The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1888-02-17
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Fifth Discourse of the Series to the
Women of America.
/" The Vail of Modesty," Showing the
Beauty of This Virtue as Illustrated
by Scripture Character-A Writ
ne Not Fully Understood.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage preached the
fifth of the 'sSeries of Sermons to the
Women of America, with Important Hints
to Men" His subject was "The Vail of
Modesty," and his text:
The Queen vashti refused to come.-Esther.
l.. 3
If you will accept my arm / viii escort
you into a throne room. In this fifth
sermon of the series of sermons there are
certain womanly excelencies which /
wish to commend, but instead OF putting
them in dry abstraction, l present you
their inperson alton in one who seldom,
If ever, gets sermonic recognition.
We stand amid the palaces of Shusha an.
The pinnacles are afiame with the morn
ing 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 splen-
| dors is exhausted. Each arch is q mighty
leap of architectural achievement Gold
en- stars, shining down on glowing
| arabesque. Hangings of embroidered
work, in which mingle the blueRess Of
the sky, the greenness Of the grass, and
the whiteness of the sea foam. Tapes
[
gether the pillars of marble. Pavilions
| reaching out in every direction. These
| for repose, filed with luxuriant couches,
| in which weary limbs sink until all IA
tigxe is submerged. These for carousal,
where kings drink down a kingdom at one
! swallow. Amazing spectaclsl Light of
/ silver dripping down oyer 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 anne
| thyst, and iacinth, and topaz, and chrys-
| oprasus had descended and alighted upon
| Shushan. 1t seems as. if billow
of celestial glory had dashed clear
over heavens battIements upon
| this metropolis of Persia. In connection
with this palace there is a garden, where
the mighty men of foreign lands are seat
| ed at a banquet Under the spread of
oak, and linden, and acacia the tables are
/ arranged. The breath of honey suckle and
frankincense fill the air. Fountains leap
| up into the light, the spray struck through
| with rainbows falling in crystalline bap-
| tism upon Towering shrubs, then rolling
/ down through channels of marble, and
| widening out here and there into pools
| swirling with the finny tribes of foreign
| aquariums, bordered with scarlet anem-
onies, hypericums and many
ored ranunculus. Meats of rarest
bird and beast smoking up amid
| wreaths of aromatios. The vases
| filed with apricots and almonds. The
| baskets piled up with aprcots and dates,
and figs, and oranges, and pomegran :
ates. Melons tastefully twined with
leaves of acacia. The bright waters of
Euaeas filling the urns, and sweating
outside the rim in flashing beads amid
the traceries. Wine from the royal vats
of Ispahan and Shiraz, in bottles of
| tinged shell, and lily -shaped cups of
silver, and fagons and tankards of solid
! gold. The music rises higher, and the
revelry breaks out into wilder transport,
and the wine has flushed the cheek and
touched the brain, and louder than all
other voices are the hiccough of the ine-
briate, the gable of fools, and the song
of the drunkard.
In another part of the palace, Queen
Vashti is entertaining the Primo cesses of
| Persia at banquet. Drunken Ahasuerus
says to his servants: "You go out and
fetch Vashti from the banquet with the
women and bring her to this banquet with
the men, and let her display her beauty. -
The servants Immediately started to obey
the Kings command, but there was a
rule in Oriental society that no woman
m ight appear in public without having
her face vailed, Yet here was
a mandate that no one dare dis
putes demanding that Vashti come
in unvailed before the multitude.
However, there was in shifts soul a
principle more regal than Ahasuerus,
more brilliant than the gold of Shusha n,
of more wealth than the realm of Persia,
which commanded her to disobey this
order of the King; and all the right
eousn ness, and holiness a1d modes tY of
her natures rise up into sublime refusal.
She says: ''I will not go into the ban
quet unvailed." OF course Ahasuerus
inf OF nd Of bav-
position and her estate, is driven forth in
poverty and ruin to suffer the scorn
of a nation and yet to receive
the applause Of after gener-
ations who shall rise up to admire this
martyr to kingly insolence. Well, the
last vestige of that feast is gone; the last
garland has faded; the last arch hes
fallen; the last tankard has been de.
stroyed, and Shushan is a ruin; but as
long as the world stands there wi] be
multitudes of men and women, familiar
with the Bible, who will come into this plct
ure gallery of God and admire the divine
portrait OF Vashti the Queen, Vashti the
vailed, Vashti the sacrifice, Vashti the
silent.
In the first place, I want you 60 look
upon Vashti the Queen. A blue ribbon,
Tayed with white, drawn around her
forehead, indicated her queenly position.
It was no small honor to be Queen in such
} a realm as that. Hark to the rustic of
her robesl See the blaze of lter jewels
And yet, my friends, it is net necessary
to have palace and regal robe in order to
be queenly. When I see a woman with
stout faith in God putting her foot upon
all meaDness, and selfshness, and god
less display, going right forward to serve
Christ and the race by grend and giori-
Gus service. / say: THAT woman is a
queen" and the ranks of Heaven look
and whether she come mp from the
shanty on the commons or the
mansion of the fashionable square,
I greet her with the shout: "A1 hail
Queen Vashti." What glory was there
on the brow of Mary Of Scotland, or
Elizabeth OF England, or Margaret OF
France, or Catherine of Russia 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
treasury?-or Of Jephthah's daughter,
who made a demonstration OF unsslfsh
patriOtismY-or of Abigail, who rescued
the herds and focks Of her hustand?--
or of Ruth, who toiled under a tropical
: sun for poor, old. helpless Naomjt--or Of
Mrs. Adomrain Judson. who kin.iled the
lights Of salvation amid the darkness of
Burmah?-or of Mrs. Hemens, who
poured out her holy soul in words
which VIII forever be associated
with hunters horn, and captiVs's chair,
and bridal hour, and Iute's throb, and cur
few's knell at the dying dayH- end scores
and hundreds of women, unknown on
earth, who have given waterto the thirsty.
and bread to the hungry, and medi-
cine to the sick, and smiles 70 the dis
couraged-their footsteps heard along
dark lane, ard in governments hospital,
and In alns-house corridor, ard by pris-
on gatsf There may be no royal robe
there may be no pa atlal surrounding.
Ske does not need them, for sil eharita-