The Grenada sentinel., 1903-07-04

when carried away into captivity. l
| cannot imagine circumstances which
| would have afforded better excuse for
| refusal to recognize the claims of the
nation upon him. It would have been
have reasoned himself into the belief
that disloyalty to the heather king
would be loyalty to his God and his own
| unfortunate nation. But there were
! three elements in Daniels character
| which enabled him to adjust himself
most equally and righteously with
| the conditions surrounding him. AS a
follower of God he recognized Gods
absolute sovereignty in both temporal
] as we'll as spiritual affairs; he kept his
| eye steadfastly fixed upon God, and he
| concentrated his purposes in God. And
| as direct result of this threefold re-
| lationship to God, his walk among men
! was marked by practical contact with
| them. and consistent and persist ent eff.
| fort in the duties and responsibilities
which lay before him.
THE Christian citizen, II he would be
true and loyal atriot, must first
Of all recognize the sovereignty of God.
Gods eternal purposes are to be work.
ed out in the world through nations,
and individuals in their relations to
nations. The religion which leads its
followers to withdraw from vital con-
tact with the nation under the mis-
conception that God has abandoned it
in its mad rush to ruin might do for
angels who move in the higher spiritual
realm, but it will not do for man in tho
world under the present dispensation.
1t is mighty uplift to the Christian
TO realize that the hand of God rests
upon the temporal affairs of men and
of nations. Daniel might we'll have
reasoned in the face of the continued
and the destruction Of the Jewish ma
tion that Gods hand was not in it ALL
He might have hung his harp on the
weeping willow trees and sat down by
the rivers of Babylon and refused to be
comforted. But with the recognition
of the absolute sovereignty of God he
knew that even in the darkest hour Of
evils triumph God was moving on. and
he determined that he would be one Of
the channels through which God 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-
L la1ions 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
| - - + nd Ho &c +.
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 i'm which the eyes are
turned. In my boyhood days favorits
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 as
the right thing to do. I 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 III
/ 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-
/ lfeve, as followers of God. They see
clearly but they do not act. The vision
= is good but concentration of purpose
$, 10 lacking
pUT practical contact with th'
E IL affairs of the world must b,
marked by consistent and persisten>
effort. Consistency is declared to be
, jewel, and it shines nowhere so brigh
E as in the life of the Christian citizen
He who walks in the light may no
. step into the bypaths of questionabl,
conduct to-day and maintain his in
. fiuence in the pathway of right to
morrow. It is never a question O.
: policy and the least of two evils, bu
1 the consistent walking in the path
way which God points out. The vas
cillating Christian is the one VIII,
:, gets nowhere in. this life, and who a
4 4 the end barely gets into Heaven. Blu
the one who walks as child of tn,
light travels the pathway of consis
tency which places his life above re
! | nroach When the enemies of Dan