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 I RIGHTEOUSNESS EI.lLTETil A NATION. 
 
 DISC Li li S E 
 
 CONCl'mNING THE RELATION OF MORALITY 
 ro N AT ION A L W E U\. B EI N G : 
 
 FREA( HKl) 
 
 [N THE GliURGllOF TUK \1ESSIA1I, ^lUNTRliAL 
 
 ON SUNDAY EVICNING, JANUARY I, IHoU 
 
 UY RK.V, JOHN CORDNKR 
 
 ftuM.-^iii'i' liv iu-,(iiii',si- III' I'm; cuM.iir.iivnoN 
 
 MONTH EAT-: 
 UENRY ROSB, 57 ST. I'MlANdOlS XAVIKR r^TUIlBT. 
 
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 RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETfl A NATION. 
 
 DISCOUESE 
 
 CONCERNING THE RELATION OF MORALITY 
 TO NATIONAL WELLBEING: 
 
 PREACHED 
 
 IN THE CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH, MONTREAL, 
 
 ON SUNDAY EVENING, JANUARY I, 1860. 
 
 BY REV. JOHN CORDNER. 
 
 niBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CONGREOATIOtf, 
 
 MONTREAL : 
 HENRY ROSE, 57 ST. FRANCOIS lAVIER STRUT. 
 
 1860. 
 
■■■■i^^ 
 
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RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION. 
 
 « Righteousness Ezalteth a nation ; but sin is a 
 
 REPROACH to ANT PEOPLE." FrOV. XIV. — 34. 
 
 Here, my friends, is a terse and familiar sentence 
 taken from the old Hebrew proverbs, and every syllable 
 it contains is freighted with meaning. Christianity in its 
 whole spirit and scope crowns it with its sanction, and 
 affirms it with a commanding emphasis. The advent of 
 the Gospel was at once a signal for the downfal of the 
 ceremonial law of the Hebrews, which was transient in its 
 institution, and a fresh testimony from on high to the 
 value of the moral law, which is eternal as God himself. 
 The Lord Christ in his coming gave to this law a deeper 
 significance, and charged it with a spiritual power which 
 penetrated all the ramifications of man's thought and 
 life. Forms and formalism, rites and ritualism, were all 
 to bow down before the august majesty of its presence 
 and confess themselves useless if they could not help its 
 cause, and worse than useless if, by any attractions 
 which they might offer, or confusion of thought which 
 they might create, they should seduce men away in 
 another direction, and tempt them to divide their allegi- 
 
> I 
 
 ance. It was not merely the overt act of murder or lust 
 which the blessed Lord condemned in his sermon on the 
 mount, but the angry thought and the impure uflfciion, 
 out of whicli such overt acts sprung. No jol nor tittle of 
 this supreme hiw of righteousness was to be annulled by 
 Christ. In him and through him it was to gain its pro- 
 per fulfilment. In him and through him the heart and 
 conscience — the moral nature of man — was brought face 
 to face with this law. In its presence man was to live. 
 None of the common resorts of insincerity were to be 
 recognised or tolerated. This was the clear teaching o 
 our Divine IMaster on this point: *' I say unto you, ex- 
 cept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of 
 the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case enter the 
 kingdom of heaven." 
 
 The Lord's injunction upon us still is, to " seek first the 
 kingdom of God and his righteousness." Here he indi- 
 cates what should be the first and leading aim of all our 
 seeking and stri';ing. A single eye to (jod, and a loving 
 obedience to his law ; this is the Christian idea of lile. 
 The religion of Jesus covers the whole of life in all its 
 departments, not m-erely fragmentary parts as special 
 hours, days, or seasons. Not only in the church and 
 private chamber should we look to God, as I said this 
 morning, but also in the warehouse, workshop, and 
 wherever we are. The Lord would have us to feel that 
 the whole of life is religious, and that in all we do or 
 think of doing, we should look to God and to the sanc- 
 tions of his law. Already, to-duy, have I reminded 
 you of this, for as year after year comes to us, and each 
 new year's day at its coming finds us still entangled in 
 the cares and toils of earthly life, it seemed to me fit that 
 
