264 TEE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 



individual who conforms, and that the higher and 

 nobler race is to be attained through the elevation of 

 individuals, one after another. God deals with races 

 and nations as such. But his laws and promises are 

 made almost entirely for the individuals of which 

 these larger units are concerned. 



But there is another standpoint from which we may 

 gain a helpful view of the matter. I may be the 

 meanest citizen of my native state, and my father may 

 leave me heir of only a few acres of rocky land. But, 

 if my title is good, every power in the state is pledged 

 to put me in possession of my inheritance. They who 

 would rob me may be strong ; but the state will call 

 out every able-bodied man, and pour out every dollar 

 in its treasury before it will allow me to be defrauded 

 of my legal rights. And it must do this for me, its 

 meanest citizen, else there is no government, but 

 anarchy, and oppression, and the rule of the strongest. 

 And we all recognize that this is but right and neces- 

 sary, and would be ashamed of our state and govern- 

 ment were it not literally true. 



If I travel in distant lands, my passport is the sign 

 that all the power of these United States is pledged to 

 protect me from injustice. Think of the sensitiveness 

 of governments to any wrong done to their private 

 citizens. England went to war with Abyssinia to pro- 

 tect and deliver two Englishmen. And shall God do 

 less ? Can he do less ? If it is only just and right and 

 necessary for earthly governments to thus care for their 

 citizens, shall not the ruler and " judge of all the earth 

 do right?" 



Now you and I are commanded to be heirs of God, 

 to attain to likeness to him. This is therefore our 



