The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1901, Page 18

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18

The Lutheran Pioneer.

(For the LUTHERAN PIONEER.)

The Eighth Commandment.

Which is the Eighth Commandment ?

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbor.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God, that we may
not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, nor de-
Jame our neighbor; but defend him, speak well
of him, and put the best construction on every-
thing.

In the third chapter of his epistle, James
writes: ‘‘The tongue is a little member, and
boasteth great things. Behold, how great a
matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue
is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue
among our members, that it defileth the whole
body, and setteth on fire the course of nature ;
and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind
of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and
of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been
tamed, of mankind: but the tongue can no
man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly
poison.”’

These words plainly tell us that the tongue
is a most dangerous member of our body, and
that it is of the utmost importance that we
guard it at all times. That such is our duty
is most forcibly impressed upon us by the fact
that God has given a special Commandment,
in which He forbids us to use our tongue to
the injury of our neighbor’s good name.

The good name of a person is of great value
to him and, therefore, God in this Command-
ment specially protects it against the attacks
of malicious tongues. A little thought will

| soon convince us that the good name, or honor,
of a person is of greatest importance to him.
In the sixth chapter of the Acts we are told
that the apostles advised the congregation in
Jerusalem to choose seven men out of their
midst whose duty it should be to minister to
the wants of the sick and needy in the church ;
but these men, added the apostles, should be
of ‘‘honest report,’’ who would have the con-
fidence of all. The very success of these dea-
cons, the apostles well knew, would depend
upon the good name they had among their fel-
low members. So also the success of a pastor
and teacher depends upon their good name.
Let it once be said of them that they are un-
truthful or unjust, and success can no longer
attend their labors. And thus it is in other
callings, too. Let it be reported of a grocery-
man that he sells poor goods or gives light
weight, and his customers will soon drop off.
Let it be rumored about that a certain me-
chanic is careless and lazy, and he will find it
very difficult to get work. You see, then, the
great value of a good name and the truth of
“Solomon’s words: ‘‘A good name is rather to
be chosen than great riches.’’ Great is, there-
fore, the sin that he commits who injures his
neighbor’s good name.
__. We injure our neighbor’s good name when
“we “‘bear false witness against him.”’ I bear

false witness when I make an assertion which
does not agree with the facts. And such false
witness, or assertion, tends to injure my neigh-
bor’s welfare. Potiphar’s wife bore false wit-
ness against Joseph, and it lodged him in
prison. Naboth was stoned to death in con-
sequence of the false witness spoken against
him, 1 Kings 21, 13.

When do we bear false witness against our
neighbor? There are some people who think
that this is done only by giving untrue testi-
mony in court. But that is not thecase. Be-
cause of the oath which we sre under when tes-
tifying in court and because of the direct. evil
consequences which follow it, an untrue testi-
mony before the judge is particularly sinful
and is so regarded by everybody. Therefore
Luther does not particularly refer to this kind
of false witness in his explanation, but rather
calls our attention to certain sins against this
Commandment which are far more common,
happening every day in our midst and often
not recognized as very great sins, though they
do more harm in the end than the giving of
untrue testimony in court.

We sin against this Commandment in every-
day life when we deceit/ully belie, betray, slan-
der,. or defame our neighbor. Luther men-
tions four particular ways of bearing false
witness. But before we proceed to consider
these sins of the tongue let us pause for a
moment to remember that the fountain out of
which they flow is the heart, the false, de-
ceitful heart. If we would not think evil
against our neighbor, we would also bear no
false witness against him. Hence God says,
Zech. 8,17, ‘‘Let none of you imagine evil in
your hearts against his neighbor.’’

1. The first sin against the Kighth Command-
ment which the explanation mentions is that of
deceitfully belying our neighbor. An example
of this sin is given 2 Kings 5, 20—27. Naa-
man the Syrian was stricken with leprosy and
came to Elisha for relief. The prophet bids

him bathe seyen times in the Jordan. After
some hesitation, Naaman obeys the man of
God and is cleansed from his dread disease.
Returning to Elisha, he offers the prophet a
royal gift, but his gift is not accepted, and
Naaman goes on his way. Now Gehazi, the
servant of Elisha, an avaricious man, is anxious
to obtain at least some of the costly things
his master has refused, and runs after Naa-
man with this purpose in view. He proceeds
to tell the Syrian that Elisha has changed
his mind and is willing to accept a talent of
silver and two changes of garments for two
young prophets who have just arrived. Naa-
man, only too happy to be able to show his
gratitude to Elisha, gives Gehazi two talents
of silver and the desired garments. Some
time after Gehazi’s return, his master asks
him where he has been. Gehazi denies hay-
ing been anywhere. Whereupon Elisha says,
‘<The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee
and unto thy seed for ever.”” And Gehazi
went out from Elisha’s presence a leper as

white as snow. Here we have Gehazi telling
Naaman a known falsehood, a lie, for the pur-
pose of gain, and then later on telling a lie to
his master to escape punishment for the first
lie he told. The punishment followed imme-
diately. Likewise all impenitent liars shall
fare; for God says, ‘‘A false witness shall not
be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall
not escape,’’ Prov. 19, 5. Even if they es-
cape punishment here on earth, eternal dam-
nation will surely overtake them hereafter.

Another example of lying we find Matt. 26,
59—61. Two men, hired by the Jewish priests,
bear false witness against Jesus, declaring that
Jesus had said that He could destroy the
temple at Jerusalem and rebuild it in three
days. This lying accusation they brought
against Jesus, that He might be put to death.
From these two examples we learn that lying
proceeds out of a desire for gain, fear of pun-
ishment, or the wish to injure one’s neighbor.

Lying is not a sin that has died out, as a
few examples taken from school life will show.
Several boys were playing ball in the yard.
Accidentally, the ball flew through the win-
dow and broke a pane of glass. Who did it?
No one would tell. Finally, one of the boys,
the very one who did it, accused another boy
of having done it. He did this because he
had a grudge against him and wished to in-
jure the boy’s reputation and have him get a
whipping. I am, however, glad to say that
the other schoolboys now were no longer silent,
but_told me who the culprit was, so that he
that spoke the lie was exposed right then and
there and got what he deserved. —

But it is even possible to lie without speak-
ing a word, as the following example will
show. Someone has scratched up the wall.
The teacher makes inquiries, but gets no an-
swer. ‘he guilty boy is there, but he will
not speak, because he is afraid of a whipping.
By his silence, however, his sin only becomes
the greater, causing the teacher, perhaps, to
suspect some innocent child. This child,
though he says not a word, yes, just be-
cause he speaks not, belies his teacher and
his schoolmates.

How much better to tell the truth! Listen
to the apostle’s earnest words, Eph. 4, 25:
‘Wherefore putting away lying, speak every
man truth with his neighbor: for we are mem-
bers one of another.’’ ‘‘We are members one
of another,’’ says the apostle. Now one mem-
ber of the body does not inflict injury upon
the other, so, then, we should not harm our
neighbor, who is our fellow member, by de-
ceitfully belying him. F. J. L.

—+ +o
Growing.

Let me, Lord, be always growing,
Never, never, standing still;
Listening, learning, better knowing
Thee and Thy most blessed will.
Till I reach Thy holy place,

Daily let me grow in grace. FR. He