The Catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 3: The Eighth Commandment
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT.
"THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOUR" [1]
THE great utility, nay the absolute necessity, of bestowing serious attention on the exposition of this commandment, and of impressing upon the minds of the faithful the obligation which it enforces, we learn from these words of St. James: "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man;" and again, "The tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire what a great wood it kindleth, &c." [2] From these words of St. James we learn two salutary truths: the one, that the vice of the tongue is of great extent, a truth which derives additional confirmation from these words of the prophet, "Every man is a liar;" [3] whence this moral disease would seem to be almost the only one which extends to all mankind: the other, that the tongue is the source of innumerable evils. Through its wicked instrumentality are often lost the property, the character, the life, the salvation of the injured person, or of him who inflicts the injury; of the injured person, whose feelings, impatient of control, impotently avenge the contumely flung upon them; of the person who inflicts the injury, because, deterred by a perverse shame and a false idea of what is called honour, he cannot be induced to satisfy the wounded feelings of him whom he has offended Hence, the faithful are to be exhorted to pour out their souls in thanksgiving to God, for a commandment of such salutary tendency, a commandment which not only forbids us to injure others, but also, on the same principle of obedience to its dictate, forbids others to injure us.
In its exposition we shall proceed as we have done with regard to the others, pointing out in it two laws, the one prohibiting to bear false witness; the other commanding us, having laid aside all dissimulation and deceit, to measure our words and actions by the standard of truth; a duty of which the Apostle admonishes the Ephesians in these words: " Doing the truth in charity, let us grow up in all things in him." [4]
With regard to the prohibitory part of this commandment, although by false testimony is understood whatever is positively but falsely affirmed of any one, be it for or against him, be it in a public court or be it not; yet the commandment specially prohibits that species of false testimony, which is given on oath in a court of justice; because, the words of a person who thus solemnly takes God to witness, pledging his holy name for his veracity, have very great weight, and possess the strongest claim to credit. Such testimony, therefore, because dangerous, is specially prohibited. When no legal exceptions can be taken against a sworn witness, and when he cannot be convicted of palpable dishonesty and wickedness, even the judge himself cannot reject his testimony, especially as it is commanded by divine authority, that " in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand." [5]
In order that the faithful may have a clear comprehension of this commandment, the pastor will explain who is our "neighbour," against whom it is unlawful to bear false witness. According to the interpretation of Christ the Lord, our neighbour is he who wants our assistance, whether bound to us by ties of kindred or not, whether a fellow-citizen or a stranger, a friend or an enemy. [6] To suppose it lawful to give false evidence against an enemy, whom by the command of God and of our Lord we are bound to love, were an error of the worst description. Moreover, as in the order of charity every man is bound to love himself, and is thus, in some sense, his own neighbour, it is unlawful for any one to bear false witness against himself; he who does so is guilty of a suicidal act, and, like the suicide, brands himself with infamy and dis grace, and inflicts a deep wound on himself and on the church of which he is a member. This is the doctrine of St. Augustine: " To those," says he, " who understand the precept properly, it cannot appear lawful to give false testimony against oneself, because the words against thy neighbour are subjoined in the commandment: the standard of loving our neighbour is the love which we cherish towards ourselves; and, therefore, as it is prohibited to bear false witness against our neighbour, it must also be prohibited to bear false witness against ourselves." [7]
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," [8] he says: " The Apostle calls it false testimony to utter a lie with regard to Christ, although it seems to redound to his praise." [9] 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." [10] 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." [11]
This commandment forbids not only false testimony, but, also, the detestable propensity and practice of detraction; a moral pestilence, which is the poisoned source of innumerable and calamitous evils. This vicious habit of secretly reviling and calumniating character is reprobated in almost every page of the Sacred Scriptures: "With him," says David, " I would not eat;" [12] and St. James: " Detract not one another, my brethren." [13] The inspired Volume abounds not only with precepts on the Illustration, subject, but, also, with examples which declare the enormity of the vice of detraction. Haman, by a crime of his own invention, had incensed Assuerus against the Jews; and the consequence of the calumny was a royal mandate for the destruction of an unoffending people. [14] Innumerable examples, which illustrate the same wicked tendency of the sins of calumny and detraction, are to be found in the pages of sacred history; and these the pastor will adduce, to deter his people from a crime of such magnitude.
But, to see in its full light the deformity of this sin, we must know, that reputation is injured not only by calumniating the character, but, also, by exaggerating the faults, of others. He who gives publicity to the secret sin of any man, at a time, in a place, or before persons, in which or before whom, the mischievous communication is unnecessary, incurs the just imputation of a detractor and a slanderer.
