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 GOD EVERYTHING 
 
 UPRIGmT. 
 
 SERMONS 
 
 PREACHED DY 
 
 
 
 REV. CHARLES B. PITBLADO, 
 
 ON 
 
 FALMOUTH CIRCUIT, 
 
 AND PUBLISHED ?¥ REQUEST. 
 
 HALIFAX, N. S. 
 PRINTED BY W. CUNNABELL, 
 
 18j68, 
 
 m: 
 
•/< 
 
•n'^3 
 
 
 GOD EVERYTHING 
 
 TO THE 
 
 J 
 
 M 
 
 TJ 5» It I GJ- E-I T . 
 
 SEHMONS 
 
 PREACHED BY 
 
 REV. CHARLES B. PITBLADO, 
 
 ON 
 
 FALMOUTH CIRCUIT, 
 
 AND PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 HALIFAX, N. S. 
 
 PRINTED BY W. CUNNABELL, 
 1868. X 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 By request we let the following Discoursed go to the printer just as' 
 they were prepared for our regular work. We are conscious thit they 
 are defective ; still they may do good. We are greatly incliiied to use 
 the pruning knife, but had we time to do so they might bi3 pruned 
 to death. 
 
 Go little darlings of tay head and heart : go ajid the Loyd fiod go 
 with you. 
 
 • PiTBLjiDO. 
 
GOD EVERYTHING 
 
 TO THE 
 
 UPRIGHT. 
 
 -♦♦ <♦» ■ > 
 
 ust as 
 ,t they 
 to use 
 >mned 
 
 rod g6 
 
 >0. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 " The Lord God is a sun and shield ; the Lord will give grace and 
 jjlory : no good thing will ha withhold from them that walk up- 
 rightly." Psalm Ixxxiv. 11. 
 
 David was a poet : wanting to say something glorious 
 about his God, turned to the sun as it poured high noon 
 from its golden urn and cried "The Lord God is a smw." 
 David was a warrior : in imagination raking his stand amid 
 battle camps and battle dangers, cried *' The Lord Is a 
 shield.''^ David had been a shepherd : remembering how he 
 had shepherded his flock in field and fold, and thinking of 
 God's kindness and promises to His flock, cried " The Lord 
 will give grace and glory" — a rich field on earth and a richer 
 fold in heaven. David was a king. At this time perhaps 
 Absalom had usurped his throne, still remembering the past, 
 with a brightening eye and a brimming heart, he cried " No 
 good thing will He withhold." But knowing that to man, 
 God was all these — a sun, a shield, a portion — conditionally, 
 he with a trustful humble heart, added God is everything to 
 " them that walk uprightly." 
 
 Two ideas in the first part of this verse. 
 
 First, what God is. Second, what God gives. 
 
 First. What God is here said to be. 
 
 I. A Sun. What the sun is to the material world God \% 
 to the moral world. 
 
The sun dispels pliysical night. Lifting his brow from 
 the cushions of the orient, draws back the sombre damasks 
 of the nij^ht, and loops thorn up with tassels of gold. God 
 yises on the spiritual world, and looping back the soul cur- 
 tains with a cross, suns the blackest midnight into noonday. 
 
 The sun is the source of ])hy:<ical heat and lifjlit. The fires 
 in that stove and in yonder furnace are warm with sun-heat. 
 The lamp in the mine, the chandelier in the palace and the 
 beacon-cresaet on the rock are bright with sun light. The 
 Lord God is the source of all moral heat and light'--all love 
 and knowledge. The heat of all hearts, and light of all 
 intellects come from God. 
 
 The sun is the source of vegetable life and hearUy. Blot 
 out the sun and liuwers and forests would soon turn drowsy 
 and die. Ulot out the sun, the rosebush would wear no blush 
 and the sky no blue. All nature losing its handsomeness 
 would become a shrivelled thing. God is the only source of 
 moral life and beauty. Lacking His presence churches were 
 cofdns and church members were corpses. 
 
 The pun is a blessing to man physic'ally and intellecticnlly . 
 The child grows strongest when allowed to play in the sun- 
 light. Science is discovering that in sunbeams there ire 
 great curative powers. Travellers are beginning to attribute 
 much of the mental and physical deformity that prevails 
 among (he inhabi;,ants of the deepest Alpine valleys to the 
 dimness of the dayliglit. Idiots and hunchbacks seem most 
 to prevail v/herc the people are shadowed by the highest 
 mountains. Did not the Lord God shine upon humanity our 
 earth would become morally a lunatic asylum — a vast hos- 
 pitul. Shadr-v^'ed by worldism men grow one sided. Sunner. 
 by God they grow symmetrical. 
 
 The sun is the giver of all ]5we, thirst quenching, life 
 giving water . He gathers the water from che salt sea ; from 
 the dank morass up into his air repositories, and sends it 
 down to us sparkling in wee, shy, brisk streams, where the 
 mountain goat drinks and the lily dances ; leaping in the 
 way-side spring where the worn traveller kneels to quencli 
 Ki^ thirst ; flowing in the clumsy river that garters the hills, 
 and upon whose banks we build our Ninevas and Babylons, 
 our Homes and Londons ; gushing in ten thousand thousand 
 city cisterns ; waiting quietly in pump and well beside un- 
 pujnbered vllbgo grcms. If Paul Denton, or as some say 
 
 ^; 
 
Judge Arrington when a preacher, said " cverywliere.it is a 
 thing of beauty," we say everywlicre it is a tliinj^ r^' life — of ■ 
 physical life to mao. God is the only Giver of all pure 
 spiritual life-giving water. Taldnjif it from His own 1 rim- 
 ming sea, He lets it distil in living, quickening shower^ upon 
 the thirsty soul world, 
 
 But for the sun there would be no moisture in tha air, and 
 but for this moisture in the air, the heat that earth appro- 
 priates by day would pass away through the darkness, and 
 by dawn our world would be chilled to death. Were it not 
 for God there would be no life moisture in the soul. Souls 
 would become chilled into spiritual icebergs. The world 
 would become a moral ice house. 
 
 The sun is far and near. Distant from onr earth as 
 astronomers teil, 95,000,000 of miles, ytt coming to our 
 world in about eight minutes, floods our hills and homes. 
 God is far bej'ond all suns, above all milky-ways, nevertheless 
 He is here — here to iron out the wrinkles from our soul — 
 here to guide man on his pilgrim way. This truth makes 
 the Christian so strong and glad. 
 
 The sun can be discovered only by his own native brilli- 
 ancy. The moon and planets are lustrous in borrowed glory ; 
 not so the sun ; he shines out self and can be seen only by 
 his own light. Were every mountain lo become a flaming; 
 Vesuvius; every world a hlazing Saturn — even then the 
 mighty flare would do nothing more to reveal the sun than 
 the sparkling of q, phosphorescent sea or flickering of a glow- 
 worm. God can be discovered only by His own shining and 
 presence, li creation shines out God, it is because He is there. 
 He is in the little crystal plant gleaming in the mysterious 
 bosom of the tiny snowflake, as well as in the glistening 
 coronal with which eternal winter caps the Andes. He is in 
 every molecule of light that touches the eyeball as well as in 
 the rainbow halo that wreaths His throne. He is in the 
 monad as truly as in the star galaxy. He i? in the animal- 
 cule as well as in the man ; in the butterily a^^ surely as in 
 the archangel. Creation is more than a gem upon the brow 
 of its Maker, it is a diamond full of His light. There is God 
 in all things. It is God alone that shines out Deity in nature, 
 and not nature apart from God. 
 
 If i)rovidence, shepherding worlds and pasturing souls, 
 shines out God, it is not because He has been so particular 
 
6 
 
 in cstiiblishing certain laws, but because He is aboye eyery 
 law and bchird every law and in every law. 
 
