The Tupelo journal., 1903-07-10

llOSL Cqudbil ~ AiSutNOhSiy Will
| the conditions surrounding him. As q
| follower of God he recognized Gods
absolute sovereignty in both temporal
as well 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 a practical contact with
them, and consistent and persistent eff
| fort in the duties and responsibilities
which lay before him.
THE Christian citizen, if he would be
/ a true and loyal patriot, 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 the
world under the present dispensation.
1t is a mighty uplift TO the Christian
to realize that the hand of God rests
upon the temporal affairs of men and
of nations. Daniel might well have
reasoned in the face of the continued
triumph Of the mighty heather king
and the destruction of the Jewish ma
| ton hat 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 refusedto 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 lations to nations and individuals
is the first step in following God. How
could one follow God il 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. In my boyhood days a 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
ly initiated every action of the leader.
When the Christian is commanded to
follow God, he must keephis 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. / 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 Il 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, l be-
lieve, as followers of God. They see
clearly but they do not act. The vision
is good but concentration of purpose
is lacking. Let us borrow a 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 a wink of the eyelids is permit
ted to shut its flight from view. But
this is not all thati is necessary. Hands
n 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
If the hands failed to do their part!
So 1t is in following God.
RUT 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 anu maintain his in
duence in the pathway of right to-
morrow. 1t 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 n who
gets nowhere in this life, and who at
the end barely gets into Heaven. But
| the one who walks as a child of the
light travels the pathway of. consis-
tency which places his life above re-
proach. When the enemies of DAN
iel sought occasion against him and
wished to ruin him they We're 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
consistent Christian living. And so
it ought to be with every Christian.
And consistency, that bright jewel,
needs persistency. that unquenchablc