But, of all sorts of calumnies the worst is that which is levelled against the Catholic doctrine and its teachers: persons who extol the propagators of error and of unsound doctrine are involved in similar criminality; nor are those to be dissociated from their number, or their guilt, who, instead of reproving, lend a willing ear, and a cheerful assent, to the calumniator. As we read in St. Jerome, [15] and St. Bernard, [16] " Whether the detractor or the listener be the more criminal, it is not so easy to decide; if there were no listeners, there would be no detractors."
To the same class of detractors belong those who continue to foment division, and excite dissension, and who feel a malignant pleasure in sowing discord; dissevering, by fiction and falsehood, the closest friendships; loosing the dearest social ties, and impelling to endless hatred and hostility the fondest friends. Of such pestilent characters the Lord expresses his detestation in these words: " Thou shall not be a detractor nor a whisperer among the people." [17] Of this description were many of the advisers of Saul, who strove to alienate his affection from, and to exasperate his enmity against, David. [18]
Finally, amongst the transgressors of this commandment are to be numbered those wheedlers and sycophants, who insinuate their blandishments and hollow praises into the ears, and gain upon the hearts of those, after whose interest, money, and honours they hanker; as the prophet says, "calling good evil, and evil good." [19] Such characters David admonishes us to repel and banish from our society: " The just man," says he, " shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me; but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head." [20] This class of persons may not, it is true, speak ill of their neighbour; but they inflict on him the deepest wounds, causing him, by praising his vices, to continue enslaved to them to the end of his life. Of this species of flattery the most pernicious is that which proposes to itself for object the injury and the ruin of others. Saul, when, to procure the death of David, he sought to expose him to the ruthless sword of the Philistine, addressed him in these sooth ing words: " Behold my eldest daughter Merob, her will I give thee to wife: only be a valiant man, and fight the battles of the Lord;" [21] and the Jews thus insidiously addressed our Lord: " Master, we know that thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth." [22]
Still more pernicious is the language addressed sometimes by friends and relations to persons labouring under a mortal disease, and on the point of death; flattering them that there is no danger of dying, telling them to be of good spirits, dissuading them from the confession of their sins, as though the very thought should fill them with melancholy, and, finally, withdrawing their attention from all concern about, and meditation upon, the dangers which beset them in their last perilous hour. In a word, lies of every sort are prohibited, but a lie uttered against or regarding religion, is one of extreme impiety.
God is also grievously offended by those opprobrious invectives which are termed lampoons and libels, and such contumelious slanders. [23]
To deceive by a jocose or officious lie, although neither useful nor injurious to any one, is, notwithstanding, altogether worthy of a Christian; and of this the Apostle admonishes us when he says, " Putting away lying, speak ye the truth." [24] This vile practice begets a strong tendency to frequent and serious lying, and from jocose, men contract a habit of uttering deliberate lies, lose all character for truth, and ultimately find it necessary, in order to gain belief, to recur to continual swearing.
Finally, the first part of this commandment prohibits dissimulation. It is sinful not only to speak but to act deceitfully, Actions as well as words are signs 01 our ideas and sentiments; and hence our Lord, rebuking the Pharisees, frequently calls them " hypocrites." ― So far with regard to the negative, which is the first part of this commandment. [25]
We now come to explain the meaning of the second part ― Its nature and the obligations which it imposes demand, that part of the trials be conducted on principles of strict justice and according to law, and that men do not prejudge the cause, or usurp the right of pronouncing on its merits; for, as the Apostle says, "it were unjust to judge another man's servant." [26] Such an assumption may lead men to decide without a sufficient know ledge of the case; and of this we have an example in the con duct of the priests and scribes, who passed judgment on St. Stephen. [27] The magistrates of Philippi furnish another example of the same criminal conduct: "They have beaten us publicly," says St. Paul, " uncondemned, men that are Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privately." [28]
This commandment also requires, that the innocent be not condemned, nor the guilty acquitted; and that he who is in vested with judicial authority suffer not his judgment to be warped by interest, or biased by hatred or partiality. This is the admonition addressed by Moses to the elders, whom he had constituted judges of the people: "judge that which is just; whether he be one of your country or a stranger. There shall be no difference of persons, you shall hear the little as well as the great; neither shall you respect any man's person, be cause it is the judgment of God." [29]
With regard to an accused person, who is conscious of his own guilt, when interrogated according to the forms of judicial process, God commands him to confess the truth. [30] By that confession he, in some sort, bears witness to, and proclaims the praise and glory of God; and of this we have a proof in these words of Joshua, when exhorting Achan to confess the truth: " My son," says he, " give glory to the Lord the God of Israel." [31]
But, as this commandment chiefly regards witnesses, the pas tor will also give to it, in this point of view, a due share of attention. The spirit of the precept goes not only to prohibit false, but also to enforce the obligation of giving true evidence. In human affairs, to bear testimony to the truth is a matter of the highest importance, because there are innumerable things of which we must be ignorant, unless we arrive at a knowledge of them on the faith of witnesses. In matters with which we are not personally acquainted, and which, however, we have occasion to know, what so important as true evidence? on this subject we have the recorded sentiments of St. Augustine: " He who conceals the truth, and he who utters falsehood, are both guilty; the one, because he is unwilling to render a service; the other, because he has the will to render a disservice." [32] We are not, however, at all times, and under all circumstances, obliged to disclose the truth; but when, in a court of justice, a witness is legally interrogated, he is bound to tell " the whole truth." Here, however, witnesses should be most circumspect, lest, trusting too much to memory, they affirm for certain what they have not fully ascertained.
