Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-11-16
ADVICE TO LAWYERS.
SERMON BY REV. MR.. GRUBB ON
THE LEGAL PROFESSION.
Lrro.,, A. no1tfu.ora An,ar;oau


From tho Baltimore American.
Rev. j. w. Grubb, pastor of Cal.
vary NJ. L. Church South, Lombard
and Greene streets, spoke last'nIght
on "The Legal Profession Its Per
ils and Possibilities" the second of
a series of sermons on professional
life. His text was Luke xiv. 3 and
4. He said: at is not our purpose
to speak a word that shall detract
from the dignity and honor Of "A
profession that has numbered In
ITS ranks men who have filled the
POSITIONS they occupied 80 well that
nations delight to do them honor.
We will try to point out few OF
the many causes OF failure as a
warning to young men. The first
element of success in any protes-
sion is that kind of manliness that
makes no compromise with wrong.
There IS no profession in which
lack OF principle will ruin a nan
more readily. The first danger to
which / would call any students
attention is laziness. The man who
would be successful lawyer must
first be successful drudge. He
must work early and late. He
must never take case unless he
is willing to work on it until he
masters every difficulty. All things
being equal, the patient, hard.work-
ing man, willing to deny himself
pleasure for his works sake, is the
man who will succeed.
"The greatest danger to the
young lawyer is political fever
Many young lawyer has ruined
his prospects for life by undertak-
ing to be lawyer and politician,
too. One profession is enough for
one man. The lawyer who has
graduated IN politics will give tar
more attention to the latter than
the former.
"Another danger that lies in The
way OF the tyro in law Is the wine
cup. The mental labor required is
very apt to 5eget a habit of stimu.
lating the brain for pIotracted ef.
fort. Would you be successful in
professional lifei Then, avoid
stlmulants as you would the small.
pox.
at is often asserted that a law
yer only tells the truth when it
suits his case. The fact is, that it
takes a lawyer of splendid abilities
and unlimited knowledge of human
nature TO get the truth out OF
others. About the hardest thing
any man eyer undertook is to tell
the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth 1t is said that the
Chinese government abolished trial
by jury and testimony because wit
nesses could be found who would
swear to anything for a trihe.
"The lawyer who becomes a trick
ster, and relies on mis- shrewdness
and lack of principle, is more vile
than the witness he hires to lie for
him. The law maxim, 'equi facit
alter facit per se,' applies to every
such case.
"What are the needs and the pos
sibilitles s OF the profession today!
We need men who can be relied
upon in any case. Men like Henry
Clay, who would rather be right
than be president Men like Chief
Jus tice Marshall, who would drive
through mud axle deep rather than
turn asl de into the field that offered |
a better road because 1t behooved |
a man in high Office to be care eful |
Of the rights of others. 1t was said |
by a great man that there is always |
room at the top in professional
life. Very few men know where to
look for the top. Brains, genius,
talent, will not raise man to the
top. The man who loves honor
better than money, who knows
what is his and what belongs to
other people, is higher far than the
brilliant scoundrels who RUNS his
fellows ander the name of law
lust as every error claims the sane
ION of the Bible, so many a wrong
las been committed in the name of
he law. Just as in this state,
Freedom is seventeen miles from
Liberty, 30 law and justice are
)ften too far apart to get ac-
lusinted.
"There never was a wider field
ior the young lawyer who is ready,
ike the lawyer in Scripture, to learn
he law from Jesus Christ. ] like
he old law words with their ring.
Dg honesty. Hand and seal comes
rom the illiterate days, but man
who smeared his hand with ink,
and laid it upon the paper, knew
ais hand would fit that impression.
is another strong old
word, when the knife cutting two
copies apart in an lndented line
Dut trickery out of the question:
Bring the old days back, lift the
profession above suspicion, let law
md justice be one. This is the
work awaiting him ~hO is manly
enough TO undertake IT."
The Empress OF Japan is a hard
Ifndant of Eorman Russian French