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