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 IlIGHTEOUSNESS fiXALTETH A NATION : 
 
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 THAMSGIVIM SERMON, 
 
 BY THK 
 
 REVD. DAVID INGLIS, 
 
 HAMILTO.V, C. W. 
 
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 RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION: 
 
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 THAIESGITIIfe SERMON, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV'D. DAVID INGLIS. 
 
 HAMILTON, 0. W. 
 
 lii 
 
 
 ^h- 
 
 HAMILTON, C. Wi 
 
 pniNTKD AT THE " SPKOTATOB" BTKAU PMSS, PBINOb'S SQUARE. 
 
 1866. 
 
 r"ifa;.« ■■ . 
 
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 The following sermon was preached in the McNab Street Presbyterian 
 Church, Hamilton, on Thursday evening, the 6th inst. It was written 
 without any view to publication, and the author hesitated as to the pro- 
 priety of yielding to the request for its publication ; it is now printed 
 from the conviction that, at this crisis in our history as a province, it is 
 of the utmost importance to urge with all plainness the duties which 
 the Christian owes to the Crown and to the nation. 
 
 Hauilton, Dec. 10, 1866. 
 
^.' 
 
 "RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION." 
 
 Pbov. xrr. 34. Righteousness exalteth a nation ; but sin is a reproach to 
 any people. 
 
 Various circumstances contribute to a nation's wealth 
 and power. The fertility of the soil, the mineral resources, 
 the climate, and the geographical position of the country 
 in relation to other nations— all exercise their appropriate 
 influences. As civilization advances, much depends upon 
 the right application of the facts which science has brought 
 to light, upon the judgment with which capital is invested, , 
 and upon the sldll, industry and thrift of the inhabitants. . 
 The soil is the source of all material wealth, but it ic only 
 by science and art and skilled labor that the materials of 
 wealth are developed and brought into use, while com- 
 merce does its part in the distribution of the products. 
 There are, nevertheless, phenomena in the history and 
 present position of nations which cannot be accounted for 
 by the facts which properly come within the province of 
 the poUtical economist, and it becomes necessary to take 
 into account the moral and spiritual forces that are at 
 work. There are various nations which have occupied 
 positions in the history of our world, and exercised an in- 
 fluence on the human race, quite disproportioned to their 
 extent, their physical resources, or the number of their 
 inhabitants. Palestine, Switzerland and Scotland will at 
 once be suggested to your minds as illustrative of this re- 
 mark. In the relative positions and powers of the nations 
 of the earth m the present day, as well as in the history of 
 the past, we find striking illustrations of the maxim of 
 my text— Righteousness Exalteth a Nation. 
 
 This terse and comprehensive Jewish proverb contains 
 a Divine truth of universal application. Righteousness 
 
 i 
 
■iHBm 
 
 4 
 
 here is not to be understood in the PauUne sense as the 
 cause of our justification, but rather in the sense of that 
 purity of heart and rectitude of Ufe— that conformity of 
 heart and life to the Divine law, which is the fruit of justi- 
 fication. It signifies rightncss— right-thinking and right- 
 doing. It includes all holy affections, all pure principles. 
 It expresses the practice of aU that we call piety, justice, 
 honesty and virtue. It recognises Grod's law as the per- 
 fect standard of truth and justice, and demands conformity 
 in heart and life to that standard. It stands opposed to 
 sin, which is a want of conformity to, or transgression of, the 
 law of Grod whether in act, thought, purpose, word or de- 
 sire. The doctrine of my text is that it is not the wisdom 
 of policy, extent of empire, splendid conquests, abundant 
 resources, or flourishing commerce — but righteousness, 
 • which exalteth a nation. Sin, on the other hand, is a re- 
 proach to any people — a source of wealmess which, if 
 persevered in, must ultimately lead to the declme and 
 fall of the mightiest people. Thus Grreece, with all her 
 proud science and refinement, Rome, mth all her colossal 
 strength, sank tuider the weight of moral degradation. 
 The aiuials of God's ancient people furnish us with 
 abundant illustrations of the maxim of my text. As they 
 were a righteous or a sinful people, so were they corres- 
 pondingly exalted or depressed. It behoves us to realize 
 that Grod is still the King, the Lawgiver and the Judge 
 among the nations. His {government among the Jews 
 was not a more actual government than that which He 
 exercises now. His will is still the only ground of right- 
 thinking and right-doing. A nation fully and heartily 
 recognismg this truth, and actmg in accordance with it 
 cannot be shaken by any power on earth. Apart from 
 this all is insecure and fluctuatmg. . . 
 