 If redemption chines out God more brilliantly than either 
 creation or providence, it is because in it there are more of 
 the divine elements displayed. Here " mercy and truth meet 
 together ; righteousness and peace kiss each other." God's 
 presence in redemption gives it a star to guide the darjclirig 
 on his upward way. The pliilosophy of Confucius or Hume, 
 the religion of Budah or of Mahommet can boast no such star. 
 
 Again : The nearer the planets are to the sun the more 
 Jieat and light they have. Mercury the nearest, and distant 
 from the sun only thirty-seven millions of miles, has seven 
 t mes more heat and light than our world. Heat enough to 
 burn it up. Neptune the farthest from the sim, and distant 
 two thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight millions of 
 miles, has probably between seven and eight hundred times 
 \c68 heat and light than our earth. Cold enough to stiffen 
 our mightiest cataracts — freeze our mountain springs and 
 turn our seas into prodigious icebergs. Light not much 
 stronger than our star light. The nearer man lives to God 
 the more divine love and spiritual light he will possess. The 
 warmer will be his heart and the brighter his mind. Ifnve 
 live near to God His warmth will cause the latent emotions 
 of the heart to bud into sweetest life, and the embryo quali- 
 ties of the intellect to wake into energy and splendour. 
 
 Again: The nearer the planets are to the sun the more 
 stuiftly they revolve. While Mercury goes at the rate of 
 105,000 miles an hour, Neptune runs at the rate of only 
 12,000 miles in the same time. The nearer man lives to 
 God the more swiftly he runs in all the ways of truth 
 and God. 
 
 " Nearer, my God to thee, nearer to thee : 
 E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me ; 
 Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to thee, 
 Nearer to thee." 
 
 Yet again : The sun (jladdens the natural world. Day 
 lifts a certain dull moan from the rill and puts a throb" of joy 
 in its song. The sun s*eps out, upon the earth bids every pond 
 and pool look gleeful, and turns every glen into an orchestra. 
 He rises, and every thing animate and inanimate seems pre- 
 paring to utter one long, loud shout, " Hail ! bright, warm 
 sun, we Sire happy to see you back again; every cryptic 
 
 crej 
 
 tbel 
 
 sor 
 
 cor 
 
 hai 
 
 am 
 
 to 
 
 up 
 
 ha> 
 
 ourl 
 
 timl 
 
 hat 
 
 on 
 
oye eycty 
 
 an either 
 3 more of 
 uth meet 
 ' God's 
 dariltliqg 
 r Hume, 
 luch star, 
 the more 
 c1 distant 
 as seven 
 lOugh to 
 I distant 
 lions of 
 d times 
 > stiffen 
 gs and 
 ; much 
 to God 
 i. The 
 
 If^ve 
 lotions 
 
 quali- 
 
 more 
 ate of 
 r only 
 I'es to 
 
 truth 
 
 Day 
 
 fjoy 
 
 )ond 
 stra. 
 pre- 
 arm 
 ptic 
 
 i 
 
 creek an'l lowly thing looks glad, as in their silent cloquenct; 
 they join the linnet and the lark in the chorus of their matin 
 song—*' Good morning lovely sun, we are glad you have 
 come." God gladdens the moral world. It is His delight to 
 happify humanity. Looking up through a guilty conscience 
 and old dognfas and musty superstitions, we might be ready 
 to say, " Thou art after all but a stormy God." But looking 
 up through nature and the Bible and a pacific conscience, we 
 have to say, " Thou art a kind, kind God, ever ready to turn 
 our sadness into gladness, to fill our souls with eternal spring- 
 time and shake down upon the upright perennial noon." 
 
 n. God is a shield. Two ideas here. First the idea of a 
 battle. Second the idea of protection in that battle. 
 
 First. The battU. It is of course spiritual. Wt .re all 
 un the field. 
 
 Paramount are the istues that hang upc this battle. 
 Great may h-^ve been the issues to marshalists and ' ations 
 that hung uj^on such battles, as Zama and Marathon. Jr. lamis 
 an(^ Granicus, such battles as Bannockburn a\id I'oitiers, 
 Traxalgar and Waterloo, Inkerman and Luckaow, Banker 
 Hill and The Wilderness. But how much greater, deeper, 
 higher are the issues that hang upon this spiritual battle ? 
 These concern not so much the transitory as the eternal ; 
 concern not such golden fleece as that for which the Grecian 
 argosy crossed Euxine seas, but such golden fleece as that 
 which enriches souls { concern not thrones of gold and jasper 
 here, but thrones of sapphire up in heaven — not wilting coro- 
 nets for dusty brow of carnage hero, but dazzling coronets 
 such as God's immortal heroes wear. 
 
 Tremendous foes in this battle — the old dark trinity — 
 •'The world, the flesh and the devil." 
 
 " The flesK^ — a bad force within — a traitor in the camp. 
 A worse traitor than was Menteath to Wallace, Brutus to 
 Caeser, or Ptolmy to Pompey. " The world" — a smiling 
 fascinator having three grand mediums of attack. It attacks 
 us through " the lust of the flesh" — the sensual — a desire for 
 the external; pleasing excitement that will thrill the ani- 
 mal — rock the bewildered senses. It attacks us through 
 "the lust of the eyes" — the covetous — a desire for the tran- 
 sitory—love for the grand that must crumble, for the glitter- 
 
I 
 
 s 
 
 ing that must pale. It attacks us through " the pride of 
 lifu" — the ambitious ; love of the shadowy ; the credit which 
 comes from being beautiful, talented, wealthy, knighted ; the 
 repute which we imagine comes from having a wealthy uncle^ 
 a famous grandfather, a titled ancestry. 
 
 Our other foe is " the devil.''* No dark metaphor but £t 
 person — a spiritual force, bent upon the blighting of every 
 fair thing, upon the ruin of humanity. A serpent — his slimy 
 trail is in every garden. A lion — the imprint of bis paw is 
 upon every door step. The prince of darkness — his ebon 
 throne shadows every hearth-stone. A liar. When Canute 
 and Edmond ruled England between them, Canute promised 
 to make him who would kill Edmond the highest man in all 
 the kingdom. True enough the murderer was made the 
 highest ; that day he was hung by Canute's command on the 
 loftiest tower in London. That is just like the devil. If he 
 offers exaltation, it will be on a gallows. Nero sent for his 
 mother Agrippina for the purpose of harmonizing animosities. 
 She came and landed at Baia3, probably in the same spring 
 that Paul sailed into the port of Puteoli, after his"" having ap- 
 pealed to Nero Ca)sar. Agrippina was received upon the 
 shore by the caresses of her emperor son, while at the same 
 time he was having a barge prepared in which she might be 
 crushed to death. Just like the devil. His caresses fire full 
 of death. He invites to kill. If he offers a plea»"ue sail in 
 a gilded barge on a sea of balm, the barge will turn out a 
 coffin and the sea a hell. If he promises a mansion it will 
 turn out a bastile. 
 
 A deceiver. What Jack the giant killer was in fable, the 
 devil is in fact. He digs pits, and artfully covering them 
 over woos his victims to their falling, and then cuts off their 
 heads. Ever artful. The polypus takes the colour of the 
 rock and the angler baits the hook in order to catch the fish. 
 The cair.elion assumes the colour of the grass to catch the 
 grasshopper. The devil assumes many a garb and uses many 
 a bait in order to catch men. Poor fellows, how easily we 
 are duped and caught ! 
 
