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28. Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips
29. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.
The welfare of society may sometimes constrain to be witness against a neighbor. But never let it be without cause. Yet when compelled to this revolting duty, whatever be the temptation or consequence, deceive not with thy lips. Speak plainly, truthfully, the whole truth. Doeg's witness against his neighbor was without cause; not from conscience, but from malice. The main fact also was concealed of David's imposition upon Abimelech, which would have cleared him from the suspicion of treason, and saved his life. (1 Samuel 22:9, 10; 21:1, 2.) This garbled witness thus far deceived with his lips, and bears the black stamp of “a deceitful tongue.” (Psalm 52:3, 4; 120:2-4.)
Profit is the bait to the thief, lust to the adulterer, revenge to the murderer. But it is difficult to say, what advantage redounds to this evil witness, or what allurement belongs to the sin, save that which Satan himself feels — the love of sin for its own sake, or for the satisfaction that is vainly anticipated from the commission. Should we however be clear from the grosser forms of this sin; yet do we resist the unkind witness against our neighbor, in magnifying his failings, and measuring them with a far stricter basis than our own; rashly censuring his indifferent or doubtful actions; and censuring even his sins with an unchristian intention?
And then — as to indulging personal resentment — it is natural to say, though only in the heart — I will do as he hath done to me. But shall we dare thus to take the sword out of God's hands, and place ourselves upon his tribunal? “Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will repay — saith the Lord.”† ‘Let wisdom and grace be set to work to extinguish the fire from hell, before it gets head.’† Far sweeter will be the recollection of injuries forgotten than revenged. But grace alone can enable us to “forgive from the heart.”† And yet too often its exercise is so feebly cherished, that natural feelings gain the ascendancy; and, if there be not an actual recompense of evil, there is merely a negative obedience to the rule, a refraining from the ebullition, rather than an active exercise of the opposite principle. The wise man sets out in this book the true rule,† more lovely, more constraining, as enforced by the divine example.† Humility and tenderness mark the self-knowing Christian, who forgives himself little, his neighbor much.
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