 Let us glance for a moment at the position of Christen- 
 dom, as distmct from the outlying world of Pagan and 
 Mohamedan nations. We use the word Christendom as 
 including the Greek and Roman communions ; for while 
 we beheve that these communions have so overshadowed 
 the great and glorious truths of the gospel by their errors 
 
5 
 
 and superstitions, that as systems we can only designate 
 them as anti-Christian rather than Christian — yet we glad- 
 ly recognize the fact that amid all these corrupting errors 
 there is still gospel truth. They contain within their 
 communions many of Christ's people— so that even their 
 errors have not, through the great long suffering of our 
 Grod, excluded them from the promise of the Spirit. Our 
 Reformers were fully persuaded of this, and there is no 
 reason why we should deny it, even while bearing 
 the most determined testimony against these so-called 
 churches in their corporate capacity, and especially against 
 the blasphemies of the Man of Sin, as usurping the throne 
 of Christ in His own temple. Of Christendom as a whole, 
 we say that it occupies a place vastly superior to the whole 
 heathen world, and this distmction and superiority it owes 
 to the moral life and rectitude which it possesses in virtue 
 of the truth of Grod received, believed in and obeyed. 
 
 "VYe advance a step further in the argument, and call 
 attention to the fact, that just in proportion as the nations 
 of Christendom have embraced and held fast the Chris- 
 tian faith in its scriptural simplicity, have they 
 risen to power, and enjoyed the blessings of national 
 stabihty. In this respect the contrast between Protestant 
 and Papal nations is scarcely less strikmg than that be- 
 tween Christendom and the Pagan world. There arose 
 in the sixteenth century a crisis in the history of the na- 
 tions of Europe. The truth of God was then offered to 
 those nations, and upon their reception or rejection of it 
 all their future history has turned. The acceptance of 
 the Reformation in almost every instance involved jjerse- 
 cution and trial for the time being. Its rejection on the 
 other hand secured a temporary peace and prosperity. 
 But subsequent events have shewn that while the Pro- 
 testant nations have risen in spite of trial, the Popish 
 nations have sunk by a slow process of moral decay 
 into imbecility and distress. Compare the history of 
 Spain, during the intervening period, with the.t of Great 
 Britain. At the ei)och of the Reformation Spam was in 
 the zenith of her glory. The truth of God was offered to 
 
 i : 
 
 "1 !■ 
 
6 
 
 her, but she proudly refused, and trampled out the Ke- 
 formation -with an iron heel. "What is Spain now ? Once 
 the possessor of a colossal empire both in Europe and 
 America, she is now spoiled of her many cro'vTns. Her 
 colonies on this continent have for the most part re- 
 nounced their allegiance. The Netherlands, after many 
 a hard and bloody struggle, drove her out of the land. 
 Naples and Sicily are hers no more. The story of her 
 Armada, shattered along the rock-girt coast of Britain, 
 only lives to point the moral of the wicked folly of r^U- 
 gious persecution. Confined now within the narrow limits 
 of her Iberian peninsula, her glory is a thing of the past, 
 and she is every day sinking into a still lower depth of 
 moral degradation. 
 
 Grreat Britain to a large extent embraced the truth of 
 G-od, and from that date she has expanded in power and 
 influence. In the face of persecution and death our 
 fathers held fast the truth, and in spite of papal intrigue 
 Protestantism gained a firm foothold in the nation. "Who, 
 looking at the position of Britain, and contrasting it with 
 that of Spain, can hesitate to acknowle'^ge it as an incalcu- 
 lable blessing that Protestantism has been upheld in the 
 kingdom, and that Popery has not heen suffered to regain 
 its ascendancy ? 
 
