therefore, as it is prohibited to bear false witness against our neighbour, it must also be prohibited to bear false witness against ourselves." [1]
But if we are forbidden to injure, let it not be inferred that we are therefore at liberty to serve our neighbour, by false testimony, however dear the relation m which he may stand towards us. We cannot compromise truth to consult for the feelings or the interests of any man. Hence, St. Augustine to Crescentius teaches from the words of the Apostle, that a lie, although uttered in unmerited commendation of any one, is to be numbered amongst false testimonies. Treating of that pas sage of the Apostle: " Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have given testimony against God, that he hath raised up Christ whom he hath not raised, if the dead rise not again," [2] he says: " The Apostle calls it false testimony to utter a lie with regard to Christ, although it seems to redound to his praise." [3] It also not unfrequently happens, that by favouring one party we injure the other: false testimony is certainly the occasion of misleading the judge, who, yielding to such evidence, is sometimes obliged to decide against justice, to the injury of the innocent. The successful party, who has gained his suit by means of perjured witnesses, emboldened by impunity, and exulting in his iniquitous victory, is soon familiarized to the work of corruption and to the practice of subornation; and ultimately becomes so depraved, as to entertain a hope of attaining his ends, however iniquitous-they may be, through the same wicked instrumentality. To the witness himself it must be a source of the most painful uneasiness, to be conscious that his falsehood and perjury are known to him by whom he has been purchased, and who has turned them to his own account; yet, encouraged by success, he becomes every day more practised; his mind is familiarized to its own audacious impiety; and his conscience is callous to all feelings of remorse. This precept, then, prohibits deceit and perjury on the part of witnesses; and the same prohibition extends also to plaintiffs, defendants and advocates, to relations and friends, to solicitors; in a word, to all who have any concern in suits at law.
Finally, God prohibits all testimony which may inflict injury or injustice, be it matter of legal evidence or not. In Leviticus, where the commandments are repeated, we read: " Thou shall not steal; thou shall not lie; neither shall any man deceive his neighbour." [4] To none, therefore, can it be matter of doubt, that this commandment condemns lies of every sort, as these words of David explicitly declare: " Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie." [5]
This commandment forbids not only false testimony, but, also, the detestable propensity and practice of detraction; a moral
