Course 2, Chapter 32: Of union with our Lord, the new Adam, by charity. Eighth Commandment

1. What is the eighth commandment, and what does it forbid?

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. It forbids all false testimony, lies, detraction, calumny, rash judgments, and reporting to others what we have heard spoken against them, i. e. carry ing tales.

2. What is false testimony?

False testimony is a deposition contrary to truth, in a court of justice, after taking the oatji usually administered to witnesses. He who is guilty of it is obliged to repair the injury thereby done to his neighbor.

3. What is a lie?

He is guilty of a lie who speaks the contrary of what he thinks, with the intention of deceiving his neighbor.

4. How many kinds of lies are there?

There are three kinds of lies; the playful lie, when told for amusement; the officious, when told to render a service, and the pernicious lie, which injure our neighbor. All three kinds' are sins, because all ly ing is opposed not only to- God, who is truth itself, but to the end for which speech has been given us. We*

received speech in order to communicate our thoughts to one another, and not to deceive.

5. What is detraction?

It is an unjust defamation of our neighbor by revealing his faults.

6. How are we guilty of detraction?

\Ve are guilty of detraction: 1st, by words, when we make known, without a just and necessary cause, the secret vices or faults of any o\ie to those who are ignorant of them; 2d, by silence, in not praising the good actions of our neighbor when we ought to 4o it; 3d, by signs, when we show impatience on hearing any one praised,' or when we smile significantly, or do any other act by which we show our dislike.

7. What is calumny?

Calumny is a sin by which we impute to our neighbor a fault of which he is innocent.

8. To whac is he obliged who has been guilty of detraction or calumny?

If he has been guilty of detraction, he must do all in his power to remove the bad opinion he has caused. If guilty of calumny, he must recall what he has said; moreover, he must repair any other damage caused by the detraction or the calumny.

9. What must we do when we hear detraction or calumny?

We must stop it, or change the conversation; or defend our neighbor; or at least show by our manner that the detraction or calumny is displeasing to us.

10. What do you mean by carrying tales, and by rash judgments?

By carrying tales, I mean injurious reports, by which we cause discord among others; by rash judgment is meant a judgment injurious to our neighbor, which is not founded on a lawful and sufficient reason.

11. What are the principal advantages of the eighth commandment?

206 CATECHISM OF PERSEVERANCE.

A. The principal advantages of the eighth commandment are, 1 st, to protect our reputation; 2d, to preserve peace and mutual confidence among men.

12. Can you give a summary of the principal advantages of the decalogue?

1 st. The first three commandments, which estabblish our duties towards God, have delivered the world from idolatry, and they preserve it from irreligion, the source of all temporal evils. 2d. The fourth establishes the duties of superiors and inferiors on the principle of mutual charity; it is the foundation of the family and of society. 3d. All the others protect our goods, as life, virtue, fortune and reputation, against the passions of the wicked. The decalogue then is truly a great blessing; nothing could replace it, and pitiable would be our lot, if God had not given it to us.