National Republican., 1888-04-23
BRILLIANT BITTERNESS.
REV. DIR. TALMAGE'S DISCOURSE
On TIE STAR wORMW JOD. 4.
In Many Lives There Is Perennial
Distillation of Acrid Experiences.
Whose Life sheds Bancful Influences
on Others.

BHooKLyN, Apr. 2!.--Thc Rev. y. De witt
1alm0gc, u. d., preached this morning at the
Tabernacle on the subject: "Thc star Worm.
wood. or Brilliant Bitterness" The musical
exercises were assisted by the organ and
corrct. Thousands Of voices in the main au.
ditorium and in the adjoining paror and lee
tufc ioom and corridor joined in singing:
Well crowd Thy rates with thankful songs,
High MS he heavens our voices raise.
While earth with her ten thousand tongues
snail I'LL Thy courts with sounding praise"
1'rof, Browne rendered sonata No. I in y
minor, by Guilmant. After Dr.. Tanage had
c%pounded the sarcasm of Elijah at the Offer.
ing of the Baalitcs, he spoke as follows:
Revelation VIII 10 and III There fell great
star from heaven, burning as II were lamp,
ana II fell upon the third part Of the rivers.
ana uron the fountains of waters: and the
name of the star is called Wormwuod."
Patrick and Lowth, Thomas scott. Matthew
Henry, Albert Barnes, and all the other com
mtmatUrs agree In saying that the star Worm
lie was so called because he was brilliant rs a
star, and, like wormwtol, he cmbittercd
everything he touched. We have studied the
ttnrof bethlehem, and the morning Star of
the Revelation, and the Star of Peace but my
subject this hour calls us to gaze AT the star
Brilliant Bitterness.
y more extraordinary character history does
rot furnish than this man referred to in my text,
Ntila, the king of the Huns. one day n
wounded hcifer came llmping along through
The fields and a herdsinan followed the
Dloody track on the grass TO see where the
lcifer was wounded and went on back, fur
thcr and further until he came to Il sword
fast in the earth the. point. downward as
against the edges OF this sword the heifer had
lCcn cut; The hcrdsman pulled mp that
sword and presented II TO Attila. Attila said
that sword must have dropped from the hen.
yCns, from tie grasp of the god Mars, and its
Icing given To him meant that Attila should
Conquer and govern the whole earth. Other
nigi ty men have been delighted at being
called llberators or the mcrcitul or the good
but Attila called himself and demanded that
othcls call lin the scourgc of God. AT the
head oi NO,Co0 troops, mounted on Cappa-
docian horses, he swept everything from the
AdLiatic TO the Black sea. lie put his iron
heel on Macedonia and Greece and Thrace
He made Milan and Pavia and padua and
Verona beg for mercy, which he bestowed
not. The Byzantine castles, to meet his
luinous levy, put up at auction massive silver
tables and vases of solid gold city cap.
turCd by him, the inhabitants We're brought
ont and put into three classes, The first class
Those Who could bear arms who must imme
diHtcly enlist under Attila or be butcherel (:
the sccusd class, the beautiful women, who
were made captives TO the Huns; the third
class me aged men and women, who were
robbed Of everything and let 20 back to the
city to ayhcaVy taXh
~ was common saying that the grass never
grew again where the hOoi of Attila's horse
had trod. His armies Redeemed the waters of
the Seine and the Moscllc and the Rhine with
carnage and fought ON the Catalonian plains
the fcTCcst battle since the world stood. three
hundred thousnnd dead left on the field. on
and ON until all those who could not oppose
him with arms lay PROSTATE on their faces in
PRAYER and, cloud, of dust seen in the dis.
tanCc, a bishop cried 1T Is the aid of God:'
aud all the people took up the cry: 1T is the
aid of Cod. As the cloud of dust was blown
aside, the banners of reinforcing armies
marched i'll TO help against Attila, the scourgc
Of God. The most unimportant occurrences
lie used as a supernatural resource, and after
three months of failure 10 capture the city of
Aquileiq and his army had given up the seige,
the flight of II stOrk and her young from the
tower OF the city was taken by him as sign
that he was TO capture the city, and his army.
inspired with the same occurrence, resumed
the siege and took the walls at a point from
which the stork had emerged. So brilliant
was the conqueror in attire that his enemies
could not look at him. but shaded their eyes
or turned their heads.
