The Yale expositor., 1896-07-10

| adorned WITH I'LL
ages of birds and beasts, and scenes
of prowess and conquest. The walls
are hung with shields, and emblazoned
until it seems that the whole round
of splendors is exhausted. Each archls
a mighty leap Of architectural achleVe-
ment. Golden stars, shining down on
glowing arabesque. Hangings OF en-
broidered work in which mingles the
blueness of the sky, the greenness OF
the grass, and the whiteness Oh the
sea-foam. Tapestries hung on silver
rings, wedding together the pillars OF
marble. Pavilions reaching out IN
every direction. These for repose,
| filled with luxuriant couches, into
which weary limbs sink until all IA
| tigue is submerged. These for carous-
al, where kings drink down kingdom
at one swallow. Amazing spectacle
Light of silver dropping down over
stairs of ivory on shields OF gold.
Floors Of stained marble, sunset red
and night black, and inlaid with
cleaning pearls. Why, it seems as If
heavenly vision of amethyst and ia
cinth and topaz and chrysoprasus had
descended and lighted upon Shushan.
1t seems as If a billow of celestial
| glory had dashed clear over heavens
battlefields upon the metropolis OF
Persia. In connection with this palace
there is garden where the mighty
men of foreign lands are seated at
banquet. Under the spread of oak and
linden and acacia, the tables are ar
ranged. The breath Of honeysuckle
and frankincense fills the air. Foun-
tains leap up 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, hy-
pericums, and many colored ranuncu-
lus. Meats of rarest bird and beast
smoking up amid wreaths of aromatics.
The vases filled with apricots and al
monds. The baskets filled up with
apricots and dates and figs and oranges
and pomegranates. 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.
ard lily-shaped cups Of silver, and
fiagons and tankards Of solid gold. The
music rises higher and the revelry
breaks out into wilder transport, and
the wine has flushed the check and
| touched the brain, and louder than all
other voices are the hiccough of the
inebriates, the gable of fools. and the
song of the drunkards.
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 ban
quet with the women, and bring her to
this banquet with the men, and let me
display her beauty" The servants i'm
mediately start to obey the kings COM
mand; but there was rule in Oriental
society that no woman might appear in
public without having her face veiled.
Yet here was a mandate that no one
dare dispute, demanding that Vashti
come in unveiled before the multitude.
However, there was in Vashti's soul a
principle more regal than Ahasuerus,
more brilliant than the gold of Shu-
shan, of more wealth than tho realm
of Persia, which commanded her to dis
obey this order of the king; and so all
the righteousness and holiness and
modesty of her nature rises up into one
sublime refusal. She says: Il will not
go into the banquet unveiled" OF
course Ahasuerus was infuriate; and
Vashti, robbed of her 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 gen.
orations 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, ia
miliar with the Bible, who will 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 1 want you to look
upon Vashti the queen. blue rib
bon, rayed with white, drawn around
her forehead, indicated her queenly
position. 1t was no 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 in order to be queenly.
When I see woman with strong faith
in God, putting her foot upon all mean
ness and selfishness and goddess dis
play, going right forward to serve
Christ and the race by grand and
glorious service. say: "That woman
is queen" and the ranks OF heaven
look over the battlements upon the
coronation, and whether she come up
from the shanty on the commons or
ths mansion Of the fashionable square,
] greet her with the shout: "All hail!
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