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This three-reel exercise in cinematic spiritualism was produced, appropriately enough, by the Conscience Film Company of New York. The film is predicated on one of the oldest theatrical devices known to man: What if Jesus Christ were to appear in contemporary human form? In this instance, the Christlike character comes to New York, ready and willing to expose and absolve the sins of everyone in the Big Apple. Strolling unobtrusively through the Lower East Side, the "Five Points" District, and other cesspools of iniquity, the Modern Messiah profoundly changes the lives of many a fallen soul. The reviewer for the trade magazine Variety, somewhat more cynical than the average filmgoers, recognized Conscience as a knockoff of such recent stage productions as If Christ Should Come to Chicago and The Passing of the Third Floor Back.