we should remember it, to the end that we might make 
 each new year's day the starting point for a higher goal 
 of Christian living. My first word of preaching to you 
 on this tirst day of the year was, " seek first God and his 
 righteousness." As Christian men and women, we ought 
 to have a leading life- purpose, and this should be " God 
 and his righteousness," subordinating thereto all other 
 aims and pursuits. Now it must be observed and re- 
 membered that the same sincere respect for God and his 
 law, and the same supreme love and loyalty thereto 
 which builds up the proper life of the individujil are also 
 required to build up the proper life of a nation. That 
 which lifts us to heavenly citizenship ought to be the 
 leading guidance in earthly citizenship. "By righteous- 
 ness is a nation exalted," saith the Hebrew proverb. 
 " The nation that will not serve God shall perish," writes 
 God's i)rophot. These are emphatic declarations of holy 
 writ. Let me now invite yon, then, to some reflections 
 on our duty in this regard, and consider our obligation, as 
 members of the general body politic, to affirm and main- 
 tain the paramount necessity of righteousness to our na- 
 tional well-being. While the first evening shadows of the 
 new year are gathering round us, let us, from a Christian 
 point of view, consider our obligation as citizens to affirm 
 and maintain the indefeasible claims of truth and justice 
 in all that relates to the administration of our public 
 affairs. Undoubtedly a nation is growing up here in 
 Canada, which promises to hold no mean place in the 
 future annals of civilization. But without pausing to 
 speculate on the future, we may plainly see that Provi- 
 dence has bound up our lot with that of a young nation 
 which is gradually coming to a consciousness of its ira- 
 
portance through an increasing population, an increasing 
 development of resources, and an increasing general 
 activity «f its people. 
 
 In the divine order of events, God has consigned to us 
 of this generation the present direction of the destinies 
 of this young and growing country. Herein we have a 
 great charge — a high responsibility. Tn the ordering of 
 Providence we stand in our lot here to build up a new 
 nation in this northern latitude. Look at our situation 
 on the map, and notice the influences which bear us 
 company in carrying on the work of civilization on this 
 North ^^merican Continent. From the Gulf of Mexico 
 to Hudson's Bay, stretching over some ;v,'enty-five de- 
 grees of latitude, we find organized institutions of gov- 
 ernment, on a basis more or less popular, and carried on 
 mainly by men of the Anglo-Saxon and cognate races, 
 speaking the English tongue. From the original settle- 
 ments on the Atlantic coast, industrial enterprise has 
 pressed far westward, and leaping over a thousand miles 
 of wilderness, has already built some cities on the shore 
 of the Pacific. We may divide this reach of country be- 
 tween the Mexican Gult and Hudson's Bay into three 
 parts, which we may call southern, central, and northern, 
 and find in each of these parts special characteristics of 
 governmental policy. In the southern portion, which 
 comprises the Slave States of the American Union, we 
 see a prominent vein of barbarism running through the 
 structure of society, and recognised and upheld by law. 
 Truths, with respect to the inalienable rights of men, 
 which the more advanced civilization of this continent 
 holds to be self-evident, are there denied. By the power 
 of usage and law and the national sazaa, one-third of the 
 
