St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-08-01

the channels through which Goo might
work. To-day realization of the SOW
ereignty of God is as necessary as in
the days of Daniel.
This conception of God and His re-
larions to nations and individuals
is the first step in following God. How
could one follow God if he were not
looking for Him in the places where He
is to be found and where He is operat-
ing? And the second and third steps
naturally follow that OF the first. Hav-
ing gained a true vision of God, the
Christian citizen must keep his eye
fixed upon Him, and must concentrate
his purposes so that he will follow in
the direction in which the eyes are
turned. Inmy boyhood days favorite
pastime with us lads was playing fol-
low the leader. and the boy who kept
his eye fixed the most steadfastly upon
the leader, and keenly followed his ev-
cry move, was the one who most near
" initiated every action Of the leader.
| When the Christian is commanded to
follow God, he must keep his eyes upon
Him and concentrate his will so as to
bring his actions into harmony with
| that which his heart reveals to him AZ
the right thing to do. recall that
many times some Of us boys would fail
in following our leader. Sometimes be-
cause we took our eyes off him and
did not know what he had done, but
more often perhaps it was because we
did not do that which our eyes told us
should be done. We did not concen-
trate our purposes SO as to bring the
actions of the body into unison with
the vision Of the eye. Here is where
the majority Of Christians fail, be-
lieve, as followers Of God. They sec
clearly but they do not act. The vision
is good but concentration of purpose
is lacking. Let us borrow figure from
the ball field to illustrate our point.
The catcher behind the bat follows
with keen eyes every movement Of the
pitcher, and when the ball is delivered
not even wink of the eyelids is permit
ted to shut Its fight from view. But
this is not all that is necessary. Hands
and feet and every muscle in the body
must be concentrated in the effort to
aid the eye and catch the ball. How
useless would be the effort of the eye
it the hands failed to do their part!
So it is in following God.
pUT practical contact with the
- affairs Of the world must be
marked by consistent and persistent
effort Consistency is declared to be a
jewel, and it shines nowhere so bright
as in the life of the Christian citizen.
He who walks in the light may not |
step into the bypaths of questionable
conduct to-day and maintain his in
fuence in the pathway Of right to-
morrow. It is never a question Of |
policy and the least Of two evils. but |
the consistent walking in the path |
way which God points out. The vas
cillating Christian is the one who |
gets nowhere in this life, and who at I
the end barely gets into Heaven. But
the one who walks as child Of the |
light travels the pathway of consis-
tency which places his life above re-
proach. When the enemies of Dam
lei sought occasion against him and
wished to ruin him they were not
able to detect the least departure
from rectitude or failure to discharge
the responsibilities Of his important
Office. Their only hope of entang-
ling him was along the line Of his
Christian living. And SO
it ought to DO with every Christian.
And consistency, that bright jewel,
needs presidency, that unquenchable
flame Of zeal. to fash forth It's full
brilliancy. The Christian who does
not grow weary in well doing is the
Christian who at last reaps the fruit
age of his labors.
I remember during the worlds
fair when those great searchlights
sent their intense shafts Of bright
light skimming over the fair grounds
and surrounding country watching
with startled interest the sudden re-
vealing Of objects and people where
there had been nothing but black
darkness but an instant before. How
sharply everything stood out. The
light made conspicuous that which
would have been ,unnoticed before.
Think OF what our text implies when
t tells the Christian to walk as a
,hild of light. In the darkness Of the
world about him he will shine as a
amp in dark place. He will be
but it will be o conspicu-
BUSINESS which will exalt Christian
citizenship and glorify God. .'Let N
therefore, be followers of God, and
walk as children Of light"