Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1889-10-05
Sunday RfaafHs.
EDITED BY REV. f. L. LEEPER.

III a man proposes to be a Christian
"a Bible Christian, then he must be
a Christian in every place and in ev-
cry relation of life. AS a citizen of
the state he must be Christian citi-
zen, discharging all his civil duties as
unto the Lord. In his sphere he must
bend every effort to make the govern
ment what God designed it to be.
The end designed by God in civil
government is the encouragement of
the good by the sure and speedy pun
ishment of the evil. The faithful dis
charge of duty by judges, and AttOr-
ney.Generals is vital to the well-be>
ing of society.
When they faithfully discharge
their duties, every good man is bound,
by his obligation to seek good order,
to give to them his active encourage
ment and support.
Our courts, however, are dependent
upon our juries for all ability to pun
ish evil and encourage good. The
very life and well being of society,
therefore, is in the hands of jurors.
These must pronounce the evil to be
guilty, before any court can punish
them. 1t is good and wise system.
Yet it is in our day becoming a fail
ure, because it is allowed to fall into
the hands of ignorant and incompe-
tent men. Every Christian man is
bound, by his obligations to God as a
Christian man, to stand ready to dis
charge this duty cheerfully whenever
called upon to do so. A universal
principle of the Bible is: That l am
personally responsible for any evil
that results from failure upon my
part to discharge any duty. Jury
duty is imposed by law upon al
good citizens. If / shirk this duty.
then l am personally responsible tor
allowing crime to 20 UNPUBLISHED. l
may not seek it, neither may seek
to avoidit. l must wait until called
thereto by the proper officer of the
state; but when called / must respond
cheerfully. 1t involves unpleasant
duties, and great sacrifices. True, but
if / am a Christian / must stand ready
to do Just such duties, and make just
such sacrifices for the best interest of
society. A sheriff, when called upon
to summons jurors, is bound in con-
science, to use all the discretion the
law allows him to get the most intel.
ligent, and purest men the county af-
fords. Every good man must stand
ready to second his efforts to secure
the very best possible, by a ready,
cheerful response to this duty. When
in the jury-box 1 must remember that
in regard to any man brought before
me upon a charge of crime there are
hut three questions / have to answer
1st, did he do the deed charged? I'd,
was it an unlawful thing to do? Sd,
were the circumstances under which
he did it such as to justify him in
taking the law into his own hand?
These questions l must answer
soberly, honestly before the all seeing
God, without fear or favor. AS
juror, all questions of mercy, howev'
err strong they be, must be dismissed
from the mind, and the question Of
guilt considered. The law provides fol
mercy to those who are proper objects
Of it, but it puts that mercy in the
hands of the Governor, and not the
jury. The juror is sworn to deal Out
justice and justice only. When, there
fore, a lawyer pleads with a jury tC
acquit his client upon considerations
of mercy, he is asking the jury to per
jure their own souls for the criminal.
sake. The law knows morcy, anC
provides for it, but not through thu
jury.
The man who, as a Christian, faith
fully and honestly discharges his du
ty as a juror, and does it as seeing
Him who is invisible; does it withou
fear or favor; striving honestly t.
know what is just, and meet it out t,
every man, discharges the highes
functions for his own and for society
well being. If a Christian nah, h
must do it in this way if he wOult
keep conscience void of offence to
ward God, the Judge Ofall.