DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Veil of Modesty.
“The Queen Vashti refused to come.” Fs
ther 1: 1
Ir you will accept my arm I will
escort you into a throne-room. In this
fifth sermon of the series of sermons
there are certain womanly excellencies
which I wish to commend, but instead
of putting them in dry abstration, I
present you their impersonation in one
who seldom gets sermonic recognition.
We stard amid
TEE PALACES OF SHUSHAN,
The pinnacles are aflame with the
morning light. The columns rise fes-
tooned and wreathed, the wealth of
empires flashing from the grooves; the
ceilings adorned with images of bird
and beast, and scenes of prowess and
conquest. The walls are hung with
shields, and emblazoned until it seems
that the whole round of splendors is
exhausted. Each arch is a mighty leap
of architectural achievement. Golden
stars shining down on glowing arabes-
que. Hangings of embroidered work,
in which mingle the blueness of the
sky, the greeness of the grass, and the
whiteness of the sea-foam. Tapestries
hung on silver rings, wedding together
the pillars of marble. Pavilions reach-
ing out in every direction. These for
repose, filled with luxuriant couches,
in which weary limbs sink until all
fatigue is submerged. Amazing spec-
tacle! It seems as if a billow of celes-
tial glory had dashed clear over heaven’s
battlements upon this metropolis of
Persia.
In connection with this palace there
is a garden, where the mighty men of
foreign iands are
SEATED AT A BANQUET.
Under the spread of oak and linden
and acacia the tables are arranged.
The breath of honey-suckle and frank.
incense fills the air. The waters of
Eulmus filling the urns, and sweating
outside the rim in flashing beads amid
the traceries, Wine from the royal
vats of Ispahan and Shiraz, in bottles
of tinged shell, and lily shaped cups of
silver, and flagons and tankards of solid
gold. The music rises higher, and the
port, and the wine has flushed the
cheek and touched the brain, and louder
than all other voices are the hiccough
of the inebriates, the gabble of fools,
and the song ot the drunkards, In an-
other part of the palace,
QUEEN VASHTI
is entertaining the princesses of Persia
at » banquet. Drunken Ahasuerus
says to his servants: “You go out and
fetch Vashti from that banquet with
the women, and bring her to this ban-
quel with the men, and let me display
her beauty.” The servants immediately
start to obey the king's command; but
there was a rule in Onental society
that no woman might appear in public
without having her face veiled,
Yet here was a mandate that no one
dare dispute, demanding that Vashti
cove in unveiled before the multitude,
However, there was in Vashti’s soul a
principle more regal than Ahasuerus,
more brilliant than the gold of Shushan,
of more wealth than the realm of
Persia, which commanded her to dis-
obey this order of the king: and so all
the righteousness, holiness and
MODESTY OF HER NATURE
rises up into one sublime refusal. She
says: "I will not go into the banquet
unveiled,” Of course Ahasuerus was
infuriated; and Vashti, robbed of her
in poverty and ruin, to suffer the scorn
of a nation, and yet to receive the ap-
plause 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
faded; the last arch has fallen: the last
tankard has been destroyed, and
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 velled, Vashti the sacrifice, Vashti
the silent,
In the first place, I want you to look
upon Vashi the queen. A blue ribbon
rayed with white, drawn around her
forehead, indicated
HER QUEENLY POSITION,
It was no small honor to be queen in
such a realm as that. Hark to the
rustle of her robes! See the blaze of
her jewels! And yet, my friends, it is
not necessary to have palace and regal
robes in order to be queenly, When I
see A woman with stout faith In God,
putting hier foot upon all meanness
and selfishness and godless display,
going right forward to serve Christ
up from the shanty on the commons or
the mansion of .the fashionable square,
I greet her with the shout:
Queen Vashtil”” What glory was there
on the brow of Mary of Scotland, or
Elizabeth of England, or M et of
France, or Catharine of R com.
pared with the worth of some of our
‘hristian mothers, many of them
under a sun for poor old, help-
less Naomi?—or of Mis, Adoniram
Judson, who kindled the lights of sal
vation amid the darkness of Burmah?
