The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-01-25
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED.
THE TRAGEDY OF A QUEEN."

The Rev. F. F. Shannon Draws q Timely
Lesson From the Story of Vashti-
There Are Few Finer Exhibitions OF
Sacrifice in the History Of Womanhood
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-For his Sunday
morning sermon, in Grace M. E. Church,
the pastor, the Rev. Frederick F.. Shan
non, had for his theme THE Tragedy of a
Queen" The text was from Esther i:ll-2:
Bring Vashti the queen before the king
with the crown royal, to show the people
and the princes her beauty: for she was
fair to look on. But the Queen Vashti
refused to come at.the kings command
ment by his chamberlains." Mr.. Shannon
said:
The Ahasuerus of the hook of Esther is
the Xerxes of profane history. By com.
mon consent of historians he was one OF
the most powerful monarchs that ever
lived. The pages of Herodotus are filled
with his exploits, and Grote and Rollin,
also, dwell upon his power and achieve
ments in an interesting manner. But his
tawdry greatness is worth while only as it
serves to set forth the heroism of Vashti.
Already the centuries have furnished the
brilliance of his court, but not the beauty
of his queen. Shushan, the palace, exists
only in name. The hundred and four
score days during which he showed the
riches of his glorious kingdom and the
honor Of his excellent majesty. are less
than q shadow on the dial. The white,
green and blue hangings, tied with cords
Of purple and fine linen to silver rings in
pillars of marble persisted long ago. The
gold and silver beds. which sat: upon a
pavement Of red and blue and white and
black marble, have had no occupants for
more than 24O0 years. The golden vessels,
from which princes quafed the royal wine:
are all one with the golden sand grains OF
the desert. Time is no respecter of per-
sons. If it buries the common things in
"oblivion, that shadow of darkness" it
does not forget to pluck TIE spangles from
the robes of kings, tossing them into the
night also. But time cannot dull the beau
ty of q great soul. Time cannot quench
the fame Of a white life. Time cannot
stain the snow of a pure heart. And thai
is why Queen Vashti and the tragedy OF
her life forever hold our admiration and
our tears. - =,
Perhaps we shall be more capable of
measuring the unfortunate queen by glanc-
ing at the monarch she opposed. Ahasue-
rus possessed the almost unlimited power
of an Oriental despot. His will wastsu-
preme in everything. We find him here
giving a feast to his lords and princes.
Having conceived the idea of making war
on Greece, this feast to his subjects is a
step looking to that end. Whatever he
undertook usually came to pass. Heseould
dig a canal through the Isthmus Of Mount
Athos. He could build a bridge of ships
across the Hellespont. He could scourge
the sea for It's tempestuousness. He could
btdeck the branches of a tree with jewelry
as a reward for its ~fruitfulness. He could
raise. an army OF more than 2,25o,WO men.
He could even shed tears when he re-
1ected that in less than a century not one
of these men would survive. But we have
in our text one thing this monarch could
not do. He could not compel a helpless
woman to permit him and his drunken
courtiers to make a toy of her beauty. de
could not drag a high-souled queen down
from the pedestal of her stainless purity!
Consider, in the first place, that the life
story of Vashti recalls the fact that palaces
have furnished the actors m some of the
darkest, deepest tragedies In history.
When Shakespeare wanted material from
which to create his immortal dramas, with
unerring vision the lightly master began
to probe the life history of kings and
queens. From their laughter and tears,
from their splendor and shame, from their
rise and fall, he wove a literary -apestry
Wu1Cu ID Iuc klONluB "OhaS
deed, as we watch Shakespeare move his
royal PLAYERS over his mental chess.board,
we have to exclaim, with Aeschylus, What
a shadow Of q shade is human royalty"
Rising in brilliance, these royal stars set
in darkness; and, usually, their darkness
is made more terrible by the ominous
Hastings of red l~ightnings of ,Temorse.
After q palace and it's occupants have
passed under Shakspeare's pen, this Is
the conclusion of the whole matter:
Thrones are painted bubbles. and kings
and queens are bubble ehasers! This IL
not saying there are no good kings and
queens, because there are. 1t is, rather,
emphasizing the fact that the happiest
people are those who are fortunate enough
not to have been born under the star OF
royalty.
We all know how the historian loves to
dwell upon the character of Cleopatra. Be-
yond question, she was one OF the most
captivating women OF paganlsm. Eeseend;
ed, from a long line Of kings, royal blood
person and brilliance sparkled in her
brain. When Nature called for an Egyp-
tan queen, this fascinating Greek princess
was the answer. At fourteen she was an
accomplished ~linguist, a student of history
and a skilled musician. At nineteen she
conquered that Caesar who had conquered
the world. Forty-six years before the
Christian era she accompanied him to
Rome, where she lived in pomp and lux
lr9 until Caesars assassination: when she
returned to Egypt. She met Mark Antony
at twenty-eight-"a period of life,i ACCORD
ing to P1utarch, "when woman's beauty is
most splendid and her intellect is in full
maturity" Antony summoned her to ap-
oao- lofaro h,,o ~ (SGoio nho ROOD unit
having assisted Cassius before the battle
of Philippi. Upon this imperious sum
mons hung the destiny of that gifted Ro-
man, and he knew it not. You know
how she answered the s~ummons-not as a
craven culprit, but as the peerless queen
of the south. AS she went up the Cydnus
in her royal barge, the like of which was
never beheld before or since, the scene
enthralled the fancy of both Plutarch and
Shakespeare. He who could make words
say what no other man could, had to con.
fess, For her own person, it beggared all
description" Like a FURNISHED throne,
her barge burned on the water; the poop
was beaten gold; the purple. sails were so
perfumed that the winds were love-slck
with them; the silver oars kept stroke to
the tune of flutes; she was couched in a
gold pavilion like Venus, where we see
like smiling Cupids, were standing on
each side tanning her; g~entlewomen, like
Mercedes. tended her: When she arrived
Mt the city the people rushed out to see
her, leaving Antony alone in the market
place.
Like the incompatible julius, she came.
she saw, she conquered! Antony was
dazzled, bewitched, erslaved by this siren
queen. Ever afterward. with the possible
exception of three years, he was her slave.
Not satisfied with lavishing silver and
gold and precious stones and silks and
,ro,1-, &c - how ha %bror, ,-bolo