Editorial March 31, 1917 Issue

Jerusalem Old and New

Annie M. Knott

In these days when we read that the allied armies are drawing near to Jerusalem, one is led to recall many things connected with that ancient city. Thought almost involuntarily goes back two thousand years to that day when Jesus of Nazareth, the mightiest conqueror the world has ever known, drew near to the city, surrounded by a multitude who cried, "Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest." What mattered it that some of the Pharisees said to him, "Master, rebuke thy disciples"? Had he not but a little while before called forth Lazarus from the tomb where he had lain for three days; and need any wonder at the glad acclaim with which the lowly people sounded his praises?

Thought passes swiftly from that day to the siege of Jerusalem under Titus and Vespasian, and then on through the centuries to the time when the Crusaders sought to replace the crescent with the cross in that city. This story needs no recounting; but among the many pilgrims of all faiths and of no faith who have for varying reasons traveled to Jerusalem, mention might be made of a little band of devoted men who in the year 1839 went from the Church of Scotland to inquire into the spiritual condition of the Jewish people in Europe and in Palestine. It seems that as they drew near to Jerusalem and had their first view of it from a gap in the hills surrounding it, one of them rode on in advance of his companions; and when they reached him he was on his knees, beholding for the first time that city which has been the shrine of the world's loftiest ideals and purest faith. The others quickly dismounted and joined him; and their tears fell as their prayers for the restoration of Zion, with all that this implies, rose to God. Perhaps they remembered at that moment the Master's words: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"

In Mrs. Eddy's sermon given at the dedication of the original Mother Church in 1895, we find these words in reference to the Master's tears shed over the city of Jerusalem: "O ye tears! Not in vain did ye flow. Those sacred drops were but enshrined for future use, and God has now unsealed their receptacle with His outstretched arm. Those crystal globes made morals for mankind. They will rise with joy, and with power to wash away, in floods of forgiveness, every crime, even when mistakenly committed in the name of religion" (Pulpit and Press, p. 7). Today with uplifted desire we think of that ancient city, but in Christian Science we have learned that all it ever represented in the way of true greatness and glory is to be found the world over wherever God's name is reverenced and His law obeyed.

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