Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-07-17
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Washington pivines
Sunday Sermon.
Subj and Her SacriGces.''

'oSull IotuSou 10 cOiuo at tuo MILK
mandments by his chamberlains; therefore
was the king very wroth, and his anger
burned him. Esther l.. II, II.
We stand amid the palaces Of Shusham.
The pinnacles are afame 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 emblazoned until it seems
that the whole round Of splendors is ex-
hausted. Each arch Is mighty leap ot
architectural achievement Golden stars
shining down on glowing arabesque. Hang
lngs of embroidered work in which mingle
the blueness 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 carousal, where
kings drink down 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, 1t seems as II a heavenly vision OF anne
thyst and jacinth and'topaz and chrysoprasus
1t seems as If billow of celestial glory had
dashed clear over heavens battlements upon
this metropolis OF Persia.
In connection with this palace there Is
garden where the mighty men OF foreign
lands are seated at Il banquet. Under the
spread of oak and linden and acacia the
tables are arranged. The breath OF honey
suckle and frankincense fills the air. Foun-
tains leap up into the light, the spray struck
through with rainbows falling in crystalline
baptism upon f1owery 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 annem-
ONES, hypericums and many colored
ranunculus. Meats of rarest bird and beast
smoking up amid wreathes of aromatics.
The vases filled with apricots and almonds.
The baskets piled up with apricots and
dates and figs and oranges and pomegran-
ates Melons tastefullY twined with leaves Of
acacia The bright waters Of Eul0us 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 fankards 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 hiccough Of the inc
briates, 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 60 out and fetch Vashti
from that banquet with the women, and
bring her to this banquet with the men, and
let me display her beauty" The servants
Immediately start to obey the kings COM
nRnd, but there was rule in oriental So
ciety that no woman might appear in public
without having her face yelled. Yet here
was mandate, and no one dare dispute, de-
manding that vashti come in unveiled be-
fore the multitude. However, there was in
Vashtis soul q principle more regal than
Ahasuerus. 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 refusal.
She says, II will not 90 into the banquet I'M
veiled." OF course Ahasuerrs 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 re-
ceive the applause of after generations who
shall rise up to admire this martyr to kingly
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, familiar
with the Bible, who will come into this pic
ture gallery of God and admire the divine
portrait OF Veshti the queen, Vashti the
yelled, Vashti the sacrifice, Vashd the
silent.
In the first place, want you to look upon
Vashti the queen. blue ribbon, rayed with
white, drawn around her forehead, indi-
Gated her queen!y 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, 1t
is not necessary to have palace and regal
robe in order to be queenly. When I see a
woman with strong faith In God putting her
foot upon all meanness and self1shness and
goddess display going right forward to serve
Christ and the race by grand and glorious
service, I 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, greet ner with the shout "All haill
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 the Lords treasury-or OF
Jephthahs daughter, who made a dem,
onstration of unself1sh patriOtism-or
of Abigail, who rescued the herds and fiocks
Of her husband-or of Ruth. who toiled un-
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 salvation 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 dying
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 palatial 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! HALL Queen
Vashti."
Again, want you to consider Yashti the
yelled. Had she appeared before Ahasuerus
and his court on that day with her face I'M