35. Moreover what is written
“Thou wilt destroy all that speak leasing:”2360
one saith that no
lie is here
excepted, but all
condemned. Another saith: Yea verily: but they
who speak leasing from the
heart, as we disputed above; for that
man speaketh
truth in his
heart, who hateth the necessity of
lying,
which he understands as a penalty of the
moral life. Another saith:
All indeed will
God destroy who speak leasing, but not all leasing:
for there is some leasing which the
Prophet was at that time
insinuating, in which none is spared; that is, if refusing to
confess each one his
sins, he
defend them rather, and will not do
penance,
2361
so that
not content to
work iniquity, he must needs wish to be thought
just, and succumb not to the medicine of confession: as the very
distinction of the words may seem to intimate no other, “Thou
hatest all that
work iniquity;”
2362
but wilt not
destroy them if upon
repenting they speak the
truth in confession, that by doing that
truth they may come to the
light; as is said in the
Gospel
according to John, “But be that doeth
truth cometh unto the
light.
2363
Thou wilt
destroy all who” not only work what Thou hatest, but also
“speak leasing;”
2364
in holding out before them false
righteousness, and not confessing their sins in
penitence.
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