Massachusetts spy and Worcester advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1823-1825, 1824-06-16

wrong to sir up lawsuits, but when once it /;
certain that they are to go on, there is moth
ing wrong in lawyers endeavouring to gail
the benefit rather than another" But a sat
urist has, in ill nature and contrary to truth
asserted, that laws resemble cob-webs, which
catch flies and let the wasps break through
Shakespeare likewise countenances the vul
gar, but unjust satire on the law, when he
says
Through tatter'd clothes small vices do APP
pear;
Robes and fur'd gowns hide all. Plate sir
with gold,
And the strong lance ofjustice hurtlcss breaks
Arm it in rags-a pigmy straw doth pierce it,
The Canonists in the 18th century were SO
under the influence of bigotry and so circum-
scribed in their views, that they looked on
commerce, as inconsistent with Christianity,
and determined, at the Council of Melli, under
Pope Urban the Cd, that it was impossible,
with safe conscience, to exercise any traffic,
or follow the profession Of Tie law!'! The woe
pronounced in the gospel against lawyers, has
furnished the ignorant and the bigotted with
strong reason, in their contracted view, a.
galnst law and lawyers: but in reality this de-
nunciation has no more application to lawyers,
than to clergy men. merchants and physicians.
The lawyers addressed in the eleventh chap
ter Of st. Luke did not belong TO our fraterni.
ty, nor had they any thing particularly to do
with caril, common OF statute laao. And who,
forsooth, are the "ScribeS, PhoTiseeS, hypo-
critics." on whom the woe is eight or ten times
denounced in the twenty third chapter of St.
Matthew, and eleventh chapter of st. Luke .
| will YlrOIupo bo 6 lra,, lynoulaI0o11
shew, they are those aoh0 Stigmdt,se modern
larsyers 'cith The application Of this passage Of
scripture, being totally ignorant of the original
meaning, and forgetting, while they trium-
phantly fit one woe on lawyers, 10 take len to
themselves.
That a lawyer may be good man we have
scripture authority, as we can have no doubt
that Janus, of whom Paul speaks, was Chris
than. The truth is, law and gospel are in full
accordance, and the practice Of the former
does by no means tend TO generate spirit of
infdelity, and a life of irreligion. Our crimi-
nal code of laws is almost duplicate of the
Divine law as promulgated under the Mosaic
dspensation in the Old Testament, and the
civil and common law, in their leading princi-
Piles, may also be said to have dirine origin.
The common law, now so called, is founded
on the law Of nature, reason and scripture. Its
grounds, maxims and principles, are derived
from many different fountains, from natural
and moral philosophy, from the civil and can
on-law, from logic, from the use, custom and
conversation among men, collected out Of the
general disposition, nature, and condition of
human kind. The common law, so founded
and namsd, is universally comprehensive-ju-
bens honesta, prohibens cOntrayia." It's pre-
Cepts are, in respect to mankind, g Honestc vi
vere"-s' GHerune non lsdeic''-" sunni ctti-
que tribuere"-" sic utere tatO ut ne alienune
lRdas''-" Hoe facias aAeri quod tibi Wis fe-
ri" Human Legislators have but rc-enacted
the statutes and commentaries of Heaven.
know OF no law book in our libraries, that con-
tain any sentiment, injunction, or prohibition
intended to be at variance with the sacred
scriptures. In our books and in our courts,
Justice with her equal balance, ever stands
presiding. Truth is guarded by powerful
phalanx, and every where finds auxiliaries.
Honesty is clad in transparent robes, ruling
over falSehood and deceit, and is ever giving
new sanction to the maxim, " Honesty is The
best policy"
Justice reaches after equity, and sometimes,
putting off her sternness, yields to clemency
PITY is the virtue of the law, and none but
tyrants use it cruelty." Judges are astute in
the furtherance of right and the means of re-
covering it; and though counsellors and adj
vocates are obliged TO be faithful to their cli-
ents, yet not to manage their causes in such a
manner as that justice should be delayed, or
truth suppressed. Our authorities give no
more latitude in wickedness than the Bible
does, and doing our whole duty as lqwyers,
does not prevent doing our whole duty as
Christians. Who will deny that Sir Matthew
Hale was one OF the brightest Christian lumin-
aries since the days of the Apostles? He was
LacyeT. Who that has known the life of Sir
William Jones will dare deny his Christian Ii.
tie? lie was lawyer. mention these as
full proof, not only of the possibility, but fthe
facility and certainty with which lawyers may
be Christians. multitude of ancient and
modern-deceased and living pious lawyers
might be enumerated; but lis needless to give
names. He, who is at all acquainted with hu-
remedies, that belong to civilized and refined
society, will be a strenuous advocate for the
existence and perpetuity of our judicial sys-
tens, and patronize and befrend, by word and
deed, the learned and impartial judge, and the
honest, able and faithful lawyer, who has full
ly appreciated, or who can fully appreciate,
the value Of our legal institutions, and the
transcendent merit Of those, who have sit on
the bench, since the first settlement of our
country, administering justice and equity !?
Who does not remember with veneration and
affection the illustrious and mighty dead, who
fell lamented by all the good, and the little
less renowned living, all men of unbending in
tegrity, indefatigable industry, strict Impair
TALLY, supereminent talents, various and cx-
tensive erudition, and, to crown all, of lllins-
pedchable morals? When we consider the i'm
perlshable lustre of these Characteristic i'm
measurable good they have done to their age
and country, who will think it necessary to
vindicafc the lawfulness or utility of the legal
profession, or doubt its COMFORTING with relig-
ious principles and practice, when the law and
the duties it enjoins are fairly and fully exem-
pl6ed' In the temple OF justice neither theo-
ry or practice can tolerate the most indirect
legal fraud or moral otliquity.
ORCER UATOR