"Righteousness Exalts a Nation"

Our founding fathers were well aware of the fact that godly righteousness exalts a nation. This belief was based on the Word of God in which so many of our founders were well versed. Passages throughout the Bible affirm that the righteousness of a nation is determined by how well public policies conform to God's sacred standards. Deuteronomy 28; 1 Kings 18 and 1 Chronicles 21 are but a few biblical examples.

Samuel Adams was one who believed that only God-honoring policies can exalt a nation:

(Divine) revelation assures us that 'Righteousness exalteth a nation.' Communities are dealt with in this world by the wise and just Ruler of the Universe. He rewards or punishes them according to their general character.

Frederick Douglass, a minister of the Gospel, was also a political leader long before and after the Civil War and he told his fellow citizens:

I have one great political idea...That idea is an old one. It is widely and generally assented to; nevertheless, it is very generally trampled upon and disregarded. The best expression of it, I have found in the Bible. It is in substance, 'Righteousness exalteth a nation; sin is a reproach to any people.' Sir, this constitutes my politics--the negative and positive of my politics, and the whole of my politics...I feel it my duty to do all in my power to infuse this idea into the public mind, that it may speedily be recognized and practiced upon by our people.

Pastor Francis Grimke, was born in 1850 to a slave mother in South Carolina. He served as a valet in the Confederate army until Emancipation. After the war he attended Lincoln University, Howard University and then Princeton Theological Seminary. Even though he lived through the Civil War as a boy and experienced the ravages of a terribly divided country, he was still convinced America would survive and remain united.

In a sermon given in 1909 he warned what America would become if we should depart from godly righteousness:

The Stars and Stripes--the old flag--will float...over all these states...If the time ever comes when we shall go to pieces, it will...(be) from inward corruption--from the disregard of right principles...from losing sight of the fact that 'Righteousness exalteth a nation, but that sin is a reproach to any people'...The secession of the Southern States in 1860 was a small matter with the secession of the Union itself from the great principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, in the Golden Rule, in the Ten Commandments, in the Sermon on the Mount. Unless we hold, and hold firmly to these great fundamental principles of righteousness...our Union...will be 'only a covenant with death and an agreement with hell' (Isaiah 28:18). If it continues to exist, it will be a curse and not a blessing.

These are a mere few of the quotes from some our forefathers who loved and feared God and His righteousness and recognized the need to look to Him and uphold His righteous ways. Our history is filled with similar examples showing how this country was built on the fundamental framework and truths set forth by God which we should follow if we wish to prosper individually and nationally.

We would be wise to revisit these eternal exhortations found throughout the Bible and put them to use in our own lives and national policies if we want to recapture the greatness of this once godly nation.


(source: The Founder's Bible, pg 958-959)


Posted by Rich Glasgow