1 Stopford A. Brooke, Tennyson, 18.
Open Windows.
aSS
Literature.
Almond (H. H.), Sermons by a Lay Headmaster, i. 94.
Arnold (T.), Sermons, iii. 175.
Bernard (J. H.), Via Domini, 262.
Burrell (D. J.), The Wondrous Cross, 114.
Byrum (E. E.), The Secret of Prayer, 23.
Campbell (R. J.), Sermons addressed to Individuals, 37.
Gillie (R. C), The Soul with a View, 3.
Gray (W. H.), Our Divine Shepherd, 247.
Huntington (F. D.), Christ in the Christian Year : Trinity to Advent, 155.
Hutchings (W. H.), Sermon- Sketches, i. 288.
Jay (W.), Short Discourses, ii. 239.
Kempthorne (J.), Brief Words on School Life, 104.
Leach (C), Old Yet Ever New, 221.
MacColl (M.), Life Here and Hereafter, 198.
Macmillan (H.), Gleanings in Holy Fields, 66.
McNeill (J.), Regent Square Pulpit, ii. 225.
Morrison (G. H.), Sun-Rise, 207.
Parkhurst (C. H.), The Pattern in the Mount, 90.
Rowland (A.), Open Windows, 9.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xiv. (1868), No. 815 ;
xx. (1874), No. 1154. Vaughan (C. J.), University Sermons, 199. Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), xvi. (1878), No. 1061. Christian Age, xxviii. 275 (T. de W. Talmage). Christian World Pulpit, xl. 273 (Canon Duckworth). Church of England Magazine, xxv. 282 (H. S. Richmond) ; xxvii. 240
(B. H. Blacker) ; xlv. 240 (T. Grantham). Churchman's Pulpit : Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity, xiii. 182 (W.
Downey) ; Sermons to the Young, xvi. 357 (A. Aitken). Contemporary Pulpit, 2nd Ser., v. 309 (J. Vaughan). Literary Churchman, xxxviii. (1892) 444 (E. R. Sill).
256
Open Windows.
And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house ; (now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem ;) and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.— Dan. vi. 10.
Windows as we use them to-day serve a double purpose. They not only admit the air, they also provide a view. We value them for vision as much as for ventilation. They feed our eyes as well as our lungs. Whether it be landscape or street, wooded valley, winding river and tree-crested hill, or thronged pavement, bustling crowd and jostling traffic, we crave to see out of our windows. If the wood shuts out our view, some trees must fall : if the room looks on blank walls, its rent is less. The modern man values his window for the world it opens to him without, not simply for the light it furnishes him within. And so when we can we choose the house with a view, the room with a view. When we re-model the old building, we plan cunningly to secure a vista. Walls are pierced and towers are reared and wings are built for the sake of the prospect. Happy the man who can afford it, secure it, and enjoy it. Many eyes go hungry for beauty most days of their life save for the sight of God's changing sky.
In the architecture of the spirit there are fewer disabilities. I cannot choose the site on which my life has to be lived, nor can I decide the shape of the dwelling of the soul, but I can break through the wall and throw out a window where I choose. First, I must see to it that there are casements through which know- ledge and love pour in plentifully. But this is not enough. I miss my birthright unless some opening be found or formed, though only a loophole, through which I can gaze on a chosen scene and descry the prospect I prefer. Without the window of vision, life lacks the splendour of spaciousness. We are invited to see not only the King in His beauty but also the far-stretching
JER.-MAL. — 17
258 OPEN WINDOWS
land. Though the house of my soul be but a hut, yet I can escape from littleness, if the land of far distances is open to my gaze. Though my lot be cast in a palace, if I have never learnt to throw back the shutters and to seek the horizon, I live a prisoned life. Daniel's open windows give us a revelation of — I. The Courage of the Open Window. II. The Piety of the Open Window. III. The Imagination of the Open Window.
I.
The Courage of the Open Window.
1. The story of Daniel reads like a romance. He had been brought as a captive from Jerusalem at the age of twelve. On account of his comeliness and intellectual promise he had been selected, with other captive youths of noble lineage, to receive an education in Babylonian lore. He was assigned to the royal bounty at the king's table. A difficulty here confronted him. The meat that was spread upon the table had previously been offered on the altars of pagan gods. It is written, " Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's meat." The alternative, which he chose, was a simple diet of pulse and water. He was the stuff that heroes are made of.
Time passed. Step by step he rose to successive positions of honour and responsibility until, the Medo-Persian Empire being divided into one hundred and twenty satrapies, he was made one of a triumvirate to rule over them. But his success and faithful- ness had provoked the hostility of his pagan confreres ; envy ever " hates the excellence it cannot reach." In matters of public trust they could find no occasion against him ; he was vulnerable only at one point — his religion. He was a Jew, a nonconformist. For many years he had been loyal to his ancestral faith. And just there the trap was laid for him. No doubt there were other Jews in Babylon. Daniel was a Jew who had reached a high place and influence. It was with Daniel as with Merlin in "The Idylls of the King":—