“A Christian Judge who means to be just must not fear to smite according to the law; he must remember that 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 substance.  Proper pride, just gains, 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.”

But Justice, if it is to be truly just, must be tempered by mercy, and must have a scrupulous regard to the strength of temptation, the moral weakness of the subject, the degrading power of ignorance and poverty.—­

“All magistrates feel these things in the early exercise of their judicial power; but the Christian Judge always feels them, is always youthful, always tender, when he is going to shed human blood; retires from the business of men, communes with his own heart, ponders on the work of death, and prays to that Saviour who redeemed him that he may not shed the blood of man in vain.”

A pure, secure, and even-handed administration of Justice is the strongest safeguard of national stability and happiness.—­

“The whole tone and tenor of public morals is affected by the state of supreme Justice; it extinguishes revenge, it communicates a spirit of purity and uprightness to inferior magistrates; it makes the great good, by taking away impunity; it banishes fraud, obliquity, and solicitation, and teaches men that the law is their right.  Truth is its handmaid, freedom is its child, peace is its companion; safety walks in its steps, victory follows in its train; it is the brightest emanation of the Gospel, it is the greatest attribute of God:  it is that centre round which human motives and passions turn:  and Justice, sitting on high, sees Genius and Power, and Wealth and Birth, revolving round her throne; and teaches their paths and marks out their orbits, and warns with a loud voice, and rules with a strong arm, and carries order and discipline into a world, which but for her would only be a wild waste of passions.  Look what we are, and what just laws have done for us:—­a land of piety and charity;—­a land of churches, and hospitals, and altars;—­a nation of good Samaritans;—­a people of universal compassion.  All lands, all seas, have heard we are brave.  We have just sheathed that sword which defended the world; we have just laid down that buckler which covered the nations of the earth.  God blesses the soil with fertility; English looms labour for every climate.  All the waters of the globe are covered with English ships.  We are softened by fine arts, civilized by humane literature, instructed by deep science; and every people, as they break their