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 NDP^EWS OOCTETY, 
 
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 On the 2pth November, 1871, 
 
 BY THK 
 
 Rev. DANIEL M. GORDON, B. D., 
 
 C/uiphm to t/ie Society. 
 
 Fublished by request^ th( St. Andrew's Society. 
 
 OTTAWA •- 
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 On the 2f>th November, 1871, 
 
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 Rev. DANIEL M. GORDON, B. D., 
 
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 ruUidted by request of the St And^-ew's Society. 
 
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 " RightoouBnoM exalteth a nution."— Fhovibm xvt ; 34. 
 
 There at-e ilit-ee rooHonH which may jitatify, and uiay suinetiniiMii' 
 demand, the fonnation of " national " societies in a colony, or indsad 
 in any foreign country. These are : first, that the men who are far 
 from the land of their birth may meet for tlie mere pleasure of mutual 
 . encouragement and fellowship ; second, that they may unite for th« 
 relief of their distressed fellow-countrymen ; third, that they may 
 , strive to foster in the land of their adoption the principles which may 
 have given greatness to the land of their birth. Upon Scotchmen 
 : each of these motives may rightly exert an influence. With keen en- 
 thusiasm they may recall scenes in the land they have left, and enjoy 
 H pui-e pleasure in the fellowship caused by their common love of 
 country ; ever ready to relieve distress, they may lighten the burden 
 of life for that small portion of their fellow-<x)untrymen that ai-e forceti 
 to ask the aid of charity ; while from Scottish history they may learn 
 what those principles are which give true greatness to a nation, and 
 which they shotted seek to foster in the land of their adoption. It is 
 to some thoughts connected with this last consideration that, for a 
 little, I ask your attention. No truth seems to bo more clearly illus- 
 trated by Scottish history than that which we have selected from tb« 
 words of the wise monarch of Israel as the subject of our present re- 
 marks ; and the Scotchmen, or descendants of Scotchmen, who are true 
 to the teaching of Scotland's history, and who love the land they liv* 
 in, will seek to promote in that land the righteousness that exalteth a 
 nation. Time will oniy permit me to indicate very roughly and 
 briefly some lines of thought which may tend to illustrate the truth 
 b^ore us. 
 
I. We may He» it, for uiHtAuce, in ths liyfU of ih« HkeneMii which 
 holds bettoesn th« life of a tuUion ami the life of a?) individual, for ilie 
 life of a nation follows the name lawH us the life of a roan. A nation, 
 like a family, is something more than a mero collection of iiuUviduals ; 
 ifc is a corporate nnity, whatever be its form of government. The 
 citizens are the members of a living body, united in the broUierhood of 
 a common national existence ; the disease or health, tlie virtue or viuo 
 of any has some influence on the otlier members ; there is a national 
 life, to which each contributes, and by which each is affected. We 
 use no mere figure when sfieaking of the national mind or the nationHl 
 conscience, for a nation may throb with keen* intellectual enquiry, or 
 be thrilled with anger, hope, or fear ; it has the power of petforming 
 national virtues or of committin,'; national sins, for which it may Iw 
 visited wiUi national rewaixls or puiushnienls that should rouse it to 
 feelings of national thanksgiving or [)eiutence. Tliough the avti'age 
 lifetime of man may be but a short season in the existence of a 
 nation, — ^though it may require many years, or even centuries, for a 
 people to rise into spiritual or temporal prosi)erity, or to sink into 
 d^radation and decay, tiiough the nation moves more slowly, and, as 
 it were, in a vastly wider orbit than any of its membera, yet it. is 
 clearly evident that the life of a nation follows, in the long run, the 
 same laws as the life of a man. In both e : g ; energy and labour win 
 success ; in both licentiousness is followed by weakness and shame ; in 
 both virtue will give influence ; and vice, however accompanied, briug 
 min and decay. 
 
