The practical divinity of the papists discovered to be destructive of Christianity and mens…

What Stealing in all sorts, Children, Servants, Wives. Mortal theft is so stated that they may make it venial when they please. They may steal little or much. Of these many instances. What cheating in false measures. Or the quality, or substance of what they sell. They may promote the cheat with lies, or worse. And defraud those who intrust them. Their Church-laws allow cozening, so it be but as to half of the worth of the commodity, Sect. 8. to page 245.

VVhat Stealing in all sorts, Children, Servants, VVives. Mortal theft is so stated that they may make it venial when they please. They may steal little or much. Of these many instances. What cheating in false measures. Or the quality, or substance of what they sell. They may promote the cheat with lies, or worse. And defraud those who intrust them. Their Church-laws allow cozening, so it be but as to half of the worth of the commodity, Sect. 8. to page 245.

What lying. They may lye merrily and do it customarily out of mere pleasure in telling lies, yea out of malice. They may lye when ever it will be for their advantage, if it do no great mischief, or they do but think so. To tell lies for their Religion is piety. No sort of lies mortal but by accident, when they do great mischief, as speaking the truth may do. Nor in many cases when they do such mischief. They may use lies in commerce, and confirm them with Oaths, both together may be but venial. Also in Courts of judicature. How both judg and witness may lye there. They may bear false witness in favour of one another. They may delude the Court by equivocation or mental reserves. Even a Priest may swear he knows nothing of what he has heard in confession, with this reserve, he knows it not as man, but as God. They have lies in their Divine Office. Abundance of such stuff or worse is confessed to be there. Nor would they have all purged out, lest none of their old service should be left. They may tell lies in the Pulpit. But some of ⟨image 13⟩them would have such rank ones avoided as the hearers may smell out. They may do it even in Confession, and delude the Priest with lies, in much variety. And he may delude them likewise, pretending that he absolves them, when he neither doth it nor intends it. Since they have such liberty to lye every where when can they be trusted? Sect. 9. to page 259.