 Not long ago we saw a little girl causing a number of 
 chickens to race and push a scramble after a few handfuls of 
 gravel dust. Poor little things, they were cheated. It was 
 not food. The devil keeps men running and fighting and 
 
 I 
 
 '3; 
 
 i 
 
{) 
 
 5crambling after ^Vorltl dust and hell Just. Deluded immor- 
 tals, dust can't 1111 hungry souls. 
 
 '• The world, the flesh, and the devil." These are the foes 
 banded together against us. They are everywhere a power — 
 a' terrible power. What shall wo do ? Do ! What can we 
 -do ? Our eyes are full of sin dust, our swords are broken, 
 our panoply is stolen, we are wounded and fast sinking into 
 the battle trench. •' Alas ! my Master, what shall we do r" 
 Listen. Do you hear that voice " The Lord God is a shield" ? 
 Thanks, thanks. Here is a bhield to protect that can never 
 be broken or bruised in the fray. 
 
 Second. This shield is our protection in this war. It is 
 d'ivine. What God said to the fiither of the faithful He says 
 to all the upright — " Fear not Abraham ; I am thy shield." 
 God is our shield. 
 
 " Fear not." Thy shield covers thee. Homer tells that 
 Achilles was wounded in the heel, the only vulnerable point 
 he had. We have many vulnerable points, but our shield 
 covers us, we need fear no spear. Homer speaks again 
 of young Telcmachus (jftcn getting into difficulty and danger, 
 but when ready to fall his unearthly friend Mentot was ever 
 near to help. Our shield is the true Mentor who can keep 
 off all arrows. Naturalists tell us of a water-insect that 
 can weave for itself out of the air a crystal shield, by 
 which it can dive about unwct in seas or pools. Covered 
 with our shield we can walk about unharmed amid the vilest 
 powers. Oh, what a shield is ours ! Standing in a glass 
 house on Hymalays in a thunder-storm the fiercest lightning 
 shafts could not touch you. Standing behind our divine 
 shield we can bid deliance to the hottest artillery of our foes. 
 
 " Fear not." Thy shield is strong. " God is thy shield." 
 "The Lord strong and mighty" will keep thee. Keep thee 
 when no one else can. Years and years ago we stood one 
 sunny day upon one of old Scotland's hills watching a " hare 
 chase" with gvowing interest as they bounded over heather 
 braes, across grassy paths and through hazel glens. Now all 
 the hounds; wcic near their prey. Now all lagged behind 
 but two. Now only oue dog in hot, hot chase came hard 
 upon the little creature in the clover furrow. Now they be- 
 gan to climb the hill. 'J'hc hare made for the hillock where 
 > stood. How cliunged it looked. When it started it w»? 
 li 
 
^^F 
 
 10 
 
 Vdviic uiul iilmost silver grey, but now it hud shrunk into a 
 little thing almost black. It came right 0!i and looking up 
 into my face and holdin;^ back its ears seemed to say " take 
 me up, O take me up !" It ran among my feet and I could 
 almost hear it cry "O that dog; take mc up I" How I 
 Avanted to take it up into my arms. How 1 wished to be a 
 strong man and have a stick with which I could smite that 
 hound to death. I was^weak and unable to help that little 
 creature in its extremity. , / 
 
 I think of another picture. Man is hunted by the bounds 
 of heli. He runs up to God as He stands on Calvary's hill 
 and cries "O take me up, O shield me!" "Keep me O 
 Lord my God ; save me according to thy mercy." 
 
 What then? The Lord will lift us out of danger, aiid 
 strike back our foe. Then we are safe. The Eternal is thy 
 refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms ; and He 
 shall thrust out the enemy from before thee ; and shall say 
 destroy them. We are glad "S David when we cry " Thou 
 an my hiding place and my shield." 
 
 Second? What God bestows. Grace. Glory. 
 
 1. Grace. It is sometimes expressed plurally — graces. 
 It has a great many elements. Looking at sin it is callejl 
 repentance — at truth it is called faith. Contemplating trials 
 it is called patience. Cant6mplating the future it is called 
 liope. Grace — all external and internal favours — -all physical, 
 intellectual and moral mercies — all animal qualities, mental 
 faculties, spiritual principles. Grace — a jioxuer to choose 
 salvation and live a hallowed, earnest life ; a (juide amid in- 
 tricacies and gloom, surer than stone carcns to wanderer 
 among Scotlan i'« highland hills — surer than tall crosses to 
 traveller among Swiss mountains — surer than Compass or 
 beacon-cresset to mariner amid the thunder chime and pon- 
 derous gambols of the wayward sea ; a Toice sounding above 
 the grumblings of the storm, saying " It is I be not afraid," 
 " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," " My grace is 
 suliicient for thee." It is a star in the blackest sky — a life- 
 Uoat on the rudest ocean — an asbestos-robe in the furnace- 
 liame — a tent for the Aveakling " under the shadow of the 
 Almigh'y" — an asylum for the soul sick " in the secret place 
 '>i the ^lost High." It has pardon for the penitent — a foun-^ 
 
 gat 
 
ink into a 
 Joking up 
 ay "take 
 d I could 
 How I 
 cl to be a 
 mite that 
 that little 
 
 e hounds 
 ary'a hill 
 'P me 
 
 a;er, a-nd 
 al is thy 
 and He 
 ihall say 
 "Thou 
 
 graces. 
 
 s called 
 
 g trials 
 
 ) called 
 
 lysical, 
 
 mental 
 
 choose 
 
 lid in- 
 
 nderer 
 
 ises to 
 
 iss or 
 
 I pon-r 
 
 above 
 
 :aid," 
 
 ice 19 
 
 life- 
 lace- 
 
 the 
 
 lace 
 
 )un-^ 
 
 11 
 
 tain for the unclean — a garment for tlie naked — a tablti for 
 the hungry — a couch for flie weary — balm for tlic wounded-- 
 bucklery for the soul. Taking tiie upright by the hand it 
 leads him all along the path of Jift\ and when down amid the 
 gathering shadows of the valley whitens t!:c glocm and bids 
 him sing the victor's £ong " O death where is thy sting? O 
 grave where is thy victory?" It is tlic ar^^opy in which wc 
 cross the latest seas — the wings shut up in die soul with 
 which wo scale the bastions of ndury. 
 
 IT. Bestows glory. Here and hereafter. 
 
 1. ITcre. Desire of earthly glory U r.n instinct of Inunuu 
 nature. All seek for it in yome way. The mechanic as well 
 as the politician — the street sweep as well i-s the pbilostf- 
 pher — the gardener training t'ne woodbine as wtU us the 
 artist pain'ing for eternity. I^ien seek it in vroirj ways. 
 We may admire the ]>oet as he turns all nature iato an organ 
 and strikes its kcy3 with a witchery that char:.is hnmanity, 
 but his is not true glory. Wc may admire the p;iiIo*jopher 
 as he chains the thunderbolt, builds his laboratory on the 
 sun and strings the stars together — as he tells us sirange sto- 
 ries he reads in valley boulders about primeval forests and 
 pre-adamite peas, but his is not true ,'^Iory. "IVe may admire 
 the orator as he stirs the stagnant depths of tlic most sluggish 
 heart and bids hi'^h echoes whisker in t!ie caverns of the 
 dullest souls, but his is not true glory. ^Ve may admire tlu^ 
 warrior as he clambers up, on human .'iCuUs to power, and 
 shakes the hot gore from the laurel he l.indd upon his brow, 
 but his is not true glory. Samson with the jaw bone of an 
 nss leaving a thousand dead upon the fleM ; Leonidas dying 
 in the pass of the Tlicrmopyh-' ; Hannibal crossing the Alps 
 and rushing down upon the Ilomans like a tiger, wreaking 
 upon them the vengeance of his early vow ; Alexander plung- 
 ing into the Granicus ; Mil'.iades at Marathon driving back 
 the armies of Xerxes into the sea; lUack Douglas flinging 
 before him the heart of I-Jruco in its golden urn, and spring- 
 ing into the battle and the death with the cry " Lead on 
 brave heart as thou hast done before ;" the Black Prince re- 
 turning as the hero of Poitiers, and riding up the carpeted 
 streets of London, with King John of France a captive by 
 his side ; the Highland warriors round the \Ycli of Cawn^ore 
 
M 
 
 12 
 
 / 
 
 i 
 
 
 taking their awful oath with a munlcrcd woman's tresses 
 in their liand : such men vnay ^a.{n all the glory a nation or 
 a world caw give, but their honour possesses no element of 
 true glory. Pollok in his Course of Time wrote — 
 
 *' Who gr.aspcfl at c^.vtlily fanio, 
 flrasped wind ; nay worse, a sovpcut frraspnd, that 
 'I'liroiigli liis hands .slid sriK.otIdy, and was gone ; but left 
 A sting behind which wrought him cndk-ss pain." 
 