 As it is easier for us to see the working of these laws in the life 
 of a man than in that of a nation, we can illustrate the one by thu 
 other; doing so, we may see that just as surely as righteousness exalu 
 a DOAn, so surely must it exalt a nation. Common oxi)erieuce prove«r 
 tjbat it is so in the life of a man, for no other power save righteousuesM 
 can give true dignity. [Wealth cannot, for it is not in the aburdanoe 
 of wlaat he hat, but in the abundance of what he is, that a man's fife 
 oonsists. Often, instead of conferring dignity, wealth gives liae to 
 pride and self-indulgence ; and though a man be surrounded by all the 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
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coniforUi, and bo bonottred by all tlie attention of equals, and the obw*- 
 f|uionB resi^eot of inferiors, which wealth can i»rocui-e, beneath it all 
 there nrmy be a deliatiod and neltish spirit, while we feel tlmt any tiue 
 nWlity of aoul posttetuied by a rich man is always independent of hin 
 wealth. Mere intellectual culture cannot confer true dignity, though 
 it floe« indeed bestow a glory which mateiial wealth can never give. 
 Brilliant wit and dazzling genius may enable their posseasor for a time 
 to shine in society, but if powers like these be divorced from moral 
 excellence they most commonly become tinged witli cold scepticism or 
 unfeeling satire, anddecn-ade the man who has thorn by making him 
 profane, irreverent, and udvil-liko, when he turns these gifts against 
 the Giver. Ilaak and high social position cannot truly exalt a man, 
 for high office only degrades him who occupies it unworthily. Right- 
 tx)usne8s, true moral and spiritual worth, the jMJwer of always seeing 
 the eternal distinction between right and wrong, and cleaving at all 
 hazards to the right, this, and this only can give true dignity to any 
 man ; and while it can enhance the charms of wealth, or rank, or in- 
 tellect, it can, by its own jwwer, confer a patent of nobility indej)en- 
 dent and su[)erior to them all. It exalts a man's own nature ; and 
 without this he cannot continue exalted in the opinion of otliers. 
 Sooner or later the world casts off the men who have no moral worth 
 to claim its resjjcct ; for a time we may be dazzled by wealth, or rank 
 or genius, but thpse who possess the most i)erman6nt hold on the 
 world's heart, those whom it enshrines in its tenderost devotion, are 
 the men who have been exalted by righteousness. 
 
 And, as with the man, so must it be with the nation. It is not 
 by the abundance of its material wealth, nor the busy stir of its 
 manufactures, nor the extent of its commerce, that a nation is made 
 great or secure ; if there is no soul of honor injuring it, nor moral 
 excellence possessed by it, its wealth cannot save it. High intellectual 
 culture cannot exalt it, for the keenest speculation and enquiry have 
 often friled to give firmness and security to a nation, wid have been 
 found among those that were tottering towards decay. Kor can the 
 •* claims of long descent," ability to look back to vanished generations 
 
W':- 
 
 * ( 
 
 
 of heroic ancestors, niaintHin t\ nation's dignity ; otherwiso the ruling 
 kingdoniH of the worhl would be tlioso that ruled of yoi-e, which fell 
 simply ))ecau80 of the decay of the righteousness which had raiseil then* 
 into power. However staple may seem the foundations laid by a nation's 
 material wealth ; however brilliant may be her appearance among th« 
 kingdoms oauseil by the charms of intellectual culture, of eminence in 
 literature, science and art ; however pleasing it may be for a i)eople on 
 turning tlio p ■ of history to find that their land has been renowned 
 for centuries, ^. t, as with the man or the family, so with the nation, 
 righteousness alone can give honor or secin-ity. She may enhance the 
 charms of the material treasures, the intellectual culture, or thu 
 honombler history of a nation ; she will in many cases deve .>i>e these, 
 for the truth admits of universal application, to nations as to indi- 
 viduals, thftt " length of days is in hor right hand, and in her left 
 hand riches and honor ;" and the nations that seek above all things the 
 glory which she confei-s, will liiitl that she will exalt them, that *' her 
 . ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are jieace." 
 
 y II. Again ; G(mI will exalt the rvjhteous nation. He reigns among 
 the nations of the eax-tli, and the people who seek to know and to do His 
 will, shall enjoy His favor and be upheld by Him. There is no false 
 
 .' tendency of the present age moi-e common than the attempt to exclude 
 God, OS it were, from all active control of His universe. Some think 
 of the material world as simply under a i-calm of law, constnicted by 
 
