The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-07-12
A QUEEN DRrHRONBD



Practical Lesson Drawn From Her Sad
Life for All Conditions and All Time.
A Queenly Martyr TO kingiy Inso-
lenee-A Woman TO Initiate.
DR.. Taimage in this discussion tells
the story OF a beautiful queen dethroned.
and draws practical lessons for all condi-
tons and all times; text, Esther !, u-le.
Bring Vashti. the queen. before the
king with the crown royal TO show the
people and the princes her beauty: for
she was fair 10 look upon But the
Queen Vashti refused to come"
We stand amid the palaces OF Shu-
shan. The pinnacles are afiame with the
morning light. The columns rise fes-
tooned and wreathed, the wealth of en-
pires flashing from the grooves: the
ceilings adorned with images OF bird
conquest The walls are hung with
shields and emblazoned until Il seems
that the whole round OF splendors Is ex-
hausted. Each arch is a mighty leaf OF
shining down on glowing arabesque.
Hangings of embroidered work in which
mingle the blueness of the sky. the
greenness of the grass and the white
ness of the sea foam. Tapestries hung
on silver rings. wedding together the
pillars of marble. Pavilions reaching out
filed with luxuriant touches, in which
weary limbs sink until all fatigue is
submerged. Those for c~arousal where
kings drink down a kingdom at one
| 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. 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 hon
eysuckle and frankincense fills the air.
Fountains leap up into the light, the
spray struck through with rainbows
falling into crystalline baptism upon
7 Powered shrubs-then rolling down
! through channels of marble and widen
ing with the finny tribes of foreign
aquariums. ordered with scarlet ane-
mones. hypericums and many colored
r%anunculi.
Meats of rarest bird and beast smok-
ing up amid wreaths of aromatics. The
vases filled with apricots and almonds.
The baskets piled up with apricots and
figs and oranges and pomegranates. Mel
ons tastefully twined with leaves of
acacia. The bright waters Of Eulaesus
filing the urns and dropping outside the
rim in flashing beads amid the traceries.
Wine from the royal watts of 1spahan
and Shiraz in bottles of tinged she'll and
lily shaped cups of silver and fiagons
and tankards of solid gold. The music
rises higher, and the revelry breaks cut
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 inebriates, the gable of
fools and the song of the
Ridden TO THE BANQUET.
In another part of the palace Queen
Vashti is entertaining the Princess of
Persia at a banquet. Drunken Ahasuerus
says to his servants, You go and fetch
Vashti from that banquet with the wo-
man and bring her to this banquet with
the men and let me display her beauty"
The servants Immediately start 70 obey
the kings command, but there was a
rule in oriental society that no woman
might appear in public without having
her face yelled. get here was a mandate
that no one dare dispute demanding that
VaShti come in unveiled before the mul-
titude. However, there was in Vaskt:s
soul a principle more regal than Ahasue-
rus, more brilliant than the gold of
Shushan, of more wealth thar the realm
of Persia. which commanded her to dis
obey this order Of the king. and SO all
the righteousness and holiness and mod
line refusal. She says: II NV" viii JH not 20
into the banquet unveiled" Ahasuerus
was Infatuated. and Vashti, robber of
her position and her estate, is driven
forth in poverty and ruin to suffer the
scorn of a nation and yet to receive the
applause Of after generations, who shall
rise up to admire this martyr to kingly
insolence. Well. the last vestige of that
feast is gone The last garland has fad
ed, the last arch has fallen, the last
tankard has been destroyed and Snushan
is a 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 picture gallery OF
God and admire the divine portrait of
Vashti the queen, Vashti the yelled,
Vashti the silent.
vAsHTI THE QUEEN.
In the first place, I want you to look
upon Vashti, the queen. A blue ribbon.
rayed with white, drawn around her
forehead, indicated her queenly posi-
ton. 1t was no small honor to be queen
hustle of her robes. See the blaze of
her jewels. And yet it is not necessary
to have place and regal robe in order TO
Stout faith in God, S putting soi her foot foot
y upon all meanness and selfishness and
n goddess display, going right forward to
| serve Christ and the race by a grand
and a glorious service. I say. That
woman is a queen" and the ranks OF
heaven look over the battlements upon
the coronation, and whether she comes
up from the shanty on the commons or
the mansion of the fashionable square 1
greet her with the shout, "All hail,
Queen Vashti!'
What glory was there on the brow of
Mary Of Scotland. or Elizabeth of Eng
land, or Margaret of France, or Gather
Inc 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 her all into the Lords treas
ury: or of Jephthah's daughter, who
made A demonstration of uaselfsn pa
triotism; or Of Abigail, who rescued the
herds and fiocks of her husband: or of
Ruth, who toiled under n tropical sun
for poor, old. helpless Naomi, or II
F1C-ence Nightingale, w'tp went at
midnight to stanch the battle wounds
OF the Crimea: or of Mrs. Adonira,n
hudson, who kindled the lights of sal
walton amid the darkness OF Burma: or
OF Mrs. Hemans who poured out hel
holy soul in words which vii, forever
be associated with hunters horn. and
cdptives chain, and briial hour, and
lute's throb, and curfew's kneil at the
dying day, and scores and hundreds OF
women. unknown on earth, who have
given water to the thirsty. and bread tC
the hungry, and medicine to the sick
and smiles to the discouraged. their
footsteps heard along dark lane. and il
government hospital, and in almshoust
| corridor. and by prison gata1 There may