Milford chronicle., 1888-04-27
BRILLIANT BITTERNESS.
DR.. TALMAGE's SUNDAY MORNING
SERMON At THE TABERNACLE.


Christ WIN Set His Throne Bet,vee,
the AIieghanies and sierrs Nevadas.
BRooKLYN, April % The Rev. 7. De Wit
1almage, ID, preached this morning at til,
tabernacle On TIE subject; ''The Star Worm
WOOD or Brilliant Bitterness The musics
exercises were assisted by the organ ana
eornet. Thousands of voices in the main
auditorium and in the adjoining parlor and
lecture room and corridor Joined in singing.
Wen crowd Thy gates with thankful songs.
High as the heavens our voices raise;
Mhiie earth with her ten thousand tongues
snail iill Thy courts with sounding praise.
Professor Browne rendered sonata No in
ID minor, by Guillmant After DR.. Talmooe
had expounded the sarcasm Of Elijah at the
Offering Of the Baalites, be spoke as follows.
revelations viii, l0-ll: "There fell a great
star from heaven, burning as It were a larnn.
ana II fell upon third part OF the rivers and
upoi the fountains OF waters; and the name
Of the star is called Wormwoodn -
Patrick and Lowth, Thomas Scott Mat
: thew Henry, Albert Barnes and all the otbsr
Sonllllehtators g, agree in saying that the Star
( Wormwood OF my text was Attila. kipc of
the Huns He was so called be,o,,ss H., -
brilliant as stnr, and, like vormwood no
embittered everything he touched. We have
studied the Star Of Bethlehem. and the n,o,.r-
ing Star Of the Revelation, and the Star Of
+ Feace but my subject this hour calls MS IA
gaze at the Star Wormwood, and nv theme
might be called Brilliant BITTERNESS
more extraordinary character history
does not furnish than this man referred to
III my text, Attila, the king of the Huns
One day wounded heifer came limping
along through the fields, and herdsman
followed its bloody track on the grass to see
where the heifer was wounded, and went on
back, further and further, until he came Ia
sword fast in the earth. the point downward
as though it had dropped from the heavens
and against the edges Of this sword the
heifer had been cut. The herdslnan pulled
up that sword and presented it TO Attila
Attfla said that sword must have droDped
from the heavens from the grasp Of the god
Mars, and its being given to him meant
that Attila should conquer and govern
the whole earth. Other mighty men
have been delighted at being called
hberators or the merciful or the GOOD
but Attila called himself and de
manded that Others call him the scourge of |
God. At the head Of 100000 troops. mounted
on Cappadocian horses, he swept everything |
from the Adriatic to the Black sea. He Dut /
Thrace. He made Milan and Pavia and |
Padua and Verona beg for mercy, which he |
bestowed not. The Byzantine castles to .
meet his ruinous levy, put up at auction
massive silver tables and vases of solid gold
a city captured by him, the inhabitants
were brought out and put into three Glasses.
The first class, those 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 class, the aged men and
women, who were robbed Of everything and
let go back to the city to pay heavy tax.
1t was common saying that the grass
never grew again where the hoof of Attila's
horse had trod. His armies reddened the
waters Of the Seine and the Moselle and the
Rhine with carnage, and fought on the Cat
alonians plains the fiercest battle since the
wol Id stood, $4,000 dead left on the field
On and on until all those who could not op-
pose him with arms lay PROSTATE on their
faces in prayer; and, a cloud of dust seen in
tie distance, bishop cried: 'It is the aid
Of God" and all the people took up the cry:
''It is the aid of God.n As the cloud Of dust
was blown aside the banners of reinforcing
armies marched in to help against Attila,
lhe scOurge of God. The most unimportant
occurrences he used as supernatural re-
source, and after three months Of failure TO
,apture the city of Aqnileia and his army
lad given up the siege, the flight of stork
md her young from the tower of the city
vas taken by him as q sign that he was to
'apture the city, and his army inspired with
he same occur ence resumed the siege and S
Ook the walls at a point from which the
tork had emerged. So brilliant was the
onqueror in attire that his enemies could I
lot look nt him, but shaded their ewes or I
unued their heads.
Slain on the evening of his marriage bv l
lis bride Ildico, who was hired for the as 1
assination, his followers bewailed him not y
yi.h tears but with blood, cutting themselves =
With knives and lances. He was put into y
hIee cotfins, the first Of iron, the second Of 9
liver, and the third of gold. He was buried a
{ night, and into his grave were poured the {
lost valuable coin and precious stones. 4
to the wealth Of kingdom. The o
rave diggers and all those who assisted Mt v
he burial were massacred so that it would o
ever be known where so much wealth was a
ltombed. The Roman empire conquered q
ie world, but Attila conquered the Roman n
npire. He was right in calling himself a "
.ourge, but instead Of being the scourge Of a
od he was the scourge of hell Because of p
is briliancy and bitterness. the commenta- Sc
'rs were right in believing him to be the
ar Wormwood Of the text As the regions
e devastated were parts most opulent with
luntains and streams and rivers. YOU see u
0w graphic my text is; There fell a great IL
ar from heaven, burning as it were a larup. W
I'D it fell upon the third part of the rivers 10
I'd upon the fountains of waters; and the o
inie Of the star is called Wor1nwood.n T.,
Have you ever thought how many embit- ..
red lives there are about us, misanthropic. h'
orbid, aclfd, saturninel The European V
ant from which wormwood is extracted. y'
'temisia absinthium, is a perennial plant NJ
I'd all the year round it is ready to exude So
oil And in many human lives there is a t.i Z!
rennial distillation of aerid experiences. "a
"a, there are some whose whole work is to 'i'
ed baleful influence on others. There are W.
,tlas of the home, or Attilas Of tho social ~
rcle or Attilas Of the church, or Attilas of "i
g state, and one-third Of the waters Of all 10
e world, if not two-thirds the waters, are ~,
isoned by the falling of the star Worm w
BOD. It is not complimentary TO human ~
ture that most men, as soon as they get %
eat power, becQae overbearing The more ~
wer men have the better, if their power be Fe
I'd for good. The less power men have the on
tier, if they use it for evil NV
Birds circle round and round and round by
fore they swoop upon that which they are en-
ming for And if my discourse so far has Jus
an swinging round and round, this moment go
irops straight on your heart and asks the SIN
estion; Is your life to others benedic- FAC
Il or an embitterment, a blessing or a by
Sc, balsam or a wOrmwoodl tha
some Of you, | know, are morning stars, wo
7 you are making the dawning life of your bit
ldren bright with gracious influences, and Of
I are beaming upon all tine opening enter tina
ses OF philanthropic and Christian IN no
vor, and you are heralds Of that day ct life
pelization which viii yet dood the noun It
ms and5 valleys OF our Gin cursed earth. ask
il, morning stari Keep ON shining with tbr
and Christian hope ,yis
iome Of you are evening stars, and you me
cheering the last days Of old people, and be-
ugh a cloud Sometimes comes over you ond
ough the querulousness or unreasonable Mo
S Of your old father and mother, it is only Of
moment, and the star soon comes out Chi
,r again and Is seen from all the balconies tres
tI,o 4,afoI,bf.s.f,,r,I V1ho ,II ,,.-,,I.