My subject this morning is lying. Let nobody charge that I have selected this subject because it is especially appropriate to my audience. I do not think any of you will ever lie unless you get caught in a very tight place.

      Lying is, and has been for a long time, one of the most common sins of humanity; so much so, that David said in one of his psalms, "I said in my haste that all men are liars", and some wag added to it that when he got out of his haste he ought to have said the same thing. But there has been a great deal of improvement since then, especially in some portions of the world.

      In heathen countries and in some Christian countries lying is not considered very base. I recollect that the dragoman we had on my trip through Palestine would lie at any time and was not the least ashamed of it. He would tell us some big lie and when we caught him in it he would not blush or apologize. He called himself a Syrian Christian.

      Even preachers have been known to be liars. I remember one very unique illustration of this. While I was still living in Missouri a preacher from Kentucky began to move about there and make some reputation. Another preacher stated that he was a common liar. He heard of it and immediately brought charges against his accuser before a board of elders. At the appointed time he came with his saddlepocket full of documents in his own defense and made it appear that he had been grossly slandered. It happened that Raccoon John Smith was in town and was invited to meet with these elders. After the accused had gotten through reading his many documents, he said, "Brethren, here is Bro. John Smith. I am willing for him to tell you what kind of a man I am. He has known me for many years." John Smith arose and said, "Well, Brother Wiley, I never heard any of the brethren speak any harm of you, except that you would lie. They said that you did not lie to do anybody any harm, but just for the love of it". That was the last appeal. He took up his documents and went his way in peace. [57]

      There are various kinds of lies. The worst kind is malicious lying, as when a man tells a lie for the purpose of injuring another's reputation, property or by causing unjust punishment to be inflicted; that is undoubtedly the worst kind of lying, the motive of malice being the worst part of it. It was lies of that kind that were told against Jesus, by witnesses that had been suborned; and afterwards the same kind of suborned witnesses told the same kind of lies against Stephen and had him stoned to death. You remember also that Naboth was stoned to death by Jezebel's order upon the testimony of liars who had been suborned. This is the kind of lying that is specified in the seventh commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." And the punishment under the only civil law that God ever gave to a nation was very severe. A man falsely testifying against his neighbor was punished with the same penalty that would have been inflicted upon the neighbor had he been found guilty, whether stripes or fines or death. If a man falsely charged his neighbor with a crime for which the penalty was death, then this false witness was put to death. And I can but think that this was a very just law. And that statute as in many other instances shows that the law of Moses was in many ways in advance of the laws of the United States. Now, if a man is convicted of having testified falsely, he is fined; and if he has any money the fine is collected, and if not he goes scott free. Sometimes, in an aggravated case, he is sent to the penitentiary for a few months. The law of Moses dealt more justly with liars than does the law of this country.

      There is another kind of lies that might be called harmless. That is, they do no harm and are not intended to do any harm to anybody else. They are much more common than malicious lies. They are very common with some people, one of whom would be very much insulted if you were to call him a liar. He would knock your teeth down your throat if he could. There is nothing more insulting to the average man than to be called a liar, and yet this kind of lying is very common, so common that people make easy names for it. They call such lies, fibs, or white lies, or something of that sort to make light of them. The biggest [58] lie of this kind that I have ever heard of was told by a man who said once he crossed the Atlantic Ocean and just as the ship got out of the harbor a man jumped overboard and swam beside the ship all the way to Liverpool. It seems that he and another man had made a wager to see which could tell the biggest lie. The other man spoke up and said, "Did you see that, sir?" "Yes Sir, I saw it with my own eyes." "Well, I am glad you did, for I am the man who did the swimming." I don't know which one got the wager. Now those two men did not intend to harm anyone with those two big lies. It was all for fun, and yet as big a lie as you could think of. A lie is a lie, whether told for fun, or for malice, or just for the love of telling it.

      Then there is another kind of lies that might be styled selfish lies, lies told for the benefit of the one who tells them. This is the kind of lies told by people engaged in trading, and especially horse-trading. It is commonly thought that horse-traders are the biggest liars in the world. I do not know whether they excel some men who sell you goods over the counter. And sometimes those who are buying are as guilty as those who are selling. This is the kind of lie that Ananias and Sapphira told. That was a selfish lie. It was in order that they might keep a part of that money and at the same time have credit for giving all of it. You know the result. God took them in hand. They dropped dead at the apostles' feet, Ananias first and then Sapphira. He was the starter of the club that now bears his name. It is very common now for a man who is guilty of this kind of lying to be charged with belonging to the Ananias club. But any man who is guilty of anything that he is ashamed of and lies to hide it, is guilty of this kind of lying as well as he who lies to make money. And it is nearly always the case that a person that will do a mean thing will lie to hide it. And then he will tell another to hide that one and another to hide that and another to hide that and so on, and they seldom get to the truth except when forced to confess it. What about these men that commit murder? They are arraigned before the magistrate and they plead not guilty, swearing that they are not. Then they go to the Circuit Court and there they swear they are not guilty. They employ the best legal talent to argue that [69] they are not guilty, and hire false witnesses to testify in their favor to convince the jury that they are not guilty. And when they are convicted and sentenced to death they send for the priest or a half-witted preacher to come and pray with them until they get religion. Then on the scaffold they hold out their example to young men and warn them; and claim to be ready to die; and call upon their friends to meet them in heaven. This kind of lying is the result of cowardice. A man is afraid for it to be known what he has done, and through a mean, sneaking cowardice lies about it. That is not the worst kind of lying, but it is mean and sneaking. A sheep-killing dog would not be guilty of it if he understood these matters. Now what the Law of Christ says about liars you read in Rev. 21:8 "But for the fearful, and unbelieving and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars," the only one in the list which is emphasized, "their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." There is where Christ places liars, without discriminating the different kinds of lies that they tell. All liars, whatever kind of lies they tell shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone.

      While none of you may be liars, of course you are not and I hope you never will be, still it is very important for you as preachers of the gospel to know how to treat this sin in the presence of the people so as to give all the young people and all the old, a high ideal of truthfulness, and to build up a body of people who are strong in the truth. The apostle Paul exhorts us to put on the whole armor of God, and the very first thing in that armor is to be "girded about the loins with truth". The man who never lies, the man who always speaks the truth, and who has resolved that, whatever comes, he will speak the truth, is not afraid. He can stand up before the accusing world and never have a fear of what man may do to him. [60]

[CT 57-60]