The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1899-1900, 1899-04-26

terlzeu him. NO DrlDe 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. y
As at IL o'clock day by day on yonder
hill the gavel falls in the supreme court
room, and II 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
tatoTs rise to greet them, and the officer
with the words: "0yez, oyez, oyezl3
announces that all is now ready fol, a
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-
dicial place in this and other lands, and
they might enter, and after the falling
of some mighty gavelhad demanded at
tention we could look upon them
Marshall, the giant of American jur-is-
prudence, and JohnJay, of whom Daniel
Webster said in commemoration:
when the spotless ermine 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 Tenter-
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 quickened
imagination and distinguished cases of
centuries which they decided might
again be called on, after the assembled
nations had CALCULATED: God save the
United States of America" God save
Great Britain, God save the nations"
All, how the law honors and sanctifes
everything it touches! Natural law.
Civil law. Social law. Commercial law.
Common law. Moral law. Ecclesiastical
law. international law. Oh, the dig
nifty, the impressiveness, the power of
law! 1t is the only thing before which
Jehovah bows, but He bows before
that, although the law is of His own
making. The lawl 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,
or reach out so far, or live so long as to
escape it. 1t is the throne on which the
Almighty sits. To interpret law, what
a profession! What a responsibility!
What an execration when the Judge be
Lord Jeffreys! What benediction il
he be Chancellor Kentl
Have you ever realized how much God
has honored law in the fact that all up
and down the Bible He makes the Judge
a type of Himself and employs the scene
of courtroom to set forth the grand
eurs of the great judgment day? Book
of Genesis: "Shall not the judge of all
the earth do right?" Book of Deuter-
onomy: "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 assize-the
day of trial, the day of clearance, the
day of doom, the day of judgment. The
law of the case on that occasion will be
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 in
our behalf, for 1--WE have an advocate
with the Father-Jesus Christ, the
righteous" Then the case will be de-
cided 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 day and under the
swaying upholstery of burning heav-
ems and while the Alps and Himalayas
and Mount Washington are falling fat
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 be brought into tribunal.
To have done WELL all that such a 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 and celestial congratulation.
And then to expire beautifully while
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 caught
up into raptures that never die. Yes, he
lived and died in the faith of the old
Christian religion.
Young man, l want to tell you that
Justice Field believed in the Bible from
lid to lid, book all true either as doc
trine or history, much of it the history
of events that neither God nor man APP
proves. Our friend drank the wine of
the holy sacrament and ate the bread of
which "if man eat he shall never hun
ger" He was the up and down, out and
out friend of the church of Christ. II
there had been anything illogical in our
religion he would have secuted it, for he
was a logician. II there had been in it
anything unreasonable, he would have
rejected it, because he was a good rea.
soner, If there had been in ii anything
that would not stand research he would
have exploded the fnllacy, for his life
was life of research. Young men of
young men of America,
young men of the round world, a re.
ligion that would stand the test of JUS
tice Fields penetrating and a1l-ran.
sacking intellect must have in it some
thing worthy Of your confidence. tell
you now that Christianity has not only
the heart of the world on its side, but