Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-10-30
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The First Lion Tanner in the Per-
son of the Prophet Daniel.
''EVindows Open Toward Jerusalem"-The
Relative Attractions of Earthly and
Heavenly Homes-victory the.
Only Passport to heaven.

BRooKIYS, N. Y, October 4-The Rev.
I. De Witt Talmage preached this morn
ing in the Brooklyn Tabernacle on the sub
ject, Windows Toward Jerusalem" Be-
fore the sermon he expounded the parable
in Luke concerning the widows plea be.
fore the unjust judge, and showed thow
God honored prayer. To-day was con.
munion Sabbath, and numbers were adj
ded to the church membership, which now
reaches considerably beyond 5000. The
opening lynn was:
Nearer, my God, to Thee;
Fen though it be
Across that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee
| Nearer to Thee.
The text of the sermon was:
His windows being open and his chamber
toward Jerusalem.-[Daniel VII, 10.
DR.. Talmage said: The scoundrelly
princes of Persia, urged on by political
jealousy of Daniel, have succeeded in get
ting a law passed that whoever prays to
GOO shall be put under the paw and teeth
of the lions, who are flashing themselves
~ A8SO IL AuAScA up dilu uOWA II SeOAO
cage; or, putting their lower jaw On the
ground, believing till the earth
trembles. But the leonine threat did not
hinder the devotions of Daniel, the
ceur de lion. These enemies might as we'll
have a law that the sun should not draw
water or that the south wind should not
sweep across a garden of magnolias, or
that God should be abolished. They could
not scare him with the red-hot furnaces,
and they can not now scare him with the
lions. AS soon as Daniel hears of this
enactment he leaves his office of Secretary
of State, with its upholstery Of crimson
and gold, and comes down the white mar
Bile steps and goes to his own house. He
opens his window and puts the shutters
back, and pulls the curtains aside so that
he can look toward the sacred city Of Je-
rusalem, and then prays. l suppose the
people in the street gathered under and
before his window and said: "Just see
that man defying the law; he ought to be
arrested" And the constabulary Of the
| city rush to the police headquarters and
report that Daniel is on his knees at the
wide open window. "You are my pris.
oner," said the officer Of the law, dropping
| q QeaVy ldllu OH Guo SuuulOoI u II haooA0
ing Daniel. AS the constables open the
| door Of the cavern to thrust in their pris.
oner they see the glazing eyes of the mon
sters. But Daniel becomes the first lion
| tanner, and they lick his hands and fawn
at his feet, and that night he sleeps with
the shaggy name of a wild beast for his
pillow, while the King that night, Sleep
less in his palace, has on him the paw and
teeth of a lion he can not tame, the lion of
a remorseful conscience. 80.
What a picture it would be for some ar
tist., Darius, in the early dusk of morn
ing, not waiting for the footman or char
lot. Fastening to the den, all flushed n
nervous and in deshabille, and looking
| through the c~revices of the cage to see
what had become of his Prime Minister.
"What, no sound?" he says; 'Daniel is
surely devoured, and the lions are sleep
/ ing after their horrid meal, the bones Of
the poor man scattered across the floor of
the cavern" With trembling voice Darius
calls out, "Daniell" No answer, for tho
prophet is yet in profound slumber. But
a lion, more easily awakened, advances,
and with hot breath blown Snrough the
crevice seems angrily to demand the cause
of this Interruption, and then. another
wild beast lifts his name from under
Daniels head, and the prophet, waking
up. comes forth to report himself unhurt
and well.
But our text stands us at Daniels win
dow open to toward Jerusalem. Why in
that direction open? Jerusalem. Jeru-
salem was his native land and all the
pompo of his Babylonish successes could
not make him forget it. He came there
from Jerusalem at eighteen years OF age,
and he never visited it though he lived to
be eighty. five years. When he wished to
arouse the deepest emotions and grandest
aspirations of his heart he had his win.
dow open toward his native Jerusalem.
There are many of you to-day who UNDER
stand that without any exposition.
This is getting to he a nation of for
~eieners, They nave come into all oc-
equations and professions. They
sit in all churches. 1t may be twenty
years ago since you got your naturaliza'
ton papers, and you may be thoroughly
Americanized, but you can't forget the
land of your birth, and your warmes'
sympathies go out toward it. Your win
dows are open toward Jerusalem. Youl
father and mother are buried there. II
may have been a very humble home in
which you were born, but your memory
often plays around it and you hope some
day to go and see it, tile hill, the tree, the
brook, the house, the place SO sacred, the
door from which you started off with pa
rental blessing to make your own way in
the world; and God only knows how
sometimes you have longed to see the
familiar places Of your childhood, and
how in awful crises of life you would like
to have caught a glimpse of the Ole
wrinkled face that bent over you as you
lay on the gentle lap, twenty or forty OF
fifty years ago. You may have on this
side the sea risen in fortune, and, like
Daniel, have become great, and may have
come into properties (which you e
could nave reached if you had stayed
there; and you may have many window:
to your house, bay windows and skyligh
windows and windows of conservatory.
and windows OH all sides, but you have al
least one window open toward Jerusalem
When the foreign steamer m to thu
wharf you see the long line of sailors with
s~houldered mail bags coming Town thu
planks carrying as many letters as yo'
might supnoca wonld he enough For