The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-02

count of the Illness of Mr.. Choate. but the
Sabbath he saw Mr.. Choate in the old
Brick church" listening to the Rev.
DIR. Gardiner Spring.
I do not know whether. or the follow
ing day. Rufus Choate won his cause or
lost Ii. but I do know that his Sabhatic
rest did not do him any harm. Every
lawyer is entitled to one days rest out OF
seven. II he surrenders that. he ross
thTee-Goj. his own soul and his client.
Lord CastlereaEh and Sir Thomas Ro-
mily were the leaders OF the bar In their
day. They both died suicides. Wilber-
force accounts for their alteration OF in
tellect on the ground that they were un-
Intermittent in their work. and they
never rested on Sunday. Poor fellow. -
said wilberforce in regard TO Castlereagh:
poor fellow. IL was nonobservancc of the
Sabbath Chief Justice Hale says.
When / do not properly keep the Lords
day. all the rest OF the week * unhappy
and unsuccessful In my worldly employ
ment." l quote today from the highest
statute book in the universe. Remember
the sabbath day TO keep IL holy" The
legal gentleman who breaks that statute
may seem for awhile TO he ~advantaged.
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 stat
ute. Observance of the law OF God pays
not only spiritually and ~eternaliy. but II
pays in hard dollars or bank bills.
Another powerful temptation OF the
legal profession is TO artificial stimulus.
No one except those who have addressed
audiences knows about the nervous eN-
haustion that sometimes comes after
ward. 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
barrister'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 an or iEf himself down that This
temptation comes upon him. The flower
Of the American bar. ruined in reputa-
ton and ruined in estate. said in his last
moments: This is the end. ] am dying
on a borrowed bed, covered with a bor-
rowed sheet, in a house built by public
charity. Bury me under that tree IN the
middle of the field. that | may not he
crowded | always have been crowded
THE GREAT FUTURE.
Another powerful temptation of the
legal profession is to allow the absorb
ing duties of the profession to shut out
thoughts of the great future. You know
very well that you who have so often
tried others after awhile will be put on
trial yourselves. Death will serve on
you a writ of ejectment, and you Will
be put off these earthly premises. On
that day all the affairs of your life will
be presented in a bill of particulars"
No certiorari from a higher court. for
Lord Exeter was tried for high treason;
the day when the house of
moved for the impeachment OF Lord
Lovat; the days when Charles ] and
the day when Robert Emmett was ar
raigned as an insurgent; the day when
Blennerhasset was brought into the
courtroom because he had tried to over
and all the other great trials of the
world are nothing compared with the
great trial in which you and ! shall APP
pear. before the Judge Of
quick and dead. There will be no plead.
ing there the statute OF limitations, q"
no turning states evidence trying to
get off ourselves while others suffer: no
moving for a nonsuit.' The case will
come on ineXorably, and we shall be
tried. You. my brother. who have so
often been advocate for others, Will then
need an advocate for Yourself. Have YOU
selected him, the Lord Chancellor of the
Universe? If any man sin, we have an
advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1t
is uncertain when cur ease Will he called
on. BE We also ready
Lord Ashburton and Mir. Wallace were
leading barristers in their day. They
died about the same time. \ few months
before their decease they happened to be
in the same hotel in a village. the one
counsel going to Devonshire. the other
going to London. They had both been
seized upon by a disease which they
knew would be fatal. II they requested
that they be carried into the same room
and laid down on sofas. side by side. that
they might talk over old times ana tax
over the future. So they were carried in,
and, lying there on opposite sofas. they
talked over their old contests at the bar,
and then they talked of the future world.
upon which they must soon enter. 1t was
said to have been a Vt ? affecting ana
solemn interview between Mr.. Wallace
and Lord AshburtCn. My subject today
puts you side by side with those men in
your profession who have departed this
life, some of them skeptical and rebel
lious. some of them penitent, childlike
and Christian. Those were wandering
stars for whom is reserved the blackneSs
Of darkness forever. while these others
went up from the courtroom of earth to
the throne of eternal dominion. Through
Christ the advocate these got glorious
acQuittal. In the other case 1t was a
hopeless lawsuit-an unpardoned sinner
versus the Lord God Almighty. Oh, what
disastrous litigation! Behold. he comes.
The Judge, the Judge. the clouds of heaV-
en-, the judicial ermine. the great white
throne, the judicial bench, the arch
angels voice that shall wake the dead,
the crier, Come, We blessed; depart We
cursed,' the acquittal or the condemna-
ton. And / saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God, and the books
were opened"