News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-23
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR. TALMAGE
STERLING DISCOURSES.
Subject: ''The Veil of Modesty."

1;:Y 3EXT: The Queen Voshtirefused 10 come.
Esther j., 12
II you will accept my arm will escort you
INTO throne room. In this fifth sermon of
the series ofsermons there are certain woman
~ eXcelencies which l wish to commend, but
instead OF putting them in dry abstraction, |
present you their impersonation in one who
seldom, If ever, gets sermonic recognition.
we stand amid the palaces of Shushan.
1he p1nnacles are atiame with the morning
light. The columns rise festoOned and
wreathed, the wealth of empires flashing
from the grooves; the ceilings adorned with
images OF bird and beast, and scenes of
prowess and conquest. The walls are hung
with shields, and emblaZOned until it seems
that the whole round of Splendors is eX-
hausted Each arch is mighty leap of
architectural achievement. Golden stars,
SHINING down on glowing arabeS1ue. Hang
ings of embroidered work, i'll which mingle
the blueness of the sky, the greennesS of
the grass and the whiteneSs of the sea foam.
tapestries hung on silver rings, wedding to-
gether the pillars of marble. Paviiions
reaching out in every direction These for
repose, filled with luxuriant couches, in
which weary limbs sink until all fatigue is
submerged. these for carOuSal, where Kings
drink down a kingdom at one swallow
Amazing spectacle! Light of silver dripping
down over stairs of ivory on shields of gold.
Floors of stained marble sunset red and
night black, and inlaid with cleaning pearl.
why, it seems as if a heavenly vision OF
amethyst, ani jacinth, and topaz, and
chrysoprasus had descended and alighted
upon Shushan. It seems as if a billow
OF celestial glory had dashed clear over
heavens battlements upon this 1netrop-
o!ls oniaoo OF Persia ti In connection with this
the mighty men Of foreign lands are
| seated at a banquet Under the spread of
oak, and linden, and acacia, the tables are ar
ranged. The breath of honeysuckle and
!rankincense fills the air. Fountains leap up
lnto the hght, the spray struck through with
lalnboWs falling in crystalline baptism upon
towering shrubS-then rolling down through
channels of marble, and widening out here
ana there into pools swirling with the tinny
trlDes OF foreign aquariums, bordered with
scarlet anemOnes, hypericunls and many col
ored ranunculus Meats of rarest bird and
Deast smoking up amid wreaths of aromatics.
The vases filled with apricots and almonds.
Inc basket piled up with apricots, and
dates, and figs and oranges, and pomegran-
ates, Melons tastefully twined with leaves
OF acacia The bright waters of Eul8us
hlllng the urns, and sweating outside the
rim IN flashing beads amid the traceries.
Wine from the royal vats of Ispahan and
ShlraZ, in bottles of tinged shell, and lily
shaped cups of silver and fagons and tank
ards OF solid gold. The music rises higher,
and the revelry breaks out into wilder trans
port, and the wine has flushed the cheek and
touched the brain, and louder thai all other
voices are the hicCough of the inebriates, the
ga6ole OF fools, and the song of the drunk
ards.
In another part of the palace Queen Vashti
is entertaining the princesses of Persia at a
banquet Drunken Ahasuerus says to his
servants: "You go out and fetch Vashti
from that banquet with the women, and
BRING her to this banquet with the men, and
let me display her beauty" The servants
Immediately start to obey the kings COM
mand, but there was a rule in Oriental soci-
ety that no woman might appear in public
without having her face yelled. Yet here
was mandate, that no one dare dispute, de-
mand1ng that NaShti come in unveiled before
the multitude However, there was in Vashtis
soul principle more regal than Ahasuerus,
more brilliant than the gold of Shushan, OF
more wealth than the revenue of Persia,
which commanded her to disobey the order
of the King: and so all the righteousness
and holiness and modesty of her nature
rises up into one sublime refusal. She
says; 3" will not go into the banquet
infuriated; and Vashti. robbed of her po-
sition and her estate, is driven forth in
poverty and ruin to suffer the scorn
OF nation, and yet to receive the
applause of after generations, whe
shall rise up to admire this martyr tt
klngly insOlence Well, the last veStige Of
that feast is gone; the last garland has faded:
the last arch has fallen: the last tlnkard has
been destroyed, and Shushan is ruin; but
as long as the world stands there will be
multitudes of men and women, familiar With
the Bible, who will come into this picture
gallery of God and admire the divine portrait
of Vashti the Queen. Vashti the veiIed,
Vashti the sacrifice, Vashti the silent
In the first place, L want you to look upon
Vashti the Queen. A blue ribbon, rayed
with white, drawn around her foreht ad, in
dicatei her queenly position. 1t was nc
small honor to be queen in such realm as
that. Hark to the rustic of her robes! See
the blaze of her Jewels And yet, my friends,
it is not necessary to have palace and regal
robe III order to be queenly. When l see
woman with stout faith in God, putting her
foot upon all meannesS, and seltiShness, ani
godleSS display, going right forward to serve
Christ and the race by grand and glorious
service, say: THAT woman is a Queen,"
and the ranks of heaven look over the
batt.ementS upon the coronation; and
whether she come up from the shanty on
the commons or the mansion of the
fashionable square, [ greet her with the
shout: "AI hail Queen NaShti." What
glory was there on the brow of Mary, of
Scotland: or Flizahath of England.