 Men have wild ideas of glory. We seem to think that 
 there is more glory in physical courage than moral courage — 
 more glory in brute force, than soul force — more glory in the 
 masculine, the intellectual, the brave, the strong, than in the 
 gentle, the tender, the pure, the good: not so God. 
 
 Here God gives to man tnic appropriale glory. Every 
 creature has its own peculiar glory. The peculiar appropriate 
 glory of humanity is moral goodness. This we learn from 
 what God said to Mos^s — " 1 will let my goodness pass be- 
 fore thee." Gentleness is greatness. This we learn from 
 what David said — " My gentleness hath made me great." 
 To have gospel goodness is to be glorious. To have gospel 
 gentleness is to be great. Here God gives the glory of be- 
 Irnigiitfi In Hh faniih/ — " Son of God." This is no " nnes- 
 sential sliade," but substantial glory. "How do 3'ou de- 
 sire 10 be treated?" said Alexander to Porus, an Indiaa 
 prince whom he had conquered. " Like a king," was his 
 answer. " Do you ask nothing more ?" said the conqueror. 
 " Xo," said the prince ; " all things are included in that." 
 What Porua said of a king, we say of a son of God — All 
 things are included in that. 
 
 Here God gives the glory of true honour. God says 
 "Them that honour me I will honour." Again He says of 
 His lover, " 1 will deliver him and honour him." Jesus said 
 '• If any man Avill serve me, him will my Father honour." 
 Praiso from God. Oh ! what to this are the plaudits of ^ 
 world I 
 
 Again : Just before entering heaven finally He gives the 
 gloi'v ot rrovuinrj honours. According to the Bible there is 
 to ])(■ a grand coronation for all the good, somewhere about 
 the winding up of all things earthly. It would appear from 
 Scripture that the upright have two grand entrances into 
 hcavn, one at death, the other at the resurrection ; and thst 
 
13 
 
 Jcjius has two modes of rcrclviug tlicn. To tijose wl.o como 
 just hot from the battle, lie says " Well tbnc ^ood and liiilh- 
 i'ul servants, enter ye into the joy -M your Lord." " 11 V// 
 done" from Jesus — this is glory. And further, when the 
 "last day'' hr.s come, and the tread of gathering hosts is 
 dying away and the booming of the latest thunder becoming 
 flrowsy and the flame of smouldering worlils flickering low, 
 Jesus coming down to our coronation Avill lift ofT the throne, 
 a present from the Lord, and placing upon our head a 
 crown, will look 'uto our face and say " Com<\ ye blessed of 
 my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you since the 
 fo'Jindation of the world." Crowned by Jesus, King over 
 such a grand old Kingdom. This is glory. 
 
 2. Glory hereafter. It is fadeless. It has no blanch, no 
 change. It is progressive. " From glory to glory" is one of 
 its characteristics. From one white cliff to another more 
 dazzling cliff on Jehovah's throne, and still the cry is " Ex- 
 celsior." On and up for evermore, reaching and ever reach- 
 ing mere ewiitly and more gloriously the glistening turrets of 
 the iincreated throne, without ever standing upon its pinnacle. 
 The life time of God can alone work out this soul glory. The 
 soul is like an immortal egg within which there are unnum- 
 bered songs and sunny lives — lives ever throbbing into high- 
 er ecstacies and songs ever trembling Into sweeter harmonies. 
 This is a reslfv.l glory. It has no strain nor bustle nor moil 
 nor tormoil. It has aspiration without langour, advancement 
 without panic. Thank God, soon wc will be done with the 
 scramble and the sweat and the ache. 
 
 The soul is gasping for this glory now. We wonder what 
 it really is. We feel a struggling in our being to tell, but no 
 man, no angel can. It is efi'ulgent as the smile of God. 
 Once l^iere was a shaft of it fell upon Tabor. This glimpse 
 of immortal splendors bewildered the beholders. John dimly, 
 darkly saw a corner of its shadow in the lonely, rocky Isle in 
 the >^jgean sea. Hie superhuman pictures suggest to lis 
 much, but tell us little. What is it? Edens of unfading 
 beauty, homes full of the music and friends, wealth that 
 knows no corroding, health chat knows no sickening, youth 
 that kjiows no wrinkled age, life that knows no dying. All 
 this, but more. What is it ? Ecstasy that never wanes, 
 loTors that never change, hearts that never sigh, snul? that 
 
ill 
 
 111 
 
 1 .< 
 
 1 'X 
 
 never sin. Ail I'nis, hut more. Whit is it? To have our 
 (iarkc.-»t problems solved. To luive interwoven into our being 
 all the love nnd bcnuty and blessedness, that all the aaints 
 and angels nosscss to-dav. All this, but more. What is it? 
 Ceaseless puh-titions of .^oul liarmony \vlth God; a wondrous 
 unfolding of the harmonious powers of the broad deep soul 
 all along the sunny ryclcs of tlio .l']t<.rn;il. All this, but more. 
 how we are thrilled with grandeur to the centre when we 
 think that we are moving on and up into a splendid mystery! 
 ^\'hat is it ? W.. must wait. ]]ut soon, soon we shall take 
 the Angel by the hand, and going home Imow what it really 
 is to bo in licavon among t!u)?c wl;o " see His face" — know 
 a little of v,hat it i.; to stand up in tlic glory of God. 
 
 righi 
 
 M 
 
 :$. 
 
' have our 
 our bcina 
 :he aaints 
 'bat is it ? 
 wondrous 
 deep soul 
 but more, 
 when we 
 mystery ! 
 hall take 
 it really 
 ' — know 
 
 GO 1) EVEUYTlllNCi 
 
 TO 'riiij 
 
 UPHIGMT. 
 
 TAUT Si:COND. 
 
 "TliG Lord Gotl i.-j a s".;: and s!i"d>l ; tliL- Lun] ■vvill gi\c gnice nvA 
 glol'y : no -ooii l\uii[^ will lio withln-ild iroiu liieiu lliat w.ilk up- 
 rightly." i^iiiha ixxxiv. n. 
 
 We have alrca'.^y spoken on the first part: of this verse. 
 Of God a3 " a sun" we have sookcn. What the sun is to the 
 physical Go.i is to tie spiritual. Of God as '• a ^Jiie!:!'' we 
 have spoken. Wl:at llie shield is to the soldier amid madden- 
 ing cohorts an<l f;leamin[:; steel, God is to the true hero in 
 the great hot morid strife. Nfiy more than shield or corselet 
 or coat of mail to the warrior, is God to the upright. Of 
 God as a donor we iiave .spoken — as a giver of grace and 
 glory — of plenty and dignity on earth and of a home and a 
 heaven in eternity. 
 