~or of Mrs, H
her holy soul in words which will for-
ever be associated with hunter’s
and captives Shain, and bridal
and lute’s throb,
curfew’
the d day?—and scores
a oS ar
this land. I put upon their brow the
coronet. They are the sisters and the
daughters of the towns and cities, se-
lected out of a vast number of appli-
cants, because of their especial intel-
lectual and moral endowiaents, There
are In none of your homes women more
worthy. These persons, some of them,
come out from affluent homes, choosing
teaching as a useful profession; others,
finding that father is older than he used
to be, and that his eyesight and strength
are not as good as once, go to teaching
to lighten his load, But I tell you the
history of the majority of the female
teachers in the publie schools when I
say: “Father is dead.’”’” After the
estate was settled, the family, that
were comfortable before, are thrown on
their own resources,
It is hard for men to earn a living in
this day, but it is harder for women—
their health not so rugged, their arms
not so strong, their opportunities fewer,
These persons, after tremblingly going
through the ordeal of an examination
as to their qualifications to teach, half-
bewildered step over the sill of the pub-
lic school to do two things—instruct the
young and earn their own bread.
HER WORK 18 WEARING
to the last degree. The management
of forty or fifty fidgety and intractable
children, the suppression of their vices
and the development of their excellenc-
jes the management of rewards and
punishments, the sending of so many
bars of soap and fine-tooth combs on
benignant ministry, the breaking of so
many wild colts for the harness of life,
sends her home at night weak, neural-
gic, unstrung, so that of all the weary
the week, there are none more weary
than the public-school teachers, Now,
for God’s sake, give them a fair chance.
Throw no obstacles in the way,
them,
the male teachers; they can take up the
cudgels for themselves,
may be dead but there are enough
brothers left to demand and see that
they get justice,
ing there died years ago one of the
| principals of our public schools, She
hud been twenty-five years at that post
She Lud left the touch of refinement on
a multitude of the young. She had,
out of her slender purse, given literally
thousands of dollars for the destitute
schiool teacher. A deceased
children were thrown upon her hands,
and she took care of them, She was a
kind mother to them, while she moth-
ered a whole school. Worn out with
nursing in the sick and dying room of
one of the household, she herself came
to die. She closed the sehool-book and
at the same tinle the volume of her
Christian fidelity,
QUEENS ARE ALL SUCH,
and whether the world acknowledges
them or not, heaven acknowledges
them. When Scarron the wit and ec-
clesiastic, as poor as he was brilliant,
was about to marry Madame de Main-
tenon, he was asked by the notary what
he proposed to settle upon Mademoi-
selle. The reply was; *‘Immortality!
| the names of the wives of kings die
{ with them;
{ Scarron will live always.” In a higher
| and better sense, apon all women who
| do their duty God will settle Immortal-
ity! Not the immortality of earthly
{ fame, which is mortal, but the immor.
| tality celestial, And they shall reign
{ for ever and ever! Oh, the opportun-
ity which every woman has of being a
queen! The longer I live the more I
{ admire good womanhood. And I have
i come to form my opinion of the char.
| non-appreciation of woman. If a man
| have a depressed idea of womanly char-
{acter he is a bad man, and there is no
exception to the rule,
The writings of Goethe can never
{ have any such attractions for me as
| Shakespeare, because
{man have some Kind of turpitude,
stine scheming; and lis Mignon, of
evil parentage, yet worse than herfn-
cestors; and his Theresa, the brazen;
and his Aurelia, of many intrigues; and
his Philina, the termigant; and his
Melina, the tarnished; and his baroness;
and his Countess; and there is seldom a
womanly character in all his volumin-
ous writings that would be worthy of
residence in a respectable coal cellar,
yet pictured and dramatized, and em-
blazoned till all the literary world is
compelled to see. No! No! Give me
William Shakespeare’s idea of woman;
and I see it in Desdemona, and Corde-
lia, and Rosalind, and Aihoges, and
Helena, and Hermione, and Viola, and
Isabella, and Sylvia, and Perdita, all of
them with enough fauits to them
human, but enough kindly characteris.
