alt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

This Commandment seems small, and yet is so great, that he who would
rightly keep it must risk and imperil life and limb, goods and honor,
friends and all that he has; and yet it includes no more than the work
of that small member, the tongue, and is called in German Wahrheit
sagen, "telling the truth" and, where there is need, gainsaying lies;
so that it forbids many evil works of the tongue. First: those which
are committed by speaking, and those which are committed by keeping
silent. By speaking, when a man has an unjust law-suit, and wants to
prove and maintain his case by a false argument, catch his neighbor
with subtilty, produce everything that strengthens and furthers his own
cause, and withhold and discount everything that furthers his
neighbor's good cause; in doing which he does not do to his neighbor as
he would have his neighbor do to him. This some men do for the sake of
gain, some to avoid loss or shame, thereby seeking their own advantage
more than God's Commandment, and excuse themselves by saying: Vigilanti
jura subveniunt, "the law helps him who watches"; just as if it were
not as much their duty to watch for their neighbor's cause as for their
own. Thus they intentionally allow their neighbor's cause to be lost,
although they know that it is just. This evil is at present so common
that I fear no court is held and no suit tried but that one side sins
against this Commandment. And even when they cannot accomplish it, they
yet have the unrighteous spirit and will, so that they would wish the
neighbor's just cause to be lost and their unjust cause to prosper.
This sin is most frequent when the opponent is a prominent man or an
enemy. For a man wants to revenge himself on his enemy: but the ill
will of a man of prominence he does not wish to bring upon himself; and
then begins the flattering and fawning, or, on the other hand, the
withholding of the truth. Here no one is willing to run the risk of
disfavor and displeasure, loss and danger for the truth's sake; and so
God's Commandment must perish. And this is almost universally the way
of the world. He who would keep this Commandment, would have both hands
full doing only those good works which concern the tongue. And then,
how many are there who allow themselves to be silenced and swerved
aside from the truth by presents and gifts! so that in all places it is
truly a high, great, rare work, not to be a f