Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-05-04
BRILLIANT BITTERNESS.
DE. --alnagc's Sunday Morning ermon
at til ab,rnaclc.

III. 2II0aEcS ounoay MOsnlnE 6tfnOt
at tn. ab.rnaclc.
The Eloquent Preacher rs an Optimist and
Lssoks Forward to ,l,e Time When Christ
Wall Set His Throne Between tho ALE.
aey,sa,tis.s and Sierra, Nev;,t;:s.
nnooEuYN, April 22.--Tho Rev. T. De
Wit Talmage, d. D., preached this morn
ang OF the labernacle on the subject: "The
Star Wormwood, or Brilliant Bitterness. u
Tho musical exercises we're assisted by the
Organ and cornet. Thousands of voices
IN the main auditorium and in the adjoin-
Ing parlor and lecture room and corridor,
joined in singing
Well crowd the gate with thankful songs.
High tho heavens aud voices raiBe,
Vhilo earth with her ten tbousan., tongues
Skull fiji thy courts with sounding praise.
Prof. Browne rendered sonata No. in
d minor, by Guillmant. After DIR. Tai
mage had expounded the sarcasm of Elijah
At tho Offering of the Baalites he spoke as
follows:
Revelation viii. 1O-11: "There fell o
great star from Heaven, burning rs it
we're lamp, and it foil upon tho third
part of the rivers, and upon the fountains
Of waters; and the name of the star is
called NORWOOD"
Patrick and Lowth, Thomas Scott,
Matthew Henry, Albert Barnos and all the
,nther commentators agree in saying that
she star Norwood Of my text was Attila,
Hing Of the Huns. He was so called be-
cause he was brilliant us star, and, like
vormWood, he embittered everything he
souched. We have studied tho star of
Bethlehem, and tue morning star of the
revelation, md the star Of peace, but
any subject this hour calls us to gaze ut
ghe star Norwood, and my theme might
ase called Brilliant Bitterness.
4 more extraordinary character history
saaes not furnish than this man referred to
ia my text-Attila, tho King OF the Huns.
's-,ae day wounded heifcr came limping
:sss,ng through the fields, and a herdsman
Iaisowed its bloody track ON the grass to
sSss where the heifer was wounded, and
Sxent on back further and further, until lie
xamc to sword fast in the earth. the point
downward as though it had dropped from
she heavens, and against the edges of this
sword the heifer had been cut. The herds.
snan pulled up that sword and presented it
have dropped from the heavens from the
grasp OF the god Mars, and its being given
TO him meant that Attila should conquer
aud govern the whole earth. Other mighty
men have been delighted at being called
ailanators or the Merciful or the Good,
but Attiia called himself and demanded
that others call him tho Soourge of God.
AT Che head of 100000 troops. mounted on
Gappadocian horses, he swept everything
from the Adriatic to tho Black Sea. He
put his iron heel on Macedonia and Greece
aud Thrace. He made Milan and Pavia
Padaa and Verona beg for mercy. which
10 EJECT his ruinous levy, put up at auction
massive silver tables and vases of solid
gold. A city captured by him, the in
dabitants were brought out, and put into
three classes: The first class, these who
could bear arms, who must Immediately
enlist under Attila or be butchered; the
second class, the beautiful women, who
were made captives to the Huns; the third
Glass; the aged men and women, who were
robbed of everything, and let go back to
the city to pay heavy tax. :
II was common saying that the grass
elias horse had trod. His armies had red
dened the waters of the Seine and the
hosetle and the Rhine with carnage, and
fought on the Catalonian plains the tercest
battle since tho world stood, 800, 600 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 q cloud Of dust soon in the distance, a
bishop cried: ut is the aid of God" and
all the people took up the cry: "It is the
sid Of God" As tho cloud Of dust was
clown aside the banners of reinforcing
armies marched in to help against Attila,
the scourge of God. The most unimper-
'tant occurrence he used as supernatural
resource, and after three months of failure
'fo capture the city of Aquileia and his
~arpsy had given up the seige. the flight of a
atorl 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, in
~spired with the same occurrence, resumed
the siege and took the walls Of point
from which the stork had emerged. So
brilliant was the conqueror in attire that
shaded their eyes or turned their heads.
Slain on the evening of his marriage by
his bride Ildico, who was hredfor tie as
>sassination, his followers bewailed, him
not with tears but with blood. cutting
themselves with knives and lances. He was
put into three collins, the first of iron, tho
second of silver. and The third of gold. He
'~as buried by night, and into his grave
were poured the most valuable coin
and precious stones, amounting to the
wealth of a kingdom. The grave diggers
were massacred so that it would never be
known where SO much wealth was en-
;tcmbed. The Roman empire conquered
the world but Attila conquered the koman
empire. He was right in calling himself q
scourge, but instead of being q scourge of
God. he was the scourge of hell. Be-
cause of his hrilliancy aud bitterness tho
commentators were right in believing him
TO be the star Norwood of the text. AS
the regions he devasted were parts most
okaulent With fountains and streams and
rivers, yuu see how graphic my text is:
TAere fell great star from Heaven,
cunning as it were lamp, and it fell upon
the third part of the rivers, and upon the
fountains of waters; and the name of the
sstar is called NORWOOD"
Have you ever thought how many en-
Uttered lives there arc all about us, mis-
anthropic, morbid, acrid. saturnine? The
Eusapean plant from which NORWOOD is
extracted, Artemisia Absithium, is u peren-
nial plant, and all the year round it is
ready to exude its oil. And in many hu-
smnn lives there is perennial distillation
of acrid experiences. : Yea, there are some
whose whole work is to shed a baleful in
auence on others. There are Attilas of the
nome, OF Attilas of the social circle, or
Attilas Of the State, and third of the
waters of all the world. il not two-thirds
of tho waters, are poisoned by the falling
of the star Norwood. It is not compli-
..nentary to human nature that most men.