The New Jerusalem makes reform a change of condition
he may lay it waste and turn it into the New Jerusalem
The allusion gives the proposed transformation a scale greater than municipal improvement. In Revelation 21:1–5, the old heaven and earth pass away, the holy city descends from God, and divine renewal ends mourning, pain and death. The King James Version calls it ‘new Jerusalem’ at 21:2. This is an identifiable biblical reference, although the familiar name alone cannot establish which translation Chesterton had in mind. Revelation 21:1–5, KJV, Project Gutenberg #10.
Chesterton adapts the vision rather than reproducing its agency. Revelation's city comes from God; his hypothetical patriot acts upon Pimlico. Its present arrangements can be radically changed while the place remains the object of love. The biblical destination thus sharpens the difference between attachment to a place and attachment to one of its features: a person devoted to the latter must conserve it, whereas someone devoted to the former can demand its renewal.
There is a deliberate strain in ‘lay it waste’: devotion can license destruction as well as repair. Chesterton acknowledges excessive reform in the next sentence, without supplying criteria for distinguishing it from justified transformation. The biblical image supplies an ideal terminus, not a practical warrant for every destructive programme claimed to advance it.
Sources
Revision 1 of 1 · 2026-11-07 · Suggest an edit