The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-26

MESSAGES Of God. And few had needed.
Outside, in the country, ignorant peo-
pie, unprivileged people, had listened and
believed And even in the town Of Cali
lee, where men thought more about their
business than they did about the serv-
ices of the church, there had been many
disciples and some had been willing to
give up everything and follow Him. But
here In Jerusalem, the religious city,
where dwelt the priests and doctors Of
the law, where the tower of the holy tenn
pie dominated all the buildings Of the
town and where the church was the SUI
preme interest of all the citizens-here
had Jesus preached and done His deeds
OF mercy and blessing. And they had
despised and hated Him.
And the day of divine visitation had
come, the last Of all the manifold oppor-
tunities which the town had had, the
final call Of God, and the city lay there,
beautiful beyond expression, but deaf
and dumb and blind. For this did Jesus
weep, saying: IF thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the
things which belong unto thy peace! But
now they are hid from thine eyes"
b. BETWEEN RIGHT AND RITUAL.
/. After all the elaborate preparations to
receive Christ, He came and was reject
ed. He came SO simply, SO naturally,
lives of men, caring so little for all their
costly ceremonies and their fine ritual,
that they did not know Him. They had
deceived themselves by their emphasis
upon the dress and posture Of religion,
by their interest in the forms and cere-
monies Of the church. They had dwelt
SO long upon the mere externals of devo-
ton that they had ceased to be devoted.
And Jesus looked upon the religious city,
with It's stately temple GROWING the sum-
NIT of the hill, with it's streets full of
men and women preparing for the great
church festival Of the divine redemption
of their fathers, and wept over It, looked
upon these throngs of people on their
way to church to keep their Easter
feast, and wept to see them.
Such difference there is between
church-going and religion, between right
eousness and ritual, between our way OF
looking at things and Christ's way. we
are busy we are interested In many mat
tiers which have something to do with
the Christian religion in the service, in
the singing, in the adornment of the
house Of God. How much does 1t all
mean? Jesus Christ looks upon our state
ly churches; does He rejoice in them as
the comedy shrines Of a pure devotion,
or does He behold them as He beheld Je-
rusalem, looking into our hearts and see
Ing cause for lamentation?
On moves the rude procession, with
waving palms and singing. Jesus riding
in the midst. Thus comes the King. In
Rome there have been scenes Of triumph
when some conqueror enters with his
soldiers to the sound of music, all the
people throwing flowers before him and
shouting In the streets; and behind MIN
are led his captives, the princes OF some
unfortunate province, bound IN chains,
and all along the way the spears glitter
Sc P1Tf hnr
comes another King the King of Peace,
the King of Love, In very different fash
ion.
The road leads down the mountain, past
the garden of Gethsemane, over the Ked-
ron bridge, into the city. And here Is
noise and tumult, people running together
and heads thrust out of windows, the
whole city moved and everybody saying,
who is this? And the bearers of the
palm branches answer not with the same
confidence which they had shown as they
sang along the road, but retreatlng lit
tie from their high enthusiasm in the
presence of their unsympathetic ques-
ticners: This is Jesus, the Prophet Of
Nazareth of Galilee'-a perfectly safe
saying.
'Hosanna to the Son Of David they
had been singing, Blessed be the King
that cometh in the name Of the Lord
They do not sing that In the streets.
BY and by there will be another crowd
in these same streets. and some OF these
same people In 1t, crying: Cruelty Him.
That is the way with crowds. Jesus rides
on, silent and sad, knowing how little 1T
all means In every company, In every
congregation, some are present because
their hearts are filed with sincere interest
and genuine devotion, and they cannot
stay away.
TWO KINDS OF RELIGION.
Others are there because they have seen
people Going in that direction and have
gone with them, or because 1t is the con-
ventional thing to do, and they join their
voices in the general acclaim because 1t
is the way of human nature, doing what
their neighbors do. This Palm Sunday
crowd vanishes away and Is heard no
| more There is a little company of true
disciples, standing afar off, watching
the end, when the darkness falls upon the
| cross But the crowd utters no voice, is
not visible, sits trembling at home, or
! Is on the other side, when the tragedy
| comes. When Jesus needs men to stand
| up in the midst Of His enemies and speak
| for Him, these loud singers of Palm Sun
| day are not there.
There are two kinds Of religion: The
| religion of the crowd and the religion Of
| the consecrated heart. Many people who
account themselves good Christians are
| good Christians only in the crowd. 1t Ia