 Turn now from Spain and Britain to France ; and the 
 facts are not less instructive. France too rejected the 
 truth of Glod, and the Reformation which had risen so 
 brightly on that great nation was quenched in blood.— 
 Since the sad date of the ^evocation of the Edict of Nantes, 
 France has swung hke a pendulum between despotism 
 and the maddest republicanism, between debasing super- 
 stition and equally debasing mfidehty . She has not indeed, 
 like Spain, actually forfeited her place among the nations, 
 but she owes this largely to the fact that even bloody and 
 relentless p rsecution could not wholly drive the truth 
 from her borders. In the Reformed Church there has 
 still been a remnant who have held fast the faith once 
 delivered to the saints, and to this France is largely in- 
 
 
 
debted for the place she to-day occupies as one of the 
 great powers of Europe. 
 
 Directing our attention to the great pubUc events of the 
 year now drawing to a close, we find fresh proofs and 
 illustrations of the maxim of my text. This year has been 
 looked forward to by the students of prophecy as one 
 likely to be fraught with events of the highest importance. 
 However much the actual results may have disappointed 
 the expectation and rebuked the presumption of those 
 who have sought to be wise above what is written, and 
 who have assumed to be prophets rather than reverent 
 interpreters of Grod's word, there cannot be a doubt that 
 the events of the year have opened up a brighter era 
 than that which has just closed — and that the cycle of 
 changes, which the late European war has done so much 
 to hasten, is rich in promise of ultimate blessings to the 
 nations. There are indeed dark and lowering clouds in 
 the horizon, and it may be that these clouds are destined 
 soon to burst in terrible judgments on all anti-Christian 
 systems, and on an ungodly world ; but it is the glorious 
 prerogative of our heavenly King to bring ultimate good 
 out of present evil — to bring deliverance to His Church in 
 immediate connection with judgments upon His enemies. 
 
 In order rightly to understand the results of the recent 
 mortal struggle in Europe, we must glance at the history 
 of the two great powers that were engaged in it. Austria 
 previously to the Eeformation, had ruthlessly -Brsecuted 
 the followers of John Huss. When in the ear y years of 
 the Reformation, the long forgotten truths of a simple gos- 
 pel were offered to her, she not only proudly rejected the 
 truth, but she persecuted even to the death— and it was her 
 boast that in large sections of her dominions heresy was 
 rooted out. The victory over truth was indeed gained, but 
 at a fearful cost ;— villages laid waste, towns depopulated, 
 fertile fields a wilderness, the noblest and the best, the wis- 
 est and most learned of the people buried or banished. Aus- 
 tria has since regarded herself as the great defender of the 
 Papacy. Prussia, on the other hand, did not exist as a 
 
 ! 
 
 
kingdom till long after the Reformation ; but in the Elect- 
 orate of Briandenburg and the Duchy of East Prussia, whose 
 union laid the foundation of the present Prussian kingdom, 
 the Reformation y^as eagerly embraced, and Prussia has 
 been always distinguished as a Protestant Power. These 
 powers were brought mto deadly conflict. The question 
 as to which party was most to blame in the quarrel that 
 led to the short but bloody campaign, does not come 
 within our present province. Interesting questions in 
 reference to* the restoration of old geogaphical boundaries 
 and the union of nations belonging to the same great Teu- 
 tonic race must also be left untouched.=^ The result of 
 the war may be summed up in a sentence. The power 
 of the Grermanic confederation has been transferred as by 
 a single stroke from Austria to Prussia , from the Popish to 
 the Protestant rule. Austria has relinquished Venetia; and 
 Italy, in proportion as the breach between her and Rome 
 widens, rises higher in the scale of nations. Thus the year 
 186G furnishes new illustrations of God's care of His own 
 truth nd is destined to be memorable as another turning 
 poin. m the history of the fall of the Papacy, 
 
 We have sought by this brief induction of facts to 
 bring before you the truth of the existence and benignity 
 of the Divine government. Grod's almighty power and 
 His tender care over His own Church are as truly seen in 
 the history of the nations now, as in the history of 
 Israel, and the old Hebrew proverb is as true now as in 
 ancient times : " Righteousness exalteth a natioii, but sin is 
 a reproach to any people." 
 
