Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-07-07
THE BEAUTIFUL QUEEN.
Eashti the Yelled. VaSlti the Sacri-
feed. Nashti the Silent.
Rev. 7, Dewitt Talmage Commends Mod
ssty IN Woman and Draws IA Useful LES
sol From the story of Drunken
AnasurruS and His Lovely Queen.

sol From the story of Drunken
Annsu"rus and His Lovely Queen.
pr. lSlma~r's text for last sunday 5
scrmua was Esther l., II, l.: Firing
Nashri. the queen, before the king with
the crown roval 10 show the Vcoplc
and the princes her beauty, for she
was fair Ia look upon; hut the Queen
WASN'T rrfu-rd To come.
We stand amid the palaces of Shu-
shan. The pinnaclcS are atlamc with
the morning light. The columns rise
fcStooncd and wrcathed. the wealth of
empires flashing from the grooves, the
| ceilings adorned with images of bird
and beast and scenes of prowcSS and
conquest The walls are hung with
| shields and rmhla zoucd until il seems
the whole round of splcndnrs is ex-
haustcd. Each arch is IA mighty leaf OF
architectural achievement. Golden
stars shining ON glowing arabcNque.
lIau"ing> of embroidered work in
which lc the blucnrS> of the sky.
| the grcrnucss of the grass and the
Wilderness of the sea foam The tapes
tries hung on silver rings, wedding to.
gcthrr the pillars of marble. Puvil-
ions reaching out in every direction.
These for rcpo>c, filled with luNuriant
cuuchc>. in which weary limbs sink
until all fatigue is submerged. Those
for carousal where kings drink down
IL kingdom at one swallow. AmaZ-
ing spectacle. Light of silver drip
ping down over stairs of ivory on
shields of gold. Floors of stained mar
| bile. unset red and night black and in
| laid with glcamin" pearl In connec-
| tion with this palace there is garden
where the mighty men of foreign lands
are seated ut banquet Under the
spread of oak and linden and acacia
the tables are arranged. The breath
of honcysuclllc and frankincensc fills
| the air. Fountains leap up into the
| light, the spray struck through with
rainbows falling with cryptalliue hap
| tiSm upon lowering shrubs, then roll
| ing down through channels of marble
and widening ont here ana there into
| pools swirling with inny tribes of
foreign aquariumS, .bCrdcrcd with
scarlet anrm"nc>, hypcricums and
many c"lorci ranunculi
Meats of rarrst bird and beast smok-
| ing ny amid wrcaths of aromatics.
| The vases filed with apricots and al
mondS The baskets piled up with
anricots and figs and oranges and POM
egranatcS. Melons tastefully twined
with leaves of acacia The bright wa
tiers of EulnuS filling the urus and
! dropping outside the rim in flashing
| heads amid the traCcrics. Wine from
| the r"ya. vais of Isl ahan and ShiraZ,
| in bottles of tingcd shell, and lily
| shared cups of silver and iiagons and
tarkards of solid gold. The music
rises higher and the rcvclry breaks out
into wilder transport, and the wine
has flashed the check 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
Grunkards
In another part of the palace Queen
| Nashti is entertaining the princess of
Persia at Il banquet. Drunken Ahas-
uerus says To his servants. you 60
and fetch Nashii from that banquet
with the women and bring her to this
banquet with the men and let me dis
| play her beauty" The servants i'm
mcdiatciy start to obey the king
command, but there was a rule in
Oriental society that no woman might
appear in public without having her
face yelled. Yet here is n mandate
that no one d; ~ disnr'e, demanding
that Nashti come in unveiled bsfore
| the multitude. However, there was in
Nashti'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
mandcd her to disobey this order
of the king. and SO all the righteous
ness and holiness and modesty of her
nature rise up into one sublime re.
fusal She SAYS: Il will not go into
the banquet unveiled" Ahasuerus was
infuriatc, and Nashti, robbed 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 APP
lau>c of after generations, who shall
rise IN II admire this martyr to king
ly insOlcncs. Well, the last vestige of
that feast is gone, the last garland
has faded, the last arch has fallen, the
last tIuliard has been destroyed, and
Shu>han is Il ruin, but as long as the
world stands there will I've multitudes
of men ami women familiar with the
Bible who will come into this picture
| gallery of God and admire the divine
portrait of Na>hti the queen, Nashti
the vel Il, Fashti the sacrifice, Vashti
the silent.
In the first place / want you to look
upon Na>hti the queen. A blue ribbon,
rayed with white, drawn around
her forehead, indicated her queenly
position. II was no small honor to be
queen in such realm a. that. Hark
to the rustic of her robes! See the
blaze of her jewels, and yet it is not
necessary to have place and regal
robe in order to be queenly. When
see a woman with stout faith in God
putting her foot upon all meanness
and selfishuess and Goddess display.
going right forward to serve Christ
and the race by Il grand and glorious
service. l say, that woman is a
queen" ami the ranks of Heaven look
over the battle ments upon the corona
ton, and whether she comes up from
the shanty on TIE commons or the
mansion of the fashionable square
greet her with the shout, ''all hail,
Queen Vashti!'
What glory was there on the brow OF
| Mary of Scotland, or Elizabeth OF
England, or Margaret of France, OF
Catharinc 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 treasury; or of Jephthah's
daughter, who made n demonstration
of unselflsh patriotism; or of Abigail,
who rescued the herds and hocks OF
her husband; or of Ruth, who toiled
under 4 tropical sun for poor, old
helpless Naomi; or of Florence Night
ingale. who went at midnight to stanch
the battle wounds of the Crimea; or OF
Mrs. Adoniram Judson, who kindleG
the lights of salvation amid the
darkness of Burma; or of Mrs
liemans, who poured out her holy sou
in ,,nrSS tvhi.h will h.