tics to give us the author's idea of wo-
BE our Ss Boe
ar to out su-
preme a of his other female
characters,
Again, I want you to consider
VASHTI THE VEILED,
Had she
3
:
:
£
g
i
il
i
E
&
g
i
is
|
]
:
g
;
i
:
if
E
je
3
ES
EE
would rather make a coat for Samuel;
the Hebrew maid would rather givea
prescription for Naaman’s leprosy; the
woman of Sarepta would rather gather
a few sticks to cook a meal for famish-
ed Elijah; Phoebe would rather carry a
lettle for the inspired Apostle; Mother
Lois would rather educate Timothy in
the Scriptures, When I see a woman
going about ber daily duty-—with cheer-
ful dignity presiding at the table; with
kind and gentle, but firm, discipline
presiding in the nursery; going out into
the world without any blast of trum-
pets, following in the footsteps of Him
who went about doing good—I say:
“This is Vashti with a veil on.”” But
when 1 see
WOMEN OF UNBLUSHING BOLDNESS,
loud-voiced, with a tongue of infinite
clitter-clatter, with arrogant look, pass.
ing through the street with a masculine
swing, gayly arrayed in a very hurri-
cane of millinery, I cry out, *‘Vashti
has lost her veil.’’ When I see a wo-
man struggling for political preferment,
and rejecting the duties of home as in-
significant, and thinking the offices of
wife, mother and daughter of no im-
portance, and trying to force her way
on up into conspicuity, I say: “Ah,
what a pity: Vashti has lost her veil.”
When I see a woman of comely feat
ures, and of adroitness of intellect, and
endowed with all that the schools can
do for one, and of high social position,
yet moving in society with supercilious-
ness and hauteur, as though she would
have people knew their place, and an un-
defined combination of giggle and strut
and rodomontade, endowed with allo-
pathic quantities of talk, but only
homeopathic infinitesimals of sense, the
terror of dry-goods clerks and railrood
conductors, discoverers of significant
digies of badness and innuendo--I say:
“Vashti has lost her veil.”
But do not misinterpret what 1 say
| into a depreciation of the work of those
| glorious and
DIVINELY CALLED WOMEN,
| who will not be understood till after
they are dead, women like Susan B,
Anthony, who are giving their life for
the betterment of the condition of their
isex. Those of vou who think that
women have, under the laws of this
country, an equal chance with men, are
ignorant of the laws. A gentleman
writes me from Maryland, saying:
“Take the laws of this State. A man
and wife start out in life, full of hope
| in every respect, by their joint efforts,
and, as is frequently the case, through
the economic ideas of the wife, succeed
in accumulating a fortune,
have no children ; they reach old age
together, and then the husband dies
What does the law of this State do
then? It says to the widow, ‘Hands off
i your late husband's property : do not
{ touch it ; the State will find others to
i whom it will give that, but you, the
| a8 will Keep life within your aged body,
{ that you may live to see those othery
town.’
| ever heard of before or not, and trans
| fers to them, singly or collectively, the
| estate of the deceased husband and liv.
{ ing widow."
Now, that is a specimen of unjust
| laws in all the States concerning widow-
hood. Instead of flving off to the dis
| cussion as to whether or not the giving
| of the right of voting to woman will cor-
rect these laws, let me say to men, be
| gallant enough, and fair enough, and
| honest enough, and righteous enough,
| and God-loving enough to correct these
| wrongs against woman by your own
masculine vote. Do not wait for
| woman suffrage to come, if it ever does
come, but, so far as you can touch bal
‘ot-boxes and legislatures, and
| greases. begin the reformation.
j until justice is done to your sex by the
laws of all the States, and women of
America take the platforms and the pul
pits, no honorable man will charge
Vashti with having lost her veil,
Again: I want you this morning to
| consider
j VASHTI THE SACRIPICE.
