Indeed, the judges are the organs, or conduits, through which the chief blessings of a free government must be derived. . . . An able and upright judge does, among men, perform the office of God's viceregent. The ministers of religion, as is their duty, may shew the divine anathema pointed against crime and unrighteousness; but it is the sword of the law, wielded by the judge, which, from its nearness and immediate effect, operates most strongly to deter from their commission.
—JESSE BLEDSOE, Introductory Lecture on Law,
Nashville, Tennessee, 1827