Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-29
GOVERNING A CITY.
Rev. George Hodges Would Give Coun-
cilmen More Work to Do.
THAT WOULD GET IN BETTER MEN.
One Bane is Mixing National Politics in
Municipal Elections.
CHRISTIAN DUTY IN IMPROVEMENTS
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH. ]

ings used to 60 about asking everybody;
care you a Christian" Very often that
was found a difficult question to answer.
Sometimes they would request everybody
in the congregation who was Christian, or
who wanted to be Christian, to stand up.
1 am afraid that the division that was. made
in the congregation upon these occasions
was not always a perfectly accurate one.
1t is not likely that it corresponded ex-
actly with that other separation to the right
hand and the left that will be made some
day in the future And that was not only
on account of certain Objectionable traits
| of human nature that such a summons would
bring forth, such as love or appreciation on
one side and patural obstinacy on the other
side, but on account of a certain difficulty
in the definition of the name.
For the people of the congregation might
naturally have asked "What kind of q
Christian do you mean? Do you mean q
conventional Christian or an emotional
| Christian, or a real Christian?" A conven-
| tional Christian is one of whom we
know very little more than that he goes to
church twice every Sunday and belongs to
the Christian society and has never been
accused of heresy Our Lord, W hen he was
here, had very little symp athy with con-
ventional religionists.
A Christian Common at Revivals.
An emotional Christian is one who has
passed through certain spiritual expert
ence and is in possession of certain relig-
ious feelings Our Lord was quick to re-
press all false sentimentality. A man came
once to Him, saying in an enthusiastic and
| impulsive manner: "Lord, 1 will follow
Thee whithersoever Thou goest" And our
| Lord said to him quietly, "The foxes have
| holes and the birds of the air have nests,
| but the Son of Man hath not where to lay
His head" Upon another occasion when
He was teaching, certain woman called
| out in this same emotional and enthusiastic
manner, e1claiming upon the blessedness of
the mother of such teacher, to which our
Lord answered, 'fYea, rather blessed are
they which hear the word of God and
keep it."
The real Christian, however, is one who
lives as far as he can the kind Of life that
the Lord Jesus Christ lived when he was
here. The trouble with emotional Chris
tianity and conventional Christianity is
that so much of it is veneer. 1t comes off
in the moment of temptation.
There has been very little said in the
course of sermons which comes to an end
to-day, about either conventional or emo
tional Christians. We have been talking
about the only kind of Christians which are
worth talking about-the real Christians.
The subject to-day is the Christian in the
city.
The Bible Is City Book.
The Bible is the book of the city. It Is
tlntf ho ooff fho h1n or
lived in garden, but there was no city at
that time for them to live in. It is true,
also, that as the story progresses the heroes
are found dwelling in tents and wandering
about over the vast plains of the East, and
going down on visits into Egypt, and max
ing long Journeys hither and thither in the
plains of Sinai. But we find that they were
always in search of q city; that was their
continual ambition; they were forever look
ing forward to the time when they would
have city. And by and by, when they
did have city, o how proud they were of
it, and how much they loved it, and how
loyal they were to it'll They used to say
their prayers in their days of exile with
their faces toward the ruins of this city,
Even to-day the descendants of that Old
Testament people still make pilgrimages to
that dismantled city. held as it is by the in
tidel, and beside its walls they say their
prayers ana Shed tnelr tears.
Our Lord when he came was born, it is
true, in village, and was nurtured in
village-that is good place for young
man to be born and to be brought up. But
when the time came for Him to begin the
real work of His life, He did exactly what
thousands of young men are doing to-day
He came into the city. And instead of
choosing Jerusalem, He chose city that
was more of city than that. He chose
Capernaum, which was a brisk town of
business. By and by, when the apostles
began their work, they centered their mis-
sions in the city.
The Significance of Names.
Presently so strong was the hold of
Christianity on the cities, that the name
of ''pagan," or villager, and "heathen," or
hearth -dweller. came to have their modern
meanings. Christianity began its work in
city. In the last book of the Bible, when
the apostle st. John sees his vision of the
future, He beholds the ideal condition of
things, the Golden Age, not under the
of holy village, nor even holy temple;
He sees holy city coming down from God
out of heaven. If there is any place where
the Christian ought to feel at home it is in
the city. And if there is any place in the
world to-day that needs Christians it is in
the city.
The Christian in the city will realize that
he has civic responsibilities. The heather,
the savage, in the city, although he may
wear Christian garments and live in a
Christian habitstion, will show his lack of
Christianity by his selfshness He will be
aware of no responsibilities apart from
those involved in his own money getting
and his own comfort and his own happiness.
The City Christian is Progressive.
The Christians duty in the city, set
forth comprehensively, is part positive and
part negative 1t is the Christians duty to
be on the side of everything that is toward
the uplifting of the city, and TO be set
against everything which seems to be him
drance to the well-being of all the citizens
OF the city.
For the well-being of the city depends
not alone upon appliances for making
money, but upon appliances for making char
acter The Christian in the city, with his
money, with his influence, with his inter-
est-if he has nothing more than that-sets
himself distinctly upon the side of progress,
in the upward direction. He wants to have
good schools in the city. And he is proud
of the good schools that the city has. He
has An admiration for work that is done in
the city, and when that work is simply
equal to work done outside the city in any
Intellectual or artistic or musical direction
the good citizen puts the city's workmen
first. There are great many people who
have the idea of the small boy who believed |
that if you wanted to catch very large fish
you must go to some very distant pool.
There are people who can see beauty in pic
lures that are painted outside the city, and
in music that is sing or played by neonIe