35. Moreover what is written “Thou wilt destroy all that speak leasing:”58    Ps. v. 6 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,59    Agere pœnitentiam 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;”60    Ps. v. 5 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.61    John iii. 21 Thou wilt destroy all who” not only work what Thou hatest, but also “speak leasing;”62    Ps. v. 6, 7 in holding out before them false righteousness, and not confessing their sins in penitence.

35. Item quod scriptum est, Perdes omnes qui loquuntur mendacium: alius dicit nullum hic exceptum esse mendacium, sed omne damnatum. Alius dicit: Ita vero, sed qui loquuntur ex corde mendacium, secundum superiorem disputationem; nam veritatem loquitur in corde, qui odit mentiendi necessitatem, quam poenam hujus vitae mortalis intelligit. Alius dicit: Omnes quidem perdet Deus qui loquuntur mendacium, sed non omne mendacium: est enim aliquod mendacium quod tunc insinuabat Propheta, in quo nulli parcatur; id est, si peccata sua quisque confiteri detrectans, defendat ea potius, et nolit agere poenitentiam; ut parum sit quia operatur iniquitatem, nisi etiam justus videri volens medicinae confessionis non succumbat: ut et ipsa verborum distinctio non aliud intimare videatur, Odisti omnes qui operantur iniquitatem (Psal. V, 7); sed non perdes, si poenitendo in confessione veritatem loquantur, ut faciendo istam veritatem veniant ad lucem; sicut in Evangelio secundum Joannem dicitur, Qui autem facit veritatem, venit ad lucem (Joan. III, 21). Perdes autem omnes qui, non solum operantur quod odisti, sed etiam loquuntur mendacium; falsam justitiam praetendendo, nec in poenitentia confitendo peccata.