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* over by a foreign populace. Within a short distance o f Independence Hall in Philadelphia, there may be found a “ Little Italy,” a “ Little Jerusalem,” and a “ Black Belt.” F acing the P roblem of th e C ity San Diego, the sixth city in population in California, has more than thirty nationalities; and in this one city, the government census declares that there are 226 different organized religions and cults. Between the Theosophic Temple erected on Point Loma by Madame Tingley and the Buddhist Temple on the hill on East Market Street can be found all shades o f color, various modes of living, and all types o f religions. The Apostle Paul entering learned Athens and immoral Corinth, never faced a more difficult task for the preaching o f the gospel than the Christian teacher now faces in such a city as San Diego. But, we ask, must the city be bad? The city is a living thing. Its heart’s blood is either good or bad, and in the midst of its seething turmoil are to be found some of God’s sweetest saints and also the devil’s worst emissaries. S eeing the C ity as G od S ees I t The world’s moral and spiritual battles have been fought in the cities. Jesus and the apostles attacked the cities. The heart of God has always been moved toward the cities, though they have too often been the hotbeds of sin. He sent His angels to Sodom, and there were not found ten righteous citizens. Modern Sodoms have more kinds of hell than Dante ever imagined. The city is the loneliest place on God’s earth. Men sleep, but the cities never sleep.
H istory is the story of great cities. It has been said, “ God made the country, man made the town, and the devil made the city.” If that be true, then we can well understand why God sent His messengers to Nineveh, Baby lon, Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. As the ancient world was ruled by the cities, so the modern world is now being ruled by the cities. This dominance is evident in modern Europe when we note the influence o f modern Paris, Berlin, Leningrad, and Rome upon the nations o f which they are the capitals.
Dr. Smith
This condition is also apparent in our own beloved land when we see the mighty influence that New York, Phila delphia, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Los Angeles wield in the political, economic, social, and spiritual realms of American life. Macaulay declared that the, real test o f the American Republic would come when the population o f the cities exceeded that o f the rural districts. That day is here. For the first time in American history, the majority of the people live in the cities. The city is the magnet for youth. Modern cities have become polyglot. -When Paul Revere rode through the streets of Boston on that eventful night, he rode through an American city. Visit the house in which he lived, and you discover that the district is wholly taken
*Pastor, First Baptist Church.
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