Sixty Miles of Sin by David Paulson

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 26, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 38.

Accustoming to scenes of sin and iniquity the eyes of tens of thousands.

Sixty Miles of Sin

By David Paulson

By DAVID PAULSON, M. D.

OUR large cities are to-day the modern wilderness in which we must search diligently for the lost sheep. The concentration of sin in these centers of population is almost beyond comprehension. Chicago alone contains over seven thousand saloons, which, if placed side by side, would make a solid wall of sin nearly sixty miles in length; and in more recent years, there have sprung up an almost incredible number of nickel theaters and "movies," which are accustoming to scenes of sin and iniquity the eyes of tens of thousands of young people and even mere children who throng to them.

Can any one question, for a moment, that our large cities have about reached the condition of Sodom, and hence must soon have meted out to them the doom of Sodom? But just as certainly as this is true, there must be Abrahams to-day who are pleading with God to spare these cities for the sake of God's children who are still in them.

We have reached the time when there must be men and women who are fired with such a love for human souls that they will search out the modern Lots, and seek to arouse them from the lethargy of sin, even if they have to lay hold of their hands, as the angels did of the hands of Lot and his family, to bring them forth.

Our hearts are touched as we read of Christ weeping over Jerusalem as its day of probation was fast hastening to a close; but to-day every true follower of Christ who has really caught the Master's spirit, and who realizes the importance of the hour in which we live, must begin to weep with Christ over the present condition of our large cities.

But Christ did something more than weep. He entered Jerusalem, cleansed its temple, and preached the gospel, and laid down His life while doing it. So to-day it is not enough for us merely to weep over our large cities. Somebody must enter them, and again heal the sick, and preach the gospel, and perhaps lay down his life, and then fail in saving the city, even as Christ failed; for the servant is no greater than his Lord.

As we look at these large cities, walled up to heaven with sin and sinful practices, we can understand a little better the feelings of the ten spies when they said: "We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. . . . We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." Num. 13: 31, 33.

But those whom God will use to make the final and decisive stroke in our large cities will possess the spirit of Caleb and Joshua, who "wholly followed the Lord," and knew that He would go before them and fight for them.

The proportion of the poor in our large cities is constantly increasing, and the sick among them are becoming more numerous. Hence here is an open door for consecrated

workers who are prepared to enter with the healing for the body in one hand, and healing for the soul in the other.

It is often very difficult for the Bible worker to secure entrance into the homes of the city dwellers; but let the heavy hand of sickness touch some loved one in one of these homes, and then that same Bible worker, if she is prepared to treat the sick one, will not only be welcomed into that home, but she will have ten times better opportunity, after the Lord has used her to heal the sick, to say, "The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." Luke 10: 9. As soon as we adopt literally the Saviour's original plan, we shall have no lack of opportunities to present the saving gospel for this time.

Viewed from a human standpoint, there are but few young women who possess the genuine consecration needed to resist the commercial allurements that lie before the nurse, and who will dedicate their lives so unreservedly to the saving of human souls, that God will go out before them, and prepare hearts for them, and have His holy angels attend them, and thus make their work effective. But God is unquestionably raising up just such genuine missionary workers for this closing work.