.■>3 
 
 ';^«?-i 
 
 population are held in bondage — robbed of the right of 
 their own bone, sinew and muscle. This element of 
 barbarism blocks the way of progress, and so we find 
 the common instrumentalities and evidences of national 
 advancement — commercial enterprise, industrial develop- 
 ment, and general education — all in a backward or stag- 
 nant state. In the central portion, which comprises the 
 Free States of the American Union, we see another order 
 of society, far more active, more prosperous, and more 
 hopeful — an order of society which acknowledges the 
 rights of all men to life and liberty. And, building on 
 this foundation of the inalienable rights of man, these 
 Free States have had a national development which, for 
 its rapidity, is without any parallel in history. But 
 through their federal connection with the Slave States,the 
 free basis of their government is tainted and invaded, so 
 that they cannot say of every man within their limitsi 
 that his natural and inalienable rights will be recognised, 
 and by them maintained. Within their limits one man 
 may be claimed by another man as his chattel property, 
 and they cannot say nay, nor put in any bar to the un- 
 righteous claim. It cannot be said, then, that in their 
 territory the sacred law of human freedom has sole and 
 undivided rule. And notwithstanding their wonderful 
 development in industry, commerce, and the practical 
 arts, and their widely spread and well endowed institu- 
 tions for diffusing general education, this slight towai * 
 one of the sacred and inalienable rights of man, must 
 stand as a serious slur on the fair face of their advanced 
 and flourishing civilization. In the northern portion, 
 which comprises the combined Provinces of Canada, we 
 see yet another order of society. Nominally dependent 
 
6 
 
 oa that great trans-atlantic nation, which is the (>arent 
 and prototype of the existing civilization of America, we, 
 the people of Canada, are really, and in the main, left to 
 manage our own affairs. Our governmental institutions 
 rest on a popular basis. Our industrial, commercial, and 
 general activity is annually increasing, and though not ' 
 yet equal to some of the States of the neighboring Union, 
 it bids fair to rival the best of them. Our soil, like that 
 of our mother country, is strictly free, and our laws 
 guarantee to every man within our limits, his natural 
 right to " life, liberty, ana the pursuit of happiness." 
 
 Thus occupying the northernmost portion of civiliised 
 America, we have for our base, geographically speaking, 
 the Free States of the American repi'blic, while above us 
 on the map, and stretching away to the Arctic Ocean, 
 there is an immense unoccupied territory, covered with 
 the same flag which covers us, a.id waiting to be planted 
 and civilized. On the eastward the Gulf ol St. Lawrence 
 gathers the briny waters of the Atlantic lo lave our 
 shores, while on the westward we have the great fresh 
 water lakes. Coming from the far north-west, we have 
 the grand stream of the Ottawa pressing its waters to- 
 wards our own goodly city here, where they a.e received 
 and swallowed up in the magnificent watei course of the 
 )St. Lawrence, which from the farther south-west carries 
 the contents of our Mediterranean Seas to the broad 
 bosom of the Atlantic. Such is the country in which 
 our lot has been cast by the gracious Providence which 
 casts the lot of men, and sets them in their respective 
 places on the earth to carry out the high purposes of God. 
 All the movements which stir the minds of this contin- 
 ent, chronicled as they are by the daily press, and in a 
 
\ 
 
 language common to us all, must aftot us more or less. 
 By no method can we, uor ought we, cut ourselves off 
 from general American influences. Our nationality as it 
 grows, must savour of the soil on which it grows. Our 
 civilization as it advances, must have a proper affinity ibr 
 the continent on which it is built up. By every practi- 
 cable method, however, ought we to stand clear of what 
 would morally injure and debase us from whatever quar- 
 ter it may come. From the physical character of our 
 country, may we see that ample scope is given us for 
 development in agriculture, commerce, and manufactur- 
 ing industry. Our natural resources are extensive: and 
 the increasing facilities for making them availablo will 
 naturally stimulate the "nergy and enterprise of our 
 people. 
 
 A ikir field is given us, then, for a promising career in 
 material prosperity. Shall we rest our national character 
 and risk our national permanence on this 1 Marked 
 monuments of material progress are rising in various 
 parts of our country. During the month just past, the 
 greatest bridge ever built on this planet has been com- 
 pleted at our own doors. Spanning the St. Lawrence, it 
 stretches from bank to bank over the Inoad stream on 
 those solid piers which defy alike the weighty rush of the 
 flood, and the far weightier rush of the heaving ice-£eld. 
 Lying there in the morning or evening sun, it reminds 
 tie beholder, who has looked on both, of that wondrous 
 aqueduct structure which, surviving the storms and shocks 
 of eighteen centuries, still stretches away over the wide 
 field of the Roman Cumpagna. That colossal fragment 
 of the old Roman aqueduct remains, but what has become 
 of th« old Roman State and its civilization 1 After th« 
 
