Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-09-20
auv countries. Thew have their pieces of

| line MOST Oh our WihuONo OPSiA
toward the exchange, toward the salon Of
fashion, toward the god of this world. In
olden times the length of the English yard
was fixed by the length of the arm of King
Henry l., and we are apt TO measure things
| by a variable standard and by the human
arm that in the great crises of life can give
us no help. We need. like Daniel, to open
our windows toward God and religion.
But. mark you, that good lion tanner is rot
standing at the window, but kneeling while
! he looks out. Most photographs are taken
| of those in standing or sitting posture. l
now remember but one picture OF a man
kneeling, and that was David Livingstone.
who in the cause of God and civilization
sacrificed himself, and in the heart of Africa
his servant, Majwara. found him in the tent
| by the light Of Il candle stuck on the top Of
a box, his head in his hands upon the pill
low and dead on his knees. But here is
great lion tanner living under tho
dash of the light, and his hair
disheveled by the breeze, praying. The fact
Is that a man can see farther on his knees
than standing on tiptoe. Jerusalem was about
$50 statute miles from Babylon and the vast
Arabian desert shifted its sands between
them. Yet through that open window Dan
icl saw Jerusalem. saw all between it, saw
beyond, saw time, saw eternity, saw earth
and saw heaven.
Would you like 10 see the way through
your sins 20 pardon. through your troubles
10 comfort through temptation to rescue,
through dire sickness to immortal health.
through night to day, through things terres-
trial TO things celestial-you will not see
them till you take Daniels posture. No cap
Of bone to the joints Of the fingers, no cap Of
bone to the joints Of the elbow. but cap OF
bone to the knees, made so because the God
of the body was the God of the soul, and
especial provision for those who want to
pray and physiological structure joins with
spiritual necessity in bidding us pray aud
pray and pray.
In Olden time the Earl of Westmoreland
said he had no need to pray because he hal
enough pious tenants on his estate TO pray
for him, but all the prayers of the church
universal amount to nothing unless, like
Daniel, we pray for ourselves. men and
women, bounded on one side by Shadrach's
redhot furnace and the other side by de-
vouring lions, learn the secret of courage
and deliverance by looking at that Baby
lonish window open toward the southwest
sob" you say. ''that is the direction of the
Arabian desert" Yes, but on the other side
of the desert is God, is Christ, is Jerusalem.
is heaven.
The Brussels lace is superior to all other
ittCS, 50 DcdulllUl, 81 mululOrul, ~ eApeu-
sive-400 francs a pound. All the world
seeks it. Do you know how it is made? The
spinning is done In a dark room, the only
light admitted through a small aperture,
and that light falling directly on the pat
tern. And the finest specimens of Christian
character l have ever seen or ever expect to
see are those to be found inlives all of whose
windows have been darkened by bereave-
ment and misfortune save one. but under
that one window of prayer the interlacing
of divine workmanship went on until it was
fit to deck a throne, celestial embroidery
which angels admired and God approved.
But it is another Jerusalem toward which
wenowneed to open our windows. The exiled
evangelist of Ephesus saw 1t one day as the
the surf of the Icarian Sea foamed and
splashed over the bouders at his feet, and
his vision reminded me of wedding day
when the bride by sister and maid was hav-
ing garlands twisted for her hair and jewels
strung for her neck just before she puts her
betrothed hand into the hand of her
affianced. "I, John, saw the holy city, New
Jerusalem, coming down from God out OF
heaven prepared as bride adorned for her
husband" Toward that bridal Jerusalem
are our windows Opened2
We would do well to think more ofheaven.
It is not mere annex Of earth. 1t is not
desolate outpost. As Jerusalem was the cap
ltal of Judea, and Babylon the capital OF the
Babylonian monarchy, and London is the
capital of Great Britain, and Washington is
the capital of our own Republic, the New
Jerusalem is the capital Of the universe The
King lives there, and the royal family Of the
redeemed have their palaces there. and there
is q congress ofmany Nations and parliament
of all the world. Yea, as Daniel had kindred
In Jerusalem of whom he often thought,
A. 1.fA
perhaps father and mother and brothers and
sisters still living, and WAS homesick to see
them. and they belonged to the high circles
of royalty, Daniel himself having royal blood
in his veins, so we have in the New Jerusa-
lem great many kindred, and we are some
times homesick to see them, and they are all
princes and princesses, in them the blood
Imperial, and we do we'll to keep our windows
open toward their eternal residence.
i is a Joy for us to believe that while we
are interested in them they are interested in
us. Much thought of heaven makes one
heavenly. The airs that blow through that
open window are charged with life, and
sweep up to US aromas from gardens that
never wither, under skies that never cloud,
in a spring-tide that never terminates. Com
pared with it all other heavens are dead fall
ures.
Homer's heaven was an elysium which he
describes as u plain at the end OF the earth
or beneath, with no snow nor rainfall, and
the sun never goes down, and Rhadoman-
thus, the justest Of men, rules. Hesiod's
heaven is what he calls the islands OF the
blessed. In the midst of the ocean, three
times year blooming with most exquisite
flowers, and the air is tinted with purple.
wnIle games and music and horse races oc- |
cupy the time. The Scandinavian's heaven
was the hall of Walhalla, where the god |
Odin gave unending wine suppers to earthly
heros and herOines. The MOhammedans
heaven passes its disciples in over the bridge |
Al-Sirat, which is finer than hair and |
sharper than sword, and then they are LET |
loose into riot of everlasting sensuality.
The American aborignes look forward to |
a heaven of ilimttable hunting ground, |
partridge and deer and wild duck more than |
plentiful, and the hounds never OIL the scent, |
and the guns never missing fire. But the |
geographer has followed the earth round |
and found no HOmer's elysium. Voya-
gers have traversed the deep Ia all direc- |
lions and found no Hesiod's islands of |
the blessed. The Mohammedans celes- |
tial debauchery and the Indians eternal |
hunting ground for vast multitudes |
have no charm. But here rolls in the Bible |
heaven. No more sea-that is. no wide sep |
aratiOn. No more night-that is, no insom- |
MIA. No more tears-that is, no more heart |
break. No more pain-that is, dismissal OF !
lancet and bitter draft and miasma and BAN |
lshment of neuralgias and catalepsias and |
consumptions. All colors in the wall except |
gloomy black. All the music in the major |
key because ce!ebrativo and jutilant.
River crystalline, gate crystalline ana |
skies crystalline because everything Is clear
and without doubt. White robes, and that |
IL - doris nd