 I. Further and first now we speak of the Lord God as a 
 dispenser of hi:':!irir.s to the upright. " No good thing will 
 He withhold."' Heaven granted l.ixuries may not always or 
 often touch the mansions and c jfiers and goh'lets of earth ; 
 they ofteaest touch the dearest, deepest pantings of the im- 
 mortal. The soul may oiten luxuriate amid luxuries, while 
 the body pines amid penuries. Delicacies from the culinary 
 of the Father may be the spirit's repast, while little more 
 than the crust of broad and the cvip of water may be the mor- 
 tal's richest fare. God will always provide what under the 
 physical, intellectual, and s]nritutii circumstances is "good" 
 and best. Taking t!ic broadest view ol man, it is said " Nt) 
 good I hi, If/ irill il>\ u-iihho'd. irom them that walk uprightly." 
 David was authorized by God to tell this to the world. It 
 tomes to us bearing the signature of the unchangeable de-= 
 kovab. In essence it h^ a promise from the LoidGod to man. 
 
10 
 
 ^ 
 
 What a climux it is — promise of {<racc aiiJ slory. It is a' 
 casket bui'sting with the jewels oi" God — a eup overflcJAving 
 with the nectar of Heaven — a table ladened with the viands 
 of life eternal — a bank with doors and drawers wide open, 
 and with the Trinity for the bankers. 
 
 Three ideas we have in this promise.- 
 
 1. Ilcro we see God's v:ealth He alone is wealthy. 
 He is rich in oiiotcrial v:eaUh. Whose are those untrodden 
 wilds, those mysterious forests, those seas sobbing to tiie 
 moon and rollinj.; their echoing chime around a thousand isles, 
 those mountains crowiied with the glacier and scarfed with 
 the iris, where storms sing their thunder hymn ? The Lord 
 God's. "Whose are those treasures in that sky where the 
 astronomer descries millions of suns and where the angels dis- 
 cover millions more ? The Lord God's. 
 
 He is rich in life vealth. These myriads^ — throbbing in 
 the rain drop, dancing in the gold-light, flashing in the sum- 
 mer bower, roaming in the wild wood^ climbing on the lone' 
 rock, sporting on the briny wave, sleeping in the buttercup, 
 dwelling in the atom r.nd the iceberg, crowding our cities and 
 t-tanding upon yonder " sCli of glass" — whose are these ? 
 The Lord God's. 
 
 He is rich in oero'ly ^rcallh. He has stores of beauty visi- 
 ble and invisible. Tlicrc is a beauty which belts and coronets' 
 the seasons, that Thompson never saw. There is a loveli- 
 ness in spring which summer never works out. There is" 
 beauty beneath the surface which autumn never weaves into 
 its mantle of ijrial gauze or wreathes into its hazy crown of 
 sifted gold. There is a latent splendor in winter that never 
 glistens in his garb or glitters in the icy garland of his foun- 
 tains. Nature has unseen repositories of beauty and hidden 
 laboratories, where she turns carrion into clover and exhala- 
 tions of frog ponds into gleaming glories. Beauty all around. 
 Glancing in the iceberg, nestling in the rosebud, shimmering" 
 in the Aurora and glittering in the nebula. Beauty seen and' 
 unseen. Whose is all this physical loveliness ? The Lord God's. 
 
 God is rich in vmsic, heard and unheard. He has songs 
 nmong the willows and the billows no human ear ever heard. 
 
 He is rich in pover, latent and manifest. His dew-drops 
 are things of power as well as His oceans. He has power m 
 biis acr^rns as well as His thunderbolts. 
 
 spil 
 bar 
 we I 
 
 to 
 
 has 
 
i 
 
 n 
 
 He ia rich in S'>ul xoiallh. His most precious wealth is 
 spiritual. He has worlds full and eternities full. He is fuU 
 handed and full hearted. He has every kind of opulence that 
 we can require. But soul opulence is the most valuable kind 
 to us. He alone can give it. God is golden. He alone can 
 give pure human goli — heart riches — spiritual wealth. He 
 has given much. 
 
 2. Here we see God's llberaliij/. " NO good thino will 
 He withhold." God (j iocs joi/fulh/ atid nngrudgiiigli/. Our 
 Father God is no miser. He has not only plenty to give but 
 He is anxious to give it. Julius Ctesar said that there was 
 no music so charming in his ears as the requests of friends 
 and those who wanted his aid. To God there is more charm- 
 ing music in the supplicant's cry than in the seraph's song. 
 The Lord God delighteth to help man. " The eyes of the Lord 
 are upon the righteous, and His cars are open unto their cry." 
 " Call upon me" He says " in the day of trouble, and I will 
 deliver thee." 
 
 Pisistratus kept near him a servant with a bag of silver, for 
 the purpose of helping the needy. God keeps servants going 
 about the world with bags of better gifts than the Athenian's. 
 Are there richer splendors that laurel the temples of every 
 June and robe the shoulders of every summer than Demetrius 
 ever wore in his double crown or most gorgeous mantle ? 
 They come out of God's beauty bags. Are your cofiers full 
 of wealth ? It comes out of God's gold bags. Are your 
 tables spread with viands that the Roman Heliogabalus with 
 his peacocks' and nightingales' tongues and pheasants' brains 
 served up on golden plates might have envied? These deli-, 
 cacies come out of God's culinary bags. Are our lives 
 enriched with liberty and friends, our understandings with 
 truth, our imagiuations with pictures of grandeur and beau- 
 ty, our hearts with love, our consciences with peace ? AU 
 these gifts come out of God's treasury bag. All that is worth 
 having comes from Him. 
 
 God's liberality is unlimited. Taking the upright by thff 
 hand does he say like Ahasuerus " to the half of my King- 
 dom?" No. He says "All things are yours." " I have 
 prodigious riches," said Cyrus to his friends, " but they are 
 as much yours as mine." But the Persian could never say 
 *' All things are yours." That is the way God speaks to His 
 C 
 
18 
 
 '^ 
 
 iViends. It is good to speak It out and hear it spoken. " All' 
 are your's ; and ye are Chri^st's ; and Christ is God'.'." 
 
 God's liberality to us cost Him more, so far as we know, 
 than His liberality to the young " sous of the morning." 
 All He has given to the angels we know not. We know 
 a little of what He has given us. He might have only given 
 us the sweepings of His throne room — that would have been 
 liberal. He has given us the darling of His soul. He could 
 not have given more. This is the crown and the cream, the 
 otta and the soul of God's liberality. Come up this hill and 
 look at that cross. There — that is the greatest thing Heaven 
 could^do for man. That cross- is the great reservoir whose 
 mouth opens wide before the throne, and into which God now 
 pours His gifts, until flowing down Calvery they flood the 
 world. Here among many ether promises you read, " No 
 good tliiiifj will He withhold." " He that spared not His 
 own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not 
 Avith Him also freely give us all things." Yonder garden and 
 cup, this crosfi and victim, yonder tomb and Conqueror — all 
 cry, " No good thing will He withhold from them that walk 
 uprightly." 
 
