Connecticut western news., 1894-10-11
THE GIRL HADASSAH.
DR- TALnAoE PRESENTS THE MORAL
 OF ESTHER'S STORY.

centtous and Intemperate Court but
 One Good Woman In It Was Able to
 Save Her People.
 BROOKLYN, Oct. 7.-Rev. Dr. Tal- mage, who is still absent on bis round the world tour, has selected as the sub jeot of today's sermon through the press "Hadassah, 1" the text chosen be- ing Esther ii, 2, "And he brought up Hadassah.
 A beautiful child was born in the cap ital of Persia She was an orphan and a captive, her parents having been stolen from their Israelitish home and carried to Shushan and had died, leaving their daughter poor and in a strange land. But an Israelite who had been carried into the same captivity was attracted by the case of the orphan. He educated her in his holy religion, and under the roof of that good man this adopted child began to develop sweetness and excel lency of character, if ever equaled, Ger tslnly never surpassed. Beautiful Ha- dassahl Could that adopted father ever spare her from his household? Her art lussness, her girlish sports, her inno- cence, her orphanage, had wound them selves thoroughly around his heart, just as around each parents heart among us there are tendrils climbing and fasten- ing and blossoming and growing stron- ger.
 expect he was like others who have loved ones at home-wondering some times if sickness will come and death and bereavement. Alas, worse than any thing that the father expects happens to his adopted child! Ahasuerus. a prince ly scoundrel, demands that Hadassah, the fairest one in all the kingdom, be- come his wife. Worse than death was marriage to such a monster of iniquity! How great the change when this young woman left the home where God was worshiped and religion honored to enter a palace devoted to pride. idolatry and sensuality! ''As lamb to the slaugh- terp' b#
 The Captive Queen.
 Ahasuerus knew not that his wife was a aJewess.. At the instigation of the infa- nous prime minister the king decreed that all the Jews in the land should be slain. Hadassah pleads the cause. of her people. breaking through the rules of the court and presenting herself in the very face of death, crying, If perish, I perishp' Oh, it was sad time among that enslaved people! They had all heard the decree concerning their death. Sor- row, gaunt and ghastly, sat in thousands of households, and mothers wildly pressed their infants to their breasts as the days of massacre hastened on, pray ing that the same sword stroke which slew the mother might also slay the child, rosebud and bud perishing in the same blast.
 But Hadassah is busy at court The hard heart of the king is touched by her story, and although he could not re- verse his decree for the staying of the Jews he sent forth an order that they should arm themselves for defense. On horseback. on mules, on dromedaries, messengers sped through the land bear ing the kings dispatches, and Q shout of joy went up from that enslaved peo- pie at the faint hope of success. I doubt not many a rusty blade was taken down and sharpened. Unbearded youths grew stout as giants at the thought of defend ing mothers and sisters. Desperation strung up towards into heroes, and fragile women grasping their weapons swung them about the cradles, impatient for the time to strike the blow in behalf of household and country.
 Triumph of the Jews.
 The day of execution dawned. Gov ernment officials, armed and drilled, cowed before the battle shout of the op- pressed people. The cry of defeat rang back to the palaces, but above the moun tains of dead. above .75, 900 crushed and mangled corpses, sounded the triumph of the delivered Jews, and their enthusiasm was asssvhans the highlanders came to the .selief of Lucknow, and the English army, which stood in the very jaws of death, at the sudden hope of assistance and rescue lifted the shout above belch- ing cannon and the death groan of hosts, crying: We are savedl We are savedp'
 My subject affords me opportunity of illustrating what Christian character may be under the greatest disadvantage. There is no Christian now exactly what he wants to be. Your standard is much higher than anything you have attained unto. If there be any man so puffed up as to be thoroughly satisfied with the amount of excellency he has already at tained. have nothing to say to such a one, but to those who are dissatisfied with past attainments, who are toiling under disadvantages which are keep ing them from being what they ought to be, have a message from God. You each of you labor under difficulties. There is something in your tempera- ment, in your worldly circumstances, in your calling, that acts powerfully against you. Admitting all this, in troduoe to you Hadassah of the text, a noble Christian notwithstanding the most gigantic difficulties. She whom you might have expected to be one of the worst of women is one of the best.
 The Pious Orphan.
 In the firsk place, our subject is an illustration of what Christian character may be under orphanage This Bible line tells long story about Hadas- sah- '4She had neither father nor moth er." A nobleman had become her guard ian, but there is no one who can take the place of parent. Who so able at night to hear child s prayer, or at twi- light to chide youthful wanderings, n to soothe youthful sorrows? An indi- vidual will go through life bearing the marks of orphanage. It will require more strength, more persistence, more grace to make such one the right kind of Christian. He who at 40 years loses parent must reel under the blow. Even down to old age men are accustomed to rely upon the counsel or be powerfully influenced by the advice of parents, if they are still alive. But how much greater the bereavement when it comes in early life, before the character is self reliant, and when nat urally the heart is unsophistioated and easily .temptedl
 And yet behold what a nobility of