 In the events of history we are brought "^to direct con- 
 tact with the divine mind. These events are not a succes- 
 sion of incoherent fortuities. They are all full of moral 
 significance. The doctrine of the manifest destiny of the 
 nations is the vain idol of irreligious minds. God is Gov- 
 ernor among the nations ; the Disposer of empires ; He 
 
 *For a full discussion of the bearings of the recent war on Frotestaatism 
 and Popery, see an article on this subject in the October number of the B. 
 & F. Evangelical Review. 
 
\ 
 
 **,' 
 
 9 
 
 overthrows one dynasty and sets ap another. We cannot 
 study history without becoming sensible of God's presence^ 
 and recognizing a divine purpose in the process of events. 
 The so-called philosophy which denies the Divine will, 
 and reduces all history under the leaden sceptre of neces- 
 sary laws, must shut its eyes to the truth of facts. 
 
 The Bible embraces all the great thoughts towards 
 men w^hich from eternity fiJled the mind of God ; the 
 treasures of Divine knowledge ; the manifold wisdom of 
 God; the unsearchable riches of Christ. This truth 
 received or rejected becomes the turning point in the 
 destinies of our race. Thus the Church becomes a spirit- 
 ual centre round which all secular history gathers. The 
 best way to understand the history of the world is to 
 make the Church the text on which the whole of history is 
 a rmming comment. Amid unceasiu g changes the Church 
 remains unchanged. Her outward aspects veer and vary, 
 and her inner life is liable to fluctuate, but the great 
 truths which form her special heritage can never perish, 
 and those truths are ever pregnant with fresh elements of 
 growth and vigor ; and thus from age to age it is right- 
 eousness which alone can exalt a nation. This is the only 
 source of a nation's well-being, the only Sv'^curity for a 
 nation's stabihty. We trace, through the centuries of the 
 past, the mighty march of events ; we turn to the move- 
 ments and changes of the present time, and from the past 
 and present combined, we reverently deduce the spiritual 
 conquests of the future. We may be in the vestibule of 
 the latter times, overshadowed by perplexity and trial, 
 but Christ will in Lthe end glorify the cause that is his 
 own ; and hence we look with strong confidence for the 
 advancement and final triumph of the cause of righteous- 
 ness in the earth, notwithstanding temporary and local 
 refluxes of the tide. 
 
 We have been called together to-day to return thanks 
 to Almighty God for the mercies of the year now drawing 
 to a close . Our attention has been directed in th ■» morning 
 service to the various causes of thanksgiving, and surely 
 vv^e may add this as a cause of profound thanlcfulness to the 
 
hi 
 
 10 
 
 Great Head of the Church, that in Britain, where our fa- 
 thers had their own share of suffering for truth, yet the 
 true religion was upheld in the kingdom, and every efibrt 
 whether of papal intrigue or papal persecution has hitherto 
 failed to overthrow it. We inherit in this province the 
 rich heritage of civil and rehgious liberty, and our mani- 
 fold blessings imply corresponding responsibilities and 
 duties. It is proper on such an occasion o.s this, to con- 
 sider especially the duties we owe as Christians to the 
 Empire and Province of which we form a part. These 
 duties are the more urgent in view of the events which 
 are transpiring aroimd us. The expected confederation 
 of the British North American Pro^dnces gives bright 
 promise of a nation growing up here which shall occupy 
 a high place in the future annals of civilization. The con- 
 templated confederation warrants us to expect not only a 
 large increase of our population,but also an unprecedented 
 impulse to commsrcial activity, and a gieatly increased 
 development of our resources. In the good Providence 
 of Grod our lot has been cast here, and at this time we are 
 called to do our part in building up what may be regarded 
 as a new nation. A high responsibihty devolves upon us. 
 "What is to be our national character ? On what do we 
 rest as our security for national permanence and prosper- 
 ity ? Not surely on our extensive national resources, or 
 on our facilities for making them available, or the energy 
 and enterprise of our people. Not even on our much 
 cherished relation to the British Throne, though this is a 
 tower of strength to us. Only as we are faithful to God, 
 only in so far as we maintain the truth of God, and obey it 
 can we expect to preserve, our glorious heritage of gospel 
 truth and civil liberty. If we i)osse8s and maintain that 
 righteousness \7hich exalteth a nation, then no power 
 shall be suffered to prevail against us. It is becoming far 
 too common a thing to say that Canada with its immense 
 frontier cannot be defended, — that in the event of war 
 botwcen Great Britain and the United States we are 
 powerless to defend ourselves. A war between these two 
 great Christian nations is a thing to be deprecated.— 
 "War, however just and successful, is a great evil, and 
 
 : 
 
 
. 
 
