CLEARING ONE'S SELF

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 17, 1881

CLEARING ONE'S SELF.

A FEW days ago a very uncommon scene was witnessed in New Jersey at the opening of the Passaic county, N. J., Court. One of the most prominent and respected members of the bar, a man who, like the late Horace Binney of Philadelphia, had made it a rule not to undertake cases in which there was apparent even the shadow of fraud or injustice on the part of his client, made a motion to address the court upon a personal matter. Being told by the judge to proceed, he said:

"It has been my misfortune to commit a grievous offense against this court, and as the offense was committed in public, it is no more than right that I should ask forgiveness in public. Some time ago I was retained as counsel in a case in which the recovery of certain sums of money was sought. The plaintiff was a gentleman from New York, and the case was brought before your honor in Bergen county, when holding court at Hackensack. Among the items of money sought to be collected was one of $1,000 for drawing a will. The will was a small one and the charge was certainly exorbitant. My better judgment told me it was wrong, but I was self-willed and began the suit. I will not so far accuse myself as to say that I intended to recover the whole $1,000; no I only thought the jury might allow a fair compensation. But I should not have brought the suit. In this I did wrong and for this I humbly crave forgiveness. I thereby offended the court, the law, and God, the source of all law, and I want to confess my faults so that I may be forgiven. Again, I have at times not taken the rulings of this court with the grace and obedience they deserved, and for this I crave pardon."

Such a confession of error, never before heard in that court-room, was received with great astonishment and an impressive silence. Then the judge assured the Christian lawyer that he knew of no offense he had committed against the court, or, at least, if such had occurred, they had been long ago forgotten.

How little this vehement clearing one's self, in the light of Christ, is comprehended by the natural mind, may be perceived by the reporter's comment upon the incident—that the lawyer's zeal for religion and temperance, together with his ill health, was thought to have "slightly affected his mind"—a condition of being beside one's self, we may add, too infrequent.—Exchange