Milford chronicle., 1905-10-06
Ca(r1aoe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talnase, DID.

ry of beautiful Queen Esther, whose
courage and patriotism saved her race
from destruction. the preacher finds a
noble lesson for the women Of today.
The text is Esther iy, Is, If l perish,
perish"
Have YOU ever read the blood cu-dling
story Of the massacre of St Bartholo-
new? No Then perhaps you have
seen copies of the great masterpieces
of the Venetian artist Tintoretto and
of Peter Paul Rubens, entitled "The
Massacre Of the Innoccnts." From
these two thrilling pictures you gain
an idea Of what that most awful frag-
edy in France known as the massacre
of st. Bartholomew must have been
like. In those pictures you can see the
frantic eyes Of the mothers watching
the murderers of their children COM
ing nearer and nearer to their prey.
You can see some Il these mothers on
their knees trying to shield their ba-
bies with their arms Or you can SEQ
them with their hands clutching the
murderOus blades TO ward them Off
from their children, though the keen /
edge cut their hands to the bone Or
you can see some Of these mothers
running away in the distance with
their babies under their arms. In dra-
matte contrast to the pleading, praying
frenzied and helpless looks Of these
agonized mothers you can see Herods
butchers driving in a sword here. strik-
ing down q baby there, ripping open
the tender body Of a beautiful infant
beyond, tossing up a child farther on ,
as triclster might toss card and !
catching it upon the edge Of a sharp
pointed knife. All these fendish mur-
ders We're done rs nOnchalautly and
unconcemedly and with as much dla- ,
bo!ical abandon as was shown by the
agents of Mana Sahib, who entered the :.
Cawnpur slaughter house during the :.
Indian mutiuy of 1897 and with their !
knives hacked into pieces the women :,
and children until the murderers liter :.
ally waded in blood >.
The Crime of Herod. h
Yes the pic.~res Tlnt0retto and Ru. ?.
bens painted of that massacre send g
shudder through every one who looks ~
at them. But horrible as that tragedy r.
was, it has been eclipsed more than =,
once in the worlds history. Far great =,
er in cruelty and in the number of vic n, ~
tins was that tragedy conceived by T.,
the queen mother Catherine de- Medicj =,
and carried out by the order Of her ~ ~
royal son, King Charles IN of France. -
Herod, although he was an inhumal -
monster and capable Of any crime. ~.
slew only the male children Of two -
-ears and under living in and about ~
3ethelehem of Judaea, and the number -
II his victims must have been compar- -
ltvely small. On the other hand. be- %,
ween twenty and thirty thousand Hu. r- -.
,UenOts in one night fell in the massa- ~
re Of st. Bartholomew. Old and -
oung, rich and poor unknown peasant TD ~
nj illustrious Admiral Coligny, suck =.
ing babes and gray haired men, vel W,
cred in their lires blood on that awful w
light Then this slaughter was not re- p p
uicted in its area TO the French CAPT -
al. Its bloody work spread through ~.
he provinces With one blow the Cath. -
lie dictator, Queen Catherine, tried to 80
esuOy all the enemies of the Catholic -
lurch forever. No wonder King -
IL =
S did King Richard, in the agonies Of ~ ~
amorse. W.
What the st. Bartholomew slaughter -
'as 10 France the intended massacre o.
the Hebrews was to be to the Per no,.
an kingdom of 474 b. c. A corrupt
remier Of a corrupt king in order to -
'iumph over Hebrew, Mordecai by 80
anne, plotted to exterminate all the ''-i1
aws who did not return to the Holy 70"
and after the captivity was over and pc
hen Nehemiah was allowed to return
ONE to build the Jerusalem walls w., W.
be day Of the massacre had been set -
he couriers of the king had gone to
lie provinces and carried everywhere 80
e orders for the wholesale butchery. ~"
Il the executloners' swords had been I,'
But Haman, the prime min "a pii'
ter, schemed without knowing that
G beloved queen Of King Ahasuerus
a5 a daughter Of the despised He - ~
ews. When Esther, the queen, heard ~. W
What the premier, Haman, was to do 80
the command Of the king she said ~
her foster father, Mordecai: Il will 80 80.
unto the king and plead for my peo Du' ~.
e. This, l know, is not according to -
e law, but l will do all l can to save N o--''
EN-" Then she uttered these dra- p, sPe'
ltie words Of my text IF perish, I Do &c =
rish." W.
WOman's Courage. -
Perhaps some of you have listened to -. -
lnders wonderful oratorio. called ~ ~"
lsther" Yon have marveled at the Nv, -"
-illlng and plaintive notes Of one Of A. a.
: greatest Of all composers. But no ~ :
lch Of Handel can be more over 60 60
elming than the simple story of this ~ ~.
ave Persian queen as recorded in a1
Bible. Let me draw for you few @ .li''l
lin, practical lessons from a part -, -
1t. -, 'o
his heroic resolution. In the first sol,.
ce, was made by n woman. This sho,,
y seem to some a very insignificant as
tement to make. But | want to tell ..Ar.