Seven Lawyers

I Saw a Rose
He had a rose with petals soft,
As real and true and sweet
As any bloom in garden fair
That he might chance to meet.
And yet I found myself content
To synthesize my bloom;
It was an artificial thing
And stood there in my room.
His shed a fragrance all around;
Mine was the work of man.
It had no lovely scent as his,
Although it had a plan.
Mine had a form, a stem, a bloom,
Yet fragrance it had not.
His rose was living, gentle, sweet
Mine artificial, bought.
And then I meditated, prayed,
And pondered much, and thought
The worship day is not enough;
It has no fragrance brought
.
Into the life unless our Lord
Pervades its roots, its stalk.
Its bloom, its leaf, its every part;
And life divine had brought.
0 Holy Spirit, how I seek
By earnest, heartfelt prayer
To call attention to Thy Rose
Whose fragrance fills the air.
Seven Lawyers Stumped
Attorney Krueger had been tutored in the philosophy of law.
.
Jim Evans, a veteran of World War II, had endured the rigors of the war and of two years' internment in a Japanese prison camp. When the war was over, Jim returned to his wife Mary and his two little children. Through the years Jim and Mary had been frugal. They had saved several thousand dollars with which to build a humble cottage they could call their own. After searching for some time for a suitable building site, Jim and Mary finally decided on and paid for a lot. They purchased materials from a local lumber company and, full of anticipation, began to build their "dream home. " You can imagine their delight as they saw their small cottage taking shape according to their plans. It was to be their very own. Though not large, it would be big enough for both their little Jimmy Junior and Louisa each to have a bedroom. One day while Jim and Mary were standing beside their cottage admiring their home-as the builders were nailing down boards and sawing timbers-they were handed a disturbing notice. Bessie Gump, a stranger to them, sent a message claiming that she had title to this plot of ground. It said that everything being built thereon was also hers by law.
In great anxiety, Jim rushed over to Mr. Baker, the attorney who had made out the papers when Jim and Mary had paid for the lot. The attorney was puzzled. After researching the message he shook his head and said he was sorry, but that he was powerless to save their home-or even the lot.
Jim rushed over to see J. A. Lee, another attorney of the same city, begging for help. But Mr. Lee, after listening to the sad story and looking carefully over the papers, said, "There is nothing this office can do for you, Mr. Evans." In deep distress Jim rushed from one attorney to another, vainly seeking help to protect his lifetime savings, but without success.
All told Jim had sought help from seven attorneys in his city. Without
exception, he received the same sad reply, "Sorry, but you do not have a case."
"Have you seen George Krueger?" asked one of Jim's friends. "He is the
gentleman to see. If anyone can help you, Mr. Krueger can and will."
"There is no hope," Jim sadly answered. "I have received the same reply from seven attorneys already. They tell me I can never recover the loss. My savings have gone down the drain."
"You can't lose anything by just slipping in at his office," his friend insisted. .. I am told that he has handled many a case that seemed hopeless. Why don't you try once more?"
Reluctantly Jim made his way to George Krueger's office the next morning. Mr. Krueger listened attentively as Jim told his story. Then with a smile he replied, "Jim, I believe I can help you."
"Help me to what?" asked Jim with a puzzled look on his face.
"Help you to save your home, and if not that, then at least to salvage all the
money you have put into the house and the parcel of land!"
"I don't believe a word of it, Mr. Krueger," Jim blurted out, half reproachful that he had so much as tried an eighth lawyer. "I've been to seven lawyers already!"
Then, with the assurance born of a basic knowledge and understanding of law,
Mr. Krueger replied, "Yes, but now you have come t\2. thefountainhead oflaw."
As Mr. Krueger told me this experience, he interrupted his story to explain the difference between lawyers.
He said, "You see there are two kinds of lawyers-those who know the laws as they appear on our statute books, and those who know the philosophy of law. Forty years ago," he continued with a twinkle in his eye, "I studied law from a professor who impressed upon us students the fact that all law has a basic philosophy. Unless we know this philosophy, all other legal knowledge is superficial. How many times," Mr. Krueger went on, "this wise professor stressed this great principle-the philosophy of law. He used to say to us students, 'Young men, if you memorized every law in the book, and these laws were all changed overnight, you would be of no aid to a client. That is, unless you had studied and mastered the philosophy of law. If you have mastered this, you are equipped to serve the public who come to you in times of need.'
