And now, let us conclude with a few words on the internal sense of this Commandment. To "bear false witness," signifies, in the spiritual sense, to endeavor to persuade another that false principles of religion are true; and also that various evils of life are good and right:—and to do this knowingly and intentionally. For instance, if a religious teacher endeavors to instil into his hearers the principle that they may be saved by mere faith, without regard to the life; and that it is in vain to try to keep the Divine commandments—he bears false witness; for he knows, or may know, what is taught everywhere in the Word, that men are saved by a good life according to the Divine commandments. So, if a parent teaches his child—either by direct instruction, or indirectly by his conversation,—to think that the chief good of life is to be rich, and that the great end he should have in view, is worldly advancement,—that parent bears false witness, for he teaches what is not true nor good: for the Divine Word says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all things needful shall be added to you."[1]
In the supreme or Celestial sense, "to bear false witness," is to blaspheme the Lord and the Holy Word. To endeavor to confirm in one's self, and to infuse into the minds of others, the awfully false idea—that there is no God, and thus to destroy men's souls by separating them from their Maker and Heavenly Father: to affirm, also, and obstinately to insist, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, was a mere man,—and thus
