Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-07-14


bring the mechanic TO Christ. I addres
you now in the words OF Paul to Titu.
Bring Zenas the lawyer" By 50 much a
his duties are delicate and great, by $
much does he need Christian stimulus an
safeguard. We all become clients. d
not suppose there is a man fifty years O
age who has been in active life who ha
not been afflicted with lawsuit. YoU
name is assaulted, and you must have lega
protection. Your boundary line! /
tablish it. Your patent is in
fringed upon. and you must make tn,
OFFENDING manufacturer pay the penalty
Your treasures are taken, and the THE
must be apprehended. You want to max,
your will and you do not want to follow
the example Of those who, for the sake o
saving fl0O from an attorney, imperil $3.50,
900 and keep the generation following fol
twenty years quarreling about the estate
ultil it Is all exhausted. You are struck a,
by an assassin, and you must invoke fol
him the penitentiary. All classes of per
sons in course of time become clients, and
therefore they are all interested in the III or.
ality and Christian integrity Of the legal
profession. Bring Zenas the lawyer"
hut how is an attorney to decidesas to
conduct himself In regard to his clients!
On one extreme Lord Brougham will ap-
pear, saying: 1.-The innocence or guilt OF
your client is nothing to you. You are to
save your client regardless of the torment,
the suffering, 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 confu-
| sion. At all hazards you must save your
client" So says Lord Brougham, but no
tight minded lawyer could adopt that SEN
| timent.
On the other extreme Cicero will come
to you and say, You must never plead the
| cause Of a bad man." forgstful of the fact
that the greatest villain on earth ought to
have fair trial and that an attorney can
not be judge and advocate at the same
time. 1t was grand when Lord Erskine
sacrificed his attorney generalship for the
sake of defending Thomas Paine in his
publication of his book called 1.-THE Rights
Of Man." while Mt the same time he the
advocate, abhorred Thomas Paine's ire
| iigious sentiments. Between thesel two
opposite theories Of what is right what
shall 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 between
| whose Office and the throne of God there is
municatiOn! That attorney will never
| make an irreparable mistake. True to the
habits of your profession, you say, "Cite
| Is some authority on the subject" Well,
quote to you the decision of the supreme
| court of heaven, IF any lack wisdom let
| him ask of God, who giveth to all men lib
| orally and upbraideth not, and it shall be
| given him.
What scene is the Office of a busy at
iorneyI In addition to the men who come
| to you from right motives, bad men will
| come to you. They will offer you a large
| fee for counsel in the wrong direction
They want to know from you how they
can escape from solemn marital obligation
| They come to you wanting to know how
| they can fail advantageously for them
| They n w tp
| how they can make the insurance com
| pany pay for u destroyed house which
they burned down with their own hands
| or they come to you on the simple errand
Of wanting to escape payment Of their
| honest debts. Now, 1t is no easy thing
| to advise settlement when by urging liti-
| CATION YOU could strike mine of remuner-
alton. 1t Is net very easy thing to
| dampen the ardor of a. infiamed contestant
| when you know through prolonged law
| suit you could get from him whatever you
asked. 1t is no easy thing to attempt to
discourage the suit for the breaking of
will In the surrogate's court because you
| know the testator was of sound mind and
| body when he signed the document. 1t re-
| quires no small heroiSm to do as l once
heard an attorney do in an office in a
western city.
! overheard the conversation when he
| said, John, you can go on with this law
suit and will see you through as well as
can, but l want to tell you before you start
that a lawsuit is equal to q fire." Under
| the tremendou temptations that come upon
| the legal profession 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 become a disgrace to the
| TOmbs courtroom. Every attorney, in sd-
| dttiOn to the innate sense of right, wants
the sustaining power Of the old fashioned
| religion Of Jesus Christ. Bring Zenas the
| lawyer"
There are two or three forms of tempta.
| tion to which the legal profession Is espe-
cially subject The first of all is skepticism.
| Controversy is the lifetime business ofthat
| occupation. Controversy may be Incidental
| or accidental with Us, but with you 1t Is
perpetual. You get go used to pushing the
| sharp question "Why?" and making un-
| aided reason superior to the emotions that
the religion of Jesus Christ, which is a sim
pie matter of faith, and above human rea-
| son, although not contrary to 1t, has but
little chance with some Of you. A brilliant
orator wrote a book, on the first page of
honest God is the noblest work
| Of man." Skepticism is the might
lest temptation OF the legal profess
sion. and that man who can stand
| In that profession, resisting all solicita-
| tfons to inhdelity, and can be as brave as
| George Briggs of Massachusetts, who
| stepped from the gubernatoriai chair to
| the missionary convention, to plead the
| cause of dying race, then on his way
| home from the convention, on a cold day,
| took of his warm cloak and threw 1t over
| the shoulders of thinly clad missionary,
| saying, Take that and wear 1t; 1t will dc
you more good than it will me-" or, like
| Judge Mclean, who can step from the su-
| preme court room Of the United States on
| to the anniversary platform Of the Ameri.
| can Sunda school union, its most power
full orator, deserves congratulation and en-
| comium.
Omen of the legal profession, let me bes
| Of you to quit asking questions In regard
to religion and begin believingl The
| mighty men of your profession, Story and
! through their heads, but through their
| hearts. Except ye become AS a little
child ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom
| of God" II you do not become a Christian,
o man of the legal profession, until you
| can reason this whole thing out in regard
to God and Christ and the Immortality of
| the soul, you will never become a Christian
at all. Only believe. Bring Zenas the
| lawyer"
profession Is Sabbath breaking. The trial
has been going on for ten or fifteen days.
The evidence Is all in. 1t Is Saturday
| night. The judges gavel falls on the desk
and he says, "Crier, adjourn the court until
10 O'Clock Monday morning" On Monday
| morning the counselor is to sum up the case
Thousands of dollars, yea the reputation
and life of his client, may depend upon the
success of his plea. How will he spend the
Intervening Sunday? There is not one law
yer out of hundred that can withstand the
temptation to break the Lords day under
such circumstances. And yet if he does he
hurts HIS own soul What, my brother, you
cannot do before ~ o clock Saturday night oi
after IL o'clock Sunday night God does not
want you to do at all. Besides that you
want the "a hours of Sabbath rest to give
you that electrical and magnetic forcs
which will be worth more to you before
the jury than eil the elaboration Of youl
case on the sacred day. My intimate anG
iRmented friend the late Judge Neilscn, il
his Interesting "reminiscences of Rufu
Choate, says that during the last case tha
gentleman tried in New York the cour
adjourned from Friday until Monday ol
account of the illness of Mr.. Choate, bu
the chronicler says that on the intervening