VI. A sixth reason for special efforts in behalf of Cities is, the influence which they exert on the country and on the world.
Look to any nation, whether ancient or modern; throw the map before you; fix your eye upon the spots that bear rule; that command the attention of the enterprising, and busy the thoughts of statesmen. You have fixed it upon the cities of the world. Where was the strength of Italy, if not in Rome, once mistress of the world? Where the strength of Greece, if not in Athens, the mother of arts and refinement? And where is the strength of our Republic, if not in our cities and large towns? There talent in every art and profession is fostered, and exerts peculiar influence. There wealth concentrates its millions upon millions, to exert extensively a blasting or brightening influence on society. There the press daily sends out its thousands and its tens of thousands of winged messengers, to excite the passions, to influence the opinions, to control the energies of a nation. Powerful as is this engine, for corrupting or sanctifying the people, who does not know that its munitions and magazines of strength are placed principally in cities; and that the character which the press there sustains is diffused throughout the land? In cities, commerce is concentrated. The products of the soil flow from every county, town, and village, to the cities; and thence they are distributed to the world. The riches, the luxuries, the products of other climes and nations are brought to cities, and thence distributed through the land. How manifest then, that cities must exert a mighty influence on the country and on the world. Who, that reflects on their extended intercourse, does not know, that they regulate the prices of commodities; that their fashions are imitated; that their maxims of trade are common law; and that their moral habits and opinions, good or bad, have an influence on the whole community? Their influence is great, whether we consider them in a moral or political point of view. The capture of a city has decided the destiny of nation. When Babylon was taken, a mighty empire was given to the invader. When Jerusalem was vanquished, all Judea was subdued. When ill-fated France was tossed with revolutions and counter-revolutions, the possession of her metropolis gave to either party the supreme command.
Now suppose that all this influence of cities is of a worldly, immoral, irreligious character; what must be its blasting power on the general interests of religion! It was when the pretended successor of Peter established his authority in Rome, that that mystical Babylon became "the mother of harlots," and "made the nations drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornications." And not until the angel shall "cry, with a mighty and strong voice, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen," will the strong man armed be vanquished, and the earth be encompassed with glory. Not until the evil influence of cities shall be arrested, will the mighty obstacles to the world's redemption be removed. How immeasurably important then, that great efforts be made for their conversion; and how merciful in God to destroy such of them as will not repent. Oh, it was mercy infinite, that rained down fire upon Sodom, and poured it heavily upon Gomorrah; and thus saved millions from the contagion of their wickedness!
But suppose that all the influence of cities were of an heavenly character—suppose the intelligence could be circulated along all our navigable rivers and canals—suppose it could be communicated from village to village, and from family to family, throughout the country, that the Spirit of God, as on the day of Pentecost, had come down in awful majesty and power among us; that all our men of business, and youth of folly, had been arrested in their worldly career; that all our theatres and resorts for vain pleasure had been forsaken; that our temples were crowded and overflowing with devout worshippers, and anxious inquirers; that the universal voice of our city's population had become, What shall we do, that we may glorify God and extend his kingdom? Suppose, I say, that this mighty change in our city could be told throughout the country; who can estimate the overwhelming influence it would carry along with it? Where is the solitary village that would not feel the impulse, and have its eye and heart lifted to Heaven, in view of the bright cloud of incense, ascending from these hundred temples, and these thrice ten thousand family altars? And to extend our view still further; suppose that every city of our land—that every city of the world—should experience such a change; what almighty strength and zeal would it give to the Angel having the everlasting Gospel to publish! How soon would the universal acclamation of mankind be, "Glory, and honour, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne!" And how soon would that blessed voice be heard from the heaven of heavens, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of the Lord, and his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever!"
These are not mere pictures of the imagination. The realities are at hand. And the influence of cities, in introducing them, must be felt. For "they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth." "The name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there." "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, it shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts." Thus the day shall yet be, when the presence and power of the Holy God in cities shall so absorb the affections, and command the energies of their inhabitants, that, throughout the land, they shall be known and celebrated, not for their wealth, their splendour, their numbers, or their worldly enterprise, but as the places where God has fixed his tabernacle. Yes, the day shall yet come when the intercourse between cities shall be chiefly for purposes of religious improvement—when combinations for political intrigue, or mercantile speculation, which now waken such intensity of interest in our cities, shall dwindle to their comparative nothingness; and when the world's redemption shall assume its proper magnitude; and all be stimulated to more holy devotedness, and more heavenly effort. Oh, what a day, when all our increasing facilities of intercourse with the land, and with foreign nations, shall be used mainly for advancing that kingdom which consists in righteousness and peace!—when thousands shall prayerfully wait the arrival of every post, and hail the coming in of every vessel, for intelligence, not of this world's riches and glories, but of the glories and victories of Zion.
Such, however, is the present power of the adversary in cities, that no ordinary effort will dispossess him. Still it must be done. The triumph of the cross, the salvation of the world can never be perfected without it. I know there are difficulties;—that cities do congregate vast assemblies of active depravity;—that they present multiplied enchantments to ruin;—that in every city wickedness displays a stern and lofty front. But I also know, that before the coming Spirit of God these obstacles shall melt away like wax, and vanish like smoke; "for strong is his hand and high is his right hand."
It was when revivals prevailed in cities, that the gospel spread with such amazing rapidity: and so, when the Spirit shall again descend upon them, will the work of reformation move forward with such power and grandeur, as shall make manifest that God is in Zion; "that the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels;" and that "the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place." Let all, then, who love Zion, seek for the reviving influences of the Spirit upon cities. While every hand is faithful in the discharge of duty, let every heart be impressed with the sentiment, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts; and let every eye be directed to Him who hath promised, that when iniquity cometh in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard.
In urging the importance of special effort and prayer for the renovation of cities, we do not overlook the interests of the country; but would thus guard every town and village from an influence heavily impregnated with moral poison and death. The merchants of the interior, in the prosecution of their business, regularly visit the metropolis. Many of them, on the enticement of friends and acquaintance, attend the theatres, and other places of vain amusement and sin; they become familiar with their glare and dissipation. They return, and tell what their eyes have seen, and what their ears have heard, and thus create in the bosom of the young, the ardent, the rich, and the worldly, a thirst for similar pastimes, and a disrelish for sober realities. Many faithful pastors in the land weep over the growing immoralities occasioned by the influence of cities. Many churches lament the defection of their members, having become worldly in their spirit, and vain in their imaginations, by reason of their frequent intercourse with cities. If such, then, is their influence upon the country, well may the churches, planted throughout the land, feel deeply interested in the moral character of cities, and pray for their conversion to God.
Let our cities become places of holiness: let holiness to the Lord be written upon the heart of every merchant, of every mechanic, of every statesman, of every counsellor, of every officer, upon every hall of legislation, and every splendid edifice; and an influence sweet, holy, and happy, shall go forth to revive the hearts of God's people, to awe and confound opposers, and to dress up the wilderness "like the garden of God."
O, what a scene of grandeur and glory, when the thousands of the saints shall wrestle in the spirit of Jacob for the blessing: when they shall rise up in the spirit of their Master, and display an untiring zeal for the salvation of man! O, what a scene, when the immense crowds of immortal beings, who throng our streets, shall be deeply impressed with the conviction of their accountability!—When every man shall feel that he is acting continually under the eye of God, and in full prospect of the judgment. Let these scenes be realized, and already I see "the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." And I hear "a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."