Words & Music: , Gos­pel Hymns No. 2 (New York: Big­low & Main, 1876), num­ber 10.

Mr. and Mrs. Bliss came to Chi­ca­go to at­tend the Christ­ian con­ven­tion called by [Dwight L.] Moody. Dur­ing the ses­sion he made an ad­dress on the use of song in wor­ship; and sang at the pray­er meet­ing of min­isters in Far­well Hall, pre­sid­ed over by Mr. Moody…Over a thou­sand min­is­ters were pre­sent, and the in­tense spir­it­u­al feel­ing pre­vail­ing found fit ex­press­ion through Bliss in song. Af­ter he had sung “Are Your Win­dows Open to­ward Je­ru­sa­lem?” his own soul thrilled by the con­scious pre­sence of the Ho­ly Spir­it, one dear min­is­ter cried out, “God bless Mr. Bliss for that song;” and scores of amens came from as ma­ny ear­nest, ten­der hearts. This was the last time he sang in Chi­ca­go. None who were present in Far­well Hall that fore­noon will ev­er forget the pow­er with which he sang. Mr. Moody leaned for­ward in his chair, oc­cu­pied with the song and the sing­er, and over­come by the feel­ing pro­duced by the mu­sic and the sen­ti­ment of the hymn. It was the last time he was to hear him this side of the River.…

The [song] was sug­gest­ed to Mr. Bliss while at­tend­ing a Sun­day ser­vice at the State Pri­son in Jo­li­et, Il­li­nois, where he had gone to sing. , of Chi­ca­go, ad­dressed the pris­one­rs, and used Dan­i­el in Bab­y­lon, as an il­lus­tra­tion to them of Gos­pel truth, and asked the quest­ion in clos­ing—“Are your win­dows open tow­ard Je­ru­sa­lem?”