New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-11-24
BISHOP PLEADS FOR CITY.
ECALLs CHRIsTs TEARS FOR JERUsA-
LEM IN SERMON AT ST. PAULS.
rANTs 4 VIGILANCE LEAGUE FORMED OF
PERSONS PLEDGED TO LIFE WORK
TO SUPPRESS VICE

a y
PERSONS PLEDGED TO LIFE WORK
TO SUPPRESS VICE.
Floouently and with a depth OF meaning that |
rir inevitably carry with ii more weight and |
n6uence than would an outburst of sweeping |
lenunciation, Bishop Potter yesterday dwelt
non the conditions which now prevail in this
dty. At the service at St Pauls
.hapel Bishop Potter addressed a congrega-
son that filed TO the doors the historic place
+ worship. Not only were the pews and aisles
roWded. but IT became necessary before
he service began to refuse admission to sew
rsl hundreds Of men and women who sought
trance.
God and the City was the subject upon
rhfch Bishop Potter spoke. II had been an
iounced that the sermon would be devoted to a
commentary upon the civic and social condi-
sons Of the metropolis 1t IN the expecta-
ion Of hearing the Bishops enunciation OF his
news Of the existing state OF affairs that the
rast congregation assembled. Among those
rho attended the service were men whose
handing IS Of the highest IN the financial, COM
nercia and professional circles Of the city.
Adhering TO the dignifed position which he
las maintained from the moment his protest
against police insolence and police neglect Of
.uty sent TO the Mayor. Bishop Pot
.er yesterday did not permit himself to de-
.ounce or criticise the municipal authorities
pr their actions He took a far compre-
aensive view OF the movement, which has for
is aim the suppression Of vice and disorder,
and called upon the people of the city to
yanize for the purpose of bringing about i'm
provement and to exercise vigilance and
continuity Of effort to contain that betterment
when Il shall have been accomplished. While
Bishop Potter compared the city to the Jerusa
en- of old, which was beautiful without, but
corrupt beneath, the vein of his discourse was
decidedly optimistic and the pith of his
sci was that by diligence and vigilance a better
Drder Of affairs might readily be brought
about.
BISHOP POTTER'S ADDRESS
Bishop Potters address was as follows:
In a modest house in London few years ago
there were gathered about the dinner abe some
half q dozen gentlemen who largely represented
The interests Of Oriental scholarship. They were
Engaged among other things in discussing the
Identification Of sites OF ancient classic, historic
and sacred places. and among the critics Of the
records OF antiquity who were present was one
who quoted q very striking testimony borne by
The then Bishop Of Jerusalem, Dr. Gobat to
;he extreme difficulty OF fixing the precise spot IN
Jerusalem on which Christ was crucified the
precise spot where His body laid after His
crucfxion, or the precise spots in connection
presence.
The speaker went on to say that that emf
neut scholar had pointed out that the value Of
such uncertainty consisted in the fact that il
discouraged an undue homage to merely ma
terial things and places, and was in the spirit
of that divine precept which Christ enunciated
when He said TO the woman at the well:
Neither in this place nor in Jerusalem do men
worship the Father. God is a spirit and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth
GLADSTONEs WORDS ABOUT JERUSALEM
Immediately opposite to me at the table when
these words were spoken sat perhaps the great
est, certainly the most interesting, figure in the
history Of modern England great statesman.
hut prominently a man Of devout and cult
waited and most direct and serious spirituality.
Fes' said Mr.. Gladstone, when the speaker
had concluded, all that can easily conceive
70 be true. but there is point of view that
fancy no one who has ever seen 1t will forget,
which must bring back to any modern mind a
vision which in its substance was looked upon
by Jesus Himself. Have you made the little
journey" he asked, from Bethany to Jeru-
salem? Do you remember how when you turned
the shoulder Of the hill behind which the home
Of Mary and Martha and Lazarus lies you came
out upon the plateau at the foot OF which lies
the Holy City, the vision of its yastness, it's
august dignity breaks upon you? And did 1t
nave been just precisely in the same way that
Jesus saw IL on the morning when having
left the home of Martha and Mary and Lazarus
and taken His way to the Temple, having been
greeted you remember, by those who shouted
'Hosannah,' and spread palm branches in His
way. He looked down upon the Holy City and
was srnitten with that profoundness of emotion
which expressed itself in the most pathetic
words anywhere recorded, when He wept over
which belong unto thy peace. but they are
hidden from thine eyes? ~
CERIsTs TEARS FOR THE HOLY CITY"
Yet what Christ looked down upon that morn
ing is what you and 1 would look down upon if
we went to any great height and looked down
upon New-Ycrk to-day He saw great struct-
ures, He organized civilization for its
tine Of very high quality. He saw men and
women going about their business in the streets
He saw the Roman soldiery on the street cor
ners, the so-caled guardians of the peace, which
meant rottenness appalling. He the chief
priests and auth orites extending their laborious
greeting with these and others, and He saw be-
neath all that what could not see with the
eyes Of flesh, the homes Of men, the secret
sEarnes and infaTnies Of men, the cruelties OF
power. the brutalities Of organized injustice the
Ecnstrous passions and hatred Of men express
ing themselves as diabolically then in any age
II the world.
Well and brethren the significant thing
that made Him weep when He beheld the city.
II was not merely any intense outburst of pas
sion which wrought Him in those tears when He
thought Of the wrongs and cruelties that must
he perpetrated in that great city. AS He looked
Gown upon all that various life and remembered
what il stood for and how it came to be, what
evils were sheltered in the Of the law,
what nonstrosiries were protected by the armed
brutes Of Pharisees who ruled them, il was not
al this that stirred Him TO that burst Of sor-
row, that brought the tears to those divine
eyes: IF thou hadst known in this thy day the
things which belong 10 thy peace, but now they
are hid from thine eyes
IN other words men and brethren Christ wept