Jacob's wives, Leah and Rachel, both used deceit. The former deceived her husband (Gen. xxix, 25); the latter deceived her father (Gen. xxxi, 34, 35). His twelve sons were all addicted to the same vice (Gen. xxxvii; xlii, 7), and these became the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel, God's chosen people. David, Elisha, and Jeremiah, three of God's holiest men, were liars (1 Sam. xxvii, 8-11; 2 Kings, viii, 7-15; Jer. xxxviii, 24-27). Speaking of the Hebrews and Bible writers prior to the Exile and the introduction of Persian ethics, Dr. Briggs says: "They seem to know nothing of the sin of speaking lies as such. What is the evidence from this silence? They were altogether unconscious of its sinfulness. The holiest men did not hesitate to lie, whenever they had a good object in view, and they showed no consciousness of sin in it. And the writers who tell of their lies are as innocent as they." The Decalogue itself does not forbid lying. It forbids perjury; but mere lying is not forbidden. Christ taught in parables that he might deceive the people. "And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them" (Mark iv, 11, 12). Paul used deception and boasted of it. He says: "Being crafty, I caught you with guile" (2 Cor. xii, 16). "Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews" (1 Cor. ix, 20). "I am made all things to all men" (1 Cor. ix, 22). "For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner?" (Rom. iii, 7.) The primitive Christians, accepting the Bible as infallible authority, naturally regarded lying for God's glory not a vice but a virtue. Mosheim in his "Ecclesiastical History" says: "It was an established maxim with many Christians, that it was pardonable in an advocate for religion to avail himself of fraud and deception, if it were likely they might conduce toward the attainment of any considerable good." Dean Milman, in his "History of Christianity," says: "It was admitted and avowed that to deceive into Christianity was so valuable a service as to hallow deceit itself." Dr. Lardner says: "Christians of all sorts were guilty of this fraud." Bishop Fell writes: "In the first ages of the church, so extensive was the license of forging, so credulous were the people in believing that the evidence of transactions was grievously obscured." M. Daillé, one of the most distinguished of French Protestants, says: "For a good end they made no scruple to forge whole books." Dr. Gieseler says they "quieted their conscience respecting the forgery with the idea of their good intention." Dr. Priestley says they "thought it innocent and commendable to lie for the sake of truth."