 - its Creator like a machine that is wound up and set for a cei-tain timd^,^ 
 and now utterly independent of His care. They think of their own 
 lives, either as the result of blind accident, or of their own exertions, 
 or of both combined, as if no Higher Power was ever dealing directly 
 with them. In like manner they think of the rise and fall of nations 
 as the result of certain tendencies, the operation of certain laws, with- 
 out acknowledging that there is a Hand holding the helm of the world's 
 history, a just and loving Being overruling it all for His own wis© 
 ends, dealing with the nations as with each individual man, in perfect 
 justice and in perfect love. But while God has appointed His li»ws in 
 the material universe, they only expi-ess the way in which He acts. 
 
I 
 
 w^ 
 
 *!? 
 
 Apart from a living agont there can be no action in moro material 
 things, and every mo\ oment in t!ie world around iis bears witness to the 
 snppoi'ting power of tlie ever present God. While He haa appointed 
 His laws for the regi\lation of human life, wliile He gives to each 
 man a certain [wwer of action, yet all mujit sometimes admit, and the 
 C'ln-istian will gladly acknowletlgo, that the living God rulcB over each 
 individual life. And so, too, iu the life of nations. They do not 
 move blindly on, lising oj* falling by any accident ; they are led bjf the 
 King of all the earth. It is in ful61ment of His will that— -; ; K 
 
 
 
 " Through the ages one increasing puriwse nuw, • 
 
 And the thoughts of men are widened with the .''-'*""" " < ^» l 
 
 ■1*- 
 
 "'k i.-'V^'-'v s^&'t*.. .t": 
 
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 procem of the wm. 
 
 Even though^the nations are left to the oiwi-ation of Goil's natural 
 laws, yet, over and above the law, they have to do with the unseen 
 I^w-giver himself, as surely as aiiy individual man has to do with 
 God or Goil has to do with him. 
 
 ;.: ? ff-' 
 
 Moi-eover, God has given us one striking example of the way m 
 which He deals with nations, in the history of His dealings with the 
 Jews. He specially educated that nation, that He might "do most 
 good to all hj preparing the world thwugh it for the coming of Christ," 
 in whom His reign over every nation should be finally and forever 
 acknowledged. In their history, as recorde<l in the Old Testament, 
 we have not only the i-ecord of the events which befel them, but w«i 
 liave these events shown in relation to God's plan and puri)ose towardi 
 them. We find there that what God i-eqtiii-ed of them was, above all 
 things, righteouanesst, the faithful perfommnce of His will as He was 
 clearly i-evealing it to them.. He sent His prophets to them, men who 
 lived'as "seeing Him who is invisible," who came to king and priests 
 and people denouncing dooni against them if they continued to rebel 
 agaiivst their heavenly King. He taught them that material strength 
 and worldly wisdom could be ovei-come by Him, as when the beseiguig 
 
 m 
 
 
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 Mli 
 
 
 ■muiiiiHniiiiM 
 
8 
 
 fordftl 6f Awr|nria we*e destroyed, or the gkWBp of the Egyptains was 
 relaxed, taught them that it was not tme that " Providence always 
 fights on the side of the sti-ongest battalions." He condemned their 
 sins and promised punishment, such sins as He punishes in any 
 individ\;al, idolatry, falsehood, idleness, drunkennras, sensuality ; Ho 
 taught them that, however long suffering He might be, He could not 
 tolerate wickedness, and that for their sins they must either repent or 
 l)erish. He taught them, and, through their history, He teaches otlier 
 nations that sin brings pnrishment and decay, and that "righteousness 
 exalts a nation." 
 
