Newspaper Page Text
8 (824)
The Sunday School
DANIEL AND HIS COMPANIONS.
Daniel 1:8-20. September 10, 1011.
The Story, Some Observations, Teniiierance
Application.
The Story?We go back in our lesson
today to the third year of Jehoiakim of
Judah. In that year Nebuchadnezzer
carried away a number of captives
from Jerusalem. Among them were
three young men, or youths, Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael and Azariah. The King
desiring to bring these and other young
men of the captives into the service of
his kingdom gives orders that they shall
. be specially cared for and that their
food shall be the same as that provided
for the king. The meats prepared
by these heathen people and the wine
from the king's cellars would be defiling
to a Jew. Daniel sets a purpose in
his heart not to defile himself. Being
in the favor of the steward, who has
him in charge. Daniel gets his consent
*-> a test of the matter. For ten days
Daniel and his companions are fcd on
nlain food and given only water to drink
and the result is so satisfactory that
the steward at once decides to continue
the diet. When the time for the king's
examination comes these young men
are found to he in better condition
nhvsically and -mentally than are those
whn have subsisted on the rich food.
God has greatlv blessed Daniel and
alven him great wisdom including nnderstanding
In visions and dreams.
Some Observations?
t. Daniel's favor with the steward
gives us a very helnful lesson. Here is
a man who is in exile from his native
land and from all that was dear to him.
Suppose he had become rough and
churlish. He would, no doubt, have
been roughly handled and no heed paid
to any re-quests had he paid enough attention
to his captors to make any. Instead
Daniel keeps sweet. We will recall
that this spirit characterized Joseph
and Christ and Paul and others
in the Bible story. Nothing is ever
gained 'lay churlishness and on the
other hand much is often gained hv
meeting adversity and difficulty and
even injustice in a quiet even temper.
Daniel was able to gain his point by
the "sweet reasonableness" of his way
of getting at the matter.
2. Daniel Is, of e.ourse, a conspicuous
example of the value of a definite purpose.
He knows that which Is right
and with a firm determination he purposes
that course. Nothing In all the
world Is so satisfactory as a man who
will "stay put." The soundness and
deflnlteness of Daniel's purpose Is due
to the fact that his heart was right. The
men who most Impress the world are
men of character and character Is a
thing of the heart.
3. An Interesting side lesson, hardlv
a side lesson when we are using this
as a temperance lesson, Is the value of
plain and substantial food. Many good
mothers are sowing the seeds of 1111
health and trouble and weakness of
body by the eating habits they are permitting
their children. Plenty of good,
clean, well-prepared food should he the
law of every home. It Is better to pay
out money for food than for doctor's
hills. Then we must not neglect, In our
homes and in our schools, to continue
the teachnig of sane and right temperance.
Many of the helnful results that
have come about in recent years are
directly traceable to the teaching that
has been given in the Sunday school In
the past.
4. "God gave them knowledge and
skill." The Psalmist savs (110: 101.
"The fear of the Ty>rd is the beginning
of wisdom." The education that leaves
God out of account is not even worth t
THE PRESBYTERI
while. Under the conditions existing
in this country religious education cannot
be carried on in the state schools.
This puts a definite burden upon the
home and the church. We must constantly
improve our work in this line
and make sure that the children who
have been committed to us as parents
and teachers are given as careful training
in religion as in matters of secular
lULCICDl.
Temperance Application?This is assigned
as the temperance lesson. It
is a gain to have it come in the regular
order of our study and not have to turn
aside from that. The course pursued
by Daniel affords excellent material for
the setting forth of the benefit of abstinence.
The facts as to the dangerous
and ruinous results of intemperance
are too well known to need repeating
here. Det every teacher take
full advantage of the opportunity for
setting them forth.
In this connection the following from
Governor Glenn will be of Interest:
"The brewers have Bent out tons of
literature, telling how bad Maine behaves
under prohibition, and how the
'speak-easy' thrives there. The Antl
saioon league. on tne otner nana, nas
sent out much literature telling how
pood the State has grown. T accented
the word of neither, hut went un there
to have a look Into the situation for
myself.
"I asked the proprietor of the blergest
hotel in town how T could pet a drink.
He replied that he was a law-ahidlnp
man. and I couldn't work one out of
him. T said I was dying of thirst and
was very lil. He told me to go around
the corner, and a eulde would meet me
pr>d show me the wsv. T threw un mv
hands and said T thanked heaven I was
In a place at last where I needed a
pulde to lead me to a drink. Almost
everywhere else I had been the people
were In need of a guardian to keep
them away from it.
"And then T took note of Maine. Of
9.3fi0 murders committed In this countrv
last year, onlv 3 were committed In
"Maine. I found the people there owned
*114 per capita, while here in your
State thev own onlv $20 per capita, and
T found that the county poorhouses were
almost empty.
"I dare any man to demonstrate that
strong drink blesses society, or the
home, or the State, and I rest my case
on the assertion that It creates thirtythree
per cent, of the country's insanity,
fifty per cent, of the disability
among veteran soldiers that sends them
to the old soldiers' homes, seventy per
cent, of the dependents upon institutional
charity, seventy per cent, of the
criminals In the penitentiaries, fortynine
per cent, of the Idiots and epileptics,
and sixty per cent, of the unfortunate
women of the streets. If strong
drink Is a friend of yours, to be tolerated
by you, why do not you get a
drunken barber to shave you of a Saturday
night And why don't you allow
drunken engineers to ride upon your
railroad trains?"
New uneans. Geo. D. Booth.
God's own glory is the gupremne end
of His government, but we may regard
it from our viewpoint and say that coordinate
with that is to save His people
from sin. He so loved the world that
mo mvp fSon that His neonle mlvht
have everlasting life. This was His
purpose in redemption. We are called
unto holiness, predestinated to be conformed
to the Image of His Son. Our
Lord's design is to present to Himself
a glorious (Thurch, not having spot, or
wrinkle or any such thing."
The old adversary has his hooks in
the man who speaks of sin as a small
thing.
AM OF TB? SOUTH
Young People's Societies
MY DENOMINATION.
Topic for Sunday, September 10: My
Denomination: Hoots, Trunk, Branches,
Fruit. Acts 20: 17-35.
Daily Readings.
Monday: The roots. Ephesians 3:
14-21.
Tuesday: The trunk. John 15: 1-10.
Wednesday: The branches. Mark 4:
30-32.
Thursday: The fruit. Galatians 5:
22, 23.
Friday: Its work. Luke 4: 18-21.
18-91
Saturday: Its hope. Ephesians 4:
1-6.
Denominational loyalty Is not bigotry.
One may make it this, by ignorance,
unwisdom, or bad spirit. Such a course,
however, hurts one's own, and is therefore
inexcusable.
My own church and others that are
evangelical agree as to the great essentials
of the faith. The agreements
among them far outnumbers the disagreements,
and cover infinitely more
important points.
It used to be common to magnify the
differences. Happily now it is becoming
more and more the rule to minify
these and to seek to magnify those
things which we hold in common. This
is according to the spirit of Christ.
'Denominations are not necessarily
antagonistic to unity. Unity is one
thing and union is quite another. It is
not unusual to find the greatest lack of
unity amongst those who are one in
organic form or corporate life.
My denomination, a part of the great
army of the Captain of our salvation, Is
entitled to my first love and service,
just as the true soldier gives his first
obedience and activity to his own corps
rather than to another. These mean
better loyalty to all.
In the church as elsewhere, that happy
feeling should always exist which
we call esprit de corps. It is the affection,
pride, devotion and loyal support
which one gives to that which is one's
own. Where it is wanting, little of loyalty
towards th elarger body may be
expected.
The existence of different denominations
may be regarded as in some sense
a uiouuvb gaiu iu luc vyiiui \.n ciu laigc,
Each one provides a certain form of
mental or spiritual activity which does
not mark the others, and that fits in
with the special bent of its adherents.
All of us, doubtless, know some people
who make splendid Methodists or
Baptists but who would be utterly not
at home in our Church, and in the same
way splendid Presbyterians who would
amount to little elsewhere. The diversities
of the human intellect and method
are thus happily provided for.
The happy competition to be most
like what God declares in His word to
be the faith and practice of His people
has prompted many believers to a more
profound and sympathetic study of that
word. This does not mean that we shall
approve of Bible study made solely for
disDutation's sake, but of Bible studv
made for the sake of trying to find the
truth.
No denomination survives the period
of its devotion to something distinctive,
or peculiar to itself. When it has traversed
its witnessing stage it fades
away. Tn this it is like nations or parties,
and its life is subject, in this respect,
to natural law. The lesson is
obvious: if you wish your church to
live, be loyal to ii. and especially to its
distinctive tenets.
An ounce of earnest work weighs
more than a pound of- querulous faultfinding.
: ' hi ."C i24
[August 30, 1911
The Prayer Meeting
THE DIVINE PUBPOSE.
Kom. 8:28-32.
Week Ik-ginning September 3rd.
Every intelligent being who is a free
agent acts with a purpose. God ii the
infinite intelligence and is sovereign in
all that He does; He would be lesB wise
and prudent than men if He did not
have nredetermined design in adminis
tering the affairs of His government.
Even if His word did not declare it
and if His Divine intelligence did not
necessarily imply it, His works of creation
and providence would demonstrate
design with convincing clearness. Order
is stamped upon the whole creation.
The law of cause and effect everywhere
prevails. Even where no prearrangement
is apparent we almost instinctively
inquire for the Intent of substances
and phenomena as they are
brought to our attention. The careful
student of nature acts upon the assumption,
or rather the premise, In all
his analyses and syntheses. The fact
of Divine purpose is essential to an intelligent
investigation of nature's laws
or understanding of its realities.
The principle prevails In the higher
realm of truth also, namely in the great
realm of redemption. Believers are
said to be chosen in Christ before the
foundation of the world Chi; si's kingdom
was prepared for Ins people before
the foundation of the world. He was
foreordained to be a Saviour, his blood
was shed, he was the T,amb slain from
"the foundation of the world " Immediately
after man's fall into sin the
. remise of a Redeemer was made and
from i;me to time In ib? history of
Co l's J eople the covenant wr-.s renewed
until the promised deliverer came in the
person of our Lord. Redemption was
not an afterthought in the progress of
the human race; it was not devised to
meet an emergency; it was and is a
part of one great eternal purpose.
So in tile application of redemption
to God's people He knows all contingencies,
as we call them, and His plans
are perfectly adjusted to them all. Under
no other condition could He make
all things work together for good to
them that love Him. He perfectly adjusts
the dispensations of His grace to
the conditions that affect His kingdom.
The great outworking of His plans concerning
individuals and concerning the
entire body of the elect is to a great
extent concealed, yet He, none the less,
is administering His affairs "according
to the eternal purpose which He pur
posed in Christ Jesus our Lord."
To this end He raises up His chosen
servants and endows them for the special
work that He wants them to do.
For their special work He chose and
endowed Abraham and Jacob and David
in preparation for the coming of
the Messiah. For their Intended work
our Dord trained his disciples that some
of them might record his deeds and
teachings and some might be his evangelists
during his ministry and after
bis ascension. For his great work he
nrepared and endowed Paul that he
might carry the gospel to the Gentiles
and expound for all subsequent ages
the great foundation truths of his kingdom.
So of every one of his servants,
whether for great service or obscure,
he has a plan and executes it in his
providence and by his grace.
i no exaltation or our Liord Is a supreme
effect and therefore a supreme
end of redemption. He Is made head
over all IhlnRs to the Church. Because
He made Himself of no reputation and
hecause obedient unto death, "wherefore
Ood also hath bltrhlv exalted him and
alven him a name which Is above every
name."