e say, and it means that we put our veracity on a par with His and
make Him shoulder the responsibility of truthfulness.

To take an oath we must swear by God. To swear by all the saints in the
calendar would not make an oath. Properly speaking, it is not even
sufficient to simply say: "I swear," we must use the name of God. In
this matter, we first consider the words. Do they signify a swearing,
by God, either in their natural sense or in their general acceptation?
Or is there an intention of giving them this signification? In
conscience and before God, it is only when there is such an intention
that there is a formal oath and one is held to the conditions and
responsibilities thereof.

Bear in mind that we are here dealing for the moment solely with lawful
swearing. There are such things as imprecation, blasphemy, and general
profanity, of which there will be question later, and which have this
in common with the oath, that they call on the name of God; the
difference is the same that exists between bad and good, right and
wrong. These must therefore be clearly distinguished from religious and
legal swearing.

There is also a difference between a religious and a legal oath. The
religious oath is content with searching the conscience in order to
verify the sincerity or insincerity of the swearer. If one really
intends to swear by God to a certain statement, and employs certain
words to express his intention, he is considered religiously to have
taken an oath. If he pronounces a formula that expresses an oath,
without the intention of swearing, then he has sworn to nothing. He has
certainly committed a sin, but there is no oath. Again, if a man does
not believe in God, he cannot swear by Him; and in countries where God
is repudiated, all attempts at administering oaths are vain and empty.
You cannot call, to attest the truth of your words, a being that does
not exist, and for him who does not believe in God, He does not exist.

The purely legal oath considers the fact and supposes the intention. If
you swear without deliberation, then, with you lies the burden of
proving it; since the law will allow it only on evidence and will hold
you bound until such evidence is shown. When a person is engaged in a
serious affair, he is charitably supposed to know what he is talking
about; if it happens that he does not, then so much the worse for him.
In the case of people who protest beforehand that they are infidels or
agnosti