to 
 
 lapse of eighteen cJnturies, shall some curious traveller 
 from afar, come to look on this bridge and find it serving 
 its purpose in the midst of advanced Christi&n civiliza- 
 tion, wherein righteousness is respected, or shall he fine' 
 it a ruin, having done its work the while for a nation so 
 greedy of gain, and so heedless of truth and right, that 
 the rot of ungodliness penetrated its bones and ate out 
 its vitals 1 
 
 Placed here by Providence to build up a nation, what 
 sort of builders shall we be 1 Shall we ignore God and 
 live only for self, or to serve somp^ present purpose of 
 seeming interest or convenience 1 If so, we write shame 
 on our front, and plant the seeds of disease and decay in 
 our body politic. At the foundation ot any hopeful form 
 of civil society, there must be well conceived ideas of 
 justice and right, an honest recognition of God, and a 
 sincere respect for his law. All reliable thinkers affirm 
 this, for they can affirm nothing else. The greatest of 
 the ancient Roman orators is quoted in popular books of 
 our lime, as asserting that " eternal justice is the basis of 
 all human laws." And one of the most famous of mod- 
 ern j3riiish statesmen proclaims that " justice is the great 
 standing policy of civil society." But all such utterances 
 of orator? and statesmen, whether of ancient or modem 
 times, are but repetitions and re-affirmations of what was 
 a proverb in Israel a thousand years before Cicero spoke, 
 and full seven-and-twenty centuries before Edmund 
 Burke was born. By righteousness, saith the proverb, is 
 a nation exalted. 
 
 In every hopeful structure of civil society, well con- 
 ceived ideaa of truth and right must lie as fundamental. 
 The only permanent foundation of a nation-n welfare 
 
\ 
 
 u 
 
 must be found in the upright and high resolved moral 
 character of its people — in the fixed consciousness that 
 both as individuals and as a body politic, they always 
 stand in the very presence of God. It becomes a leading 
 point in statesmanship, therefore, to infuse such a char- 
 acter into the nation — by every available raeunsto elevate 
 the general morality of the people, and to protect its in- 
 terests by discountenancing and withstanding everything 
 which may directly corrupt and degrade the body politic, 
 or indirectly tend to lower the general respect for truth 
 and justice. According to the theory and usage prevalent 
 here, the ruling power of the governing body cannot be 
 regarded as a power distinct from society, or independent 
 of the general body of the people governed. From this 
 general body the governing body derives its influence. 
 The people of Canada designate and elect the men who 
 manage our national affairs, and delegate to them the 
 power and authority so to do. This being the case, we 
 all become, in a measure, responsible for what they do or 
 leave undone. Clearly, then, as Christian citizens we 
 cannot — dare not— close our eyes to the deeds of our 
 rulers. Their honor is our honor. Their shame our 
 shame. Their loyal allegiance to truth, to justice, and 
 to God will redound to our highest welfare as a nation. 
 Their disregard of morality and disrespect toward God 
 will damage our national prospects and degrade us before 
 heaven and earth. 
 
 The people of Canada elect their own law makers. We 
 send delegates to ihe legislative halls, and their laws be- 
 come our Inws. They are there by our will. They enact 
 by our authority. Herein we have the essence of free and 
 populor government — a boon most precious— a blessing 
 
