The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1912-05-10
coMMENcEMENr AT WALDEN.

COMMENCEMENT AT WALDEN.
Continued from Page u
to get ourselves, the lawyers of the
race, into a position to combat sue
cessfu,ly these false views and thus
correct them, to the end that our law
yers may stand before the public as
a very respectable class of gentlemen,
as much so as the members of any
other profession. think this is not
asking too much. | do not want this
to be taken as an apology. | would
not be understood as attempting to
make one. | simply want the mem
bers of the legal profession measured
by the very same standard by which
the members of any other profession
are judged. No more, no less.
Now, what are some of these false
views? One of the most common we
hear is that lawyers as rule are not
truthful men. Their reputation for
truthfulness and veracity does not go
very far with many of our people. 1t
is a common thing to have it said that
a .
upon implicitly. That it must be ac-
cepted with many grains of allow
ance." | am not speaking of individ-
uals, but of lawyers as class. have
heard it said time and again, that the
word lawyer is synonymous with that
short and ugly word. You know what
it is. Now, of course this is not true.
But there is such a thing as repeat
ing a falsehood so often that it will
come to be relied upon as the truth.
People will come to the point where
they will accept it without question.
and pass it along as an established
fact. That is we'll nigh the case with
this statement. 1t has been repeated
so often-and in many cases as a jest
that it is now accepted as true in
sense.
And this does injury to the profes-
sion. This and similar statements
which are calculated to do hurt to
our profession, ought to be chal-
lenged by every lawyer and by any
one who is contemplating studying
law, whenever repeated, whether in
jest or not. And not only challenged,
but they should be met and com
plete'y shattered. Their falsity should
be fully exposed so as to leave nc
room for doubt. The word lawyer is
not synonymous with the word liar
etymologically or any other way 1t
never was an dnever will be. The
lawyer is taken fully and completely
into the confidence of his client. This
is true of the community in which he
lives. This cannot be said of the
other fellow. The lawyer is entrusted
with interests involving millions OF
money, thus coming into the most del
icate and fiduciary relations as to the
home, the family and the community
in which he lives. The liar can lay
claim to no such distinction. He is
never thus taken into the confidence
of the individual, of the family, nor oil
the community.
Growing out of this same idea, the
contention is made in some quarters
that the lawyer is not included in the
final perseverance of the saints
! Strange as it may seem to you. 1t is
nevertheless true that the number OF
persons, even at this late day, who de
ny the lawyer admission into the king
dom of heaven is very large. They
will grant him membership in the
church all right, and they will readily
subscribe to the doctrine of whose
ever will may come" yet, when il
comes right down to the question o.
the lawyer being saved, they balk
And if they admit that he may BIZ
saved, you can plainly see that men
tai reservation upon the very expires
sion of their countenances. The!
muse: "it is possible, but barely prob
able" Just where such an idea SHOULD
have sprung from, one can only sur
mise My conjecture is that it mus
have come from a misinterpretatiol
or the Scriptures. You remembe
that gospel story of the young man
who was a lawyer, coming to Chris
and inquiring the way of salvation
WeT-as you remember, the youn
man felt that he could not meet tn
conditions of discipleship as set ou
by Christ, and so he went away III
saved After he had gone, Chris
used the illustration of the Camel
and the "eye of the needle" But
close reading of the story will disclos
the fact that it was his possession
and not his profession that stood i
his way as stumbling block. Such a
, Interpretation, or rather misinterpr,
tation of the Scripture reminds me {
the story told of the pastor who oil
jected to the members of his churc
playing marbles. He was a very il
fuential pastor and his members ha
much confidence in him. AS a rul
they would accept whatever he migf
say about matters pertaining to tn
Christian life without question, an
would readily follow his lead. But l
this particular instance, they insiste
that he should give them what sayet
the Scriptures" about this particuls
pastime, and point out to them wher
the Bible was against marble playin
So he decided to preach a special Sc
mon on the subject and settle the ma
ter for all time to come. After cas-
. ing around for text, he decided
2 make a selection from the reporte
2 conversation between Christ and Nj
: odemus, in which Christ pointed OF
2 the qualifications necessary for Gil
5 zenship in the new kingdom. +
= formed this sentence and used it {
, q text. "And Christ said unto Mic