The Monitor-register., 1896-07-10
,yAsHTI THE YELLED.
l.. I,-94npFNNIe - ~ -
isgV. bR. TALM6eE>oN WOMAN AND
{ HER SACRIFICES.

MtEfOxSunes ana Nter an
Sermon For the Rachels, and the Debo-
rahs, and the Abigails'
WASHINGTON, July 5.-In his sermon
today, starting from a brilliant Bible
scene, DR.. Talmage discourses upon
woman,s opportunities and the wrongs
She sometimes suffers. His text was Is
ther /, II, 10: "To bring Vashti the
queen before the king with the crown
royal to show the people and the princes
her beauty, for she was fair to o o on
But the queen Vashti refused to come
at the kings commandment by his
chambeflains; therefore was the KING
very wroth, and his anger burned IN
him."
Scene In the Palace.
We stand amid the palaces OF Shu'
shan. The pinnacles are afame with the
morning light. The columns rise fes-
tooned and wreathed, the wealth OF en-
pires flashing from the grooves, cen,
fnss adorned with images of bird ana
beast and scenes of proves and con-
nnest, The walls are hung with shleius
and emb!azoned until it seems that the
whole round Of splendors is
Each arch is a mighty leap OF afchitec-
tnral achievements. Golden stars shln-
ing down Oh glowing arabesque' hang
ings of embroidered work IN Whlch
mingle tbe hlueness OF the SKY the
oreenness of the grass and the Whlteness
Cf the sea foam. Tapestries hung on Sill
YER rings. wedding together the pillars
ne marble, Pavilions reaching out in
Ivory direction. These for repose, filed
with iuxuriant couches, into which
weary limbs sink until ali fatigue is
submerged. These for earousaL where
kings drink down q kingdom at one
swallow. Amazing spectacle! Light OF
silver dripping down over stairs oflyory
nm shields of gold. Floors of stained
marble, sunset red and night black and
inIaid with cleaning pearl. Why, 1t
seems as if % heavenly vision of anne
thyst and jacinth and topaz and chryso-
prasus had descended and alighted upon
Shushan. It seems as if a blllow OF &C.
,lestial glory had dashed clear over heav-
EMS battlements upon this metropolis of
Persia.
In connection 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 frankincense
fills the air. Fountains 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 ont here and there into pools
swirling with the fnny tribes of foreign
aquariums, bordered with scarlet anem-
ones, hypericums and many colored
ranuncuIus. Meats of rarest bird and
beast smoking up amid wreaths of
aromatics. The vases filed with april
cots and almonds. The baskets piled up
with apricots and dates and figs and
oranges and po~megranates. Melons
tastefnlly twined with leaves of acacia.
The bright waters of Eulseus 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 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
hiecough Of the inebriates, the gable
of fools and the song Of the drunkards.
vashtrs Refusal.
; In another part Of tho palace Queen
Vashti is entertaining the princesses of
Persia at @ banquet. Drunken Ahasue-
U says to his servants, "You go out
and fetch Vashti from that banquet with
the women, and bring her to this BAN
quet with the men, and let me display
her beauty" The servants Immediately
start to obey the kings command, but
there was a rule in oriental society that
no woman might appear in public with
out having her face yelled. Yet here
was a mandate that no one dare dis
pute, demanding that Vashti come in
unveiled before the multitude. How
ever, there was in Vashti's soul q prin-
ciple more regal than A~Ilaseurus, more
brilliant than the gold Of Shushan, of
more wealth than the realm Of Persia,
which commanded her to disobey this
order Of the king, and SO all the right
eousness and holiness and modesty of
her nature rises up into one sublime re-
fusal. She says, 81 will not go into the
banquet unveiled" OF our Ahasue-
rus 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 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 q 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 yelled, Vashti the sacrifice, Vashti
the silent.
Noble Women.
In the first place, I want you to look
upon Vashti the queen. A blue ribbon,
rayed with white, drawn around her
forehead, indicated her queenly posi-
ton. 1t was no small honor to be queen
IN such a realm as that. Hark to the
rustic of her robesl See the blaze of her
jeweIsl And yet, my friends, it is not
necessary to have palace and regal robe
in order to be queenly. When I see a
woman with strong faith i'll God put
ting her foot upon all meanness and
s~elfshness and goddess display, going
right forward to serve Christ and the
race by a grand and glorious service, ]
say, "That woman is a queen" and
the ranks Of heaven look over the battle.
ments upon the coronation, and whether
she come up from the shanty on the
commons or the mansion of the fashion
able square, / greet her with the shout
"All hall Queen Yashti." What glory
was there on the brow of Mary Of Scot
land, or Elizabeth of England, or Mar
garet 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 men,
toned in the Scriptures, who put all her
money into the Lords treasurer of
Jephthah's daughter, who made a dem
onstration of unselfish patriotism-o1
of Abigail, who rescued the herds and
hocks of her husband-or of Ruth, who
toiled under a tropical sun for poor old,
helpless Naomi-or of Florence Night
ingale. who went atmidnight TO stanch
the battle wounds of the Crimea-cr Ct
Mrs. Adoniram Judson, who kindiJ d
the lights of salvation amid the dark
nasc nf R,nrnnr1,-c, e NIrs InIa.ns