#■ 
 
 \ 
 
 12 
 
 highly to be prized. Dishonest influence introduced here 
 is treason to the whole system. Corruption in elections 
 defrauds the citizen of his right and imposes upon him a 
 galling wrong and insult. Instead of a representative, it 
 basely obtrudes a voice which will misrepresent him. 
 Every honorable mind shrinks from contact with such 
 baseness, and such treason to civil rights and social order. 
 Now it has become too patent to be denied, that in 
 Canada the honesty and purity of elections are invaded. 
 Fraud, violence aud corruption have been resorted to in 
 some places to augment the polls, and men have sat and 
 spoken and voted in parliament, who had neither moral 
 nor legal right to be there. This is a fact which every 
 good citizen must deplore, and against which every hon- 
 est mind must protest. It is a fact which proclaims 
 disregard of all law, human and divine. It shows too 
 clearly a disordered civil condition, and a debased state 
 of public sentiment, which demands instant attention 
 from every citizen who has at heart the proper welfare 
 of this land. For verily if we go on from year to year, 
 heedlessly to " plow iniquity and sow wickedness, we 
 shall reap the same.'* 
 
 With our institutions of popular and responsible govern- 
 ment, the ruling body for the time being — the executive 
 government — may be fairly taken to represent the aver- 
 age morality of the country. Perhaps some of you will 
 say that those who occupy the places of power and influ- 
 ence ought to b« men above the average loorality — that 
 they ought to shine as lights and be as leaders for 
 the helping of the nation upward to higher planes of 
 righteousness. The sanguine theorist looking at the 
 fOM-oolored side of our nineteenth century civilization 
 
we 
 
 
 \ 
 
 } 
 
 13 
 
 would probably say that they must be so. The sim- 
 ple, well-intentioned citizen who does not look too 
 closely at actual facts would probably content himself 
 with saying that he hoped they were so. The more 
 thoughtful observer, however, will most likely confine 
 himself to the statement just made : that with us the 
 ruling body, chosen by the people, may be fairly taken to 
 represent the average morality of the people. 
 
 Let the people of Canada, then, look at the character 
 of their own morality as it may be seen reflected in the 
 deeds of the men whom they have chosen to carry on 
 the government of the country. We remember what 
 our rulers did on their assumption of power some months 
 more than a year ago. I allude more particularly to 
 what was actually done by a certain number of them, 
 with the tacit sanction of their colleagues — all represent- 
 ing the sentiment and morality of the people of Canada. 
 One assumed one office and another took another, a third 
 assumed still another ofiice and a fourth yet another. 
 On a given day, in all due form, the Grovernor General 
 administering the oath, each in his turn swore on the 
 holy Evangelists— thus, in the most solemn and emphatic 
 manner which law or custom provides, invoking Almighty 
 God as a witness to his veracity— that he should duly 
 and faithfully perform the functions of the office which 
 he then undertook. But the next morning these func- 
 tions were abandoned, and those of other ofiSces assumed. 
 Now as to the morality of this procedure we must regard 
 the intention of those who took the oath, li they afiSrm 
 that they took it in good faith, honestly proposing to dis- 
 charge the duties sworn to, then the Christian moralist 
 hat no word of criticism to offer. But if they put in ac 
 
v 
 
 14 ■■ 
 
 such plea, but openly allege that all this oath-taking was 
 a mere form without any proper intention of fulfilment — 
 a mere form designed to satisfy the letter of a statute and 
 serve a party purpose of the hour — if, by their own allega- 
 tion, they do in fact acknowledge that all this solemn 
 oath-taking for the due and faithful discharge of certain 
 public functions, was only a necessary formal step towards 
 disclaiming such functions — a requisite technical pro- 
 ceeding towards renouncing them — then the moralist is 
 imperatively bound to take issue with them. He cannot 
 stand mutely by while those who occupy the chief seats 
 of authority and influence in the country do by their ex- 
 ample^debauch the consciences of the people by weaken- 
 ing their reverence for the sanctity of an oath. He must 
 remind them and all who sanction their doings in this 
 matter , whether on the highest seat of the country or in the 
 obscurest corner thereof, that the Almighty God does not 
 exist for any such purpose as this which they would put 
 him to. He does not occupy his high place in the uni- 
 verse to the end that embarrassed party politicians may 
 make a^state-chamber convenience of him. He does not 
 exist, I say, to serve any such purpose as this. Such 
 persons may ring their official bell and summon any 
 official lackey as a formal witness to their formal proceed- 
 ings, but they are not at liberty thus to summon the 
 Supreme God. He is not their lackey, but their Lord — 
 the Lord of Lords, as he is King of Kings — the Sovereign 
 above all Sovereigns, whose law is above all laws. We 
 have read of an ancient nation who, to meet an exigency, 
 suspended their laws for a day. But the moral laws of 
 the universe admit of no such suspension. By no power 
 of provincial governors, or crown ministers, or party 
 