"I never forgot that statement," Mr. Krueger stated, "and it has served me well through the forty years I have practiced law." I repeated in my mind over and over the expression "philosophy of law." What did he mean by this term? But I was not long to wait as Mr. Krueger went on to relate step by step how he saved Jim's investment.
"I promised the young man," Mr. Krueger said, "if do not win your case, it
will cost you nothing. If I do win it, you will owe me $400 for my services."
"Fair enough, " Jim Evans agreed. "Go ahead and see what you can do."
"The first thing I did," continued Mr. Krueger, "was to instruct my son John, who is also a lawyer, to prepare a brief on the philosophy of law from the of the Magna Charta down to the present. So my son went to the library, and in a matter of days had prepared a beautiful, yet succinct, brief on the basis of all law. Part of it had to do with the fundamental rights of the individual citizen. The philosophy of law covers, for one thing, the right of any citizen to enjoy what every other citizen in similar situations freely enjoys under law and the Constitution of the United States.
"Jim Evans had served his country well. Now as a citizen of that country he had a right to be protected in his basic rights as an American citizen.
"I learned that," Mr. Krueger repeated, "back in college under that wise instructor.
"Using my philosophy of law," Mr. Krueger continued, with his deep and musical voice, "I presented my case to the judge. And to make a long story short, the young man's home was saved. And Jim and his family moved in."
You should have seen the twinkle in Mr. Krueger's eyes as he went into various details of how he presented the case to the Judge. What the judge himself did not know or had forgotten about the philosophy of law Mr. Krueger diplomatically made plain to him.
Once again Mr. Krueger stressed the disadvantage of a lawyer's knowing only the letter of the law. "I could name another lawyer of the same city, for instance," continued Mr. Krueger, "who never studied law in a formal way. He merely learned the laws by rote. He then secured a license to practice. But he does not know how to prepare a case, simply because he does not know the philosophy of the law he claims to be practicing."
As I walked out of Mr. Krueger's office, my mind dwelt quite at length on his term, "philosophy of law." I thought of how this principle applies to Christianity and the rules of the Scriptures. said to myself , wouldn't it be tragic for a professed Christian to be handling the Word of God, apparently obeying its precepts, and never learning the basic philosophy of our Lord? Would it not be sad indeed for a person to stand before the Judge of all the universe at the last great day and hear Him say, "Depart from me; I never knew you," when that person thought he was ready to meet his Maker?
And yet the Lord Jesus states that this very thing is going to take place. And not to a few only. "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." This tragedy exists because these "many" have not learned the basic philosophy of Bible truth. They are likened to men who build a house on the sand. They have no foundation. 2 Thus they lose their home-their eternal home.
This book, Lovely Lord of the Lord's Day, is written with the prayer that we shall all understand better the divine philosophy of the holy worship day. It is the aim of these chapters to present the thought that a favorite author of mine has expressed: "The testing truth for this time is . . . genuine philosophy to those who appropriate it." Consequently, we must learn the philosophy of our Lord as seen in the holy worship day if we are to enter into its rare delights and find that the entire life is imbued with the principles of heaven.
We shall "study not the philosophy of men's conjectures, but study the philosophy of Him who is truth."4 The Word of God contains "the most profound philosophy."5
The religious people of Christ's nation were the most rigorous sticklers for the worship day the world has ever known. Yet their basic philosophy was diametrically opposed to that of Jesus. When Jesus healed the cripple at the pool at Bethesda on the worship day (see John 5), He stirred up a hornet's nest. When He opened the eyes of the blind man (see John 9), He was charged with Sabbath breaking by the Jewish rulers. When His disciples gleaned in the grain field on the holy day (see Matthew 12), the so-called protectors of the worship day blew a fuse.
Again and again they declared that Christ'and His disciples had broken the holy day. Jesus replied that He understood the meaning-the true significance-of the worship day. He looked into their protesting faces and exclaimed, "But if ye had known what this meaneth, . . . ye would not have condemned the guiltless."6
Had they but gone to the "Lord. . . of the sabbath day"? and learned of Him the significance of worship, they might have been saved from murdering the Lord to whom His day, rightly understood, brings honor.
