St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-05-27

him. For more than "a years he sat In
the presence of this nation and of all
nations a model judge. Fearlessness,
integrity, devotion to principle. charac-
terizeI him. No bribe ever touched his
hand. No profane word ever scalded
his tongue. No blemish of wrong ever
marred his character. Fully qualified
was he to have his name associated in
the history of this country with the
greatest of the judiciary.
As at 12 o'clock day by day on yonder
hill the gavel falls in the supreme court
room, and it is announced that the chief
justice of the United States and the as
sociate justices are about to enter. and
all counselors at the bar and all spec
tators rise to greet them, and the officer
with the words: ..Oyez, oycz, oyez!
announces that all is now ready for
hearing and exclaims: God save the
United States of America" so wish we
could in imagination gather together
those who have occupied that high ju-
tlicial place in this and ether lands, and
they might enter. and after the falling
of some mighty gavel had demanded at
tenticn VIC could look upon them
Marshall, the giant of American juris-
prudence, and John Jay, of whom Daniel
Webster said in commemoration:
s.Vhen the spotless crmine of the ju-
dicial robe fell on John Jay, it touched
nothing less spotless than ITSELF and
Rutledge and Cushing and Ellsworth
and Joseph Storey, called the Walter
Scott of common law, and Sir Matthew
Hale and Lord Eldon and Lord Tcntcr-
den and Sir James Mcintosh and Mans
field and the long line of lord chancel-
lors and the great judges from both
sides of the sea, and after they had
taken their places in our qnickened
Imagination and distinguished cases OF
centuries which they decided might
again be called on, after the assembled
nations had ejaculated: "God save the
United States of America" God save
Great Britain" "God save the nations
All, how tine law honors and sanctifics
everything it touches! Natural law.
Civil law. Social law. Commercial law.
Common law Moral law. Ecclesiastical
law. International law. Oh, the dig
nifty, the impressivcncss,t the power OF
law. 1t is tho only thing before which
Jehovah bows, but He bows before
that, although the law is of His own
making. The law! BY it worlds swing.
By it the fate of centuries is decided.
BY it all the affairs of time and all the
cycles of eternity will be governed.
We cannot soar SO high, or sink so deep,
fov, tn
escape it. 1t is the throne ON which the
Almighty sits. To interpret law, what
\ Erofession! What a responsibility!
What an cxecration when the judge ne
| a Lord Jeffreys. What bcnediction il
he be O Chancellor Kent.
Have you ever realized how much God
has hcnored law in the fact that all up
and down the Bible He makes the judge
type of Himself and employs the scene
of a courtroom to set forth the grand-
ours of the great judgment day? Book
of Genesis: "Shall not the judge of all
the earth do right?" Book of Deuter-
| onomy: 1.-The Lord shall judge His peo-
ple." Book Of Psalms: God is judge
| Himself" Book of the Acts: Judge
of quick and dead" Book of Timothy:
''The Lord is the righteous judge"
Never will it be understood how God
honors judges and courtrooms until the
thunderbolt of the last day shall pound
the opening of the great assizc-thc
day of trial, the day of clearance, the
day of doom, the day of judgment. The
law of the case on that occasion will bc
read, and the indictment of ten counts,
which are the Ten Commandments.
Justice will PLEAD the case against US,
but our glorious advocate will plead i'm
our behalf, for ''we have an advocate
with the Father-Jesus Christ, the
| righteous" Then the case will be de-
cidetl in our clearance, as the Judge an
nounces: There is now, therefore, no
condemnation to them who are in Christ
Jesus" Under the crowded galleries Of
cloud on that last dag and under tho
swnying upholstery Of burning heav-
ems and while the Alps and Himaiayas
and Mount Washington are falling fiat
on their faces we will be able to UNDER
stand the significance of those Scrip
ture passages which speak of God as
Judge and employ the courtroom Of
earth as typical Of the scene when all
nations shall he brought into tribunal.
! To have done well, all that such pro-
fession could ask of him, and to have
made that profession still more honor
able by his brilliant and sublime life, is
enough for national and international,
terrestrial end celestial congratulatiop.
And then to expire beautifully whil-
the prayers of his church were being
offered at his bedside. the door Of
Heaven opening for his entrance as the
door of earth opened for his departure,
the sob Of the earthly farewell c1nght
up into raptures that never die. Iesr l..
lived and died in the faith of the old.
fashioned Christian religion.
Young man. want to tell you that
Justice Field believed in the Bible from
lid to lid, Il book all true either as doc
! trine or history. much of it the history
of events that neither God nor man ap-
proves. Our friend drank the wine oi
the holy sacrament and ate the bread oi
which '.if man eat he shall never hun
\ ger" He was the mp and down, ont and
ont friend of the church of Christ il
there Ead been anything iIlogicalin OF,
religion he would have secuted il. for h
was n logician. II there had been in il
anything unreasonable. he would hav,
rejected it. because he was good rea
soner. II there had been in it anything
that would not stand research he would
have-explodcd the fallacy, for his lif'
was n life of research. Young men o
Washington. young men of America
young men CT the round world, re
ligion that would stand the test of Jus
tice Fields penetrating and all-ran
sacking intellect must have in it soHie
thing worthy of your confidence. tel
you now that Christianity has not cnl.
the Heart of the world en- its side, In
the brain of the world also. Yc wis
have tried to represent the religion o
the Bible as something pusillsnimous
how do you account for the Caristial
faith Of Stephen j. Field. whole sheise
of the law library occupied with M
! magnificent decisions?
And uOxx- rrav the God of i'll cOmIOr