The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-07-23
oBDURAcY OF JERUSALEM.
CONTINUED from page II

but they would not come. To the humble and be-
ieving minds of Nazareth and all the ages, Christ
the resurrection; to the proud and obstinate
minds of old Jerusalem, and all the ages, Christ
was the ruin.
Christ, the man, to old Jerusalem, came
with all Gods strength sweetness, mercy and love-
The blind saw, the lame walked the dead arose
Yes, the going about doing good" the healing of
all kinds of infrnities were His works Il am the
way, the truth and the life" were His words, but
hayward old Jerusalem was blind to those miracles;
1t rejected the words of truth and light and spurned
the voice of love and entreaty: "Why will you per-
ish, o House of Israeli fell upon stony ears and
upon still more stony hearts,
Seated upon height, Jesus looked down upon
the city. A few days more and He will die outside
Its walls to win for man his lost Inheritance He
Will d1eyes, and rise again from the tomb of Mich
odemus clothed with the rays of His Divinity thus
afording stifnecked Jerusalem the strongest proof
that He was God. But no, old Jerusalem goes TO
Its doom. The sweetness of Christ's childhood the
wisdom of His boyhood the love of His manhood
make no impression upon the old Jewish race The
miracles beginning at Cana and reaching their full
ness IN the glory of the Resurrection morning are
forgotten. Pride and prejudice and sin have seeed
the Jewish mind and heart against the compassion
ate Christ, and wiring from Him that wall of in
finite love and sadness: Jerusalem. Jerusalem
how often have onged to gather your children be-
heatn my wings as the hen gathers her chickens,
and thou wouldst not"
All, Jerusalem, you knew not the things which
were to thy peace you not the days of your Wis
ltatlon, and you went your way unto thy doom
The time of love and mercy passed for you-the
time OF Christ, and the bitter time of horror and
destruction came-the time of Titus. To the proud
Pharisee, Christ was the ruin: to the penitent rob
Der Christ was the resurrection
The obduracy of old Jerusalem is the obduracv
OF those hardened sinners who hearken not to the
still small voice of conscience the counses and good
example of their friends and the exhortation and
compassion of God to them and for them mani
tested through His living Church. Human strength
cannot still an earthquake, human science cannot
bid the flowers to grow and bloom, but human faith
and hope and charity, and, ali human humility and
repentance, can bring smile to the face of the
God who made the heavenly bodies to glow and run
their appointed course and the flowers of earth tn
grow and bloom.
All, yes, to the sinner Christ comes as He did
to old Jerusalem, with the sweetness of childhood
the wisdom of boyhood and the love of manhood.
But the obdurate sinner, like old Jerusalem heeds
not the visitation of the Christ and goes down the
broad road of ruin The greed of wealth. the seat
OF power the pride of intellect the passion of heart
hold him fast unto the doom. He knows not the
things which to his peace
remember seeing in one of the famous picture
galleries painting, and to my mind it was the
most beautiful sermon preached by the Inns
of man. The artist took his inspiration from the
Scriptures, and set it down for us on canvas
and this, our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running
brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything"
Let us read, Dear Brethren, the sermon of this
painting. The artist represents Christ walking
narrow road. On each side of the road huge cliffs
arise, and the base of these cliffs where it touches
the road is covered with briars and thorns and here
and there large rocks almost block the passage
Christ occupies the foreground of the painting and
on His shoulders rests weary, wounded sheep
There is smile of joy and triumph ON Christ's
face He walks along. It is because the wounded
weary sheep is safe and at rest. Following close
upon the footsteps of Christ comes flock of
sheep. You study the painting and you find that
those sheep, though they are painting under the
exertions to avoid the steps of danger still they
walk surefooted, for they are following in the
exact steps of Christ. There is the painting as
the artist gave it to the world. He left it to the
Christian mind to read that paintings significance
and beauty. Let us read it.
Life Dear Brethren, is that narrow road. We
are the sheep that follow the Christ, and that
weary, wounded sheep that rests on Christs shout
ders is the repentant. sorrowful sinner The cliffs
and the rocks the briars and the horns that arise