On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
withstood , but it is better it should not b ^ encountered . Far better that feeling which says , * I have vowed a vow before God ; I have put on the robe of justice ; farewell avarice ,
farewell ambition : pass me who will , slight me who will , I live henceforward only for the great duties of life ; my business is on earth , my hope and my reward are in God /
" He who takes the office of a Judge , as it now exists in this country , takes in his hand a splendid gem , good and glorious , perfect and pure . Shall he give it up mutilated , shall he mar it , shall he darken it , shall it emit no light , shall it be valued at no price , shall it excite no wonder ? Shall he
find it a diamond , shall he leave it a stone ? What shall we say to the man who would wilfully destroy with fire the magnificent temple of God , in which I am now preaching ? Far worse is he who ruins the moral
edifices of the world , which time , and toil , and many prayers to God , and many sufferings of men have reared : who puts out the light of the times in which he lives , and leaves us to wander amid the darkness of corruption and the desolation of sin . There may be ,
there probably is in this church , some young man who may hereafter till the office of an English Judge , when the greater part of those who hear me are dead , and mingled with the dust of the grave . Let him remember my words , and let them form and fashion his
spirit : he cannot tell in what dangerous and awful times he may be placed ; but as a mariner looks to his compass in the caln ^ and look s to his compass in the storm , and never keeps his eyes off his compass , so in every vicissitude of a judicial life , deciding for the
people , deciding against the people , protecting the just rights of kings , or restraining their unlawful ambition , let him ever cling to that pure , exalted and Christian independence , which towers over the little motives of life ; which no hope of favour can influence , which no effort of power can controul .
A Christian Judge , in a free country , should respect , on every occasion , those popular institutions of justice , which were intended for his tontroul and for our security . To fcfce humble men collected accidentally from the neighbourhood , treated with
Untitled Article
tenderness and courtesy by supreme magistrates ] of deep learning ahd practised understanding , from whose views thejr are perhaps at that moment differing , and whose directions they do not choose to follow ; to see at such
times every disposition to warmth restrained , and every tendency to Gontemptuous feeling kept back ; to witness this submission of the great and wise , not when it is extorted by necessity , but when it is practised with
willingness and grace , is a spectacle which is very grateful to Englishmen , which no other country sees , which , above all things , shews that a Judge has a pure , gentle and Christian heart , and that he never wishes to smite
contrary to the law . * May I add the great importance in a Judge , of courtesy to all men , and that he should , on all occasions , abstain from unnecessary bitterness and asperity of speech , A Judge always speaks with impunity , and always
speaks with effect . His words should be weighed , because they entail no evil upon himself , and much evil upon ^ others . The language of passion , the language of sarcasm , the language of satire is not , on such occasions , Christian language : it is not the language
of a Judge . There is a propriety o £ rebuke and condemnation , the justice of which is felt even by kirn who suffers under it ; but when magistrates , under the mask of law , aim at the offender more than the offence , and
are more studious of inflicting pain than repressing error or crime , the office suffers as much as the Judge ; the respect for justice is lessened ; and the school of pure reason becomes the hated theatre of mischievous
pas-. * ' A Christian Judge , who means to be just , must not fear to smite according to the law ; he must remember tliat he beareth not the sword in vain . Under his protection we live , under his protection we acquire , under his protection we enjoy . Without him , no man would defend his character
.. no man would preserve his suhstance : proper pride , just gain 6 , valuable exertions , all depend upon his firm wisdom . If he shrink from the severe duties of his office , he saps the foundation of social life , betrays the highest interests of the world , and sits not to judge according to the law .
Untitled Article
Character of ® n English Judge * 25 £
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1824, page 259, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2524/page/3/
-