 3. Here we see God's ruhdom. " No good thing will He 
 withhold." " No good thing" — nothing that is really neces- 
 sary for your truest comfort, your highest interests. He 
 knows what would hurt us and withholds it : He kno^vs what 
 would help us and bestows it. The Arabian fable tells how 
 Aladin had only to rub his lamp and forthwith he had all he 
 wanted. We cry to our Father and we have, not all we want, 
 but all we want that is for our real good. Often it would be 
 cruelty to let us have all our own way. God will, if we let 
 Plim, alwccys do for us the lest thing. In doing this He has 
 often to thwart our most darling plans : blow away our most 
 gorg 'ous air-castles : curtain our hearts in strange mystic 
 gloom : let us sit under the cypress for a season, and hang 
 our harps all night upon the willows. How cheering at such 
 times it is to know, that " all things work together for good 
 to them that love God." Although called to sit upon the 
 ruins of what you think your earthly all, yet you need fear no 
 vv^ant. The snail has its shell, the beaver its den, the condar 
 its rock and the snow bird gets its food : you will Lave some 
 homo and plenty here, and a fine home amoHj-jf lovers 
 hereafter. i 
 
I 
 
 n. •' All' 
 
 ve know, 
 lorning." 
 Ve know 
 aly given 
 ave been 
 He could 
 earn, the 
 
 hill and 
 ; Heaven 
 ir whose 
 God now 
 iood the 
 id, " No 
 
 not His 
 1 He not 
 rden and 
 eror — all 
 hat walk 
 
 will He 
 y Keces- 
 ts. He 
 vis what 
 lla how 
 all he 
 re want, 
 ould be 
 f we let 
 He has 
 ur most 
 
 mystic 
 id hang 
 at such 
 or good 
 jon the 
 
 fear no 
 condai- 
 e some 
 
 lovers 
 
 VJ 
 
 God will yersonalli) do for us the very Lost He can. Hi- 
 is intensely interested in all that contiins us. That He i>j 
 too great to be interested in man is only i.n Epicurean dieam. 
 That He is here only by representation wa.s the Itadiug 
 notion of the uncicnt Gnostic philosophy which l;a3 been 
 exploded long ago. He personally attends to man. Tlic 
 3ible is full of the idea of the Eternal ego dwelling with man 
 and in man and working for mnn. " Fear not, I am with 
 thee." " I will never leave thee." " I dwell in the high and 
 holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humblo 
 spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the 
 heart of the contrite ones." God is interested in our little 
 matters as well as our great matters. Our earth is but a shi- 
 ning moto amid the one hundred miiiions of suns and systems 
 that lie within the range of the telescope, and all that bla/.i; 
 of material glory may by only as a taper, compired with the 
 awful splendors of burning star-clusters undiscovered and 
 undiscoverable by man. If God is interested in oi.ir little 
 world, why not interested in our little matters too ? He is 
 interested in our little matters ; "interested in the dropping of 
 our teeth as well as in the shaking of our nations' thrones ; 
 interested in the falling of the blossoms fiom our orchard 
 trees as well as in the dropping of stars from their sockets ; 
 interested in our business as well as in our souls, in our farms 
 as well as in our heaven. 
 
 In doing for us the best thing. He would if necessary for 
 our good, lay at our feet the wealth of hill and sea. and bring 
 from other worlds the rarest gems to build for us a tiirono, 
 such as was never dreamed of by kings or conquerors. He 
 would if necessary for our highest wellbeing rear for us a 
 mansion of sardonyx and sapphire, on a hili of charysolyto 
 and topaz, with a garden rife with sweeter roses than Cash- 
 mere ever grew, and filled with groves of more gu.>hinsr music 
 than the skies of Britain or the woodlands of the Levant call 
 boast, whose walks would blaze with rarer diamonds than 
 Golconda. ever gave, and whose walls would shimmer with 
 richer pearls than Cleopatra ever saw, ar,d brighter onyx 
 stones than were ever found in Havilah. He wouLl, if ne- 
 cessary for our greatest good, discover to us the hidden labo- 
 ratory of nature, reveal the secrets of fiie and liood and air, 
 of microscope and telescope, explain tlie link between thn 
 mental and the physical, and the condition of tie action i'.nd 
 
1^ 
 
 V 
 
 i, 
 
 M 
 
 20 
 
 reaction of si)iiiw and matter. He would, if best for us, fill 
 our hearts with little heavens every morning, independently 
 of ourselvc3, and p;uard our sunny life with visible seraph 
 bands created for the purpose. He would — what would' Ho 
 not do, if necessary for our truest welfare ? 
 
 God ivill do for us the best tiling. 
 
 The highest design of the Lord God with humanity is 
 moral goodness. His grand end is not to make man a Croesus 
 or NapoleoA here, but an Abraham, an angel yonder. To 
 lift man to a pedestal on earth ; to enrich and embellish hU 
 intellect with the brightest trophies of human lore ; with the 
 science of rock and eky, flower and sea; to fill bis coffers 
 with the pelf of banks and the riches of mountain and moun- 
 tain cavern, of ocean and ocean cave---to do all this for man 
 and end there is to do but little — ii to fiiil. Dust blessing^, 
 mere intellectual boon?, may be soul banes. To set man 
 upon a golden mole-hill, to lilt h«m above the throng, may 
 bo to sink him in moral mud; dwarf the spiritual forces of 
 his nature. God has better things for the saintliest than 
 dust and toys. He has soul sympathy ; He has heart love ; 
 Ha has a God for the aching spirit gap ; He has everything 
 that ia worth having for the upright. 
 
 H. Those to uhora God is so good. 
 
 " Them that walk nprigkt'.y.''^ i\Iark the Gondition upon 
 which we receive the purest benedictions, the deepest beati- 
 tudes of God — uprightness of character. 
 
 Xote ider.3 implied. Here man's responsibility i^ im- 
 plied. 
 
 By virtue of God's fiat and presence man is a moral cause. 
 He can will to do, and not to do. Adam, of the garden, 
 could fall ; Adam, of the wilderness, by virtue of the atone- 
 ment, can rise. God is in humanity, through the cross, 
 giving religious possibilities which man may pervert or im- 
 prove, use or neglect. Unused — he eye or limb beconies 
 useless, so with the capacity of religion. Unu^sed — the re- 
 ligious ta'ent will die away — the best side of man rust out. 
 God says walk uprightly. To do so is man's business. 
 
 Here the advajitago of the upright is implied. This 
 man's bes ffiend moves the mechanism of things, and all 
 th<-^ varied lispensations transpire for his good. His Father 
 
 •4 
 
I 
 
 for us, fill 
 pendently 
 }lc seraph 
 would Uo 
 
 manity is 
 
 a Crcosus 
 
 der. To 
 
 )ellish hU 
 
 with the 
 
 iis coflfers 
 
 nd moun- 
 
 3 fur man 
 
 blessing^, 
 
 set man 
 
 rong, inay 
 
 I forces of 
 
 liest than 
 
 Eart love ; 
 
 iverything 
 
 iion upon 
 eat bQ^vti- 
 
 'y U im- 
 
 >ral cause, 
 e garden, 
 :he atone- 
 he cross, 
 ;rt Or ina- 
 becomes 
 — the re- 
 rust out. 
 less. 
 
 ed. This 
 8, and all 
 [is Father 
 
 •a 
 
 CSS '-v:^ ^ ^^^'tmSA 
 
 steers the ship, pnst many a whiiliji^ f^hurybdi.i tind s'lulcrv. 
 rock. In the stcrmicst weather, ha looks up, it muy hd 
 through tears, and sees ihe shininpj bo -.bout the teniprst'ti 
 brow. If the hartd of adversity wrinjis f^rief-drop^ from his 
 trembling, aching heart, be knows that ihcy will turn to 
 pearls in the soul. lie has by virtue of his c jnnection with 
 God and Christ, a power uithiu him, by which he ciui trans- 
 route all the deal.Dgs of Uod and man towards him into 
 blessings. The infantine oak turns ii#e sunboain auil tho 
 shower into oak life. The rose bush turns the tleinents it 
 appropriates into rose life. The A'jolian harp turns storms into 
 songs. The bee gathers sweetness from the bitter wild flower. 
 Thus, in principle, it is with the upri^^lit man. He can turn 
 *' sad misfortunes" into gladdest fortunes. He works temr 
 poral as well as spiritual blessings, into soul forces. The 
 upright, man "orks all God's providences towards him iutp 
 uprightneiiS. 
 
