Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1905-01-12
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED.
1.-THE TRAGEDY OF A QUEEN"

The Rev. f. F. Shannon Draws . Timely
Lesson From the Story Of vashti-
There Are Few Finer Exhibitions Of
Sacrifice in the History Of Won anhood
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-For his Sunday
morning sermon, in Grace M. E. Church,
non, had for his theme ''The Tragedy of
Queen" The text was from Esther i:ll-l2:
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
said:
The Ahasuerus Of the book 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
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 tarnished the
brilliance of his court, but not the beauty
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 a shadow on the dial. The white,
green and blue hangings, tied with cords
of purple and fine linen to silver rings 3; in
pillars of marble perished long ago. The
gold and silver beds, which sat upon
pavement of red and blue and white and
black marble, have had no occupants for
more than 24OO years. The golden vessels,
from which princes quaffed 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 the spangles from
the robes of kings, tossing them into the
night also. But time cannot dull the beau
ty of great soul. Time cannot quench
the flame of white life. Time cannot
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 was su-
preme in everything. We. find him here
giving 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. he could
dig canal through the Isthmus of Mount
| Athos. He could build bridge of ships
across the Hellespont. He could scourge
the sea for It's tempestuousness.. He could
| bedeck the branches OF a tree with JeWelry
as a reward for its fruitfulness. He could
| raise an army of more than 2,250, 900 men.
! He could even shed tears when he re-
| flected 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 coE1pel helpless
woman to permit him and his drunken
courtiers to make toy Of her beauty, He
could not drag high-souled queen down
Consider, in the first place, that the life
story of Vashti recalls the fact that palaces
have furnished the actors in some OF the
darkest. deepest tragedies in history.
When Shakespeare wanted material from
which to create his immortal dramas, with
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 literary 4apestry
which is the growing wonder of men. In
deed, as we watch Shakespeare move his
we have to exclaim, with Aeschylus, What
a shadow of shade is human royalty!'
Rising in brilliance, these royal stars set
in darkness; and, usually, their darkness
is made more terrible by the ominous
Aashings of red lightnings of remorse
| After q palace anu It's OSCupoAIS A"v :
passed under Shakspeare's pen, this Is
the conclusion of the whole matter:
Thrones are painted bubbles, and kings
and queens are bubble chasers! This is
not saying there are no good kings and
queens, because there are. It is, rather
emphasizing the fact that the happies
people are those who are fortunate enough
not to have been born under the star o1
royalty.
We all know how the historian loves te
dwell upon the character of Cleopatra. Be
yond question, she was one of the mos
captivating women Of paganism. Cescend
ed from a long line OF kings, royal blood
flowed in her veins. beauty adorned hel
person and brilliance sparkled in hel
brain. When Nature called for an Egyp
tian queen, this fascinating Greek princes:
was the answer. At fourteen she. was al
accomplished inguist, student of history
and a skilled musician. At nineteen sht
conquered that Caesar who had conquered
the world. Dorty-six years before tht
Christian era she accompanied him tt
Rome, where she lived in pomp and lux
ury until Caesars assassination. when sh'
returned to Egypt. She met Mark Anton,