FORTY-FIRST SUNDAY

Morning

ESTHER MADE QUEEN

Passage to be read: Esther ii. 1-23.

`O-DAY we are taken far away from Palestine into the strange scenes of an Eastern court.

To

Our

story is filled with the sensuous life of Persia. Ahasuerus was a Persian king, reigning at a time when the empire was very vast (i. 1); and from such hints, and for many other reasons, it is almost certain that Ahasuerus was Xerxes. The boys who are studying Greek history know all about Xerxes. They have struggled through his story in Herodotus. There is something in the extravagant career of that great tyrant that sets the dullest imagination working. We remember the mighty army that he gathered against Greece, and how he built a bridge across the Hellespont. We remember how, when the bridge was destroyed by storm, he scourged the waves and cast fetters into them. And the glorious stand of Leonidas at Thermopylæ, and the battle of Phalerum and the Grecian victory-these splendid deeds make the blood course faster yet. It is with that king, then, that our passage is concerned. We get a glimpse here into his inner life. I hope that every boy, when he learns about Xerxes in school, will remember this little book of the Old Testament.

WELL, in the chapter which is our theme for to-day,

we have the unmaking and the making of a queen. Vashti has fallen. She has disobeyed her lord.

She

has been discharged for ever from the royal favour. And now, in ways that only the East could practise, another queen must replace the fallen favourite. She need not be a princess or a peeress. Persia is not so intolerant as Servia. Only let a maiden be forthcoming who can win the king, and the crown will soon be placed upon her brow. Now among the officers of Ahasuerus' court, there was an exiled Jew named Mordecai. And he had a cousin whose Jewish name was Hadassah, but who was called by the Persians Esther-the star. She was an orphan, and Mordecai had brought her up. She was very beautiful, and as good as she was beautiful. She charmed everybody who ever met with her; who knew but that she might charm the king? So she was led into the royal presence, and her maidenly wisdom shone out most brightly then. She had learned (what some maidens never seem to learn) that beauty unadorned is then adorned the most. The other claimants were bejewelled and bedecked. The dresses at Holyrood were nothing to theirs. But Esther (wise girl) required nothing but what Hegai, the king's chamberlain, appointed (v. 15). And the king loved her, and he made her his queen, and there was great feasting, and release of captives. And the chapter closes by telling how Mordecai and Esther baffled a plot to assassinate Ahasuerus.

FIRST, then, let my readers note that there is a God

ward side to human history. As we read of Xerxes in our lesson-books at school, we seldom think that the hand of God is there. We only think of the human passion of it, and of the insensate pride, and of the might of marching armies. But here is that same Xerxes in the Bible; and the curtain is lifted from his family history; and the great conqueror is in the power of that God who is ordering the footsteps of His Jewish people. There is a Godward side, then, to that human history.

The proudest wills are under the sovereign Will. God says to Nebuchadnezzar, 'Thou art My servant.' He says to Cyrus, 'Thou art My battle-axe.' And armies are marching, and men are toiling to-day, and brains are busy and restless and full of schemes; but we believe that over it all is God.

NEXT

EXT mark what great things the Gospel has done for women. We have only to read this little book attentively to see what women were in Persian eyes. They had no rights, and very little liberty. They were never regarded with the reverence of love. The obedience demanded of them was not that of joy, but the slavish obedience that must never question. No Persian would have dreamed of taking their counsel, or of seeking full and satisfying fellowship with them. Women were playthings for the lighter hours; at the best 'a thing of beauty' and 'a joy for ever.' Now contrast that degradation and repression with the lofty place of womanhood to-day. Think of the schools in which the girls are educated, of the games they share in, of their healthy lives. Remember the noble deeds that women have done, and the noble books that have been written by women; recall the sweetness and liberty of Christian homes, and all the wonder and love of Christian motherhood, and you will see what Jesus Christ has done. I might understand a man not being a Christian; but a woman-that I cannot understand. For it means that she denies and disowns the One who has done more for her than all the world beside.

TH

HEN, lastly, we are meant to learn from Esther how God can exalt those of low degree. He can take an unknown maiden from His people, and set a crown of gold upon her head. No one expected this honour less than Esther. She was the last in the world to say that she deserved it. But, like a true Jewess, she would

remember David, for the Lord of David was her shepherd, too. Now I do not think that Esther was to be envied. Hers was a very perilous pre-eminence. It were happier to live out one's life among the shadows, than in the fierce light that beats upon a throne. But when God, through the grace of Jesus Christ, exalts the lowly, it is not to the dubious glories of an Esther. It is to joy unending. It is to holy peace. It is to a throne beyond the reach of storm.

FORTY-FIRST SUNDAY

Evening

WAITING

Passage to be read: Acts i. 9-26.

UR lesson begins with the narrative of the Ascension, and the reader will remember that this is the second account of the departure of Jesus into heaven. The Gospel of Luke closes with the story, and now the Acts of the Apostles opens with it. The event that ends the earthly ministry of Jesus begins the ministry upon the throne. We are not to think of Jesus' work in heaven as something quite different from His work on earth. All He accomplished here was but the beginning (v. 1) of a service that He shall carry on for ever. Now the Ascension is the link between the two. It is the passage of the unchanging Lord from the lower to the higher sphere of service. Hence Luke concludes his Gospel with it, and then puts it in the forefront of the Acts. Note, too, in the descriptions given by Luke, how sober and subdued the colouring is. When Luke tells of Pentecost he is thrilled with excitement. He is vivid, and picturesque, almost dramatic, when he relates the

healing of the lame man at the Gate Beautiful. But a few simple and very quiet words are all that he uses for the Ascension, yet to us that seems the greatest wonder in the world. Two thoughts are suggested by Luke's simple statement. The first is, how Christ-like the Ascension was. He who came down like rain on the mown grass, and who would not strive nor cry nor lift up His voice in the streets, will not go home with any sound of trumpet. And the second is, how natural it seemed to the little company who went forth to Olivet. They had always felt that Jesus lived in heaven. Could they be greatly surprised when He went there? The disciples were astounded at the cross. Death seemed so alien from the life of Jesus. But they were not astounded at the Ascension. They worshipped, and went to the city with great joy.

So the little company returned to Jerusalem, and we read that they went up into an upper room (v. 13). There can be little question that it was the very room that was already fragrant with memories of Jesus. Here, on the night on which He was betrayed, the bread had been broken and the cup had been drunk. Here they had sat, with the doors barred for fear of the Jews, when Jesus had appeared in their midst on the Lord's day. Probably from this very room they had gone forth to witness the Ascension upon Olivet. They were not forgetting the things that were behind when they returned under the familiar roof. The past was blending with the future for them; the agony, with the words 'until He come.' Try to imagine the company gathered there. There are the women who had ministered to Jesus and had held fast to Him when every one else had fled. There is Mary, His mother, and this is the last glimpse we get of Mary, and she is worshipping the Son she once had nursed. His brethren are there, and only six months before (John tells us) they did not believe in Him. It