A Sermon Preached by the Rev. C. E. Darwent in Union Church, Tientsin, Sunday, September 23 another set of ideas and inspira~ tions, They came blowing: into his soul like fresh breezes. of spring and kept his-soul sweet and clean amid all the poisonous influences of the king's court. ext: Daniel VI: 10. "Now chamber towards Jerusalem."
There are many astonishing things in human nature, but, perhaps, there is not one more astonishing than this, that religion does not seem to attract everybody. It claims to be a thing whose "ways are pleasantness." Christianity offers what it describes as unheard! of graces and favours from God; all its words are pleasant sounding—salvation, grace, love, and suchlike. One would think, that all these churches would not only be full downstairs, but that they would also need galleries, (if thely walls would stand them,) if religion is so full of good things, as it claims to be, and as the church tells the world that it is, and us history shews that it is and as experience seems to show that it For when all is aid about small audiences in church, it is faiy to remember, that churches seem to have less difficulty in getting a quorum than theatres are doing at home. The drama seems to be passing through. worse times than the church.
Now it seems to me that there is an explanation of this enigma in the story that I have chosen from the book of Daniel. Remember once more what the enigma is. It is that an intrinsically attractive thing does not attract as many as we should expect it would. And the explanation that I offer is that it is a matter of windows. Here is the story. And we shall see that it is a case of windows.' We need not be surprised that the ancient Jews had a fine contempt for the gods of the surrounding nations. Moses calls the gods of Egypt "dungy gods." That is contempt indeed "They say to molten images, Ye are our gods" says Isaiah. The Hebrews had no use for the "Science of Comparative religious.". Not they. They would never admit for one moment that the gods of the nations were in the same class as Jehovah; and they were right. They were not. And this young man, Daniel, who was at the court of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was confirmed in his countrymans' opinion of the gods of the heathen by a recent degree of the king: that "if any man make any petition to any god or man within 80 days save of thee, O king; he shall be cast into the den of lions." He thought what wretched. gods they must be to stand being put ovt of commission for a month at the order of a king. his windows were open his And so Daniel pays no attention to the decree. He was not the kind of young man to put his father's God out of commission as. some people appear to do today. He went on with his own religious ways and prayed. But it is not so much the fact that he prayed, which was the main thing, but that he had a "window in his chamber open towards Jerusalem." Praying was good; but equally good was his ''window towards Jerusalem."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.