The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1917-12-08
Jesus and THE CITY
He Sees Much In the Modern
City at Jerusalem TO
Weep Over.

weep over.
"And when he was come near, ne
beheld the city and wept over it,
Luke 10: Al.
Jesus dHew nigh to Jerusalem. 1t
| was to him a wonderful field for Ia
Dor. Cosmopolitan in It's population,
this great city was visited by people
from every nation under heaven, as
we see from the list at Pentecost.
To this day the church finds in the
| various cities an important and diff
ficult field for work. Let US then
| accompany Jesus, drawing nigh to the
city, considering what he saw, and
what he did.
Jesus saw, as he beheld the city,
the best institutions and the worst.
There are scores of institutions for
the redemption Of the lost, the re-
claiming of the erring, the raising OF
the submerged, the betterment Of the
people; hundreds Of churches. point
ing with their spires heavenward,
with large percentage of their men,
bership true and tried, seeking to be
Of some service to the world. Every
form of sin and suffering has called
for the circle of earnest men and won-
en- who are pledged and organized to
stay it's ravages. Here are to be
found organizations for helping the or
phan, the sick, the wandering, the
criminal.
Place Of Forces Of Evil
But side by side with these noble
institutions are the combined forces
of evil, the organized kingdom of sin,
displaying Satanic cunning and en-
ergy. A score of forces pull men
downward, to one force that draw
him upward. Language cannot over
state the depravity that exists under
our very eyes in this twentieth cen
fury of enlightenment and progress,
in the organized forces of evil.
These are but a few of the things
that Jesus saw and still sees, as he
drew nigh to the city. Beholding
the city, he wept over it. AS the city
with it's agony came before him, 1t
broke his heart and moved him to
tears. The cry Of his sorrow mingled
with the hosannas Of the multitude
and hushed them into silence.
But Jesus was not content to weep
and lament; he at once set about
remodeling the evil. He went into
the temple and drove out all those who
made it a den Of thieves. Taking
note of the existing evils, we are not
to spend our time in fruitless tears
or bitter denunciations. We are to
be prompted to action. And the work
Of thoroughly cleansing the church Of
God is the first work to be taken in
hand. 'Let the judgment begin at
the house of God" With the channel
Of Christ's redeeming power choked
by sin and error how can the waters
of salvation flow out into the world?
A church that neglects to Keep its
own skirts clean by putting into prac-
tice divinely commanded disciple in
faith and morals will labor at all city
reform like a man with a broken
back. If Jesus were here with his
whip of scourging, he would begin
in the church. He would drive out all
those who teach the commandments
Of men in place Of the oracles Of
God; who have forsaken the fountain
of living water, and who direct men
to the broken cisterns which hold no
water; who feed their flock with the
store Of human opinion and wisdom,
instead of the bread of life, Christ
crucified, the power Of God unto sal
walton. He. would drive out the man
who praises God during divine serv-
ice, and who during the week grinds
the face Of the poor. He would drive
out the woman who comes to church
to show her finery and spends the
week in setting an example of van
ity. In word-he would drive out
all men and women who are simply
whitewashed, without being washed
white.
We need q revival of seven days re-
ligiOn. When every Christian has be-
come a living epistle, spreading the
seed of the Gospel, there will soon
spring up in the midst of our cities a
bountiful harvest.-lsev. Herman
Prange.