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THE CHRISTIAN NATION.
Vol. «i.
Knox, of whom it ^as said "There believer that God would draw the eagerness, earnestness and haste.
Young People's Topic lies one who nevei feared the face worshipper to himself. "Draw me, Why be in a hurry "Now is the
FOR AUG. 2.
of man."
we will run after thee." As to the day of Salvation.'' Too much is at
By Rev. A. A. Johnston.
The real courage is not that of the
Twelve Great Verses. VIIL The brute; of the bull dog who tenaciously
holds on until his life has ebbed this chapter two desires are ex­
with their souls, are not content
request. Note in the beginning of stake. Believers, when it is well
Courage Verse. Josh. 1:9. (Consecration
Meeting.)
away, or of the tiger who attacks pressed by the Shulamite. First with mere walking after Christ. It
Psalms.—27:1-5, No. 05; 34:1-5, No. his foe with relentless ferocity, but she d'esires tlie Bridegroom's kisses is good to walk, but better to run.
86; 04:1-4, 9, No. 169; 46:1-4, No. the truly courageous man is he whose
which no doubt expresses the love This was the resolution of the
127; 23:1-3, No. 56; 91:1-4, No. 247. life is gripped with a dominating purpose
and who will be loyal to that
Parallels.—1 Sam. 17:32; 2 Sam.
and afifection which the Lord Je.su:s Psalmist in the 119th Ps. 32 verse
10:12; 1 Chron. 19:13; Ps. 37:3; purpose, even though it may lead him is able and willing to beistow upon "I will run_in the \yay of thy co:r,r
Judges 5:18; 1 Sam. 14:1-14; 1 Chron. to the death of a martyr. The man His people. The second thing implied
in the request is for the Bride­
Youngstown, Ohio.
mandments." 4
11:13-14; 2 Sam. 23:14-17; 1 Kings who trembles with fear, whose lips
20:11; Deut. 31:6-8; Isaiah 8:12; are blanched but who stands his
groom himself. This is the outburst
Luke 9:51; Acts 7:54-60.
ground for the sake of conviction, he
of a longing heart after the new WRONG BREAKFAST
There is no name which a boy of
life, not to be filled with the love Change Gave Rugged Npalth.
the right kind so dreads as "coward"
and there are few terms which will
of Christ, but with Christ himself.
incite him to fightso readily as this
Spiritual desires enlarge and grow
Many persons think that for
one. Every boy desires a reputation
for courage, and many a quiet moment
is given to the joys of the im­oagination when in a time of danger is hard to be the object of the cynical
play cards, or go to the theatre. It
or in a crisis, he sees himself performing
deeds of valor which call sider themselves 'broad. It is hard to
sneer of the men or women who con­
forth the applause of on-lookers. He give up a position which promises
stops a madly rushing horse that is comfort and wealth, but which gradually
saps our spirituality because running away. He climbs to the top
we
of a burning building and rescues a
little child. He makes a wonderful
"tackle" and saves his football team
from defeat. Many an hour is
dreamed away in such pleasant reverie
and perhaps out of the dreams,
brave deeds are finallyformed.
No stories grip us in boyhood or in
manhood, like the stories of courageous
prowess. The Greek poets never
tire of telling of the brave stand
of the 300 at Thermopylae. The Romans
would not allow the story of Regulus
to die. The Carthagenians had
captured him and fBey sent him back
to his own city, Rome, to advise the
senators there to make peace. He
disobeyed their instructions, pled with
his countrymen to continue the war,
and went back to his captors to undergo
their sentence. His eye-lids were
cut off and his naked eyes were exposed
to the torrid sun of Africa.
Then they placed him in a barrel
spiked with nails and rolled it down a
steep incline. The English sing the
praise of Nelson, the Scotch of Robbert
the Bruce. The American delights
to read of Ethan Allen, Custer
and Sheridan.
There are few greater heroes than
those found in the sacred pages of
Scripture. The story of David is a
wonderful one. There is the little
shepherd lad going down to the vale
of Blah, clad, not in a coat of mail,
but robed in the garment of faith, advancing
to fightthe terrible Goliath.
There is Elijah, facing King Ahab and
nearly all Israel on the top of Carmel,
or lion-hearted Stephen defying the
Sanhedrin and sinking under a shower
of stones, or Paul dying a thousand
deaths for his Master, or Christ,
the greatest hero of all, steadfastly
facing Jerusalem with the Jewish enmity
and at the end the awful cross.
From this flame came the spark that
lighted the courage of Luther who
bravely faced kings and prelates exclaiming,
"Here stand I; I cannot do
otherwise; so help me God," or John
it is who is the truly courageous man.
