The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1903-07-04

| would have afforded better excuse for
| refusal to recognize the claims of the
nation upon him. Ii would have been
| most natural and human for Daniel to
have rea soned 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 well as spiritual affairs; he kept his
| eye steadfastly fixed upon God, and he
concentrated his purposes in God. And
| as n 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, il he would be
i true and loyal patriot, must first
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
triumph of the mighty heather king
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 I % 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 us necessary as in
the days of Daniel.
THIS conception Of God and His re-
lations 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 lie
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 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 favorite
pastime with us lads was playing fol-
low the leader, and the boy who kept
his eve fixed the most steadfasty upon
the leader. and keeuly followed his ev-
cry move, was the one who most near
Y 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 10 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 il was because we
did not do that which our eyes told us
should be done. We did not concen-
trate our purposes 80 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 see
clearly but they do not act. The vision
is good but concentration of purpose
is lacking