Who is this that I see coming out of
| that palace-gate of Shushan? It seems
{ to me that I have seen her before. She
{comes homeless, houseless, friendless,
{ trudging along with a broken heart.
| Who is she? It is Vashti the sacrifie,
Oh, what a change it was from regal
position to a wayfarer’s crust | A little
while ago approved and sought for;
now none so poor as to acknowledge her
acquaintanceship, Vashti the sacrifice,
Ah, you and I have seen it many a tine,
Here is a home empalaced with beauty,
All that refinement and books and
wealth can do for that home has been
done; but Ahasuerus, the husband and
the father, is taking bold on paths of
sin. He is gradually going down. Af-
ter a while he will flounder and struggle
like a wild beast in the hunter’s net—fur-
ther away from God, further away from
right, §
COL
BREAKING UP THE MARRIAGE
feast of Lapithae. The house full of
igs
EE
2
£2
|
i
fs
> :
,
:
5
the bow of the boat to the shore till all
were off, and he kept his promise, At
his post, scorched and blackened, he
perished, but he saved all the passen-
gers. Two verses of pathetic poetry
describe the scene, but the verses are a
little rough, and so I change a word or
two :
“Through the hot, black breath of the burning
Jima Bludso's voice was heard.
And they all had trust in his stubbornness,
And knew he would keep his word,
And sure's your born they all got off
Afore thesmokestacks fell,
And Hludso'sghost went up above,
In the smoke of he Prairie Helle,
He weren't no mint, but at Judgment
I'd run my chance with Jim.
Longside sgme plous gentleman
That would'tshuke hands with him,
He'd seen his duty, s dead sure thing,
And went for it there and then,
And Crist isnot going to be too hard
On a man that died for men.”
Once more: I want you to look at
Vashtt the silent, Y ou do not hear any
outcry from this woman as she goes
forth from the palace gate. Irom the
very dignity of her nature you know
there will be no vociferation, Some-
times in life it is necessary to make a re-
tort 5 sometimes in life it is necessary to
resist ; but there are crises when the
most triumphant thing to do is to keep
silence. The philosopher, confident in
his mewly discovered principle, waited
for the coming of more intelligent gen-
erations, willing that men should laugh
at the lightning-rod and eotton-gin and
stearn boat—waiting for long years
through thescoffing of philosophical
schools, in grand and
MAGNIFICENT
Gealdilel, condemnexd
cians and monks and
tured everywhere,
SILENCE,
by mathemati
yet waiting
the starsin their courses would fight
for the Copernican systesn ; then sitting
ness to wait for the coming of the gen-
eratrons who would build his monument
and bow at his grave. The reformer,
under
press,
when
the cylinders of the printing-
purity of soul and heroism of
and the plaudits of heaven,
enduring without any
sharpmess of the pang, and the violence
and the darkness of the night
until a divine hand shall be put forth to
soothe the pang, and
and release the captive. A wife abused,
every earthly comfort
[poor Vashi will ever be thrust out
i from the palace gate.
{and answering not a word, drinking the
gall, Dearing the Cross, in prospect of
| the rapturous consummation when
"Angels thronged His chariot wheel,
And bore Him to His throne
Then swept their golden harps and sung.
i glorious work is done.
2 Dr
7
{ ing helplessly about among the feebergs,
{captain was frozen af his logbook, and
the helmsinan was frozen at the wheel,
| and the men on the lookout were frozen
{in their places, That was awful, but
{ magnificent. All the Arctic blasts and
{all
from their duty, Theirs was
A SILENCE LOUDER THAN THUNDER.
| And this old ship of & world has many
| at their posts in the awful chill of ne-
| and their silence shall be the eulogy of
| the skies and be rewarded long after
this weather-beaten craft of a planet
{ shall have made its last voyage,
THE PALACE GATE
{ You can endure the hardships and
privations and the cruelties and misfor-
| tunes of this life, if you can only gain
| admission there,
{the everlasting convenant,
thromgh those gales, or never
*
OF HEAVEN
you
| word to them that she would betray her
{city and surrender $2 to them, if they
| would only give her those bracelets on
| fer. and bynight this daughter of the
| ruler of the city opesscd one of the
| gates. The army entered, and, keeping
their promis, threw
all through the
been repeatad, for the trinkets and
and wotnen swing open the portals of
surrender, and die under the shining
submergement,
Through the rich grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ may yon be enabled to im-
itate the example of Rachel and Hannah
and Abigail and Deborah and Mary and
Vashtl. Amen!
a ——
The Year ISSS8,
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON.
Bunpay, Fen 2, 1958,
The Rich Young Ruler.
LESSON TEXT,
(Matt, 10: 16.28. Memory verses, 25.20.)
