The Penn's Grove record., 1896-07-10
REV. DR. TALMAGE,
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
Discourse.
Subject: "Woman aud Her Sacri.
lces.'

TExr; ''To bring vashti the queen bofort
the king with the crown royal to show tn,
people and the princes her begutv. foI
She was fair to look on. But the queer
Vashti refused to come at the kings com.
mnndments by his chamherlains; therefore
was the king very wroth, and his ange
burned him."-Esther T., IL, IL.
We stand annie the palaces Of Shusham.
The pinnac'es are afatne with tho mornino
light. The columns rise festoonrd an
wrenthed, the wealth OF empires FLASHING
from the grooves, the ceilings adorned with
images Of bird and beast and scenes o.
powers and conquest. The walls are hung
with shields and emblazoned until 1t seems
that the whole round Of splendors Is ex.
bansted. Each arch is a mighty leap oi
architectural achievement. Golden stars
shining down on glowing arabesgue. Hang.
ings of embroidered work in which mingle
the blueness OF the sky, the g%reenness of the
grass ana 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, filed with luxuriant couches- Into
which weary limbs sink until all fatigue Is
submerged. These for carousaI, whore
kings drink Town Il Kingdom Mt 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 penrl.
Why, it seems as il n heavenly vision Oh anne
thysi and jacinth AMI topaz and chrysoprasus
had descended and alighted upon Shnshan.
IT seems as II n billow Of celestial glory had
dashed clear over heavens battlements upon
this metropolis OF Persia.
In connection with this palace there Is a
garden where the mighty men OF foreign
lands are scented ut II banquet. Under the
spread OF oak and linden aud acacia the
tables are arranged. The breath of honey
suckle and frankincense fills the mir. Foun-
tains leap up into the light, the spray struck
through with rainbows falling in crystalline
baptism upon fiowery shrubs, then rolling
down through channels of marble and
widening out here and there into pools
swirling with the lnny tribes of foreign
aquariums, bordered with scarlet annem-
ONES. hyperlcums and many colored
ranunculus. Meats of rarest bird and beast
smoking up amid wreathes of aromatics.
The vases flled with apricots and almonds.
The baskets piled up with apriGots and
dates and figs and oranges and pomegran-
ates. Melons tastefully twined with leaves Of
acacia. The bright waters Of Euleus 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 iinged shell, and lily shaped
cups OF silver and flagOns and iankards 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 hicrough of the Inc
briates, the gabble of fools and the song Of
the drunkards.
In another part of the palace Oueen
Vashti is entertaining the princesses OF Persia
at n banquet. Drunken Ahasuerus says to
his servants, "You go out and fetch Yashti
from that banquet with the women, ana
hrinD her m fbfa hnpnt1at trtth fbn ,xar n.1
lot me display her beauty" The servants
Immediately start to obey the kings com
mand. but thore was q rule in oriental So
ciety that no woman might appear In public
without having her face veiled. Yet here
was n mandate, and no one dare dispute, de-
handing that Vashti come In unveiled be-
fore 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 commanded her to disobey
this order of the king, and so all the right
eousness and holiness and modesty of her
nature rlscs up into one sublime refusal.
bhe says, II viii not go into the banquet un-
yelled" OF course Ahasuerus was infuriate,
and Vashti, robbed of her position and her
estate, is driven forth In poverty and ruin to
suffer the seorn of a nation and vet to re.
ceive the applause of after generations who
shall rise up to admire this martyr to kingly
lfi5Oftutt. NtIt Ilt ltSt ftSllEb OF TUAT
feast Is gone tho last garland has faded:
the last arch has fallen; the last tankard has
been destroyed, and Shusban Is a ruin. But
as long as the world stands there will be
multitudes Of men ami women, familiar
with the Bible, who will come into this pic
ture gallery of God and admire tho divine
portrait OF Vashtl 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 ribbon. rayed with
white, drawn around her forehead, indi-
Gated her queenly position. 1t was no small
honor 10 be que n In such a realm as that.
HRrk to the rustic Of her robesl See the
blaze OF her jewelsl And yet, my friends, II
is not necessary TO have palace and regal
robe IN order to be queenly. When / SEQ a
woman with strong faith In Col putting her
foot upon all meanness and selflshness and
goddess display, going right forward to servs
Christ and the race by a grand and glorioug
service, / say, "That m is a 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. 1 greet her with the shout: A hall
Queen Vashtt." What glory was there on
the brow OF Mary Of Scotland, or Elizabeth
OF England, or Margaret Of France or Gath
crime OF Russia, compared with the worth OF
some Of our Christian mothers, many of
them gone into glory-or of hat woman
mentioned in the Scriptures, who put all
her money into the Lord's treasury-or OF
Jephthah's daughter, who made a DEM
onstration of unselflsh patriotism or
of Abigail, who rescued the herds and flocks
OF her ~hushant-or of Ruth. who toiled I'M
der a tropical sun for poor old, helpless
Nnomi-or of Florence Nightingale, vino
went at midnight to stanch the battle wound
OF the Crimea-or of Mrs. Adonfram Jndson,
who kindled the lights of sa'vation amid the
darkness of Burmah-or of Mrs. Hemans,
who poured out her holysoul 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-Iand scores and hundreds of women,
unknown on earth who have given water I'd
the thirsty and bread to tho hungry and
medicine to the sick and smiles to the dis
eo1raged-their footsteps heard along dark
lane and in government hospital and in
nlmshouse corridor and by prison rateS
There may be no royal robe-there mi E'
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 greeiins
her as she passes: "Hail! HALL Queen
Ylshii."
Again, / want you to consider Vashti the
veiled. fad she appeared before Ahasuerns
and his court on that day with her face un1
covered she would have shocked all the deii1
cacies of oriental society, and the very men
who In their intoSieaiiOn demanded that she
come In their sober moments would have de-
spised her. As some flowers seem 10 thrive
best in the dark lane and in the shadow and
where the sun does not seem 10 reach them,
so God appoints to most w0manly natures q
retiring aud unobtrusive spirit. Col once
in a while does call'un Isabella TO u throne,
or a Miriam to strike the timhrel Mt the front
Of a host, or a Marie ABtOihette TO queIl a
French mob, or a Deborah to stand at the
front OF an armed battalion, crying out
Sup, upl This is the day in which the Lord
will deliver Sisera into thine hand" And
when women az called TO such outdoo4
work and to such heroic positions God
prepares them for 1t, AND they have iron in
their souls and lightning in their eye. and
w~hirlwinds In their breath, ane the borrowed
strength OF the Lord 0~lnnipo.ent In their
right arm. They walk through furnaces as
though they were hedges OF Wild flowers aud
cross seas as though they were shlmmertng
sapphire, and all the harpies OF he'll down to
their dungeon at the stamp OF her womaniY
Indignation. But these are the exeepticns.
Generally Dorcas would rather make a gar