make one ready to do whatever seems likely to
advantage him in the present life.

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 beli