Toric o¥ THE QUARTER : Jesus the
Xing tn Zion.
GOLDEN TEXT FOR THE QUARTER:
He is Lord of lords, and King of kings:
and they that are with him are called,
and chosen, and faithful. —Rev, 17 : 14.
Lessox Toric: The King's Lessons
on True Consecration,
1. Consecration Claimed, va 16.20,
Lomon . $ Consecration Tested, v, 11.
* (8, Consecration Possible, vs, 23.96,
GoLbex TEXT: Ye cannot serve
God and mammon,—Matt, 6 : 24,
DAILY HoME READINGS:
Matt, 19 : 16-26,
true consecration.
T.-—~Mark 10 : 17-27.
allel narrative,
W.—Luke 18 : 18.27.
allel narrative,
T.—Matt. 6 : 19-34.
first.
F.—ILuke 12
place treasure,
S.~—Acts 4 31-37.
consecrated,
S.—Aets 5: 1-11.
secration,
Lessons on
Mark’s par-
Luke's par-
What to seek
13-34. Where to
Possessions
Pretended con-
LESSON ANALYSIS,
I. CONBECRATION CLAIMED.
I. Life Desired :
What
may have eternal
What man is he
Psa. 34 : 12.1
good thing shall I do. that I
life? {16.)
that desireth life?
that 1 may inherit
Mark 10: 17.)
Vide
aie
eternal
Luke 10 : 25.)
Sirs, what must 1 do to
(Acts 16 : 30.)
IL Duty Defined :
If thou wouldest enter into life. kes
nal life?
be saved?
Hear, and 53:
$1,
vour soul shall live (Isa,
Obey, ....i
38 : 20),
nd thy 1 shall live (Jer.
son
. he shall
live (Ezek. 33 : 19).
thou shalt live (Luke 10 :
281,
IIL Compliance Claimed :
All these things have 1
what lack I vet? (20),
All these t have I observed
my youth (Mark 10 : 20).
I thank thee, that I am 1
of men (Luke 18:11).
As touching the righteousness
the law, found blameless (Phil. 3
observed "
hings from
as the rest
ot
in
16).
ceive ourselves { 1 John 1: 8),
1. “What good thing shall I do, that
I may have eternal life?” (1) De-
sire ; (2) Ignorance ; (3) Inquiry.
{1} A desirable end ; (2) An un-
known means; (3
2. “Keep the commandments.” (1)
As a correct rule of life ; (2) As a
sure revealer of sin ; (3) As a com-
petent teacher of need,
3. “What lack I vet?”
ficiency trusted ;: (2)
felt; (3) Perplexity
4) Inquiry pressed.
Il, CONSECRATION TESTFD,
I. Sarrender the World :
Sell that thou bast, and give to
poor (21).
Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon the earth (Matt, 6 : 19).
Ome thing thou lackest : go, sell...
Mark 10: 21).
They sold their
(1) Self-suf-
Insufficiency
experienced ;
the
give
them to all (Acts 2 : 45
There is nothing too hard for thee (Jer.
32:17).
I ean do all things in him that strength.
eneth me (Phil, 4: 13).
1. “He went away sorrowful,’
Away from Jesus; (2) Away
sorrow , (3) Away to ruin,
2. "It is hard for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom.’’ (1) The rick
man ; (2) The heavenly kingdom ;
(3) The hard entrance.-—£1) Hard
to drop visible riches; (2) Hard to
grasp unseen wealth,
3. “With God all things are possible, *’
(1) All material things; (2) All
spiritual things. —{1) Man’s emer-
gencies ; (2) God’s opportunities,
——————
LESSON BIBLE READING
THE LOVE OF RICHES,
A source of care (Eccl, 5 : 12, 18).
Lali ces forgetfulness of God (Deut. #8
1-14).
Leads men astray (2 Pet. 2 ; 15).
Begets self-confidence (Psa. 30 : 6).
Begets rebelliousness (Jer, 22 : 21; Ezek.
28 : 5).
Begets sin (Prov, 28 : 22; 1 Tim, 6 : 10).
Chokes piety (Mark 4 : 19).
Led Lot to Bodom (Gen, 13 : 10-18),
Led Demas to apostasy (2 Tim, 4 : 10).