 Christians instinctively shrink from the very thought 
 of men meeting each other in deadly conflict, and the 
 long list of terrible evils that necessarily follow in its 
 train. But there are evils that are worse than war — to 
 be forced into the Republic of the United States— to be 
 driven by cowardly fear or sordid avarice into annexa- 
 tion, would be to injure and debase us morally, to forfeit 
 all claim to respect, and to yield up our dearest Uberties. 
 It is argued that we are powerless to defend ourselves 
 against the forces which the United States could pour in 
 upon us from every direction. We are powerless to at- 
 tack such a nation, and we have no wish but to live on 
 terms of peace with them as neighbors. But should war 
 be forced upon us, in our defence and in a righteous cause^ 
 who will say that we cannot maintain our own, and with 
 the Divine blessing defend our altars and our hearths. 
 Ha v^e we forgotten the history of Switzerland, or has that 
 history no lesson for us ? Have we even forgotten the 
 old heroic stories of Scotland, or have they no lessons for 
 Canadians ? It is devoutly to be wished that peace may 
 be maintained between the two nations that have so 
 much in common, and are bound by so many ties to each 
 other, but, ui times such as these it is essential to our 
 security and well-being as a people that while we study 
 earnestly the things that promote peace and charity, we 
 put from us with scorn the idea that our independence as 
 a Province, and our loyalty to the throne and crown of 
 our beloved Queen are held by us on the sufferance of 
 our neiglbors, to be tamely surrenaered when the first 
 speck of war appears on the horizon. Let us fully reaUze 
 that as a matter of Christian duty we are bound to main- 
 tain our position, to protect ourselves against aggression, 
 and to defend every inch of Canadian soil against the in- 
 vader. This attitude is not only right in itself, it is also 
 our best protection against war. By a cowardly, unpat- 
 riotic spirit, war is provoked and invited. The sooner 
 our neighbors realize that we value our present political 
 institutions, and above all, our connection with the British 
 throne, and that we will defend these to the utmost, the 
 
■MH 
 
 mmimmm 
 
 T 
 
 better will it be for the cause of peace ou this continent. 
 We value our privileges, and as the indignation of the 
 V7hole country would be roused at the thought of a traitor 
 in our councils— so we will tolerate no invader's foot 
 upon our soil. Our confidence rests not on our own re- 
 sources or valor, not even upon the vast power of the Brit- 
 ish Empire, which is pledged for our defence. Our con- 
 fidence rests upon the fact that Grod is judge among the 
 nations, and claims to himself the same sovereignty over 
 human afiairs — over the civil and political world as ove^* 
 the natural world. Men are but the instruments in car- 
 rying out His counsels, and if we, as a people, are faithful 
 to His truth. He is able to give the battle to the weak. 
 
 The very fact that such events as these are spoken of 
 as possible, is a call to us to repentance, lest we provoke 
 the Lord to anger against us. Should we not prize that 
 gospel which alone guides us into the way of righteous- 
 ness ? Shall we not personally embrace it, and five under 
 its influence ? Shall we not by exercising repentance to- 
 ward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and by ear- 
 nest, practical refigion, throw all the weight of our indi- 
 vidual influence on the side of that righteousness which 
 exalteth a nation ? A responsibihty rests upon us to strive 
 earnestly to promote pubUc and national morality. It be- 
 comes us by every available means to elevate the general 
 morahty of the people — to discountenance all false max- 
 ims, whether of business or of pubHc poHcy, and to with- 
 stand every thing which degrades or corrupts the general 
 sentiment of the commmiity. So long as dishonest, cheat- 
 ing tricks are spoken of as only sharp practices, or boasted 
 of as smart transactions, so long must it be apparent that 
 men are dead to the consciousness of Grod's presence, are 
 strangers to an honest recognition of God and a real re- 
 gard for His law. Jus lice and right are the only true basis 
 of all transactions between man and man ; and when peo- 
 ple become greedy of gain and heedless of truth and 
 right, their profession of regard for God's truth is only a 
 cloak. Guard, then, your trade and commerce from the 
 pollution of dishonesty, and let upright, high-resolved 
 
I 
 
 13 
 
 moral principle guide your every transaction. Against 
 every practice that tends to lower the general respect for 
 the things that are honest and true, and of good report, 
 Hft up a loud ajid an indignant protest. 
 