Slain on the evening of his marriage by his
bride lldico, who was hired for the assassina-
tion, his followers bewailed him not with tears
but with blood, cutting themselves with
lns-thc first of iron, the second of silver, and
the third of gold lie was buried by night,
and into his grave were poured the most val
the, wealth OF a kingdom. The gravedigsers
and all those who assisted at'the burial were
massacrcd so that 1t would never be known
where so much wealth was ontombed. The
Roman empire conquered the world but
Attila conquered the Roman empire He was
right in calling himself scourge, but instead
OF being the scourge OF God lie was the scOurge
OF hell. Because OF his brilliancy and bitter
ness, the commentators were right in believing
him to be the star Wormwood of the text. As
the regions he devastated were parts most
opulent with fountains and streams and rivers,
y.n nn M pY,lta fnV tg.s foil
great star from heaven, burning as II were a
lamp, and 1t fell upon the third part of the
rivers, and upon tie fountains of waters; and
the name Of the star is called Wormwood."
tered lives there are all about us-misan-
thropic, morbid, acrid, saturniney The Euro
pean plant from which worinwood Is ex.
tracted, Artemsia Absnthium, is a perennial
plant, and all the year round II Is ready to
eXude its oil. And In many human lives there
Is perennial distillation OF acrid experiences.
shed a baleiul influence on others. There are
Attilas of the home, or Attias of the social
circle, or Attilas of the church, or Attilas of
the state, and one.thrd of all the waters of
the world, II not two.thlrds of the waters,
are poisoned by the falling of the star Worm.
wood. II is not complimentary to human ma
ture That most men, as soon as they get great
men have The better II tGer nowe oS he pUwsd Uscd
for good The less power men have the bet
ter, If they use II for evil.
Birds circle round and round and round be-
fore they swoop, upon that which they are
aiming for. And If my discourse so far has
been swinging round and round, this moment
II drops straight on H., your heart and asks the
or, an embitterment, a blessing or u curse, II
balsam or a wormwoody
Some of you, know, are morning stars and
you are making the dawning life of your, chill,
dren bright with gracious influence, and you
are beaming upon all the opening enterprises
of philalt hropic and Christian endeayor, and
you are heralds of that day of gospelizatlon
which will yet flood all the mountains and
valleys of our sin cursed earth. Hail, morn
msnt and, Christian hope.
Some of You arr. evening stars, and you are
cheering the last days of old people and
though cloud sometimes comes over you
through the querulousness or unreasonable.
ness OF your old father and mother, II is only
for moment, and the star soon comes out
clear again and is seen from all the balconies
of the neighborhOod. The old people will for
give your shortcomings, for they themselves
several times lost their patience with you
you did not deserve IL. Hail, evening star.
liang on the darkening sky your diamond cor
Onet.
But are any of you the star Wormwoodg Do
or maternaly Are your children eyerastingly
pecked at! Are you always CRYING; "liush!''
10 the merry voices and swift feet and their
laughter, which occas ionally tricklcs through
al wrong times and Is suppressed by them
until they, can hold II no longer and all the
barriers burst into unlimited gufaw and
cnchinnation, as in high weather the water has
trickled through slight openhlg In the mill
dam but atterward makes wider and wider
breach unit II carries all before II with ire.
sistible freshet, DO not be too much offended
at the noise your children now make. II will
be still enough when one of them Is dead.
Then you would give your right hand to hear
one shout from their silent Voices or one step
from the still foot, You will not any of YOU
have to wait very long before your house Is
stiller than you want 1t, Alas that there are
so many homes not known to the Society for
the Prevention Of Cruelty TO children, where
and cuffed and ear.pulled and senselessly
called TO order and answered sharp and sup.
pressed until II Is n wonder that under such
Mana Sahibs.
What is your influence upon the neighbor.