; and that he who would be a worthy child of the Father of truth must refuse to employ, under any circumstances, modes of speech and action which belong exclusively to the “father of lies.”

VII.

THE GIST OF THE MATTER.

It would seem that the one all-dividing line in the universe, which never changes or varies, is the line between the true and the false, between the truth and a lie.  All other lines of distinction, such even as those which separate good from evil, light from darkness, purity from impurity, love from hate, are in a sense relative and variable lines, taking their decisive measure from this one primal and eternal dividing line.

This is the one line which goes back of our very conception of a personal God, or which is inherent in that conception.  We cannot conceive of God as God, unless we conceive of him as the true God, and the God of truth.  If there be any falsity in him, he is not the true God.  Truth is of God’s very nature.  To admit in our thought that a lie is of God, is to admit that falsity is in him, or, in other words, that he is a false god.

A lie is the opposite of truth, and a being who will lie stands opposed to God, who by his very nature cannot lie.  Hence he who lies takes a stand, by that very act, in opposition to God.  Therefore if it be necessary at any time to lie, it is necessary to desert God and be in hostility to him so long as the necessity for lying continues.

If there be such a thing as a sin per se, a lie is that thing; as a lie is, in its very nature, in hostility to the being of God.  Whatever, therefore, be the temptation to lie, it is a temptation to sin by lying.  Whatever be the seeming gain to result from a lie, it is the seeming gain from a sin.  Whatever be the apparent cost or loss from refusing to lie, it is the apparent cost or loss from refusing to sin.

Man, formed in the moral image of God, is so far a representative of God.  If a man lies, he misrepresents and dishonors God, and must incur God’s disapproval because of his course.  This fact is recognized in the universal habit of appealing to God in witness of the truthfulness of a statement, when there is room for doubt as to its correctness.  The feeling is general that a man who believes in God will not lie unto God under the solemnity of an oath.  If, however, it were possible for God to approve a lie on the part of one of his children, then that child of God might confidently make solemn oath to the truth of his lie, appealing to God to bear witness to the lie—­which in God’s mind is, in this case, better than the truth.  In God’s sight an oath is no more sacred than a yea, yea; and every child of God speaks always as in the sight of God.  Perjury is no more of an immorality than ordinary lying; nor is ordinary lying any less a sin than formal perjury.