WE ought to be more anxious about the internal condition of our country than about her place among the nations. It is by righteousness a nation is exalted; and if we only became distinguished by such eminence, we might trust the Ruler of the nations to appoint our place, and to determine the measure of our power and honour, among the kingdoms of the world.
And how is it with us now? There never was a time in Scotland when intelligence was more diffused, and appliances so numerous were brought to bear on the social, moral, and religious improvement of the people. And with what results? Not, certainly, such as could be wished. Not such even as in other days, when in wide districts of Scotland scarce a home could be found without a family altar, and in which open vice was hardly known. But while there is much to be ashamed of, there is much cause of gratitude to God, who hath not yet ceased to bless the land we live in. We live, however, in critical times. Our Sabbaths, the bulwark of Scotland’s religion, are in danger from the rising tide of worldliness, which subjects all to the lust of gain, and will profanely force its way at any sacrifice of truth and sanctity. Our morals are in danger of a general decline. And in these days when men are disposed to look down on all antecedents of the past, and to exult in the consciousness of superior power and wisdom, Churchmen, as if in the dotage of a second childhood, have begun to crave for the puerilities of ritualism, like hoary sires b.taking themselves to the use of their nursery toys. To what result these tendencies shall bring the land we live in some future historian shall record.
But, with all its drawbacks, many are the privileges and great the responsibility of those who dwell in our native land. We have peace within all our borders. No great sacrifices are required to secure religious freedom. Civil liberty is enjoyed to an extent unknown in many other nations, and to which the aspirations of the past failed to rise. Law is righteously administered; education is brought within reach of the poorest of the people; in all our dwellings might be found the precious Word of God. O that we were wise to prize our privileges and to acquit ourselves of our responsibility! The blessing of the Most High is what Scotland needs. This alone could make her truly rich. This alone can save her from her perils. This alone could have made her what she once became, and secured the continuance of her prosperity. Whatever may betide her in the age next to come, I love to think of her, on some bright future day, emerging with all the nations of the earth from the darkness and the storms of ante-millennial times, into the brightness and the calm of many ages of blessedness, receiving on her bosom the light of heavenly favour and the dew of heavenly grace, till a verdure richer than ever clothed her shall cover her all over, and fruits of righteousness shall grow throughout all her borders, such as are befitting the very garden of the Lord.—Mr. Auld’s Life of Dr. Kennedy.