XI. Ложь и лесть

“Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth every one of you to his neighbor, for we are members of one another” (Eph. 4:25). “You will destroy all who tell lies; The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful” (Ps. 5:7). “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful words” (Ps. 33:14). “The evil-tongued man will not be corrected on earth” (Ps. 139:12). Even then they do not believe deceitful people when they tell the truth (Word 5 against the Jews). Truth is what truly is; and a lie is something that is not in the thing itself (On Psalm 11). A lie exposes itself everywhere, and the more it resists the truth, the more it shows it (Conversation 58 on the Evangelist John). There has never been a time in which lies were not mixed with the truth. The devil always tries to plant lies between the truth (Conversation 8 on 2 Epistle to Timothy). There is no temptation more cruel than to fall for a flattering person. A flattering person is more terrible than any beast, for the beast, as it is, shows itself as such, and the flatterer often hides his poison under the guise of humility and virtue, so that it is very difficult to recognize and protect yourself from his deceit (On Psalm 119). A cunning man is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He covers up his malice with favorable words; being angry and at enmity, he shows himself to be a friend; ingratiatingly, he praises something that is completely worthless; always being in lawlessness, the appearance of holiness shows, pride with humility, and envy covers with respect (Conversation on moving away from pretense). Flattering people, who hide something different in their hearts than they say with their lips, are much more dangerous than those enemies who carry hidden swords (Psalm 11). Discourse on lies and flattery Lies and flattery are vices that come from the devil, who is the “father of lies” (John 8:44) and all flattery. Woe to the place where these vices have multiplied; there can be no good there. What good can be expected where they deceive each other and flatter each other? Since there cannot be fidelity there, without which the union of society cannot stand. These same vices, it seems, introduced ungodly oaths and in the most vile things vain invocations of the terrible name of God, such as: “God for this,” “by God,” “God sees,” “God is a witness,” and so on. For many who are deceived by lying and flattering people do not believe those who tell the truth. And therefore people are forced to affirm the truth of their words by calling on the name of God. And so, not believing each other, they swear that it has become a custom; and children from their parents, young from old, lower from higher, learn the same thing and no longer consider it a sin to call on the terrible name of God in the most vile things. The more secretive the deceitful and flattering people are, the more dangerous they are. They know how to cover up their lies; they speak smoothly with their tongues, but think differently in their hearts; there is honey on the tongue, but there is bile in the heart; They praise with their tongues, but they weave intrigues with their hearts; They kiss with their lips, but they sell with their hearts. From these people, the simple-hearted, who cannot and do not want to have one thing in their hearts and another on their tongue, suffer a lot. There is no more harmful ulcer for society; but no matter how much they cunning, their cunning becomes obvious, and even then everyone will abhor them, like lepers. Let them remember what is written: “You will destroy all who speak lies; The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and the flattering” (Ps. 5:7). You might be interested in: