The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
DR.. TALNAGE'S SERMON.
"Wind0Ws Toward Jerusalem"

"Windows Toward Jerusalem"
Text: ellis windows being open in his
chamber toward Jerusalem" Daniel vi, 10
The scoundrely princes Of Persia urged on
by jealousy against Daniel have got a law
passed by which whosoever prays to God
shall be put under the paw and tooth OF the
lions lashing themselves in rage Of hunger
up and down the stone cage, or putting their
lower jaw to the ground and believing until
the earth trembles. But this leonine threat
did not hinder the devotions Of Daniel, the
coeur-de-lion of the ages His enemies might
as well have passed a law forbidding the sun
to draw water, or q breeze to sweep over q
garden of magnolia, or to abolish God Him,
self. They could not scare Daniel with the red
hot furnace and they cannot scare him with
the lions. AS soon as Daniel heard about
the enactment he leaves his office Of secretary
of state, with its upholstery Of crimson and
gold, and descends the white marble steps or
the public building, and goes to his own
house. There he opens the window, throws
back the shutters, pulls aside the curtain and
prays., No doubt people gathered in the
ought to be arrested The constab-
ulary rush to police headquarters with
the news that Daniel is on his knees
before the open window. "You are my
prisoner said the officer Of the law, heavily
dropping his hand on the shoulder of kneel-
ing Daniel. AS the constables are opening
the door to the lions cavern to force in their
prisoner, they see the glaring eyes Of the wild
beasts, but Daniel becomes the first creation
tanner. The wild beasts lick his hands, and
fawn at his feet, and that night he has The
shaggy name of a wild beast for a pillow,
while up in the palace Darius, the King, IS
sleep,ess because he has on him the paws and
tooth of q lion which he cannot tame, the lion
of a remorseless conscience. What q picture
it would be for LII artist! Darius, the King,
in the dusk of early morn, not waiting for
footman or chariot, but Fastening to the den,
all flushed and in dishaJiltc, to see what has
become Of his prime minister: mo sound Ill
the cave" says Darius, the King, 1.-THE mon
sters must have devoured him, and They are
sleeping soundly now after their horrid meal,
the bones of tho poor man strewn over the
floor of the cavern" But Darius, the King,
puts his mouth to the ~crevice in the cave and
with trembling voice he says, "Danlel"
Daniel makes no answer, for he is yet In FRO
found slumber, but a lion more easily awak-
ened was up and with hot breath
blown through the crevice seems an
grily to demand, "why this interruptions?
under the head Of the prophet, and Daniel,
awakened, comes forth to report himself all
unhurt and well. But my text stands me at
the window open toward Jerusalem. Why did
Daniel nave his window open toward Jelusa-
lem? Oh, that was his native land. All his
Babylonish successors could not make INN
forget it. Although he had been brought
away from it when he was a young man
eighteen years of age, and though he lived
to eighty-fv and never revisited his native
land, still he could not forget it, and When
everhe wanted to arouse the deepest emotions
of his soul and the grandest aspirations of his
nature, he opened the window toward Jeru-
salem. Oh, there are hundreds Of people in
this house this morning, who can understand
that without n exposition. This is getting
to be a land of foreigners. They are in all
our churches. 1t may be twenty OF thirty
wears ago since you got out your naturaliza-
ton papers, and you may have been
thoroughly Americanized, but your sym.
pathies 90 out toward your native land, II
your window is open toward Jerusalem.
There your father and mother are buried. 1t
may have been a very humble home in which
you were born, hut your memory often plays
about it, and you hope some day to go and
see it. The hill, the brook, the house, the
sacred place, the door from which
YOU started out with parental Blessing,
TO make your W way IN the
world. How You have longel to see
the familiar place, and in some awful crisis OF
life you have wished you could just catch one
glimpse Of the old wrinkled face that bent
over you as you lay Oh the gentle lap twenty
or thirty or fifty years ago: You may have
risen to great prosperity i'll this land, ard
like Daniel you may he gre at, and you may
have now many windows to your house-the
bay window, the skylight window, the con-
servatory window, the windows on all sides;
but there is one window you keep open to-
ward Jerusalem. When the foreign steamer
touches our wharf you see the long line of
sailors coming down the plank with shou'dered
mail bags bringing letters from home
enough letters you would think to make up a
correspondence Of a year, and yet the scene
is repeated again and again every week. And
in all the postof1ices OK the land the people
will gather and many will find that posto!iice
window the window open toward Jerusalem.
Messages saying: when are you coming
home to see Us: Brother has gone into the
army. Sister is dead. Father end mother
are getting very feeble now. Life is to US a
great struggle here. Do you advise lis to
come to you, or will you come to US! All
ioin in love, hoping that we shall meet again,
if not in this world, then ina better. Good
bye!' Yes, amid all the cities and on the
slopes of the Pacific. and amid the
Sierras, and amid tho Towering
prairies of the West, and in the ranches Of
Texas, and on tie banks OF the lagoon, this
moment there are multitudes standing, or
sitting, or kneeling with their window open
toward Jerusalem. Some of them played on
the heather of the Scotch highlands. Some
Of them were driven out by Irish famine.
Some of them drilled in early years in the
German army. Some Of them hunted the
chamois among the Alpine precipices. Some
of them are in the streets of Lyons, or Mar
settles, or Paris-saw Victor Hugo and Gam
beta. Some of them plucked the ripe clus-
tiers from Italian vineyards. Some Of them
lifted their face in the glow of the midnight
sun Of morning. 1t is no dishonor to our
country that they still love their native land.
Miscreants would they be, if while through
some Of the open windows they take in the
! free air of America and tho sunshine OF an
atmosphere which no kingly despot ever
breathed on-miscreants would they be If
they do not have one window open toward
their native Jerusalem. No wonder that some
Of the Swiss when far away from homo they
hear their national air sung, under the
malady Of inconsistencies. fall down
with death. All! yo who are far
away from home. forget not the old folks at
home. Write often to them. II you, have
q surplus of means and they have a deficit,
make practical contribution, and rejoice that
America has ties Of consanguinity with all
the world as no other nation has, and that
God has ordained it for the evangelization OF
all lands-thrilling, melting, gospelizing the
DRY, that while all the world has its door open
toward US our windows are open toward
them.
But Daniel kept his window open toward
Jerusalem because it was the capital Of sacred
influences. There smoked the sacrifices,
There was the ark of the covenant. There
was the holy Of holes. There was the tenn
pie and on the day of its dedication it was