The rigorous opponents of our Lord thought they were protecting His holy day. They were guardians of the law. They were teachers of religion. But they were like a certain sentry who marched back and forth, back and forth, with martial tread. He was most conscientious in his duty. With gun in place, and with proper uniform, he patrolled. But when a tourist inquired as to what he was guarding, he confessed his ignorance. When the tourist inquired of-a superior officer, he too did not know. On up the line of superior officials the traveler asked, only to learn that not one knew what the guard was protecting.
The Holy Scriptures declare that the very people who had the Holy Scriptures in their reach, who read them every week, fulfilled their prophecies in destroying Jesus Christ. "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him."8
The basic philosophy of all Bible doctrine is summed up in these words: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent."9 Our Lord declared that this is the very purpose of His holy day. "Moreover also 1 gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that 1 am the Lord that sanctify them." "Hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that 1 am the Lord your God." 10
The Word of God declares that when Jesus comes again, those who are ready to meet Him will be like Him. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." 11
We become like Him by beholding Him. "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. "12
Thus every teaching of the Bible is a telescope, as it were, through which we look into the heavens and see our Lord. We are, in each doctrine, to explore His character, His plans, His purposes. Thus we can cry out, "For me to live is Christ." 13
The great apostle Paul made clear that all Bible truth is "in Christ." "I say the truth in Christ, 1 lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost."14
Our Lord Himself has repeatedly declared that His holy day is given for the express purpose that we might know Him. Kindly pray as we repeat two texts of scripture we have already noticed: "Moreover also 1 gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that 1 am the Lord that sanctify them." "Hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that 1 am the Lord your God." 15
To all our readers we present this beautiful and delightful Lord as seen through His great telescope-the Lord's holy day.
As we do this, let us cluster around the cross of Christ. Let us behold the matchless beauty of our Lord, "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. "16 And may we all cry out in humble rapture, I "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." 17 And like Thomas, though slow to understand and know the risen Lord, be led to exclaim with rapture, "My Lord and my God."IS
"He's the Lily of the Valley, the bright and morning Star, He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul."
And when He returns for His own, what a joy it will be to look up into His
wonderful face and with sweetest assurance shout aloud, "Lo, this is our God;
we have waited for him and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.I9
Dear Father in heaven, "Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth
her voice?"20 I thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast promised, "Counsel is mine,
and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, and
princes decree justice. "21 I ask, believingly, that this wisdom, this judgment,
this divine philosophy may become part of my very being. I claim triumphantly
Thy promise, "Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates.
. . . Whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord."22 In Thy
blessed Son's name. Amen.
Reflection: As with a friend or in a prayer circle or in your personal meditations we suggest you go over the seven facts following, turning to the Bible itself and
reading each text cited. Then reconstruct the story of this chapter to see its
application to the Scripture read.
TRUE PHILOSOPHY
What grand philosophy
To know the m~esty
of Christ my Lord.
His true psychology,
His great theology,
Is in His word.
In concluding this study let us observe seven Bible facts:
I. God's chosen nation in the days of Jesus did not understand the true
philosophy of religion, for they were found "condemning" its author (Acts
13:27).
18

I
2. Spiritual discernment is not something received apart from Christ, for He
"is made unto us wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:30).
3. AIl spiritual truth is "in Christ" (Romans 9: 1).
4. The word philosophy as found in Colossians 2:8 comes from an original
word meaning love of wisdom. Therefore, for one to love wisdom without loving
its Source leads to "vain deceit."
5. Only "he that hath the Son hath life" (l John 5:12).
6. He promises that "the meek wiIl he guide in judgment" (Psalm 25:9). 7. To be protected against the philosophy which leads to "vain deceit"
(Colossians 2:8), our Lord offers to make us "complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2: 10).
References:
1. Matthew 7:22,23.
2. See Matthew 7:24-29.
3. Testimonies, vol. 8, p. 211.
4. Ibid., p. 319.
5. Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 432. 6. Matthew 12:7.
7. Matthew 12:8.
8. Acts 13:27.
9. John 17:3.
10. Ezekiel 20: 12, 20.
11. I John 3:1-3.
12. 2 Corinthians 3: 18.
13. Philippians 1:21.
14. Romans 9:1.
15. Ezekiel 20: 12, 20.
16. John 1:29.
17. Galatians 6:14.
18. John 20:28.
19. Isaiah 25:9.
20. Proverbs 8: I.
21. Proverbs 8: 14, 15.
22. Proverbs 8:34, 35.
19