 Resist the progress of ungodliness in the community. 
 If intemperance, profanity, SalDjbath breaking, impurity 
 and other vices are allowed to run their course among us 
 unchecked, a moral bhght will fall upon us, and social 
 corruption will penetrate the bones and eat out the 
 vitals of the nation. "The nations that wiU not serve God 
 shall perish." Especially must we see to it that the prin- 
 ciples by which our government is guided are those of 
 righteousness, and that our pubUc men are themselves 
 upright and law-abiding. We cannot separate ourselves 
 from the body politic ; we cannot throw off our personal 
 responsibility in reference to our legislators. Not only 
 do we elect our legislators, but such is the power of public 
 opinion — as expressed through the press — that no man, 
 however high, is beyond its reach. Men cannot in our 
 day, and in this country, act in the face of pubhc sentiment. 
 If there is corruption and wickedness in high places, it 
 is because the tone and habits of the people do not hold 
 it in check. 
 
 It is alleged that our legislators have openly profaned 
 the Sabbath by pleasure trips. Such acts proclaim a dis- 
 regard of law, both human and divine. It shews a de- 
 based state of pubhc sentiment in reference to the obHga. 
 tion of the Sabbath, and a disordered civil condition, when 
 the very law of the land on the Sabbath can be thus 
 shamelessly set at defiance by the men to whom the gov 
 ernment is intrusted. 
 
 Do our pubhc men use their official power to serve their 
 personal ambition, and narrow personal ends ? Do they 
 use the knowledge they have obtained through their of- 
 ficial position that they may meanly speculate for their 
 own pecuniary advantage? Then we are responsible. 
 Their shame is our shame ; their dishonor is ours. The 
 shifts and evasions and artifices by which such transac- 
 tions are sought to be covered over or excused only in- 
 
'r^ 
 
 14 
 
 crease the disgrace. Whatever it may have been in time 
 past, such is the standard of public morals in Britain now, 
 that no public man dare attempt such transactions, or if 
 some unprincipled man has ventured to attempt it, he 
 has only made himself infamous, and the voice of the na- 
 tion has driven him for ever from public life. If we are 
 to preser\'e our character as a nation we must lift up the 
 voice of indignant protest against such practices, and by 
 force of public opinion as well as by the exercise of the 
 franchise, we must strive to secure men as legislators who 
 love righteousness, wlio hate and abjure iniquity, and 
 who shape their policy with a view to the welfare and 
 the honor of the nation. 
 
 Let us see that with entire union of heart and effort we 
 labour for the exaltation of the land. Let us guard our 
 religious privileges, and seek to extend them to others 
 "We have the Bible in our language and given to every 
 man to read and study and pray over for himself. We 
 have the Gospel proclaimed in its simplicity, the sacriiice 
 of Christ presented as the only cause of our recon- 
 ciliation to God — the Holy Spirit as the great promise 
 to the Church, the giver of all light and hfe and blessing, 
 —faith the only instrument of justification, and holiness 
 the necessary fruit of faith. We have the sacraments 
 and ordinances of reUgion in their New Testament purity 
 and simplicity. Let us guard these privileges, and let us 
 see to it that in our own fives of holy obedience we add 
 to the righteousness, not to the sin of the nation. We must 
 combine with all God's people to promote the honor of 
 the Sabbath, to resist the encroachments of Popery and 
 infidefity, and to repress all wickedness and ungodliness. 
 But it is also our duty in view of the great wants of the 
 province, to seek to enlarge the usefulness and efficiency 
 of the Church, and to circulate the Bible and the preaching 
 of the Gospel throughout its length and breadth. It is a 
 grand old motto of an ancient Scottish city : " Let Glasgow 
 flourish by the preaching of the word.*' We echo it back 
 and say, " Let Canada flourish by the preaching of the 
 word." 
 
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