Original Secession Magazine Isaiah 26:2 Open you the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. I. Let us inquire WHAT THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS which should characterise a nation, and by which a nation is exalted. How does it manifest itself? 1. This righteousness has as its root — its essence — the foundation principle of all true religion — "the fear of God," in the hearts of the people, of rulers and ruled. This must be the prevailing character of the persons of whom it is composed. 2. It includes, as one of its leading elements, the due observance of the worship of God, according to the rules lain clown in the Divine Word. 3. It includes a national keeping of the truth. 4. It includes the regulation of all national affairs, in the departments of legislation and administration, by the principles of God's Word, which should be the rule of faith and practice to the nation as well as to the Church, the family, and the individual. 5. It includes the prevalence of Christian morality, or righteous dealings between man and man in the business of life, and the practice of all those moral virtues by which society is sweetened and adorned. II. HOW RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION. A two-fold exaltation results from national righteousness — exaltation in the estimation of men, of other nations, and exaltation in the estimation of God. III. HOW THIS NATION-EXALTING RIGHTEOUSNESS MAY BE AND OUGHT TO BE PROMOTED. 1. By attending to the cultivation of personal godliness. 2. By attending to the duties of family religion. 3. By diffusing the Word of God and stirring up the people to read and study it for themselves in secret and private, and by securing that it be taught in all our schools. 4. By the faithful preaching of the Gospel by ministers of religion. 5. By the forth-putting of all legitimate moral efforts to counteract and suppress whatever is contrary thereto. 6. With all such means must he mingled fervent prayer for the blessing of God, which can alone make them efficacious for the advancement of the cause of righteousness. (Original Secession Magazine.) Parallel Verses KJV: Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.WEB: Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter: the one which keeps faith. |
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