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it will be so only because they have accepted uncritically the scientifico-politieo-religio hodgepodge of the day as the true religion of the New Testament. Remember, the Spirit witnesses to Christ, not to labored arguments about Him.-As far as my acquaintance with Church history goes,’ I know of not one instance where any great out-rush of spiritual power attended any other message than the message of the Cross. Revivals and missionary advances) have followed the simple, un abashed proclamation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And the message had to be preached, hot in the language of the schools or laboratories, but in the very words of the Bible itself. All of this adds up to one thing: We must return in our hearts to the miraculous Christ. We must make Him responsible for the outcome of our testimony. He sends us to witness for Him, not to defend Him. He needs no support from us. Into His hands has been committed alT power in Heaven and in earth. We must have faith to take for granted His presence and His power, and we must proceed without fear of our opponents and without an}' attempt to appease them. Let us no longer encumber our Lord with our help. He is His own proof. Some may continue to demand signs, and others seek after wisdom, but to those who are called, Christ is still the. wisdom of God and the power of God. ARE THE C IT IES DOOMED? (Continued, from Page 52) The point I wish to make is that,' where cities coun tenance “wide-open” conditions—legalized gamhjjng, vice, and liquor—they are cutting their own throats. They have not only sown the seeds of death in their midst, but are cultivating the ground and are harvesting bumper crops. In cities wher.e good is enthroned and decency and moral- - ity are upheld, the citizens reap the proper reward of peace and prosperity. What, then, can we do about such conditions? An upsurge of civic indignation may reap a temporary bene fit in the form of an onslaught on syndicated evil. In such instances, the “ boys” are told to “lie low” until the storm “blows over,” These sporadic outbursts of virtue on the part of politicians are usually transitory.A Often they are only a blind .to cover up the rottenness at the heart of affairs. We cannot put too much trust in them. The Remedy There is but one hope for our cities, and that is a vast revival ' that will result in multitudes being, con verted to Christ and baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus, . weeding over wicked Jerusalem, cried out that, because of their, rejection of Him, not one stone should be left standing upon another. That prophecy was fulfilled. So, today, He is grieving over sinning cities, and warning them that they, too, will return to dust if from them righteousness departs and wickedness. takes possession. We can truthfully say that as go the cities, so goes America. A century ago, even two generations ago, rural life predominated in our .beloved land.- More people lived on farms and in villages ¿than in the cities. Agri culture was supreme; industry was secondary. But today industry, which produces cities, is fast making our popu lation urban. % Such a revolutionary change has focused our atten tion upon the vital fact that the cities now rule the land. If evil destroys them, its poisonous effects will spread to thè hinterland. We need only to observe how, not
only the customs, but the depravity of thé cities as well, have spread to the country, to realize that such an out come is inevitable. Our great missionary task, then, is to blast our churches out of 'their supineness, arouse phlegmatic Christians from their apathy, and stir the hosts of Christ into determined battle against the ruth less enemies of the souls of men. Only a great revival can produce such results. The opportunity which is ours now will not always be at hand. The fear that has swept the world has aroused a sense of guilt,, and people are responsive to the Gospel message given with authority. The Church possesses both the message, and the authority if she will but exer cise it, but first there must be a conviction of rightness and of duty. The powerlessness of the Christian Church today, is largely due to lack of conviction; people are religious because it is the respectable thing. They are loyal to an institution instead of being devoted to Christ. They work as members of an organization rather than as laborers in the Lord’s vineyard. By- some miraculous means beyond our power to comprehend, our cities must be brought to Christ. We must realize the problem, face the task, and pray for strength and guidance in attacking it. As we work in faith and with zeal, we will find God’s appointed way for the salvation of our cities. It is absolutely imperative that we find it. We must win souls to Christ and thereby cleanse society through the purgative effects of conse crated lives. A Personal Salvation Once a tailor showed me two pieces of cloth. They were of identical color, had the same smart appear ance, and the “feel” of each was smooth and pleasing. I could detect no difference. ; “I can make you two suits out of these pieces of goods, and at first you won’t be able to tell the,m apart,” the tailor told me. “They- will have the same fine work manship, be smartly pressed, and will make you look like a fashion plate.” “Well, then, what is the difference?” I asked him. “They look alike to me.” “The difference will show up through wear inside of a month, and by a rain inside of a day,” the tailor went on to say. “You see, while the two look exactly alike, one is of fresh genuine wool, while the other is of shoddy cloth and will soon reveal its spuriousness. Woven alike, tailored alike, pressed alike, they look alike, yet the fact is, one is good, and the other is bad. “The difference is iq the individual threads. The virgin wool, woven into good threads, makes a very good suit. Shoddy material, woven into rotten threads, makes a cheap suit that won’t wear.” Apply that to society. We look for mass salvation, while personal sins are disregarded. We expect society to be redeemed, while the individual goes on his own self ish way of indulgence and wickedness. The law of God works in society as it does in nature. You cannot secure good, fresh fruit from a poor tree; where there is moral laxity, no virtuous citizenship is produced. Jesus wept over the city, but He was not concerned with the pavements and buildings. He was broken-hearted because of the degradation of the people within it. His objective was to redeem them one by one, and thereby to redeem the city. If we apply ourselves to our task today as He outlined it in the long ago, we can bring moral as well as spiritual redemption to cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, and we can save them from destruction worse than that of atom bombs. Let us pray for our cities, and work for their redemption, be cause soon “the night cometh, when no man can work.”
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