Solicitors and counsel, plaintiffs and defendants, remain still to be treated of. The former will not refuse to contribute their services and legal assistance, when the necessities of others call for their interposition. In such circumstances, humanity will prompt them to plead the cause of suffering innocence, and a love of justice will prevent them from engaging in the defence of an unjust cause. They will not protract by cavils, or encourage through avarice suits at law; and as to remuneration, in that they will be regulated by the principles of justice and of equity. [33] Plaintiffs and accusers are to be admonished, to avoid creating danger to any one by unjust charges, yielding to the influence of love, or hatred, or any other undue motive. Finally, to all conscientious persons is addressed the divine command, in all their intercourse with society, in every conversation, to speak the truth at all times from the sincerity of their hearts; to utter nothing injurious to the character of another, not even of those by whom they know they have been injured and persecuted; always recollecting, that so near is the relation that subsists between them, so close the social link that unites them, that they are all members of the same body.
In order that the faithful may be more disposed to avoid the degrading vice of lying, the pastor will place before them the extreme wretchedness and turpitude of the liar. In the Sacred Scriptures the devil is called " the father of lies;" " Because he stood not in the truth, he is a liar and the father thereof;" [34] and, to banish from amongst the faithful so great an enormity, the pastor will subjoin the mischievous consequences of which this vice is the impure source. These consequences are without number; and the pastor, therefore, must be content with pointing out their principal heads. In the first place, he will inform them how grievously lies offend God, how deeply a liar is hated by God: " Six things there are," says Solomon, " which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth; haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, a deceitful witness that uttereth lies, &c." [35] The man, therefore, who is thus the object of God's sovereign wrath, who will shelter from the awful punishments which hang over his devoted head? Again, what more wicked, what more base than, as St. James says, " with the same tongue, by which we bless God and the Father, to curse men, who are made after the likeness of God, so that out of the same fountain flows sweet and bitter water." [36] The tongue, which was before employed in giving praise and glory to God, by lying treats the Author of truth, as far as on it depends, with ignominy and dishonour; and hence, liars are excluded from a participation in the bliss of heaven. To David asking, " Lord! who shall dwell in thy tabernacle?" the Holy Spirit answers, " He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue." [37] Lying is also attended with this very great evil; it is an almost incurable disease. The guilt of the calumniator cannot be pardoned, unless satisfaction be made to the calumniated person, a difficult duty to those who, as we have already observed, are deterred from its performance by false shame, and a foolish idea of dignity; and hence, he who perseveres in this crime, perseveres in a course which must ultimately lead to everlasting perdition. Let no one indulge the delusive hope of obtaining the pardon of his calumnies or detractions, until he has repaired the injury which they have inflicted, be it offered in a court of justice, or in private and familiar conversation.
But the evil consequences of lying are not confined to individuals: they extend to society at large. By duplicity and lying good faith and truth, which form the closest links of human society, are dissolved; confusion ensues; and men seem to differ in nothing from demons.
The pastor will also teach, that loquacity is to be avoided. By avoiding loquacity the other evils of the tongue will be obviated, and a preventive opposed to lying, from which loquacious persons can scarcely abstain.