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 15 
 
 politicians can the everlasting law of truth and right b« 
 suspended lor a moment. It obligation is strictly per- 
 petual. No casuistry can annul it. All the clouds which 
 official casuistry may raise to conceal official delinquency 
 speedily disappear before the open daylight breeze of 
 honest common sense. In the estimate of the Christian 
 moralist what does such insincere oath-taking amount 
 tot John Milton, in his treatise on Christian doctrine, 
 defines perjury in two forms, one of which "consists in 
 making a lawful promise under the sanction of an oath, 
 without intending to perform it, or at least without 
 actually performing it." " Ye shall not swear by my 
 name falsely," saith Jehovah, " neither shalt thou profane 
 the name of thy God." No nation can hopefully prosper, 
 or find the blessing of God, or rejoice in the glory of God 
 through such swearing as this. The divine promise to 
 the nations points in the direction quite opposite. The 
 sanctity of truth must receive no slight either in simple 
 word or under form of oath. Truth, on her radiant throne, 
 must always be kept in view as a beacon light, and held 
 in high reverence, for she is of the very essence of God. 
 Thus writes the prophet, " Thou shalt swear the Lord 
 liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and 
 the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him 
 shall they glory." 
 
 I have said that the people of Canada are responsible 
 for their rulers, and that, in view of our popular institu- 
 tions, those rulers may at all times be fairly taken to re- 
 present the average morality of the country. When 
 abroad, during the past year, on the other side of the 
 Atlantic, I heard this plea urged and I could not reason- 
 ably 'deny its validity. Intelligent persons abroad only 
 
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 ■otice our leading political inconsistencies and glaring 
 sins, which stand as our national reproach. They cannot 
 see nor understand the intricate net-work of party pur- 
 poses through which these things have been brought to 
 pass. They look directly at the results and judge accord- 
 ingly. Morally considered, the insincere oath-taking 
 cannot be regarded otherwise than as a very grave affront 
 to the majesty and sanctity of truth. And though appar- 
 ently sanctioned by the majority of this country, through 
 the party votes of their representatives in parliament, I 
 cannot but think, that if the people at large had an oppor- 
 tunity of expressing themselves directly concerning this 
 standing national scandal, by far the greater number 
 would repudiate it, and protest against it before the world. 
 In a young and growing state of society like ours, we 
 are exposed to many and peculiar perils. Even in ivell 
 matured nations the combination of qualities requisite to 
 proper statesmanship is only to be found in a highly gifled 
 few. Tn the absence of statesmen in the proper sense of 
 the term — in the absence of men who, by genius, study, 
 and patient attainment, are qualified to direct the aflairs 
 and shape the destinies of the country, we are too often 
 left at the mercy of mere party politicians^men actuated 
 by petty ambition and narrow personal ends. The states- 
 man keeps his eye on the welfare, the honor, and the per- 
 manent prosperity of the nation, and he spends his energy 
 and shapes his policy in this direction. The party poli- 
 tician keeps his eye in retention of office and emolument, 
 and whatever wit he has, is kept at work in plotting and 
 scheming for this purpose. Instead of large, wise, states- 
 manlike measures of national import, he is constantly 
 presenting party devices to meet party emergencies. In 
 
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 17 
 
 the ancient pagan civilization the internal strifes were 
 those of faction against faction for the larger share of 
 power. This is the natural tendency of unenlightened 
 man. The party politician of to-day rises no higher. In 
 our Christian civilization certain general principles are 
 recognized as absolutely essential to social order and the 
 proper honor and prosperity of nations. The honorable 
 statesman works in view of these principles, an < nil the 
 conflicis to which he is called he consents to stand on 
 the ground of principle only, disdaining all baser struggles 
 for office, place, or personal emolument. 
 