Margaret, of france, or Catharlne, of Rus
sia, compared with the worth of some of our
Christian mothers, many of them gone into
glory!-or of that woman mentioned in the
Scriptures, who put her all into the Lords
treasury2-Or of Jephthahs daughter, who
made demonstration of unsalfsh patriotism!
hUcks of her husband?-or of Ruth, who
to1led under q tropical sun for poor, old,
helpless NaOmi?-Or of Mrs. AdOniram Jud
son, who kindled the lights of salvation amid
| the darkness of Burmah-Or of Mrs. Hemans,
who poured out her whole sole in words
which will be forever associated with
hunters horn, and captives chain, and
bridal hour and lutes throb, and curfews
knell at the dying day!-and scores and nun
dreds of women, unknown on earth, who have
/ civ rrs,fo b
hungry, and medicine to the sick, and smiles
to the diScOuraged-thejr footsteps heard
along dark lane, and in government hospital,
and in almShOuSe corridor, and by prison
gate? There may be no royal rObe-there
may be no paatial surroundings. She does
not need them; for all charitable men will
unite with the cracking lips of fever struck
hospital and plague blotched lazaretto in
greeting her as she passes: "Hail! hail!
Queen VaShti."
Among the queens whom l honor are the
female day school teachers of this land.
put upon their brow the coronet They are
the sisters and the daughters of our towns
and cities, selected out of a vast number OF
applicants, because of their especial intel
| telectual and moral endowmentS. There are
in none of your homes women more worthy
! These persons, some of them, come out from
| affluent homes, choosing teaching as useful
| profession: others, ffn1ing that father is older
| than he used to be, and that his eyesight and
| strength are not as SOOu as OHCe, 20 W lcdCL-
| ing to tighten his load. But | tell you the
history of the majority of the female teach
ers in the public schools when | say: Father
| is dead After the estate was settled, the
family, that were comfortable before, are
| thrown on their own resources.
| 1t is hard for men to earn a living in this
| day, but it is harder for women-thelr health
not so rugged, their arms not so strong,
! their opportunities fewer. These persons
after tremblingly going through the ordeal
of an examination as to their qualifications to
! teach, half bewildered step over the Sill OF
| the public school to do two things-instruct,
the young and earn their own bread. her @
work is wearing to the last degree. Inc
management of forty or fifty fidgety and in
tractabe children, the suppression of
their vices and the development OF
their excellencies, the management OF
rewards and punishments, the sending
of so many bars of soap and fine tooth
combs on benignant ministry, the breaking
| of so many wild colts for the harness OF lie,
! sends her home at night weak, neuralglc, un-
! strung, so that all of the weary people III
! your cities for five nights of the week, therG
| are none more weary than the pubic school
! teachers Now, for Gods sake, give them a
fair chance. Throw no obstacle in the way.
| If they come out ahead in the race, cheer
| them. If you want to smlte any, slnlte One
| male teachers; they can take up the cudgels
! for themselves But keep your hands oil OF
! defenceless woman. Father may be dead,
! but there are enough brothers left to demand
and see that they get justice.
Within a stones throw of this building
1 there died years ago one of the principals of
! our public schools She had been twenty five
years at that post She had left the touch OF
| refinement on a multitude of the young. She