News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1897-06-30

human reason, although not contrary to
1t, has hut little chance with some Of you.
A brilliant orator wrote "a book on the
first page of which he announced this SEN
timent, IAN honest God is the noblest
work of MANI Skepticism is the might
lest temptation of the legal profession, and
that man who can stand in that profes
sion, resisting all solicitations TO infidelity,
and can be as brave as George Briggs Of
Massachusetts, who stepped from the
gubernatorial chair to the missionary con-
vention, to plead the cause of dying race;
then on his way home from the conven-
ton, on a cold day, took off his warm
cloak and threw it over the shoulders of
thinly clad missionary, saying, Take that
and wear lit 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, deserves
congratulation and enoomium. Oh, men
of the legal profession, let me beg of you
to quit asking questions in regard to re-
ligion and begin believing!
The mighty men of your profession,
Story and Kent and Mansfield, became
Christians, not through their heads, but
through their hearts. Except We become
as a little child, ye shall in no wise enter
the kingdom of God" If you do not be.
come a Christian o man of the legal pro.
fession 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"
Sabbath Breaking.
Another mighty temptation for the legal
profession is Sabbath breaking The trial
has been going on for 10 or 10 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 1G
O'Clock Monday morning" On Monday
morning the counselor is TO sum up the
case. Thousands of dollars, yea, the repu'
tation and life of his client may depend
upon the success Of his plea. How will he
spend the intervening Sunday? There is
not one lawyer 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
IL O'Clock Saturday night or 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 force which
will be worth more to you before the jury
than all the elaboration of your case ON the
sacred day. My intimate and lamented
friend, the late Judge Nelson, in his in
Jeresting "reminiscences of Rufus Choate,
says that during the last case that gentle
man tried in New York the court ad
journed from Friday until Monday on ac
count Of the illness of Mr.. Choate. But
the chronicler says that on the intervening
Sabbath he saw Mr.. Choate in the old
Brick church listening to the Rev. Dr.
Gardiner Springer. l do not know whether
on the following day Rufus Choate won
his cause or lost it, but do know that his
Sabbatc rest did not do him any harm.
Every lawyer is entitled to one day. rest
out Of seven. If he suTenders that, he
robs three-God his own soul and his
client. Lord Castlereagh and Sir Thomas
Romilly We're the leaders of the bar in
their day. They both died suicides. Will
berforce accounts for their alteration Of
intellect on the ground that they were I'M
intermittent in their work and they never
1OobCu OL huhbuy' OOL lSlAON ChlN
Wilberforce in regard to Castlereagh; ''poor
fellow, it was nonobservance of the Sab
bath" Chief Justice Hale says, "When l
do not properly keep the Lords day, all
the rest of the week is unhappy and I'M
successful in my worldly employment.
quote today from the highest statute
book in the universe, Remember the
Sabbath day to keep it holy. The legal
gentleman who breaks that statute may
seem for awhile to DO adyantaged, but in
the long run the men who observe this
law of God will have larger retainers,
vaster influence, greater professional sue
cess than those men who break the statute,
Observance of the law of God pays not
only spiritually and eternally, but it pays
in hard dollars or bank bills.
Another powerful temptation of the le-
gal profession is to artificial stimulus, No
one except those who have addressed audi
enCes knows about the nervous exhaustion
| that sometimes comes afterward The
temptation to strong drink approaches the
| legal profession at that very point. Then,
a trial is coming on. Through the i'll
ventilated courtroom the barrster' S
health has been depressed for days and for
weeks. He wants to rally his energy. He
| is tempted to resort to artificial stimulus.
1t is either to get himself up or let himself
down that this temptation comes upon
| him. The flower of the American bar,
ruined in reputation and ruined in estate,
said in his last moments: "This is the
end. l am dying on a borrowed bed, GOV.
cred with borrowed sheet, in a house
built by public charity. Bury me under
that tree in the middle of the field, that
may not be crowded. always have been
| crowded"
The. Great Future.
Another powerful temptation of the le
gal profession is to allow the absorbing
duties of the profession to shut out
thoughts of the great future. You know
very well that you who have so often tried
others will after awhile be put ON tria,
| yourselves Death will serve on you 8
writ of ejectment, and you will be put of
these earthly premises. On that day al
the affairs of your life will be presented il
"bill of particulars. ~ No certiorari from
higher court, for this Is the highest
court. The day when Lord Exeter was
tried for high treason; the day when the
house of commons moved for the impeach
mont of Lord L0vat the days wher
Charles | and Queen Caroline were put