37. Likewise, touching that which is written, “A son which receiveth the word shall be far from destruction: but receiving, he receiveth it for himself, and no falsehood proceedeth out of his mouth:”64    Prov. xxix. 27. Lat. Not in the Hebrew, but LXX. xxiv. 23. λόγον φυλασσόμενος υἱὸ·ς ἀπωλείας ἐκτὸς ἔσται δεχόμενος δὲ ἐδέξατο αὐτόν.  Μηδὲν ψεῦδος ἀπὸ γλώσσης βασιλέως λεγέσθω, καὶ οὐδὲν ψεῦδος ἀπὸ γλώσσης αὐτοῦ οὐ μὴ ἐξέλθῃ some one may say, that what is here set down, “A son which receiveth the word,” is to be taken for no other than the word of God, which is truth. Therefore, “A son receiving the truth shall be far from destruction,” refers to that which is written, “Thou wilt destroy all that speak leasing.” But when it follows, “Receiving he receiveth for himself,” what other doth this insinuate than what the Apostle saith, “But let every man prove his own work, and then he shall have glorying in himself and not in another?”65    Gal. vi. 4 For he that receiveth the word, that is, truth, not for himself, but for men-pleasing, keepeth it not when he sees they can be pleased by a lie. But whoso receiveth it for himself, no falsehood proceedeth out of his mouth: because even when the way to please men is to lie, that man lieth not, who receiving the truth not thereby to please them but to please God, hath received it for himself. Therefore there is no reason why it should be said here He will destroy all who speak leasing, but not all leasing: because all lies, universally, are cut off in this saying, “And no falsehood proceedeth out of his mouth.” But another saith, it is to be so taken as the Apostle Paul took our Lord’s saying, “But I say unto you, Swear not at all.”66    Matt. v. 34 For here also all swearing is cut off; but from the mouth of the heart, that it should never be done with approbation of the will, but through necessity of the weakness of another; that is, “from the evil” of another, when it shows that he cannot otherwise be got to believe what is said, unless faith be wrought by an oath; or, from that “evil” of our own, that while as yet involved in the skins of this mortality we are not able to show our heart: which thing were we able to do, of swearing there were no need. Though moreover in this whole sentence, if the saying, “A son receiving the word shall be far from destruction,” be said of none other than that Truth,67    Or “of Him who is Truth itself.” by Whom all things were made, which remaineth ever incommutable; then, because the doctrine of Religion strives to bring men to the contemplation of this Truth, it may seem that the saying, “And no falsehood proceedeth out of his mouth,” is said to this purpose, that he speaketh no falsehood that pertaineth to doctrine. Which sort of lie is upon no compensation whatever to be gone into, and is utterly and before all to be eschewed. Or if the saying, “No falsehood,” is absurdly taken if it be not referred to every lie, the saying, “From his mouth,” should, as was argued above, be taken to mean the mouth of the heart, in the opinion of him who accounts that sometimes one may tell a lie.

37. Item quod scriptum est, Verbum excipiens filius a perditione longe aberit: excipiens autem excipit illud sibi, et nihil falsi de ore ipsius procedit (Prov. XXIX, 27); dicit aliquis, non aliud hic accipiendum esse quod positum est, Excipiens verbum filius, nisi verbum Dei, quod est veritas. Ergo, Excipiens veritatem filius a perditione longe aberit, refertur ad illud quod dictum est, Perdes omnes qui loquuntur mendacium. Quod vero sequitur, Excipiens autem excipit illud sibi, quid aliud insinuat, nisi quod Apostolus dicit, Opus autem suum probet unusquisque, et tunc in semetipso habebit gloriam, et non in altero (Galat. VI, 4)? Qui enim excipit verbum, id est veritatem, non sibi, sed ut hominibus placeat, non eam custodit, cum eis videt placeri posse mendacio. Qui autem excipit sibi, nihil falsum de ore ipsius procedit; quia etiam cum placet hominibus mendacium, non mentitur ille qui veritatem, non de qua illis, sed de qua Deo placeret, excepit sibi. Itaque non est cur hic dicatur, Omnes quidem perdet qui loquuntur mendacium, sed non omne mendacium: quando universaliter omnia mendacia circumcisa sunt in eo quod dictum est, Et nihil falsi de ore ipsius procedit. Sed dicit alius ita esse accipiendum, sicut accepit apostolus Paulus quod ait Dominus, Ego autem dico vobis, non jurare omnino (Matth. V, 34). Nam et hic omnis juratio circumcisa est; sed ab ore cordis, ut nunquam voluntatis approbatione fieret, sed necessitate infirmitatis alterius, id est, a malo alterius, cui non aliter videtur persuaderi posse quod dicitur, nisi jurando fides fiat; aut ab illo malo nostro, quod hujus mortalitatis adhuc pellibus involuti, cor nostrum non valemus ostendere: quod utique si valeremus, juratione opus non esset. Quanquam etiam in hac tota sententia, si quod dictum est, Excipiens verbum filius a perditione longe aberit, de ipsa dictum est Veritate per quam facta sunt omnia, quae incommutabilis semper manet; quoniam doctrina religionis ad eam contemplandam perducere nititur, potest videri ad hoc esse dictum, Et nihil falsi de ore ipsius procedit, ut nihil falsi quod ad doctrinam pertinet dicat. Quod mendacii genus nulla omnino compensatione subeundum, penitusque ac praecipue devitandum est. Aut si quod dictum est, nihil falsi, absurde accipitur, si non ad omne mendacium referatur ; quod dictum est, de ore ipsius, secundum superiorem disputationem os cordis accipiendum esse contendit, qui aliquando putat esse mentiendum.