Perilous Lips And Tongues

Domine libera animam a labiis iniquis et a lingua dolosa.... Haec enim sola tribulatio justiis periculosa est, malae adhortationis societas, et pestiferi consilii consuetudo, a qua animus referendus est, et aures obstruendae sunt. Distinxit autem labia iniqua et linguam dolosam. Et quidem iniquitas inverecunda est, palam audet, palam molitur, palam perficit. Hi sunt, qui abnegantes Deum, nullum humanis rebus asserunt reliquum esse in religione Dei profectum; sed solum hoc sibi bonum esse, quod luxui et corpori vivant, adimentes Deo curam, providentiam, arbitrium, potestatem. Horum ergo labia sunt iniqua. Dolosae autem linguae opus fallax est, et per simulationem noxium, quod sub religionis nomine evertat religionem, et per vitae spem deducat in mortem. Haereticorum quoque ista mendacia sunt, prophetarum dictis et Evangeliorum virtutibus et Apostolorum praescriptionibus mendacio occultatis, aliter omnia tradere et docere quam scripta sunt. Ab his igitur per Dei misericordiam orantes liberamur: et inter illorum tribulationes, clamantes ad Deum exaudiemur. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmus CXIX Source: Migne PL 9.647a-c

O Lord, free from my soul from wicked lips and the deceitful tongue... 1 For this alone is a dangerous tribulation for the righteous, association with wicked exhortations and familiarity with harmful counsels, from which the soul should be withdrawn and the ears blocked up. But he distinguishes between wicked lips and the deceitful tongue. And certainly wickedness is immodest, it openly dares and strives and accomplishes. These are men who deny God and assert that for human affairs there is no profitable peace in the religion of God but the only thing that is good for them is to live in bodily luxury, dismissing God's care, providence, judgement and power. Therefore these lips are wicked. But the work of the cunning tongue is deceit, and through criminal dissimulation they overturn religion in the name of religion, and through hope of life they lead to death. These are the lies of heretics who with lies obscure the words of the prophets and the virtues of the Evangelists and the commands of the Apostles, and hand on and teach anything but what has been written. From these, therefore, we pray to be freed by the mercy of God, and amid the tribulations they bring, crying out to God, may we be heard. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 119 1 Ps 119.2