The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-07-16
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
rHE NOTED DIVINE'S SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject: "Woman and Her Sacri-
fices.'s

the king with the crown royal to show the
people and the princes her beauty, fol
she was fair to look on. But the queen
Vashti refused to come Mt the kings com.
mandments by his chamberlains; therefore
was the king very wroth, and his anger
burned m."-Esther l., ,.12
We stand amid the palaces Of Shusham.
me pinnaces are ahame with the morning
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
powers and conquest. The walls are hung
with shields and emb!azoned until it seems
that the whole round Of splendors is ex-
h:usted. Each arch is a mighty leap of
architectural achievement. Golden stars
shining down on glowing ;lrahesque. Hang
ings Of embroidered work in which mingle
the blneness 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, into
which weary limbs sink until all fatigue is
submerged. These for caroucal, 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 rs if a heavenly vision Of ame-
thyst and jaointh anltopaz and chrysoprasus
had descended and alichted upon Shushan.
1t seems as If q billow of celestial glory had
dashed clear over heavens battIements unon
this metropolis Of Persia.
In connection with this palace there is
garden where the mighty men of foreign
lands are seated ut a banquet. Under the
spread of oak and linden and acacia the
tables are arranged. The breath of honey
suckie and frankinccnse fills tho air. FOun-
talns leap up into the light, the spray struck
through with rainbows falling in crystalline
baptism upon h0wery shrubs, then rolling
down through channels Of marble and
widening ont here aud thern into pools
sWlrilng with the fnnv tribes of foreign
aquariums, hordered with scarlet annem-
ONES. hypcricums aud many colorel
ranuncnlus. Meats of rarest bird and beast
smoking M amid Wreathes OF aromatics.
The vases filled with apricots and Almonds
| The baskets piled up with apricots and
dates and figs and oranges and pOlnecrnn-
ates. Melons tastefully tWined with leaves Of
| acacia. The bright waters of Eulpus filing
the urns and sweating outside the rim in
flashing beads amid tho traceries. Wine
from the royal watts of Ispahan and Shiraz,
in bottles of tinred shell. and lily shaped
cups Of silver and faSons and tankarls OF
solid gold. The music rises higher and the
revelry breaks out into wilder transport.
and the wine has flushed the check ana
touched the brain. and louder than all
| other voices are the hcrouSh Of the inc
brlates. the gabhle Of fools and the song OF
the drunkards.
In another part of tho palace Queen
Vashti Is entertaining the p-incesscs of Persia
at banquet. Drunken AhasueruS says to
his servants, "You so out ana fetch Vashti
from that banquet with the women, AMI
bring her to this banquet with the men. and
let me display her beauty" Tho servants
Immediately start to obey the kings COM
mand. but there was q rule in oriental So
clety that no woman might appear in public
without having her face veiled Yet here
was mandate, and no one dare dispute, de-
handing that Vashti come in unveiled be-
fore the multitude. However, there was in
Vashtis soul a principle more regal than
Ahasuerus. more brilliant than the gold of
ShushaD, 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 refusal
She says, II will not go into the banquet un-
veiled.' Of course Ahasuerus was infuriate.
and Vashti, robbed of her position and her
estate, Is driven forth in poverty and ruin to
su11er the scorn OF nation and yet to re-
ceive the applause of after generations who
shall rise up to admire this martyr to kingly
insoence. 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 a ruin. But
as long as the world stands there will be
multltudes of men and women, familiar
with the Bible, who will come into this pic
ture gallery of God and admire the divine
portrait of Vashti the queen, Vashti the
yelled, Vashh the sacrifice. Vashd the
silent.
In the first place, I want you to look upon
Vashti the queen. blue ribbon. rayed with
white, drawn around her forehead, indi-
Gated her queenly position. 1t was no small
honor to be que n 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 queeny When I see a
woman with strong faith in God putting her
foot upon all meanness and selfshness and
goddess display, going right forward to serve
Christ and the race by a grand and glorious
service, l say, "That woman is q queen :"
and the ranks of heaven look over the bat
Elements upon the coronation, and whether
she come up from the shanty on the COM
mons or the mansion of the fashionable
square, l greet her with the shout: "All hall
Queen Vashti." What glory was there on
the brow OF Mary of Scotland, or Elizabeth
OF England, or Margaret OF France or Cath
crime 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 all
her money into tho Lords treasury-or OF
Jephthah's daughter, who made dem
onstratIon of unselfish patriotsm-or
or Abigail, who rescued the herds and t1ocks
OF her husband-or of Ruth. who toiled I'M
der tropical sun for poor old, helpless
Naomi-or of Florence Nightingale, who
went at midnight to stanch the battle wounds
OF the Crimea-or of Mrs Adoniram Judson.
who kindled the lights of sa'vation amid the
darkness of Burmah--or of Mrs. Hemans.
who poured out her holy soul in words which
Will forever be associated with hunters horn
and captive's chain and bridal hour and
lute's throb and curfew's knell at the diving
day-and scores and hundreds of women,
unknown on earth who have given water to
the thirsty and bread to the hungry and
medicine to the sick and smiles to the dis
co1raged-their footsteps heard along dark
lane and in government hospital and in
almshouse corridor and by prison gate?
There may be no royal robe-there may be
no paatial surroundings. She does not need
them, for all charitable men will unite with
the cracking lips of fever struck hospital
and plague blotched lazaretto in greeting
her as she passes: "Hail! Hail! Queen
Vashti."
Again, want you to consider Vashti the
VeJiRl. Had she aDpparp6 hefora Ab,0uarus