Imperils the soul (Matt, 19 : 28, 24; 1
Tim, 6:9),
(1)
in
a — I
LESSON SURROUNDINGS.
The interval of time between the
events of the last lesson and those of
the present one, is undoubtedly long.
probably extending over nearly six
months. Matthew and Mark pass over
this period in silence, only neting the
journey from Galilee through Perea
(Matt, 19:1; Mark 10:1). The ac-
counts of Luke and John are, however,
quite full; but, as there are no indica-
tions of correspondence between them,
the arrangement of events peculiar to
these two narratives (Luke 9 : 51 to 18 -
14: Jolin 7 :1to 11 : 57), is one of the
3
Fors]
gospel
us some definite chrono-
John gives
constructed. During the Feast of
3
the LAP
it lesson, our Lord visited Jeru-
With this visit, or imme®ately
of Dedication, it led to an attempt at
(It is uncertain at which
feast the blind man was healed; John 9.
yond Jordan, and a return to Bethany,
where Lazarus was raised from the
dead, Our Lord then retired to
Ephraim, shortly before the Passover,
The final journey, with which the
present lesson is connected, was from
that place, probably through Perea, to
Jericho, and thence to Jerusalem.
At all events, three of the ac-
become parallel when the inci.
puted,
introduced; that immediately precedes
Hence, without at-
of the intervening events, we may as-
vear of Rome 783 A. D, 30; that of
A. D.
29).
The place was somewhere in the val-
¥
PAT
from Jericho, on the way from Perea to
1 Tim. 6
Ii. Live for Heaven:
Thou shalt have treasure
{21).
Lay up for
heaven (Matt, 6:
1
cate inl,
in
yourselves treasures in
20).
prize (Phil. 3 : 14).
Set your mind on the things that are
above (Col, 3 : 2)
Lay hold on the life which is life in-
deed (1 Tim, 6 : 19).
il Follow the Lord:
Come, follow me (21).
He forsook all, and rose up and followed
him {Luke 5 : 28).
If any man serve me, let him follow me
{John 12: 26).
(Rev, 14: 4).
1 “If thou wouldest be perfect, go,
sell,....give.,” (1) A desirable
end ; (2) A threefold means, — Three
steps toward perfect consecration :
(1) Go: (2) Sell; (3) Give.
2. “Thou shalt have treasure in
heaven.” The heavenly treasure:
(1) Personal; (2) Pure; (3) Glor-
ious; (4) Imperishable.—{1) Its
quality ; (2) Its certainty; (3) Its
Jocation.
3. “Come, follow me.” (1) Old ways
abandoned ; (2) New ways ac
cepted. (1) Called from whence?
(2) Called to what?
11. CONSECRATION POSSIBLE,
EL Not Attained :
He went away sorrowful (22),
His countenance fell at the saying, and
ho Welle Away (Mark 10: 22),
When he y+ «+ «ho became exceed
ing sorrowful (Luke 18 : 23),
Many. ... went back’ and walked
more with hima (John 6 : 66),
They went out from but were
not of us (1 John 2: 10), oer
IL Hardly Attainable:
Who then can be saved? (25).
No flesh would have been saved (Matt,
XH: 2).
: few that be saved?
Parallel passages: Mark 10 : 17-27;
Luke 18 : 18-27,
Yow Death Rate in Tenements.
It happens {never mind how) that I
3
knowledge of tenement life In New
York, It relates to the worst tene-
over a number of years
and from
my own observation, say that the death
rate in the tenewnents, all things consid-
ered, is singularly low. When the
health authorities talk about it they lay
special stress on the high mortality
among children. I wonder if it ever
occurred to those wise men that there is
another reason than theirs why the pro-
portion of deaths as between children
and adults is so much higher in the ten-
ements than in private houses? What
is it, this other reason? Why, simply
that the proportion of children to par-
ents is much larger in the tenements
than elsewhere,
Childiess couples are never found, or
hardly ever found, among the poor in
the tenements, You find them by the
doen, by the score, the hundred, in the
higher circles, Among the well to do
people who have some children the
number is usually small—frequently,
say, two or three, often only one or two.
But not $0 in the tenements, where it is
hand to mouth all the year round.