Falsehood.
I. SIN CULMINATES IN UNIVERSAL FALSEHOOD. The intellectual aspect of sin is untruth. Every sin is a lie. The triumph of sin is the overthrow of all truth and trust.
II. FALSE RELATIONS WITH GOD LEAN TO FALSE RELATIONS WITH MEN. Religion and morality mutually influence each other. The worship of a god known to be false develops a life of falseness. The hypocritical service of God is likely to be accompanied by dishonest dealings with men.
III. HABITS OF FALSEHOOD ARE FATAL TO HUMAN WELFARE. Society reposes on trust. Commerce is impossible without good faith. Universal distrust must involve social disintegration. The state, the family, all mutual organization, must then fall to pieces. Falsehood only succeeds by abusing trust; but by so doing it tends to destroy trust; and when it has accomplished this end it will be ineffectual. Universal lying would be useless to everybody.
IV. FALSEHOOD IS REGARDED BY GOD AS A PECULIARLY WICKED SIN. For this especially the people must be punished (Jeremiah 9:9). Deceit amongst men is a sin against God, who is the Truth eternal It is a spiritual sin, a sin most near to the diabolical (John 8:34). It is a sin which is peculiarly injurious to the spiritual nature of the sinner, tending to destroy conscience (Matthew 6:23). It involves both injustice and cruelty towards men.