National Revolutions
W. Leask. Ezekiel 21:26-27 Thus said the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low… Our day is one of unusual excitement; mind is everywhere agitated; the foundations are out of place; the earth reels like a drunken man; sceptres are broken; dynasties tremble; the diadem is removed and the crown taken off; thrones are burnt in the open streets; kings flee for their lives to foreign shores; men's hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven are shaken. I. NATIONAL REVOLUTIONS ARE SYMPTOMATIC OF MORAL DISORDER. They are the result of one or more causes of an evil, or a series of evils, which have been long accumulating and gathering force and strength, until the terrible crisis comes, when, like the central fires of the earth rushing to the volcano, an eruption takes place, and men are filled with astonishment and oppressed with awe. All the manifestations of injustice are evidences of the moral disorder to which I allude. 1. Religious persecution. 2. The withholding of political rights. 3. Positive oppression. II. NATIONAL REVOLUTIONS ARE IN HARMONY WITH INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE AND MATERIAL PHENOMENA. The individual is the type of the nation. The nation is but the individual on a broader scale. The body politic is congregated men. The mass is the man multiplied. We are firmly persuaded that the security of a nation is not in the form, but in the moral integrity of its government. "Righteousness exalteth a nation." We deprecate injustice, whether it emanate from a throne or a presidential chair; and tyranny, whether it come from a man or a mob; and slavery, whether it exist under a despotism or a republic. Again, as in the individual, so in the nation; if there be the conservative power of health, it will struggle for the mastery. The accumulated moral disease must destroy vitality, or be thrown to the surface by revolution. We find another analogy in material laws. The inequality of the earth's surface is conducive to the health of vegetables and animals. The roaring cataract stuns the beholder, but he inhales not there the poison of the stagnant pool. The sweeping wind makes the forest to groan, but it causes its roots to strike deeper in the earth, and the juices of vegetable life are increased. The thunders of heaven, with their herald-lightnings, appall and terrify us, but they are the physicians of the atmosphere, and drive pestilence from the land. III. NATIONAL REVOLUTIONS ARE THE VOICE OF GOD SPEAKING TO THE WORLD. 1. They proclaim the vanity of all artificial greatness. "The Lord is known by the judgment which He executeth." "He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty." "He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way." 2. By these revolutions God utters His protest against tyranny. God is the God of justice, the Friend of the needy, the Avenger of the oppressed; and those that walk in pride He is able to abase. His voice, if despised in His word, is lifted up in the storm, the tempest, the plague, and the revolution; and it is the protest against injustice and oppression. 3. Another lesson read to the their victories worthless; their wars, sin; their pride, rebellion; their honours, transient; their wealth, evanescent; their glory, a fading flower; and their destiny, extinction from under these heavens. IV. THESE REVOLUTIONS ARE FORERUNNERS OF THE REDEEMER'S RIGHTEOUS REIGN. The Redeemer will come again — not to be betrayed, mocked, and crucified; but to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe; to be hailed as the Prince of peace — the liberator of every bondman — the joy of every loyal heart — the desire of all nations; to be crowned, amid the hosannahs of an exulting world, while the smiling heavens are vocal with the intermingling hallelujahs of angels and men. (W. Leask.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. WEB: thus says the Lord Yahweh: Remove the turban, and take off the crown; this [shall be] no more the same; exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high.