 And God's dealings vith the Jews were but an example of the 
 way in which He deals, and has always been dealing, with other 
 nations. They were, for special purposes, a chosen race and a peculiar 
 l^eople, but His having selected them from the nations of the earth for 
 a particnlur work by no means implies that He had nothing to do 
 with others. Tlie very record of the early dispersion of mankind 
 testifies to the fact that those scattered children were acknowledged 
 by God as l)elonging to His family, while, ever and anon, throxigh Old 
 Testament history we hkve brief glimjises of the way in which the 
 King of heaven and earth was dealing with the heathen ; how, erg; 
 Egypt, Assyria, and Persia were used by him for si>ecial purposes, and 
 led by Him through special experience, and had, at times, His will 
 revealed to them by His prophets. The good which appeared among 
 them was due to His guidance ; the vigor and prosperity they enjoyed 
 were owing to their fulfilmeu* of the righteousness that they knew, 
 while all their evil and their disasters came from rebellion against 
 His will, in so far as He had i-evealetl it to them. Nor has God's nile 
 over the kingdoms of the earth ever, for one moment, ceased. He has 
 never, at any time, withdrawn himself frrmi tiie sphere of human 
 activities into some distant lieavens. He still leads the nations of the 
 world, often by ways that thc}' know not of, still employs them for the 
 fulfilment of His purjiosos, dim and mysterious thoiigh these may 
 sometimes seem to us. . He still punishes iniquity and i-ewaixls obedi- 
 ence ; still, as of old, he «irries out impartially the decree of whicli H* 
 
 
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 gives so clear au example iu tlie history of larael, that " righteoiisneM 
 exaltfCth a nation." v^ 
 
 III. Once more, we may find proof of our text b} an appeal to 
 history. We can find examples of the truth hei"e taught us not only in 
 the history of the Jews, which clearly reveals God's dealings with them, 
 but in the history of other nations, ancient or modern. Doubtless, 
 our views of a nation's history may often be moulded by preconceived 
 opinions, and the lessons it seems to teach us may depend on wliat we 
 wish to learn fix)m it. Some writers have looked on the facts of history 
 with theories i*eady formed, and if the facts did not agree with the 
 theories, so much the worse for the facts. Yet surely any man, who 
 is willing to admit God's dealings in his own life, can see proofs of 
 God's dealings in the lives of nations. The slightest acquaintance 
 with ancient history may suffice to show us tbat when the kingdoms of 
 ancient Gi-eece aud Kome began to lose the elements of righteousnes.^ 
 that were iu them, when they failed to prefer right to wrong, 
 and virtue to vice, when intallect yielded, as Gibbon says, "with a 
 smile or a sigh," when wealth brought corruption, and the fibre of 
 moml hardihood was weakened, then their decay was ensured. The 
 same lesson has l)een taught us by the history of the nations sprung 
 from the Latin race. Italy, Spain, and France have all given evi- 
 dence that it was when their virtue gave way to self-indulgence, and 
 the national vision was clouded to the difference between right and 
 wrong, that weakness and shame befel them. And, on the other hand, 
 to cite but one example of the contrary, one which is dear to each of 
 us, it is just because of the extent to which she has preserved true 
 righteousness that Scotland has maintained a place of power among 
 the nations. The one great epoch in her history is the Reformation ; 
 l>efore that she had little or no influence among the nations ; but, 
 three centuries ago, thei-e aitwe one who kindled the nation's life in 
 the noblest of all causes, who roused his cDuutry into moral earnestness 
 and into fii-m adherence to truth and right, and who was, under God, 
 the chief instntment in awakening and securing that which has exalted 
 Scotland among the nations. Knox, as has been well said, is " the one 
 
10 
 
 Bcotcfamun to whom, of all others, hi* country and the world owe a 
 debt."* ^Though men, enjoying f,he fi-uitt* ox the victory which he 
 won, haVe pi-esumed to find fault, tSough they have often failed to see 
 the almost woman-like gentleness that was joined with his fearlesft 
 integrity, he stands out upon the canvass of the past as tie one iigura 
 that his land should love to honor. And the righteousness that was 
 aroused by the Reformation })ermeated like life->4ootl through the 
 I)eople. It called forth men that could bear witness to the truth and 
 not fear to die, it cast them in an iron mould such as would fit them 
 for their labors ; it nervetl youths and weak women for martyrdom, 
 and secured the pnceless boons of civil and religious liberty. It gave 
 new .purpose to life, new dignity to labor, new attractions to literature 
 and science, and, as Scotchmen went forth to other lands, and as the 
 truths secured in Scotland were felt in other countries, it spread new 
 life throughout the nations to the glory of God and to the good of man. 
 There are times when the language of simple narrative is the 
 strongest eulogy, when woitls of trutli require no coloring to make 
 them words of praise. We feel this in reading the eleventh chapter of 
 the epistle to the Hebrews, with its grand and simple muster-roll of 
 eminent Saints of God. We feel it i^ some historic records, as when 
 we read the unvarnished truths of the deeds that gave fame to 
 Thermopylie ; very strongly we feel it as we read of the martyrs who, 
 in Scotland, bore witness to the truth, who, by their own self-sacrifice, 
 isfjcured for their nation the glory she will maintain as long as she 
 maintains the martyr spirit among her people. 
 
