St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-05
copyrighted by the Newspaper Sermon AS


copyrighted by the Newspaper Sermon As
sociation.)
Pres. of the Benevolent Fraternity of
Churches of Boston, Mass.)
"Windows Open Toward Jerusalem. Daniel
viz 10.
A pupil in the public schools wrote essay
which began with the quotation from one Of
our great American thinkers, Hitch your
wagon to a STAR The teacher, to whom the
composition was submitted, severely criti-
cised the writer for using this expression,
claiming that 1t was slang. This error Of
Judgment showed not only a deficiency on
the part of. the educator with regard to his
reading, but also disclosed his lack Of good
sense. There is no better watchword than
that Injunction. The lad who used it was
on the right track. He was in touch with
the-neble man of old, who is described as
keGpipg the windows of his room open to-
wards Jerusalem even while in exile. What
does this mean for us who are meeting every
day duties? Can we hitch the wagon of our
ordinary enterprises to the star of some high
purpose? In other words, are there certain
windows that we ought to, keep open doing
which we are helped to ways most practical?
/ am very confident that the great need for
us all at the present time is the open window
condition of mind and heart. Let me specify
what I mean.gv9 81 lsc
In the first place. we get what I may call
horizon Any toiler in the city, who takes
his summer outing, will understand what this
expression means at once. He passes out of
the narrow streets and high walls of brick to
uplands and hills and far-reaching fields.
There is q sense of largeness, space for thought
and action, and a feeling that one is not
hemmed in and crowded. Horizon is a word
that means for people at large long look and
an inspiring one. The worker in the world
without sky and horizon in his thoughts be-
comes q mere slave. There are various kinds
of bondage of which the physical is not the
worst. The slavery of habit and mind, where
by we become fettered in dull, dreary ways Of
performing things, is about the direst calamity
that can befall human beings. We were made
to grow. No one can grow without horizon.
He must have incentive and things
ahead. This brings such a person a largeness
of spirit which is helpful of the best results.
Another benefit from open-window condition
of character is the receipt of courage thereby.
! mean by this that looking squarely at
things as they are one gets valor which can
not come in any other way. Little fires are
built by small chips If you want sustained
vigor in life you must draw from a large
source. The dynamo that will run the every
day activity to its fullest and best must be one
of no mean kind. Courage is closely related
to hope. 1--WE are saved by hope" If we take
little views, surface views, shut-in-views,
then we lack the inspiration that comes from
seeing all things together. He who has an
open window over history, and sees how man.
kind has struggled and conquered, receives a
fresh installment of courage for his own per-
sonal battle. The open window of biography
is one of the finest, surest sources of forti-
tude and endurance. Biography tells us what
our fellow human beings have been doing who
stood on the peaks. They are greater than We.