Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1896-07-15
BRILLIANT BIBLE SCENE.
Queen vashti Held Up as Model for
All Women.
sThe Sacrifice, tho silent, the Yelled" who
scorned n Monarch and Lost u Power
fui Throne Rather Than Display
Herself to tho Kings Dis-
solute Friends.

pfiiiiant blolo scene, Dr. IaImage
discourses upon woman's opportuni.
ties, and the wrongs she sometimes
suffers. His text was Esther l., IL, 10:
ITO bring Vashti, the queen, before
the king with the crown royal to show
the people and the princes her beauty;
Tor she was fair to look upon. But the
queen, Vashti, refused to come at the
kings commandment by his chamber
lains; therefore the king was very
wroth and his anger burned in him."
We stand amid the palaces of Shu-
shan. The pinnacles are afiame 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 prowess and
conquest. The walls are hung with
shields and emblazoned until il
seems that the whole round OF
splendor is exhausted. Each arch
is mighty leap of architectural
achievement. Golden stars, shining
down on glowing arabesque. Hang
ings of embroidered work in which
mingle the bluenesss of the sky, the
greenness of the grass, and the white
ness of the seafoam. Tapestries hung
on silver rings, welding toget her the
pillars of marble. Pavilions reaching
out in every direction. These for re-
pose, filed with luxuriant couches into
which weary limbs sink until all
fatigue is submerged. These for
carousal, where kings drink down
a kingdom at one swallow. Amaz-
ing spectacle. Light of silver drip
ping down over stairs of ivory on
shields of gold. Floors of stained mar
bic, sunset red and night black, and in
laid with cleaning pearl. Why, it
seems as if heavenly vision of anne
thyst and jacinth and topaz and chryso-
prasus had descended and alighted
upon Shushan. 1t seems as if billow
of celestial glory had dashed clear over
Heavens battlemcnts upon this
metropolis of Persia. In connection
with this palace there is garden
where the mighty men of foreign
lands are seated az a banquet I'm
der the spread of oak and linden and
acacia, the tables are arranged The
breath of honeysuckle and franklin
cense fills the air. Fountains leap up
into the light, the spray struck through
with crystalline baptism upon flower
ing shrubs-then rolling down through
channels of marble, and widening out
here and there into pools swirling with
the finny tribes OF foreign aqua
RUINS, bordcred with scarlet aue-
mones, hypericums, and many-colored
anunculus. Meats of rarest birds and
beast smoking up amid wreaths of
aromatics. The vases filled with april
cots and almonds. The baskets piled
up with apricots and dates and figs and
oranges and pomegranates. Melons
tastefully twincd with leaves of acacia.
The bright waters of Eulacus filing
the urns and sweating outside the rim
in flashing beds amid the traceries. Wine
from the royal watts of Ispahan and
Shiraz, in bottles of tinged shell. and
hly-shaped cups of silver, and flagons
and tankards of solid gold The music
rises higher and the revelry breaks out
into wider transport, and the wine has
flushed the cheek 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 Processes of
Persia at n banquet. Drunken Alias
uerus says to his servants: ''You 90
out and fetch Vashti from that banquet
with the women, and bring her to this
banquet with the men, and let me dis
play 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 fac,
yelled. Yet here was a mandate that nc
one dare dispute, demanding that
Nashti come in unveiled before the
multitude. However, there was in
Nashti's soul a principle more lega
than Ahasuerus, more brilliant thar
the gold of Shushan of more wealth
than the realm of Persia, which com
manded her 20 disobey this order Of tn,
king; and 50 all the righteousness anC
holiness and modesty OF her nature rise.
up in one sublime refusal. She says. 81
will not go into the banquet unveiled.
VI course, Ahasurerus was infuriatc
and Nashti, robbed OF her position and
her estate, IS driven forth in povcrt =
and ruin 70 suffer the scorn OF a nation
and yet 90 receive the applause Of aft
er generations who shall rise M Il
admire this martyr TO kingly insolencc
Well, the last vestige OF that feast
is gone; the last garland has faded
the last arch has fallen; the last tank
ard has been destroyed. and Shushan i,
ruin; but as long as the world stand.
there viii be multitudes of men and
women, familiar with the Bible. VIII,
Will come into this picture gallery %,
God and admire the divine portrait oi
shit the queen. Vashti the yelled
Vashti the sacrifice, Vashti the silent
in the first place J want you 90 lool
upon Vashti the queen. blue ribbon
rayed with white drawn around hci
forehead, indicated her queenIv posi-
ton. u was no small honor 20 b,
queen in such a realm AZ that Harl
70 the rustic Of her robesl See the
blaze Of her jewels. And yet. rny
friends, IL is not necessary 90 have
palace and regal robes in order 20 =,
qucenly. When / see a woman with
strong faith in God, putting hor
loot upon all meanness and sell
hshncss and goddess display. goinc
right forward 80 serve Christ and the
RAGS by grand and glorious service.
say. ~ bat woman is a queen. =" and IN,
ranks 81 Heaven look over the battle
m"nts upon the coronation. and whetb
CT she come mp from the sharty on tb,
commons or the mansion Of the fash