Finally, there are those who would seek to justify their duplicity, and defend their violations of truth, on a principle of prudence, alleging that they lie in season. To this erroneous pretext the pastor will apply the divine truth; " The wisdom of the flesh is death;" [38] he will exhort his people in all their difficulties and dangers to trust in God, not in the artifice of lying; and will tell them that, in dangers and difficulties, to have recourse to subterfuge is to declare, that they trust more to their own prudence than to the providence of God. Those who charge others with being the cause of their speaking false hood, by having first deceived them, are to be taught the unlawfulness of avenging their own wrongs; that evil is not to be rendered for evil, but rather that evil is to be overcome by good. [39] Were it even lawful, it would not be our interest, to make such a return: the man who seeks revenge by uttering falsehood inflicts very serious injury on himself. Those who plead human frailty are to be taught, that it is a duty of religion to implore the Divine assistance, and not to yield to human infirmity.
Those who, in excuse of their guilt, allege habit, are to be admonished to endeavour to acquire the contrary habit of speaking the truth; particularly as evil habit, far from extenuating, is an aggravation of guilt. There are some who adduce in their own justification the example of others, who, they con tend, constantly indulge in falsehood and perjury: such persons are to be reminded that bad men are not to be imitated, but reproved and corrected; and that, when we ourselves are addicted to the same vice, our admonitions have less influence m reprehending and correcting it in others. With regard to those who defend their conduct by saying, that to speak the truth is often attended with inconvenience; these the pastor will meet by urging that such an excuse is an accusation, not a defence; whereas it is the duty of a Christian to suffer any in convenience rather than utter a falsehood.
There are two other classes of persons who seek to justify a departure from truth; the one who say that they tell lies for joke sake; the other who plead motives of interest, because, forsooth without having recourse to lies, they can neither buy nor sell to advantage. Both the pastor will endeavour to reform; the first, by urging the inveteracy of the vicious habit which the practice of lying begets, and by strongly impressing a truth revealed by Jesus Christ, that " for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account in the day of judgment:" [40] the second class, whose excuse involves their own accusation, he will reprove with greater severity, professing as they do, to yield no credit or authority to these words of our Lord: " Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be given you besides." [41]
- ↑ Exod. xx. 16.
- ↑ James iii. 2. 5.
- ↑ Ps. cxv. 11.
- ↑ Eph. iv. 15.
- ↑ Deut. xix. 15. Matt, xviii. 16.
- ↑ Luke x. 36, et seq
- ↑ Lib. 2. de ciyit. Dei. c. 20.
- ↑ i Cor. xv. 15.
- ↑ Ad Crescentium. cap. 12 14.
- ↑ Lev. xix. 11.
- ↑ Ps, v. 7.
- ↑ Ps. c. 5.
- ↑ James iv. 11.
- ↑ Esth. 13.
- ↑ St. Hieron. ep. ad Nepotianum circa fincm.
- ↑ Bernard, lib. 2. de consider, ad Eugen. in fine.
- ↑ Lev. xix. 16
- ↑ 1 Kings xxiv. and xxvi.
- ↑ Isa. v. 20.
- ↑ Ps. clx. 5.
- ↑ 1 Kings xviii. 17.
- ↑ Matt. xxii. 16.
- ↑ De libellis famosis vid. Bullam Pii V. 147. datain anno 1572. et Bullam Gregorii XIII. 4. datam eodem anno.
- ↑ Eph. iv. 25. Vid. D. Thorn. 2. 2. q. 1 10. art. 3. et 4.
- ↑ Vid. D. Thorn. 2. 2. q. 211. per totam.
- ↑ Rom. xiv. 4
- ↑ Acts vii. 59.
- ↑ Acts xvi. 37. Vid. in 6 lib. c. tit. 7. de privilegiis c. 1. et ibidem lib. 2. tit. 2. de foro competent.
- ↑ Deut i. 16.
- ↑ As these forms and their import differ in different countries, this decision is conditional, and does not apply to the practice of our courts of justice. T.
- ↑ Josh. vii. 19. Vid. D. Thorn. 2. 2. q. 96. per tolas quatuor articulos.
- ↑ Haec sententia citabatur olim a Gratiano ex Aug. sed apud Aug. non est inventa: similiter legitur apud laid. lib. 3. c. 59.
- ↑ Vid. 14. q. 5. c. non sane D. Thorn. 2. 2. q. 71. art. 5.
- ↑ John viii. 44.
- ↑ Prov. vi. 16.
- ↑ James iii. 9. 11.
- ↑ Ps. xiv. 13
- ↑ Rom viii. 6
- ↑ Rom xii. 17 21
- ↑ Matt. xii. 36.
- ↑ Matt. vi. 33.