 Note some of the cliaracUrhtics of the upright. 
 
 1. His external deportment is Godward. He is lionn^t. " Ho- 
 nesty is" not only " the best polity," but it is one of ihe ele- 
 ments of uprightness. 
 
 Honesty in business. Salennien have sometimes been dis- 
 charged for, what is called, their " foolisli scruples in busi- 
 ness." Their employers were not upright men. Messrs. 
 Methuselah Crcesus iSi Co. is sometliing like our modern 
 signs. In many cases it ouf.ht to ha Htlessrs. Metluisielah 
 Croesus & Beelzabub. The devil is no deeping partner in 
 many a firm. 
 
 Honesty in litll<i thimjs as well as in great things. 
 
 Dr. Smollett gave i gold coin to a brggtir in mistake for 
 a quarter dollar. The poor man, runniiij; nftcr him, offered 
 to return it. He might have kept it, but Honesty said it is 
 not your's. He might have reasoned " It is not much for that 
 gentleman." Honesty said " However little, it is not your's." 
 One of the characteristics of uprightness wes here found amid 
 rags and want. " Go aud pay frr that ealt," said a Persian 
 king to his attendants*, Avhohad taken it from some villagers. 
 It was only a little salt to season some venison. That king 
 was honest in the little. The upri.iht man is honest in 
 ounces of salt and in shoe-strings as well as in tons of hay 
 ft.n4 bftles of goods. He is honest in preachers' subscriptions 
 
'! 
 
 t2 
 
 dnd S(.•at-rt■I^t^•, in newspaper subicrip!ioi;3 und doctors' bills 
 oys well us iu house rent and grocery bills. He is not apt to 
 iorget his debtt. He believes in paying for brain sweat 83 
 well as body sweat, for soul food as wtll as material food. 
 
 He is trufJi/ul. 
 
 lie irpeaks the truth. " As to you Petrarch, your word is 
 enough." Such were the words addressed to this great 
 Italian poet when he was about to take an oath. Pretty 
 jnuch t.iie same was said by the judge to Zenocrates the 
 Athenian philosopher, when he approached the altar to swear 
 what he stated was truth. 
 
 " As to you Christian, your word is enough." Such is the 
 way in which the upright, by their friends and acquaintances, 
 are addressed. Their word can be relied upon. 
 
 The orator Denades once cried '* I call all the gods and 
 goddesses to witness the truth of what I shall say." The 
 Athenians replied " And we call all the gods and goddesses 
 to witness that we will not believe you." Poor m^n, be had 
 lied his reputation to death. It may be that there are poli- 
 ticians and editors and deacons and preachers and lawyers 
 and shoemakers and orators and tailors and merchants who 
 have done the same thing. Th.e upright man adheres to 
 truth on the platform and at the fireside, in the newspaper 
 and in the letter. He does not trade in white lies. He 
 don't tell his servant to say " not at home," because he can- 
 not be disturbed. To him the utterance of an untruth is 
 like a dagger in the conscience, like a gall drop in the soul. 
 
 He ads the truth. " She is asleep ; I put on my night- 
 cap and lay down with her, and she dropped right off." Such 
 was the language addressed by one lady to anothir in regard 
 to a little girl and overheard by Robert Hall. He reproved 
 her by saying among other things " That which assumes to 
 be what it is not, is a lie, whether acted or spoken." That 
 truth is ignored by the etiquette world, but treasured by the 
 upright man. He tries to make his actions speak the truth 
 as well as his tongue. 
 
 He ads toioards others as he would have others act to- 
 wards himself. 
 
 He acts towards others justly and kindly. 
 
 Alexander Severus the Roman emperor borrowed this 
 golden rule from the Christians and engraved it over his 
 
 a CO! 
 did 
 
23 
 
 doctors' bills 
 is not apt to 
 rain sweat ajs 
 erial food. 
 
 your word is 
 this great 
 ath. Pretty 
 nocrates the 
 Itar to swear 
 
 Such is the 
 quaintances, 
 
 ■he gods and 
 say." The 
 id goddesses 
 m^n, he had 
 ere are poli- 
 and lawyers 
 rchants who 
 adheres to 
 3 newspaper 
 5 lies. He 
 use he can- 
 untruth is 
 in the soul. 
 
 1 my night- 
 ioff." Such 
 r in regard 
 le reproved 
 assumes to 
 sn." That 
 ired by the 
 k the truth 
 
 ers act to- 
 
 owed this 
 t over his 
 
 palace gate — •' Do nothing to otiiers which v u would be un- 
 willing should be done to yourrtelf." Tha piln'jij)It' firsi 
 uttered h^ Josua is writton on the heart of every uprigtic 
 man and worked out in his life. 
 
 He tries to render good for evil. 
 
 ''Renounce your Savioir if you will save \our life,"' cried 
 a conquering Itajian to his trembling foe. The poor wretch 
 did so. Then the monster, plunging hU dagge into the 
 coward's heart, cried " Now I liave revenge, for I have killed 
 both body and soul." That was the revenge of a fiend, " ile- 
 renge is sweet" only to the wicked. 
 
 Headers of ancient biography know that the spirit of re- 
 turning good for evil has often been strikingly e.xhibited in 
 the lives of some of the great and cultured heathens, such as 
 Socrates, Pericles, Aristides, Phocion and others. In this 
 particular these men put to shame many who live in Christian 
 lands. This spirit of tendering good for evil is startlingly 
 taught in the upright man's guide book. When the upright 
 are injured, they hear God say "Vengeance is mine; I will 
 repay," and so they leave their cause and case in His hands. 
 To be passive and not thirst for revenge is only half their 
 duty. They further hear God say " If thine enemy hunger 
 feed him, if he thirst give him diink." Something more 
 than that yet. Jesus said " Lov3 your enemies, bless them 
 that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for 
 them which despitefully use yoU and persecute you." 
 
 He joys in the prosperity of others. 
 
 Some seem to hate those who are more prosperous than 
 themselves. Caligula killed .his brother because he was bet- 
 ter looking than himself. Dionysius punished Plato because 
 he was superior to the- tyrant in hia logical powers. Gan> 
 byses the Persian king took his brother's life because he was 
 his superior ir the art of archery. Oh ! Envy, what a demon 
 art thou ! When the Gree -is were about to banish Aristides 
 a peasant said to him something like this — " Will you write 
 the name of Aristides in my shell r" " What wrong has he 
 done you?" said Aristides. "None," said the fellow, "I 
 don't even know him ; I am tired and angry with hearing 
 every one call him the just." The modern Christianized 
 world is full of such characters as this Grecian clodpatc. It 
 makes them- angry to hear others praised. They get tired of 
 seeing others prosper. AVhen they look sad we would pro- 
 
■24 
 
 liiibly bs light, di-I wo say in the language of an ancient^ 
 '• Either some great ill has happened to Mutius, or some 
 j.;ieat good to another." On the contrary, it is pure delight 
 !o the upright to know that his friend, his neighbour, hia 
 enemy prospers — prospers in gold, or fame, or power — pros- 
 pers ill his family, lir especially in his sC^xl. 
 
 lie is active. He is no drone, no sloth, ITO somnambulist 
 in the church. His walking waking powers are from God 
 and he uses them for God, In, a world where so much la- 
 bour has to be done, aad with God's command ringing in their 
 ears, they dare not hide themselves iil the ascetic's cave. 
 The salntliest arc not those who bury themselves in forest 
 glens or mountain grottos, or consecrated cloisters. The 
 hermit is not the holiest man. The truly upright has a place 
 among the throngs that gather upon the slopes of heaven for 
 prayer ; he has a place also among those scarred and dusty 
 ones, v/ho, sweating, toiling, lean up against the world's heart, 
 until their warm heart-throbs stir new fresh pulse-bea la 
 the bosom of humanity. 
 
