Perjury.

BY FRANCES POWER COBBE. .Another form of direct insult to God is Perjury. It is a mooted question among moralists whether a judicial oath can properly be considered a " calling on God to witness our words,*' or a simple expression of our con- viction that He does witness them. Under either view an oath is an introduction of God's name into trans- actions not strictly religious, and its lawfulness stands open to the question which from very early times has been asked, " Is it consistent with the reverence we owe to God, thus to make His name a guarantee of veracity in the petty concerns of human life ? "