The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1888-05-03
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Beware Lest, Having Forgotten
God, Ye Perish.
Safety Only in Righteousness Toward
God and Justice Toward Man
The Lessons of History Illus
tratlng the Subject.


/ s.salvct of recent sermon in Brooklyn
| Tabernacle "The Star Wormwood, or
Brilliant Bitterness" taking for his text:
There fell a great star from Heaven burning
| as IL IL were a lamp, and it fell upon the ttirr
| part OF the rivers, and upon the fountains Of
waters; and the name OF the star was called
/ Wormwood-- viii, 10 and II.
Patrick and Lowth, Thomas Scott, Mat
| thew Henry, Albert Barnes and all the
| other commentators agree in saying that
! the star Wormwood of my text was Attila,
| King of the Huns. He was so called be-
| cause he was brilliant as a star, and, like
wormwood he embittered every thing he
| touched. We have studied the Star of
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 Wormwood, and my theme might be
called brilliant bitterness.
A more extraordinary character history
does not furnish than this man referred
10 In nv 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 wound
ed, and went on back further and further,
| until he came to a sword fast in the earth,
the point downward, as though 1t had
dropped from the heavens, and against
| the edges of this sword the heifer haa
| been cut. The herdsman pulled up that
| sword and presented it to Attila. Attils
/ said that sword must have dropped 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 hberatcrs,
or the merciful, or the good, but
| Attila called himself and demanded
| that others call him the Scourge of God.
| At the head of seven hundred thousand
/ troops, mounted on Cappadocian horses,
| he swept every thing from the Adriatic to
| the Black Sea. He 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
| rsinous 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 classes:
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 every
thing and let go back to the city to pay
| heavy tax.
1t was a common saying that the grass
never grew again where the hoof OF
! Attila's horse had trod. His armies red
| dened the waters of the Seine and the
| Moselle and the Rhine with carnage, and
! fought on the Catalonian plains the
| fiercest battle since the world stood
three hundred thousand dead left on the
! field On and on, until all those who could
not oppose him with arms lay prostrate
on their faces in prayer, and q cloud OF
dust seen in the distance, Bishop cried:
| 'It is the aid of God And all the people
took up the cry, at is the aid of GodW
As the cloud Of dust was blown aside the
banners of reinforcing armies marched
In to help against Attila, the Scourage of
I God. The most unimportant occurrences
/ he used as a supernatural resource, and,
after three months of failure to capture
the City of Aquileia, and his army had
| given up the siege, the flight of stork
| and her young from the tower of the city
was taken by him as o 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 ene-
mics could not look at him, but shaded
their eyes or turned their heads.
Slain on the evening OF his marriage by
his bride, Ildico, who was hired for the as
sassination, his followers bewailed him
not with tears, but with blood, cutting
| themselves with knives and lances. He
was put into three coffins-the first of
| iron the second of silver, and the third of
| gold. He was 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 and all those who assisted at the
| burial were massacred, so that it would
never be known where so much wealth
was entombed. The Roman Empire con-
quered the world but Attila conquered the
Roman Empire. He was right in calling
himself a scourge, but instead of being
the scourge of God he was the scourge of
hell. Because of his brilliance and bit
terness 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, you see how
| graphic my text is:
There fell great star from Heaven, burning
/ =
| part OF the rivers and upon the fountain OF
waters, and the name OF the star is called
| Wormwood.
Have you ever thought how many en-
bittered lives there are all about US, mis-
anthropic, morbid, acrid, saturnine?
| The European plant from which worm
wood is extracted, artemisa absinthium,
is a perennial plant, and all the year
round 1t is ready TO exude its oil. And in
many human lives there is a perennial
distillation of acrid experiences. Yea,
| there are some whose whole work is TO
shed a baleful influence on others. There
are Attilas Of the home, or Attilas of the
social circle, or Attilas of the church,
or Attilas of the state, and third of
the waters of all the world, if not two
thirds of the waters, are poisoned by the
falling of the star Wormwood. 1t is not
complimentary TO human nature that
most men, as soon as they get great
power, become overbearing. The more
power men have the better, if their power
be used for good. The less power men
| have the better, il they use il for evil.
Birds circle round and round and round
before they swoop upon that which they
are aiming for. And if my discourse so
tar has been swinging round and round,
this moment it drops straight on your
| heart and asks the question: Is your life
| to others a benediction or an embitter
mems a blessing or a curse, balsam or
q wormwoodY
some of you, know, are morning stars,
and you are making the dawning life Of
| your children bright With gracious infiu-
ences, and you are beaming upon all the
! opening enterprises of philanthropic and
! Christian endeayor, and you are heralds
Of that day OF gospelization which will
! pet food all the mountains and valleys Of
/ our sin-cursed earth. Hail, morning star /!
I Keep on shining with encouragement and
/ Christian hope.
! Some OF you are evening stars, and you
are cheering the last days Of old people,
| and though a cloud sometimes comes over