Ezekiel 27:1-36 The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,… Cities are not necessarily evils, as has sometimes been argued. They have been the birthplace of civilisation. In them popular liberty has lifted up its voice. Witness Genoa, Pisa, Venice. The entrance of the representatives of the cities in the legislatures of Europe was the deathblow to feudal kingdoms. Cities are the patronisers of art and literature. Cities hold the world's sceptre. Africa was Carthage, Greece was Athens, England is London, France is Paris, Italy is Rome. I. COMMERCIAL ETHICS ARE ALWAYS AFFECTED BY THE MORAL OR IMMORAL CHARACTER OF THOSE WHO HAVE PRINCIPAL SUPREMACY. Officials that wink at fraud, and that have neither censure nor arraignment for glittering dishonesties, always weaken the pulse of commercial honour. II. SO ALSO OF THE EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF A CITY. There are cities where educational affairs are settled in the low caucus in the abandoned parts of the cities, by men full of ignorance and rum. It ought not to be so; but in many cities it is so. I hear the tramp of the coming generations. What that great multitude of youth shall be for this world and the next will be affected very much by the character of our public schools. Instead of driving the Bible out, you had better drive the Bible further in. III. THE CHARACTER OF OFFICIALS IN A CITY AFFECTS THE DOMESTIC CIRCLE. In a city where grog shops have their own way, and gambling hells are not interfered with, and for fear of losing political influence officials close their eyes to festering abominations — in all those cities the home interests need to make imploration. The family circles of the city must inevitably be affected by the moral character or the immoral character of those who rule over them. IV. THE RELIGIOUS INTERESTS OF A CITY ARE THUS AFFECTED. The Church today has to contend with evils that the civil law ought to smite; and while I would not have the civil government in anywise relax its energy in the arrest and punishment of crime, I would have a thousand-fold more energy put forth in the drying up of the fountains of iniquity. The Church of God asks no pecuniary aid from political power; but it does ask that, in addition to all the evils we must necessarily contend against, we shall not have to fight also municipal negligence. (T. De Witt Talmage.) Parallel Verses KJV: The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, |
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