The Princeton union., 1896-07-16
TAI l|N|'AG'E;8 sermon.

7AlMAGEE;8 4'l;l, $. SERMON. I: q |! /
10 bring Nashti, the queen, before
the king with the crown royal, to show
the people and the princes her beauty:
Tor she was fair to look on. But the
E queen Vashti refused to come at the
kings commandment by his chamber.
lalns; therefore was the king very
Wroth, and his anger burned in him.
Esther i.:ii.-12
We stand amid the palaces Of
Shushan. 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 i'm
ages OF bird and beast. and scenes Of
prOWesS and conquest. The walls are
hung with shields and emblazoned un-
I'll 1T seems that the whole round of
'splendors is exhausted. Each arch is
q mighty leap of architectural achieve
ment. Golden stars, shining down on
glowing arabesque. Hangings of en-
broldered 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 together the pillars of mar
ble.f Payilions reaching out in every
direction. These for repose, filled with
luxuriant couches, into which weary
limbs sink until all fatigue is sub
merged. 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, it seems as if a heavenly Wis
lon of amethyst and jacinth and tapaz
and chrysoprasus had descended and
alighted upon Shushan. It seems as if
a billow of celestial glory had dashed
clear over heavens battlements upon
this metropolis of Persia. In connec-
ton 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 Though channels Of marble, and
widening out here and there into pools
swirling with the finny tribes of for
eign aquariums, bordered with scarlet
anemones, hypericums and many col
ored ranunculus. Meats Of rarest bird
and beast smoking up amid wreaths
Of aromatics. The vases filled with
apricots and almonds. The baskets
piled up with apricots and dates and
figs and oranges and pomegranates..
Melons tastefully twined with leaves
Of acacia. The bright waters of Eu-
laeus filling the urns and sweating out
side the rim in flashing beads amid
the traceries Wine from the royal
watts Of Ispahan and Shiraz, in bottles
of tinged shell and lilyshaped cups of
silver and fagons and tankards of
solid gold. The music rises higher and
the revelry breaks out into wilder
s 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 drunk
ards. - s.
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
Immediately start to obey the kings
commands. but there was a rule in
Oriental society that no woman might
appear in public without having her
face yelled. 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 Shushan, of more wealth
than the realm of Persia, which COM
manded her to adisobey this order of
the king; and so all the righteousness
and holiness and modesty of her na-
ture rises up into one sublime refusal
She says, ''I will not go into the ban
was infuriate; and Vashti, robbed Of
her position and her estate, is driven
forth in poverty and in ruin to suffer
the scorn of nation, and yet to re-
ceive the applause of after generations
martyr to kingly insolence.s 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 multitudes of men and women, ia
miliar with the Bible, who will come
into this picture gallery of God and ad-
mire the divine portrait Of Vashti the
queen, Vashti the yelled, Vashti the
sacrifice, Vashti the silent.
In the first place, I want you to look
upon Vashti the queen. A 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 a woman with
strong faith in God, putting her foor
upon all meanness and selishness and
goddess display, going right forward
to serve Christ and the race by a grand
and glorious service, l say: That
woman is a queen and the ranks of