Milford chronicle., 1888-02-10
THE VEIL OF MODESTY.'
DR.. TALMkeE's FIFTH SERMON TO
THE WOMEN OF AMERICA.

Ahe tHFeat EHeacAAeN HAga AHaN a wan
Character is Determined by His APP
probation of woman-Iightiest Influ-
ences Arc Ever the Most Silent.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 5.-The annual pew let
ting in Brooklyn Tabernacle has just taken
place, and the rental exceeds all previous
years. For the best pews five, six, seven and
eight hundred dollars were paid. But parts
of the house are kept free, so that no one can
truthfully say that he cannot attend church
here for lack Of means.
If this immense structure were twice as
large it would not contain all who desire to
worship here. By the time the services be-
gins the streets are blocked with people going
away.
The Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, D. D., the
pastor, preached this morning the fifth in the
''Series of Sermons to the Women of Amer
lea, with Important Hints to Men" His sub
ject was, ''The Veil of Modesty," and his
text Esther i, u: "The Queen Vashti refused
to comen
If you will accept my arm 1 will escort you
into a throne room. In this fifth sermon Of
the series of sermons there are certain woman
ly excellencies 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.
The pinnacles are afame with the morning
light. The columns rise festooned and
wreathed, the weailh 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 a mighty leap Of
architectural achievement. Golden stars,
shining down on glowing arabesque. Hang
ings Of embroidered work, in 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. Pavilions
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, and jacinth, and topaz, and
chrysoprasus had descended and alighted
upon Shushan. 1t seems as if a
billow of celestial glory had dashed
clear over heavens battements upon
this metropolis of Persia. In con-
nection with this palace there is a garden,
where the mighty men Of foreign lands are
seated at a banquet Under the spread of
oak, and linden, and acacia, the tables are
arranged The breath of honeysuckle and
franllincense fills the air. Fountains leap pup
into the light, the spray struck through with
rainbows falling in crystalline baptism 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 anemones, hypericums, and many col
pred ranunculus. Meats of rarest bird and
beast smoking up amid wreaths of aromatics.
The vases filed with apricots and almonds.
The baskets piled up with .apricots, and
dates, and figs, and oranges, and pomegran-
ates Melons tastefully twined with leaves
of acacia. The bright waters of Eulaeus
filling the urns, and sweating outside the
rim in flashing beads amid the traceries.
Wine from the royal watts of Ispahan and
Shiraz. in bottles of tinged shell, and lily
shaped cups of silver, and hagons 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 than all other
voices are the hiccough of the inebriates, the
gabble of fools and the song Of the drunk
ards.
In another part of thepalace Queen Vashti
is entertaining the prineesses of Persia at
banquet Drunken Ahasuerus says to his
servants: "You go ou5 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
ma,ld but there was rule in Oriental soci-
ETY. that no woman might appear in public
without having her face veiled. Yet here
was a mandate that no one dare dispute, de
manding that Vashti come in unveiled before
the multitude However, there was in Vashti's
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 disobsy 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: 81 will not go into the banquet
unveiled" OF course, Ahasuerus was in
furiate; and Vashti, robbed Of her position
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,
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 has fallen; the last tankard 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 viii come into this picture
gallery of God and admire the divine portrait
Of Vashti the queen, Vashti the veiled,
Vashti the sacrifice, Vashti the silent
In the first place, | want you to look upon
Vashti the queen. A blue ribbon, rayed
with white. drawn around her forehead, in
dicated her queenly position. Il was no
small honor to be queen in such a realm as
that Harl to the rustic of her robesl See
the blaze of her iewels And yet, my friends,
it is not necessary TO have palace and regal
robe in order to be queenly. When see
woman with stout faith in God, putting her
foot upon all meanness, and selfshness, and
goddess display, going right forward to serve
Christ and the race by grand and glorious
service. say: "That woman is queen,n
and the ranks Of heaven look over the
battlenents upon the coronation; and
whether she come up from the shanty on
the commons or the mansion Of the
fashionable square, l greet her with the
shout: "Au hail Queen Vashti.p What
glory was there on tie brow Of Mary, Of
Scotland; or Elizabeth, Of England; or
Margaret, of France; or Catherine, Of Rus
sia, compared with the wortL Of some Of our
Christian mothers, maLy Of them gone into
clorv2-or Of that woman mentioned in the
Ss;.,.,,,se ,,,l,,, ,,,t har. all into the T,ord's