Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-06-25
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME ny THE
WASHINGTON PREACHER.

TIKI: "whn, viD thnu, Queen E~ther:'
Esther ", 3.
This uuvsli "a whiru Wa- asked ~ queen
thousands 81 YEAR aEa. all civilized ma
tipnS arr thi> auy asking sc Queen Victoria.
"Wha' wilt thou have eft honor. ut reward
or reverence or service. uI national and ia
teruHfiuual ar,.lumatiuus What wilt thou,
th" queen of the uiHrinruth century,
The seven mile ui procession through th"
streets "a London will hn small mart 81
Ia" "ungrutulatury procession whose mui-
titutinpu- tramp will uurir'n the earth.
The r"lrhratiVr anthems that Will sound
zap from Westminster Abbey gul Il. Paul
cathedral ia London will d. less than the
vibration 81 one harp string a. compared
with the doNnlugirs wlich this hour roll mp
from all nations ia praise 10 God for tho
beautiful life and the glorious reign ui thif
oldest queen amid many rrnmri,-. From
> u.vlufk ~ the morning of 1881. when the
Archbishop of Canterbury addressed the
embarrassed and weeping and almost AT
frGhtCd girl Of eighteen years with the
startling words. your majesty. 80 until this
siNticth anniversary Of her enforcement.
tn" prayer Of all good people on all sides ui
the seas, whether that prayer be Offered by
the 300 ,O0O,O 600 OF her subjects or th' larger
number of millions who are not her sub
iects, whether that prayer be solcmnizcd in
church or rolled from great orrhestras or
poured forth 10y military bands from forts
and battlements and in front Of triumphant
armies all around the world, has been and
j. now. God save the queen
Amid the nnumcrabie columns that have
been printed in eulogy of this queen at the
approaching anniversary columns which.
put together, would he literally miles long
it seems to me that the chief cause Of con
I'm la In har "a NJ 9F Of God hn-
not yet been property emphasized, and in
many cases the chief key note has not been
struck at all. We have been told over and
over again wnat has occurred in the Veto
riau era. The mightieSt thing she has done
has been almost ignored, while she has
been honorei by having her nam" attached
to individuals and events for whom and for
which she had no responsibility We have
put before Us the names NJ potent and
grandly useful men and woman who have
lived during her reign, but do not suppose
that She at all helped Thomas Carlyle in
twisting his involved and mighty satircs
or helped Oisraeli in issuance of his cpl
grammatie wit, or helped Cardinal New
man in his crossing over from religion
to religion. or helped to inspire the en-
chanted sentiments of George Eliot and
Harriet Martiucau and Mrs. Browning,
or helped to invent any of George Cruik-
shauk's hraIthGui cartoons. or helped
George Grey in founding British South
African empire. or kindlrd the patriotic
fervor with which John Bright stirred tn"
masses, or had anything to do with the
invention of the telephone or photograph,
or the building up of the science Of hac-
teriOlOgy, or the directing Of the Roentgon
rays which have revolutiOniHed surgery, or
helped in the inventions for facilitating
printing and rairoading and ocean voyag-
ing. One is not to bee credited or discrcditcd
for the virtue or the vice the hriIliance or
the stupidity Of hi. or her contemporaries.
While Queen Victoria has been the friend
OF all art, all literature, ali science. all in
ycntion. all reform. her reign will be most
remembered for all time and all eternity as
the reign of Christianity.
Beginning with that scene at ) o'clock in
the morning in keusingtou palace. where
she asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to
pray for her, and they knelt down, implor-
ing divine guidance until this hour not
only in the sublime liturgy of her e-tah-
lshed church. but on all occasions She has
directly or indirectly declared, Il believe in
God the Father Almighty, maker Of heaven
and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only be-
gotten Son | declare it, fearless OF con-
tradiction that the mighticst champion of
Christianity to-day IS the throne O, Eng
land. The queens book SO much criticised
at the time OF its appearance. some saying
it was not skiLlfully done and some saving
that the private affairs of household
ought not SO to have been exposed was
nevertheless n book Of vast usefulness
from the fact that it showed that
God was acknowledged in all her
life and that Rock Of Ages"
was not I'm unusual song in Windsor Castle.
Was her son, the Prince of Wales down
with an illness that banled the greatest
doctors of England! Then she proclaimed
day "l prayer to Almighty God and in
answer TO the prayers of the whole civilized
world the Prince got well. Was Srvastopol
to b" taken and the thousands of bcreavcd
homes Of soldiers to be cOmfortcd. She
called her nation To- its knees and the
prayer was answered. See her walking
through the hospitals like an angel Of
mercy. Was there ever an explosion of
fir" damp in the mines Of Sheffield or
Wales aud her telegram was not the first to
arrty" with help and Christian sympathy?
Is President Garfield dying ut Long Branch
and is not the cable under the sea reaching
tn Balmoral Castle kept busy in announcing
the symptoms Of the sufferer?
believe that no throne since the throne
Of David and the throne Of lIcHekah and
the throne Of Esther has been in such con
slant touch with the throne of heaven rs
Ui her habits she reads the Bible moro than
She does Shakespeare, She admires the
hymns Of HoratiO Bonar more than She
does Byrons "COrsair.' She has not know
ingly admitted into her presence a corrupt
man or disSoute woman. 70 very distin-
guished novelists and very celebrated
prima dOnnas she has declined reception
because they were immoral. All the COM
ing centuries of time cannot revoke the
ol, Mt # bnNriutp ,si,.
Christian womanhood enthronrd in the
palaces of England. Compare her court
surroundings with what We're the court
surroundings in the time of Henry VIII.
or what were the court surroundings
in the time Of Napoleon. in the time of Louis
XVI. in the times of men and women whose
names may not be mentioned in decent So
cicty. Alas. for the rcyclres and the worse
than Belshazzar feasts. and the more than
IierOdian dances, and the scenes from
which the veil must not be lifted You
need. however, in order to appreciate the
purity and virtuous splendOr Of Victoria S
reign to contrast it somewhat with the
gehennas and the pandcmoniums of many
OF the throne rooms of the past and some
OF the thrOnerOOms of the present. ] call
the roll of the queens of the earth not that
J. would have them come up or come back
but that may make them the background
ol u picture IN when can better present
the present scptuagenarian, so soon to he
an octogenarian, now on the throne of Eng
land, her example so thoroughly on the
right side that all the scandal monyers in
all the nations in six decades have not
been able to manufacture an evil suspicion
in regard to her that could be made to
stick: Maria Of Portugal, Isabella and
Eleanor and Joanna of Spain, Catherine o!
Russia, Mary of Scotland Maria Theresa OF
Germany Marie Antoinette Of France and
alt the queens of England, as Miss Strick.
land has put them before us in her charm
ing twelve volumes, and while some queen
may surPass our modern queen in learning
and another in attractivencss of feature
and anothtr in gracefulness of form, anc
| another in romance of history, Nictorit
surpasses them all in nobility and grandeur
and thoroughncss Of Christian character
hail her, the Christian daughter, the Chris
tian wife, tn" Christian mother, the Chris