Seventhly. Once open the door for deception, and you can prescribe for it no definite limits. Every one is to be left to judge for himself. And as present good is the object for which the truth is to be sacrificed, the amount of good, for which it is proper to do it, can not be fixed upon with any exactness. Each one is left to make his own estimate, and the limit is in each one’s private judgment, in each one’s individual case as it arises. And the limit, which is at first perhaps quite narrow, is apt to grow wider, till the deception may get to be of the very worst and most injurious character. I will give a single illustration of this remark, which though not taken from the practice of medicine, is appropriate to my purpose. It has always been allowed in the laws of war, to deceive the enemy by stratagems, false lights, &c. At one time some English ships in two or three instances decoyed the enemy by counterfeiting signals of distress. The deception in this case is productive indirectly of the very worst consequences, for it manifestly tends to prevent relief from being afforded to those, who are actually in a distressed condition. Our feelings of humanity instinctively condemn such a stratagem and yet it is only a mere extension of that deception, which has been by common consent allowed in war. It involves no different principles, and is only more objectionable, because it produces worse indirect results. It differs in degree only and not in kind. So it is with deception always. Its indirect effects are always bad to some extent, and to what extent they will prove so we know not in each individual case. You can never know at the time how great is the sacrifice which you are making for a present good. While you may be thinking that you are only sacrificing your own veracity, and that the influence of the act will not extend beyond the passing moment, you may be producing disastrous results upon the interests of others, and those results may be both lasting and accumulative. A man who was captured by some Indians, was asked by them if there were any white men in the neighborhood. He told them that there were, and directed them to a spot where he was very certain that there were none. They immediately started in pursuit, leaving him bound and in the charge of one of their number. When they were gone, he contrived to make his escape. Almost every one would say, that this was a strong case, and that they could not blame him for telling a falsehood to Indians, in order to escape from their cruelty. Here was a great good to be obtained, the saving himself from torture, perhaps from death, and deceiving savages for such a purpose, it will be said, is not to be condemned. But mark the result of that deception. Five white men were found on the spot to which he directed them, and were captured.