 2. The upright man's internal deportment is straight. 
 Hid tongue and fingers and heart are harmonious. They arer 
 all working Gudward. 
 
 lie is Jiuvihle before God. He thinks of the love he has 
 neglected, and of the sacred possibilities within him which 
 he has perverted and he bows his heart in contrition. He 
 sees Jesus taking a child in His arms and teachin? the people 
 a lesson of humility, and ho learns that humility is not a de- 
 velopment, but a returning to all that is humble and confiding 
 and trustful and loveable in childhood. This quality belongs 
 not to the craven or the temporizing, 
 brave — it is the wreath of the noble- 
 earnest — it is the tiara of the upright. 
 
 He is lovlnr/ towards God. 
 
 Love suits hearts. All hearts are sot upon some one ob- 
 ject in particular. The heart, while it has many chairs to 
 give, has only one throne. The character of this throned 
 sovereign will be our character. Make gOid monarch and 
 you will be turned into a money-worm. Put science on the 
 thron* and you will be developed into a sapless intellectualist. 
 Let pleasure enthrone herself there ; she will pollute you into 
 u sensualist. Set power there ; it will distort you into » 
 
 tvra 
 be 
 
 It is the star of the 
 -it is the glory of the' 
 
 S 
 

 ancicnt^- 
 01" some 
 J-e delight 
 pour, his 
 -r—pros- 
 
 'ambuligt 
 om God 
 luch la- 
 in their 
 s cave, 
 in forest 
 
 •s. The 
 a place 
 
 >aven for 
 
 'd dusty 
 
 ^'s heart, 
 
 ^^raight. 
 'tej- are 
 
 5 he has 
 > which 
 3. He 
 people 
 t a de- 
 nfiding 
 •elongs 
 of the 
 of the- 
 
 B ob. 
 irs to 
 poned 
 an<f 
 1 the 
 alist. 
 into 
 to a 
 
 tyrant. Give Satan that throne, and your whole being wilt 
 be cursed and blackened into a devildom. 
 
 Set some friend there ; his character will soon become 
 yours. Throne the Lord God there, and your soul will be 
 worked into Godliness. Love makes or unmakes the man. 
 While dominant earthward love makes the miser, the despot, 
 the stoic, the liTiertine; dominant Godward love suns the 
 soul into uprightness. 
 
 He rests covfidently upon the adaptation of the Lord's 
 nature to his. He knows b-y experience that God is suited 
 to him. If he is in darkness, God is s sun that knows no 
 setting. If he is weak and foe beset, the Lord is a shield 
 and stronghold mightier than a thousand Gibraltars. Is be 
 bankrupt and needy ? The Lord is his portion — a better 
 portion than ten thousand argosies of golden fleece. God 
 suits him and he wants to suit God. 
 
 He rests his soul upon God's promise. Looking down 
 into this text, he reads " He will give." This is enough. 
 This is a rock for the feet of the soul amid all the mutations 
 of being — amid the quicksands and whirlpools of life. The 
 continents of earth may be swept by contending seas, the 
 Himmalayas may be tossed from their rocky thrones, the sun 
 with his stars may be struck from his luminous centre, 
 Alcyons ; but the upright man knows that this rock will re- 
 main unmoved and immoveable as the eternal throne. God's 
 promise is as immutable as God's throne. " To the upright 
 there ariseth light in darkness." The upright man has often 
 seen this light. He expects to see it come out the next 
 dark day. Here is another promise, " Mark the perfect man, 
 and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." 
 
 The upright arc specially interested in the beyond. One 
 day I saw within the margin of a sunny lake, three pretty 
 things — a pebble, a shell, a lily. As I stood gazing at the 
 three beauties in delight, my eyes changed and I looked 
 away beyond the pebble, away beyond the shell, away be- 
 yond the lily, into the dreamy imraensity, and saw clouds of 
 new fantastic Joveliness hung up in the setting sun. For- 
 getting or neglecting the wee beauties at my feet, I was lost 
 in the magnificent glories beyond. Thus it is with t}"^, up- 
 right. While attracted by the fading beauties of earth, they 
 are more attracted by the infinite glories of heaven. If at- 
 tracted by the praise of men, they are more by the praise of 
 D 
 
2G 
 
 ant^ois and Go<l — j?raisc that will receive its brightest {garland 
 amid shivtrinj^ worlds, and the plaudits of ransomed hosts 
 and seraphic throngs. If attracted by the mansions and the 
 trappings and the golden toys of the present, they are more, 
 far more attracted by yonder glory-palms, by the " white 
 robe" that God's heroes wear, and by the palaces amid Zion's 
 hills and along Eden's highways — highways by the spoiler 
 forever untrodden. While attracted by the dear, loving, 
 wilting friends of time, they i:re moro attracted by the dear, 
 ever-young friendiS of eternity. For. many reasons their 
 hearts are set on heaven. Laying their ear upon the shores of 
 earth's continents, and listening, they hear the rumbling of the 
 funeral clods upon the coffins of the dead, and the sigh and 
 the groan of the broken hearted ; turning the Bible into an 
 ear trumpet, they lay it on the shores of the angel land, and 
 listening, hear no rumbling of funeral clods, no groan of 
 broken hearts, and contrasting earth with heaven they often 
 long to be there where " God shall wipe away all tears from 
 their eyes ;" and " there shall be no more death, neither sor- 
 row, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain : for 
 the former things are passed away." They often long to be 
 gone, 
 
 " From grief and groan, to a golden throne 
 Beside tlie King of Heaven." 
 
 Who amo7ig us belong to the upright? — Does your preach- 
 er belong to this class ? He has not forgotten the days of 
 other years, when in another land, he was impressed with 
 the necessity of a soul interest in things divine, by the sim- 
 ple, solemn words of his aged grandfather. He has not for- 
 gotten when all the little powers of his young soul laid hold 
 on God — and to-day although far from the land and the 
 years when his first vows were made, he can look up to his 
 Father God and say, " I know ' . whom I have believed." 
 Do those aged men and women belong to this class ? Dear 
 friends the shadow of the tomb is on your brow. How is it 
 with your soul? Young woman do you belong to this class ? 
 Have you seen yourself in another mirror than that which 
 speaks of physical loveliness ? Is your life moulded by a 
 higher etiquette than Chesterfield ever taught ? The world is 
 full of rosebushes and China sets, pianos and editions of 
 Byron and Bulwer and gold rings and lovers, but on such 
 things, souls starve and die. YoxDig man do you belong to 
 
 thi 
 bui 
 bo( 
 th( 
 W 
 
 to 
 
 th( 
 w 
 
 801 
 
 mc 
 te( 
 ne 
 tb 
 
 ve: 
 
 fi 
 
 ..iii.'. 
 
2tt 
 
 this class ? What are you doing with your soul ? Are yotf 
 burying it among ploughs and ships, sleepers and cotton^ 
 books and sweethearts ? Who in this congregation belong to 
 the upright ? Who on that side df the house ? Who on this ? 
 Who in that gallery ? God knows who. 
 
 Brother, if you are not one of the upright, you know how 
 to become such. You know the teaching connected with 
 the Calvery story. *• He that helieveth shall be saved." 
 While this belief has in it, at work, all the elements of the 
 soul, the power that renders it living^ saving belief, is a 
 moral power — " With the heart man believeth unto righ- 
 teousness." Heart faith works the character into upright- 
 ness. Throne your heart, by faith, on the atonement : 
 throne Jesus on your heart and He will throne you in hea^ 
 ten. 
 
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