THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT.
The eighth behest is this: ‘Thou shalt say no false witness against thy fellow-Christian.’
In this behest it is forbidden us that we should lie or forswear ourselves, either in judgment or out of judgment, in order to cause thy fellow-Christian harm; and that one should bring none as a witness in order to impair his (one’s fellow-Christian’s) fame, or his grace that he hath, for that is deadly sin. Against this behest those act that slander good men behind them willingly and wrongfully, which one calls the sin of detraction; and those also that praise the wicked and the deeds of their wickedness and of their follies, known, or seen, or heard. That is sin of flattery or of deceit, when one says it before them; or falsehood or leasings, when he that one speaks of is not present. For all those are false witnesses.