The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-08-26

QUICK anu IDb u6bu' DOO Ih0 o'.S A"
| Thomas Marshall and Sergeant Prentiss,
the Boanerges of the world, their names
synonymous for eloquence and legal acu-
men. Witness Lord Thurlow, announc'
ing his loyalty to earthly Government
in the sentence: IF | forget my earthly
sovereign, may God forget me" and yet
stooping to unacCountable meanness'
Witness Lork Coke, the learned and the
less. Witness Sir George Mckenzie, the
execrated of all Scotch Covenanters.
No other profess ion more needs the
grace of God to deliver them in their
temptations, to comfort them in their
trials, to sustain them in the d scharge
of their duty, While | would have you
bring the merchant to Christ, and the
farmer, and the mechanic, and the BAN
ker, all to Christ, address you in the
words of Paul to Titus Bring Z9nas,
the lawyer" By SO much as his duties
are delicate and great, by 30 much does
he need Christian stimulus and safe
guard. We all become clients. l do
not suppose there is man fifty years Of
age, who has been in active lifA, who has
not been afflicted with lawsuit. Your
name is assaulted, and you must have
legal protection. Your boundary line is
invaded, and the Courts must re'estab'
lish it. Your patent is infringed upon,
and you must make the offending man
ufaCturer pay the penalty. Your treas
ures are taken and the thief must be
apprehended. You want to make your
will, and you do not want to follow the
example of those who, for the sake OF
saving G20 from an attorney, imperiI
G5OO0O, and keep the generation follow
ing for twenty years quarreling about
the estate, until it is all exhausted, You
are struck at by an assassin, and you In
woke for him the Penitentiary. All sorts
of people, in course Of time, become CHI
ents, and therefore they are all interest
ed in the morality and Christian integri'
ty of the legal profession. bring Zenas,
the lawyer" But how is an attorney to
decide as to what are the principles by
which he should conduct himself in re-.
gard to his clients? On one extreme
Lord Brougham will appear, saying,
"The innocence or guilt Of your client is
nothing to you; you are to save your eli
ent, regardless of the torment, the suf-
fering the destruction of all others; you
are to know but one man in the world
your client; you are to save him, though
you should bring your country into con-
fusion; at all hazards you are to save your
client" So says Lord Brougham, But
no right.minded lawyer could adopt
that sentiment. On the other extreme,
Cicero will come to you and say, "You
must never rlead the cause of bad
man" forgetful of the fact that the great
est villain on earth should have fair
trial, and that an attorney can not act as
Judge and advocate at the same time. 1t
was grand when Lord Erskin sacrificed
his Attorney .Generalship for the sake
of defending Thomas Paine in his publi-
cation of his book, called "The Rights of
Man." while at the same time he, the
advocate, abhored Thomas Paine's relig.
ious sentiments, Between these two op.
posite theories of what is right, what
should the attorney do? God alone can
direct him. To that chancery he must
be appellant, and he will get an answer
in an hour. Blessed is that attorney be-
tween whose Office and the throne of
God there is perpetual, reverential and
prayerful communication. That attor.
ney will never make an irreparable mis-.
take. True to the habits of your proles-
sion, you say: "Cite us some authority
on the subject" Well, I quote to you
the decision Of the Supreme Court of
Heaven, "If any man lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, who giveth to all men
literally, and upbraideth not, and it shall
be given him"
What a scene is the office of the busy
attorney! In addition to the men who
come to you from right motives, bad
men will come to you, They will offer
you large fee for counsel in the wrong
direction. They want to know from
you how they can escape from solemn
marital obligations. They come to you
wanting to know how they can fail ad.
vantageously for themselves. They will
want to know how they can make the
Insurance company pay for destroyed
house which they burned down with
their own hands. Or they come to you
with the simple errand, wanting to know
how to escape their honest debts. Now,
it is no easy thing to advise settlement
when, by urging litigation, you could
strike mine of remuneration. 1t is no
easy task to dampen the ardor of an in
famed contestant, when you know thro'
a prolonged lawsuit you could get what
ever you asked. 1t is no easy task to at.
tempt to discourage the suit for the
breaking of a will in the Surrogate's
Court, because you know the tes;ator
was of sound mind and body when he
signed the document. 1t requires no lit.
tie heroism to do as | heard an attorney
do in an Office in a western city. He
said: John, will see you through as
well as | can; but l will tell you before
you start, that a lawsuit is equal to
! fl e." Under the tremendous tempta-
tions that come upon the legal profess
sion, scores of men g down. There are
scores Of men who have gone down, and
some of them from being the pride of the
highest tribunal of the state, have be.
come a disgrace to the Toombs court.
room, Every attorney, in addition the
innate sense of right, wants the sustain
ing power of the old-fashioned religion
of Jesus Christ. Bring Zsnas, the
lawyer"
There are two or three forms of temp.
tation to which the legal profession is
especially subjected. The first of all is
skepticism, Controversy is the lifetime
business Of that occupation. Controver.
sy may be incid ntal or accidental with
u, but with them it is perpetual. You
get 80 used to pushing the sharp ques-
ton, "Why?" and making unaided rea.
son superior to the emotions, that the
religion of Jesus Christ, which is sim.
pie matter of faith, and above human
reason, has but little chance with some.
A brilliant orator of the Republican
party in the last Presidential campaign
is foe of Christianity, and wrote book
on the first page of which he announced
this sentiment: "An honest God is the
noblest work of manl' Skepticism is
the mightiest temptation of the legal
| nrofession and that man who nan stand