A. with the news of the entire defeat of the infurgents; but no mention was made of any previous dispatches by Chian-fu. The emperor suspected that he had been guilty of deceit. He was strictly examined; confeffed his crime, and the motives of it; and was condemned to fuffer immediate death. For lying is a capital offence, by the laws of Japan. If truth, resumed Philocles, be an agreement between our words and thoughts, are you under an obligation to express all your thoughts? No, faid Sophron, prudence often forbids it; and it is no violation of truth to conceal those thoughts, and that knowledge, with which another has no right to be acquainted. On a particular occafion, the Jews demanded of Jefus, "What fign "fbewest thou unto us? Jefus answered and faid, Deftroy this temple, and in three days I will raife it up. Then faid the Jews, Forty and fix years was "this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in "three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. "When therefore he was arisen from the dead, his "difciples remembered that he had faid this unto "them."* Sometimes, when improper or treacherous queftions are asked, filence would be no less dan. gerous, than an explicit declaration of our fenti *John, Chap. 11. Ver. 18. ments. ments. In these cafes, we fhall be juftified in the ufe of fuch evafions, as do not contradict the truth. When the chief priests and scribes inquired of our Saviour, whether it was lawful to pay tribute unto Cæfar?" He perceived their craftiness, and faid unto them, "Why tempt ye me? Shew me a penny: Whofe image "and superscription hath it? They answered and faid, "Cæfar's. And he said unto them, Render unto Cæfar "the things which be Cæfar's, and unto GOD the things " which be GOD's. And they could not take hold of his "words before the people: And they marvelled at his "anfwers, and held their peace." Under the reign of the cruel and bigoted queen Mary, the princess Elizabeth, her sister, suffered a variety of perfecutions, on account of her steady attachment to the proteftant religion. It is faid, fhe was one day interrogated concerning the Lord's Supper; and that the returned the following prudent, and evasive answer: "Chrift was the word that spake it ; Philocles expreffed much fatisfaction in the judicious diftinction, which his pupil had made, and obferved, that the conduct of the princefs Elizabeth * Walpole's Cat. of Royal and Noble Authors. is fully juftified by the example of the apostle Paul, in circumstances not very diffimilar. The Athenians had a law, which rendered it capital to promulgate any new Gods: And when Paul preached to them JESUS and the RESURRECTION, he was accused of having broken this law, and of being a "fetter forth of frange Gods ;" and was carried before the Areopagus, a court of judicature, which took cognisance of all criminal matters, and was in a particular manner charged with the care of the established religion. An impoftor, in fuch a fituation, would have retracted his doctrine to fave his life; and an enthufiaft would have facrificed his life, without attempting to fave it by innocent means. But the Apostle wifely avoided both extremes; and availing himself of an infcription 66 ΤΟ THE UNKNOWN GOD," which he had seen upon an altar in the city, he pleaded in his own defence, "Whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." By this presence of mind, he evaded the law, and escaped condemna. tion, without departing from the truth of the Gospel, or violating the honour of GOD.* Though I am no general admirer, continued Philocles, of the maxims of morality delivered by Lord Chesterfield, yet I think his remarks on the present subject peculiarly worthy of attention. * Vid. Acts, XVII. 23. Alfo Lord Lyttelton's Obfervations en the Converfion and Apostleship of St. Paul. "The The prudence and neceffity," fays the noble author," of frequently concealing the truth, infen"fibly feduces people to violate it. It is the only art of mean capacities, and the only refuge of mean fpirits. Whereas concealing the truth, upon "proper occafions, is as prudent and as innocent, as telling a lie, upon any occafion, is infamous "and foolish. I will ftate you a cafe in your own department. Suppofe you are employed at a foreign court, and that the minifter of that court is "abfurd or impertinent enough to ask you, what your inftructions are; will you tell him a lie, "which as foon as found out, and found out it cer 66 No. tainly will be, muft deftroy your credit, blast your "character, and render you useless there? "Will you tell him the truth then, and betray your << truft? As certainly, No. But you will answer, "with firmness, That you are furprised at fuch a 66 queftion; that you are perfuaded he does not ex pect an answer to it; but that at all events, he certainly will not have one. Such an answer will "give him confidence in you; he will conceive an opinion of your veracity, of which opinion you may afterwards make very honest and fair advantages." 66 66 Philocles now proceeded to interrogate his pupil, whether falfity, when in jeft, is to be deemed a lie ? But Sophron declined the question, as too nice for his decifion; and defired to hear the fentiments of Phi. C 4. locles, locles, who delivered them in the following terms. Wit and irony, raillery and humour, are often deviations from the strict rules of veracity: But they are allowed by common confent; and, under proper reftrictions, they contribute to enliven converfation, and to improve our manners. But jocularity is certainly culpable, and may be deemed a fpecies of lying, when it is intended to deceive, without any good end in view; and especially, with the ungenerous one of diverting ourselves at the painful expence of another. The practice alfo may lead to more criminal falfhoods; and it is related with honour of Ariftides, that he held truth to be fo facred, ut ne joco quidem mentiretur. " Some jocular lies have produced the most serious and affecting confequences; of which I will give you an example or two, in the youthful frolics of Hilario, a nobleman who now looks back, with forrow and regret, on the sufferings occafioned by his levity. When he was a student at Cambridge, he went at midnight crying Fire, fire, to the chamber door of one of the fellows of - a gentleman univerfally admired for his literary and poetical abilities, but who was of a timid and melancholy difpofition. The gentleman awaked out of a found fleep, and, attentive only to the first suggestions of fear, leaped through the window, at the hazard of lofing his life by the fall. Not long after this transaction, Hilario went up to London; and dining in a mixed company of perfons of fashion, he happened to fit near a grave old gentleman, |