 Neither you nor I, my friends, can create statesmen. 
 They are the gift of God. But the humblest of us can do 
 something towards raising the standard of general moral- 
 ity, and vindicating that law of righteousness by which 
 nations are §xalted. I ask you not to which side of party 
 politics you are attached. With that matter I have 
 no proper concern. It may be of little consequence to 
 you or to me what particular persons shall occupy the 
 seats of governor and crown ministers for the time being, 
 but it is of great consequence to us that, whosoever they 
 are, they ihall hold God in reverence, and in their public 
 transactions give just respect to his laws of morality. 
 And seeing how various and weighty are the general 
 social interests depending on personal veracity, and es- 
 pecially on the regard given to the sanctity of an oath, it 
 is of high importance that our rulers should recognize 
 this, and by their influence strengthen the authority of 
 such a'solemn averment in and over the common mind, 
 and not weaken it. As for political parties, while we 
 may 'recognize their uses we must confess that on all 
 aides, and under whatever leaders, they too frequently 
 
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 become snares to personal independence, and shoals 
 whereon private honor is shipwrecked. Ab for party 
 affinities, again, each one must judge and act for himself. 
 But in all issues as between honesty and dishonesty, sin- 
 cerity and insincerity, justice and injustice — in all such 
 moral issues which rise clear above party lines we are 
 bound to warn each other, and ought constantly to stand 
 warned, against any compromise with unrighteousness, 
 though the compromise seem ever so small, or ever so 
 convenient for the present. Every such compromise is a 
 sin which a righteous Grod cannot but hate — a sin which 
 must degrade and be a reproach to the nation. 
 
 " Righteousness exalteth a nation ; but sin is a reproach 
 to any people." We may hold conventions, as some of 
 our compatriots have done, or write out constitutions, as 
 some of them still talk of doing, but constitutions, written 
 or unwritten, will be of little avail unless, by elevating 
 the general morality, we can have honest and honorable 
 public men to deal with them. We cannot make a nation 
 out of written parchments be they ever so skilfully drawn, 
 any more than out of railways, bridges, or other monu- 
 ments of material achievement. Only men can make a 
 nation— high minded Christian men, who love righteous- 
 ness and are loyal to it, who hate iniquity and abjure it. 
 The great and loving God by whom kings reign, and 
 princes decree, and rulers rule, and peoples rise and fall, 
 is the perfection of justice and truth. And as we gather 
 here in the sanctuary to adore him, our prayer and effort 
 still should be to grow into his likeness through the grow- 
 ing love of his blessed perfections. The life of God flow- 
 ing through upright and faithful souls will be the life, the 
 strength, and the glory of the nation. And Christian 
 
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 19 
 
 fathers and mothers, by their daily ministrations in the 
 familiar temple of the household, may, through the devout 
 training of their little ones in that fear of the Lord which 
 is the beginning of wisdom, and in that love of God and 
 his righteousness, which is the everlasting joy and hope 
 of the soul — they may contribute directly to the honor, 
 the proper welfare, and the hopeful prosperity of the 
 country. As Christian citizens we have the matter in our 
 own hands. If we are heedless of Grod, and disloyal to 
 his law of righteousness in our national concerns, we 
 abdicate our functions, and basely misuse as grand an 
 upportunity as ever was given to man for building up 
 a free and prosperous Christian nation. Ifwe are faith- 
 ful to God and hold in steady reverence his law of truth 
 and right, his smile will be upon us, his blessing will bless 
 us, his hand will help us, and we shall be co-workers with 
 all upright, noble and holy souls in all lands, toward 
 hastening the day when all the nations of this earth shall 
 become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. 
 
 Now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling, the 
 only wise God ; be honor and glory, through Jesus Christ, 
 for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 
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