The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1897-07-08

tarried in n of their offices for three
years, where there came real estate
lawyers, insurance lawyers, criminal
lawyers, marine lawyers, and have yet
to find a class of men more genial or
more straightforward. There Are in
that occnp2aca, as in all our occupa.
tons men utterly obnoxious to God
and man; but if ! were on trial for my
integrity or my life, and | wanted
even-handed justice administered to
me, l would rather have my case sub
United to a jury of IL lawyers than to
a jury of II ~clergymen. The legal pro-
f~essicn, l believe, have less violence OF
prejudice than j S to be found in the sa-
cred calling.
No other profession more needs the
grace OF God to deliver them in their
temptations, to comfort them in their
trials, to sustain them in the discharge
of their duty. While | would have
you bring the merchant to Christ, and
while ! wouldh have you bring the farm
er to Christ, and while | would have
you bring the mechanic to Christ, l
address you now in the words of Paul
to Titus: Bring Zenas the LAWYER"
By so much as his duties are delicate,
and great, by SO much does he need
Christian stimulus and safeguard. We
all become clients. | do not suppose
there is a man so years of age who
has been in active life who has
not been afflicted with a law
suit. Your name is assaulted and
you must have legal protection.
Your boundary line is invaded, and the
courts must re-establish it. Your pat
ent is infringed upon, and you must
make the offending manufacturer pay
the penalty. Your treasures 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 500
from an attorney, imperil $3.50, 900. and
keep the generation following for 30
years quarreiing about the estate, un.
til it is all exhausted. You are struck
by an assassin, and you must invoke
for him the penitentiary. All classes
Of Persons in course Of time become
clients, and there they are all inter
ested in the morality and the Christian
integrity of the legal profession,
Bring Zenas the lawyer"
What a scene is the Office of a busy
attorney. 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 advantageonsly for themselves.
They come to you wanting to know how
they can make the insurance company
pay for a destroyed house which they
burned down with their hands,
Or they come to you on the simple err
rand of wanting to escape payment of
their honest debts. Now, it is nc easy
thing to advise settlement, when by
urging litigation you could strike Il
mine of remuneration. 1t is not a very
easy thing to dampen the ardor of an
intlamed contestant, when you know
through a prolonged lawsuit you could
get from him whatever you asked.
1t is, no easy thing to attempt to
discourage the suit for the breaking of
a will in the f;surrogate's court be-
cause you know The t~estator was of
sound mind and body when he signed
the document. 1t requires 10 small
heroism to do as | once heard at attor-
overheard the conversation, when he
said: "John, you can go on with this
lawsuit, and | will see you through as
we'll as | can; but | want to tell you
before you start, that a lawsuit is equal
to a fire." Under the tremendous
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. Ev-
cry attorney, in addition to the innate
sense of right, wants the sustaining
power of the ~old-fashioned religion of
Jesus Christ. Bring Zenas the law
yer"
There are two or-three forms of temp
tation to which the legal profession is
especially subject. The first of all is
s~keptieism. Controversy is the lifetime
ibrsiness of that occupation. Contro-
versy may be incidental or accidental
with us; but with you it is perpetual.
You get SO used to pushing the sharp
question 'NVhy~ and making unaided
reason superior to the emotions, that
the religion of Jesus Christ, which is a
simple matter of faith. and above
human reason, although not contrary
to it, has cut little chance with some
of you. A brilliant orator wrote a
announced this sentiment: IAN honest
God is the ,noblest work of man."
Skepticism is the mightiest temptation
of the legal profession, and that man
who can stand in that profession, re-
sisting all solicitations of infidelitgr
and can be as brave as George Briggs,
of Massachusetts,, who stepped from
the gubernatorial hair to the mission
airy convention, to plead the cause of a
dying race; then On his way home from
the invention, OH d cold day. took off
his warm cloak ard threw it over the
shoulders of "A thinly-clad missionary,
saying, ''Tase that and wear it, it
will do you more good than it will
me;'' or, like Judge John Mclean, who
can step from the supreme court
room Of the United States,
on to the anniversary platform
of the American Sunday-school
union, it's most powerful orator-de-
serves o graduation and encomium.
O., men Of the legal profession, let me
beg of YOU to quit asking questions in
regard to religion, and begin believing.
The mighty men of your profession,
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