nd severely forbid lying. Prov. xiii. 5; xxx. 8.
Ps. v. 6. John viii. 44. Col. iii. 9. Rev. xxi. 8, 27. Beyond these
things, nothing can be said in condemnation of lying.

"_But then_ lying is to be understood to be _something said or
written to the hurt of our neighbour_, which cannot be understood
otherwise than to differ from the mind of him that speaks. 'A lie is
petulantly or from a desire of hurting, to say one thing, or to
signify it by gesture, and to think another thing;'[6] so Melancthon,
'To lie is to deceive our neighbour to his hurt.' For _in this sense_
a lie is naturally or _intrinsically_ evil; that is, to speak a lie
_to our neighbour_ is naturally evil ... _not_ because it is
different from an eternal truth.... A lie is an _injury_ to our
neighbour.... There is in mankind a universal _contract_ implied in
all their intercourses.... _In justice_ we are bound to speak, so as
that our neighbour do not lose his _right_, which by our speaking we
give him to the truth, that is, in our heart. And of a lie, _thus
defined_, which is _injurious_ to our neighbour, so long as his
_right_ to truth remains, it is that St. Austin affirms it to be
simply unlawful, and that it can in no case be permitted, nisi forte
regulas quasdam daturus es.... If a lie be _unjust_, it can never
become lawful; but, _if it can be separate from injustice_, then it
may be _innocent_. Here then I consider

"This right, though it be regularly and commonly belonging to all
men, yet it may be _taken away_ by a superior right intervening; or
it may be lost, or it may be hindered, or it may cease, upon a
greater reason.

"Therefore upon this account it was lawful for the children of Israel
to borrow jewels of the Egyptians, _which supposes a promise of
restitution, though they intended not to pry them back again_. God
gave commandment so to spoil them, and the Egyptians were divested of
their _rights_, and _were to be used like enemies_.

"_It is lawful to tell a lie to children or to madmen_; because they,
having no powers of judging, have no _right_ to truth; but then, _the
lie must be charitable and useful_.... _If a lie be told_, it must be
such as is _for their good_ ... and so do physicians to their
patients.... This and the like were so usual, so permitted to
physicians, that it grew to a proverb, 'You lie like a doctor;'[7]
which yet was always to be understood in the way of charity, and with
honour to the profession.... To tell