There are few qualities more Important
to young people just now than
courage. We need courage to resist
many things now deemed conventional.
It takes courage to refuse to dance,
are compelled to do what our conscience
tells us is wrong. It takes
courage to stand for principles when
the world laughs at us and which
may bar us from many places of affluence
and pleasure. But if we are not
willing to be true in all these matters
we deserve the hated term "coward,"
and in the depths of our heart we
know it. May God give us the courage
of Daniel, of Joseph, of Joshua
and of Him who unflinchingly faced
the agonies of Calvary.
Prayer Meeting
FOR AUGUST sth.
By Rev. J. M. Johnston.
Second Step.
Topic
Surrendering imto God.
Christ's Drawing Power. Songs
of Solomon i '.4.
I. The Request made. Passages:
Jam. 4:18, .Jno. 6:44, Ps
73:28, Jno. 8:28, Ps. 45:14,15- Jer.
31:3, Jno. 12:32, Ps. 69:18.
2. The Power used. Eph. 2 •.4-y,
349-
I. The Request. In order to
ihave fellowship with' the Lord
Jesus, whether in the ordinary service
of the Sanctuary or in the
more special acts of worship such
as the celebration of the Lord's
supper, one thing is essential and
that is that we come very near to
the Lord. This near approach unto
Christ can not be brought about in
ourselves or by our own strength.
when set 'upon the right object. strength, they must begin the day
Only one thing can satisfy the heart with a breakfast of meat and other
of the tpue child of God and that
heavy foods. This is a mistake as
is Jesuis, the Savior. Christ is even anyone can easily discover for himself.
better than His kisses. "Draw me,
we will 'run after THEE."
A W. Va. carpenter's exper­
2. The Power used.
The first great means by which
Christ draws us to himself is His
love. This is the great fundamental
principle upon whidh the plan of
salvation is founded. Read John
3:16. Tlhis is God's great love revealed
and made manifest to the
human race through the Lord Jesus
Christ. God loved us before the
foundation of the world was laid.
He loved lus from the beginning of
eternity. How can we understand
the love of God. It is infinite. It is
past finding out as God is himself.
God did not wait for us to love
him,. Before all time, before we
were endowed with life He thoug'ht
of His people. He thought of doing
them good. His beneficent hand
has bestowed every variety of blessing
upon us. Neither our unfaithfulness
nor our ingratitude lias
dried up the fountain of His goodness
to us. Nor staid the stream of
his bounty. Such is the love with
Jno. 44:2, Jno. 3:14-16, Rom. 5:18, which he draws us. This is the
Heb. 2:9.
3. The (Resolution
'power that Christ employs to bring
adopted. us to himself. Again He draws us
Psalms : 63 :1-4 No. 168, 43 13-6 No. by helping us to feel our complete
116, 45 :i3-i7 No. 126, 121 :i-4 No. dependence upon Him. We can do
nothing of ourselves.
3. The Resolution.
"We will run after thee." Those
words indicate the object of the request.
"Draw ime, we will run after
THBE." The argument used to enforce
the request is most striking.
"We will i»un after Christ." What
can be more beautiful than that
The child running after the father.
The believer after Christ. What a
happy world if all were running
The verse before us is a prayer. It after the Lord Jesus. To run after,
is the prayer of the church or the sets forth action and this implies
ience may benefit others. He
writes:
"I used to be a very heavy breakfast
eater Iblut finally indigestion
caused me such distress, I became
afraid to eat anything.
"My wife suggested a trial of
Grape-Nuts land as I had to eat
something or starve, I concluded to
take her advice. She fixed me up
a di^h aind I remarked at the time
that the quality was all right, but
the quantity was too small—I
wanted a saucerful.
"But she said a small amount of
Grape-Nuts went a long way and
that I must eat it according to directions.
So I started in with
Grape-Nuts and cream, 2 soft boiled
eggs and some crisp toast for
breakfast.
"I cut out meats and a lot of
other stuff I had been used to eating
all my life amd was gratified to
see that I was getting better right
along. T concluded I had struck
the right thing and stuck to it. I
had not only been eating improper
food, but too much.
"I was working at the carpenter's
trade at that time and thought
that unless I had a ^hearty breakfast
with plenty of meat, I would play
out before dinner. But after a few
days of my 'new breakfast,' 'I
found I could do imore work, felt
better in every way, and now I am
not bothered with indigestion."
Name given by Postum Co.,
Battle Creek, Mich. Read "The
Road to Wellville," in pkgs
"There's a Reason."
Ever read the above letter A new
one appears from time to time. They
are genuine, true and full of human
Interest.