 There are many i-easons why a Scotchman may glory in and love 
 his country. He may do «3 on account of her scenery of surpassing 
 grandeur ; her hills whose outlines become to you like the faces of old 
 familiar friends, her glens and streams, will moors and fertile straths, 
 have been felt, even by strangei-s, to rouse a sympathetic i-esponse to 
 the question ; " Where is the coward that would not dare to fight for 
 such a land, t" He may glory in his country because of the long roll 
 ,oi her warriws, men who held life cheap compai-ed with civil and 
 
 • Carlyle ; " Lecture on Heroet," «- 
 
 -. 
 
4j|B| 
 
i-vIigiouH liberty, and who, on ninny h foreigu tielJ, miintaiued the 
 honor of their land, men "whone names the world would not 
 U'illingly let die. " He may glory in her because of hor ixeU> and 
 philosopher, who, by "thoughts tltat bi-eathe and woitU that bum," 
 have helped to lead the world onwui-d to the golden age that awaits it. 
 He may love her for the memoiies of days that ai'e gone, when in 
 childhood he R}X)rted by the burnside and amoiig the daisies, or, in 
 ripening youth, wascloeeiy linked with those from whose spii'its oceans 
 and continents now seem powerless to sover him. Or, with a calmer 
 glory and a more tender love, he may turn in* memory to the quiet 
 • kirk-yai-d where rest the remains of his dear and honoi-ed dead. But 
 though for such reasons as these he may justly love and glory in the 
 land of his fathere, yet all these glories grow <lim by reason of the 
 glory that excelleth. It is because of the witness elie has lx)rne to 
 GotVs truth among men, and the power she has had in moulding earth's 
 kingdoms for Christ, it is because of this honor that the God of Israel 
 has given her, and the righteousness by which Ue has exalted her 
 that "her very dust to him is dear." 
 
 Scotchmen and descendants of Scotchmen, who look with pride to 
 the land of your fathers, be it yours to cleave as they did to the 
 righteousness that alone can exalt a man or a nation. Led by their 
 spirit of devotion to God, animated by their strong love of country, be 
 it yours to 8pi*ead in this land of your .adoption the principles of those 
 who made Scotland gieat. While we have a heritage from the past, 
 we have a work for the pi^esent ; while we rejoice in the memories of 
 the land of our fathera, we cannot forget that our first duty is to the 
 land that we life in. Wo shall be faithless to the teaching of Scot- 
 land's history aiid shall become " degonemte sons of noble sires," if we 
 content ourselves with the admiration of de|mrted greatness and fail to 
 extend tha spread of present goaJnoss. On us Go I la;^s tha honour, 
 to us He gives the privilege of seeking to advance in Canada, that firm 
 devotion to the will of Gotl which has exalted Scotland. It is not 
 merely nor mainly by the material pi-osperity of our land, though it 
 be rapidly increasing, nor by our connection with an Empire thttt m 
 famous in history, nor by any wisdom of legislation, nor by the giH)wth 
 
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 of intellectual culture, but by righteousneM tluit our Und can lio 
 exalted amoug the nations. It is by the increase of this, and thus 
 only, that we, as a people, can secure [iernuinent prosperity ; and thus 
 only can we contribute, as a nation, to lead the world onward to the 
 time when Ood's loving rule over the earth shall be fully completed 
 and revealed, when " the kingdoms of this world shall )>ecome the 
 Kingdom of our Lortl and of Hip Christ, and He shall reign for ever 
 and ever." 
 
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