Prototypes, or, The primary precedent presidents out of the book of Genesis showing, the…Prototypes, or, The primarie precedent presidents out of the booke of Genesis shewing, the…

Secondly, she was set upon it, that though Jacob objected he should get a curse rather then a blessing, by seeming to his Father a deceiver and a mocker, yet she found a means to encourage him in his lying, by a trick to beguile his Father well enough; that he should never find him out, and so drew him to go thorough with the crafty device: this was practised even against her husband also, to whom it least of all becometh a wife to use deceit and lying. Only there was one mitigation and extenuation of her fault, she did aim at a good end, but a good intention cannot justify unlawful means that are used to accomplish it. We have in her then a fault of craftiness, ⟨p. 9⟩and deceit, and lying. There is a great difference betwixt wisdom and fraud, wisdom will always hold it self to the side of justice, not alone in the thing it mainly seeks, but also in the path which it chooseth to walk in to that end; But fraud is as it were a rotten wisdom, and cares not to follow equity and truth in the way it takes, and neither many times in the end. Abhor fraud, that is, the carrying of a thing wilily with lying, and falsehood, whether it be good or bad, but most of all if it be bad. It is a sin to do evil that good may come of it, as S. Paul teacheth, Rom. 3. It is a sin to lie, even for Gods cause, and to defend even his justice with false tales, and figments. As Job admonisheth his friends that did so, and that they might not seem to impute unrighteousness to God in so sore punishing of Job, they did impute hypocrisy to him that was punished. It is a sin to lie even for a purpose otherwise good, for we are commanded to put away lying. Wherefore, consider of your selves, if you have not lied and beguiled, if you have not allured and encouraged others to join with you in lying, and beguiling, that else would not have done it. If you have done it against those that were near to you, to whom you should have used more respect: And worst of all, if you have done it for a sinful end too, that is, not to get what was due to you, as here Jacob, but what was not due, by over-reaching your neighbours in bargaining, and the like, not to keep a man from sin as here, but rather to draw him to sin, as in case of unjust complaints to a superior, to make him punish, when he should not punish;

Secondly, she was set upon it, that though Iacob objected he should get a curse rather then a blessing, by seeming to his Father a deceiver and a mocker, yet she found a meanes to encourage him in his lying, by a trick to beguile his Father well enough; that he should never finde him out, and so drew him to go thorough with the crafty device: this was practised even against her husband also, to whom it least of all becommeth a wife to use deceit and lying. Only there was one mitigation and extenuation of her fault, she did aime at a good end, but a good intention cannot justifie unlawfull means that are used to accomplish it. We have in her then a fault of craftinesse,