The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-10
99ZIE|ih(aS8mRcHEss

priests. Repentance must begin at the
house of God. The world will never
be purified by spotted church. The
wise king, when he had called the re-
| ligiouS leaders of the people together,
pointed out that the punishment of
Jehovah had fallen upon the nation
because of it's religious declensions and
the irreligion of those who should have
been first in fidelity to Jehovah. So
the first step in the preparation of the
Passover was the sanctihcation OF the
Levites.
One cannot resist the temptation to
speculate upon what would be the re-
suit if the ministers of religion in our
own land were to have squarely put up
| to them the responsibility for moral
and political conditions in the nation.
Imagine all preachers off in re
treat" for the purpose of searching
their own hearts with respect to the
state of the country. Would one man
see that his failure to preach clearly
the ethical teachings of the gospel had
been responsible for the gradual decay
of the moral fibre of that church
member who is now d condemned
CRATER? Would the vote-buying in
certain communities rise up to con-
denim the ministers who had either
winked at it, or failed to blister with
the condemnation of Jehovah the
traitors who had shared in it? The
lust for vanities and fashion, the weak
ening of sacred home ties, the neglect
of the family altar, the decline of
ch-going-Would these appear at
the door of the ministers of the Most
High who had failed to n axe religion
attractive, or to satisfy the soul-needs
of their people? Delicate and danger
Gus as is this subject, it is only an OBJ
vious and logical deduction from the
inspired story of how Hezekiah began
to prepare for his great Passover by
calling the priestly class to self-ex-
animation and repentance.
Rallying to Jerusalem.
Despite all their defects, there was
something sublime about the Crusades
of the Middle Ages. They were a mag
nificent conception. The rock-bottom
fact was a concern for the city and
tomb of the Crucified. Nowadays few
persons in the enlightened Christian
churches seem to care q straw about
Jerusalem. The are not disturbed by
the infidel's possession of the city that
Jesus loved. That Christian hating
mosque on the site of the Temple
seems 20 be of no more interest to the
generality of Christians than any other
item of travel Information. We have
grown blase and unsentlnl entail; Jesus
might weep over the Holy City, but
His present-day disciples would not stir
hand to see that in the exigencies of
present-day politics, it would come in
to the possession of Christian nation
that would bring liberty of worship,
tolerance and freedom to all, with
power of the Moslem to Cypress the
Christian removed. The few scopes of
pathetic Jews who gather daily by the
stones of the wall of Solomon'S tenn
pie to wall over the decline of Jeru-
salem are merely an object of Curl
osity, rather than of sympathy, to
Christendom.
Yet in Jerusalem is still, as in Heze-
kiah's time, memory, uI:ity, and in
SEPARATION. 1 cannot escape the cOnvic-
ton, after having travelled all over the
Bible lands and the ancient world,
that this strangely persisting city is to
have q new place in the plan of God.
The city which He loved is still to be
the rallying point of His people every
where. In the reunion of Christen-
dom there will be a pecL liar place for
the City of Zion. Hezekiah was OBJ
serving the divine order when he sum-
mOned all Jews up to Jerusalem.
Touching Peoples Hearts.
From North and South came the
Jews to the great Passover. They
brought offerings so lavishl-' that the
force of priests was Inadequate to
presses itself in giving. There cannot
be a revival of religion in g. niggardly
church; or if there is, T. will be by
driving out the spirit Of meanness.
Christianity costs a man nothing to get,
but it costs him his all to keep. Closed
purses close hearts. It is the open
hand that God fills with blessing. In
this national revival there was a feast
of generosity. Small wonder the peo-
pie were glad, there is no gladness in
life for stingy souls. 1t is when We
give that we get. Seven days were
not long enough for the keeping of this
feast, so another seven days was added.
1t was like a great family reunions
reunion with the heavenly. Father first,
and then with the brethren. Old dis
agreements were forgotten; at the
house of God the hearts Of the people
of God were touched. So we read that
THE Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and
healed the people,"
OF course reform followed the re-
vival. Any religious stir in a COM
munity that does not evenruate in new
righteousness, may be put down as
mere hysteria. The whole nation turn
ed to idol-smashing. The former
filthiness was put away. The best cure
for all national ills is a revival of re-
ligion.