Righteousness Exalteth a Nation: Religion's Public Prosperity

The text declares that righteousness elevates a nation—a truth often obscured by the prejudice that religion hinders temporal welfare. Yet the evidence stands firm. Archbishop John Tillotson (D.D.) identifies two pillars supporting this claim.

First, Divine Providence ensures public judgment. St. Augustine observed that Rome's sustained prosperity rewarded the nation's eminent justice and temperance; conversely, the crying sins of nations invite public judgment. Elohim breaks the insolency of sinners upon these shores like waves against the bank.

Second, virtue operates by natural tendency. Religion binds conscience to civil duty. Chastity, temperance, and industry produce health and plenty. Truth and fidelity generate mutual love and goodwill. Nearly every vice carries temporal inconvenience in its wake. Religion naturally establishes good order and easier governance—it inclines both magistrates and subjects toward obedience and peace.

Two objections demand vindication: that government may subsist without belief in Yahweh and eternal judgment, and that virtue and vice are arbitrary constructs. Both fail under scrutiny. Edmund Burke crystallized the principle: whatever is morally wrong cannot be politically right.

The inference is inescapable. Those in authority bear peculiar responsibility to maintain religion's honor. Every citizen must practice righteousness, understanding that personal virtue ripples outward as national strength. The nation's exaltation rests upon the accumulated virtue of its people.