Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-04-23
THE STAR NORWOOD.
DIR. TALNAGgS TABERNACLE SERMON
LAST SUNDAY.
The Star WOrmwcOd in HiSsOry-Attla, King OF
the Huns, the ScOurS Of GOd-Ths History
tf Embitsred LiVsS-The Spin! Of
Envy in the World.

THE Star Wormwood, or Brlliiant bltter-
ness. The musical exercises were assisted
by the organ and eornet. Thousands OF
voices in the main auditorium and in the
adjoining parlor aud lecture room and
corridOr, joined in singing:
wen crowd Thy gates with thankful songs,
High as the heavens our voices raise,
While earth with her ten thousand tongues
Shall fill Thy courts with sounding praise
Professor Browne rendered Sonata No. /
in D minor, by Guillmant. After DIR.
Talmage had expounded the sarcasm OF
Elijah at the offering Of the Baalites, he
spoke ssfellews:
Revelation viii. 10 and IL "TheTe fell a
great star from heaven, burning as 1t were
a lamp, and it fell upon the third part OF
the rivers, and upon the fountains of wa
ters; and the name of the star Is called
Wormwood."
Patrick and Lowth, Thomas Scott,
Matthew 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 because he was brilliant as star,
and, like wormwOod, he embittered every.
thing he touched. We have studied the
Star of Bethlehem, lsud the Morning Star
of the Revelation, and the Star Of Peace,
but my subject this hour call 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 to
in my text, Attils, the King of the Huns
One Gay wounded heiler cane imping
along through the fields, and herdsman
followed its bloody track on the grass to
see where the heifer was wounded, aud
went on back, further and further, until
he came to a 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
herdsman pulled up that sword and pre-
sented it TO Attila. Attila said that sword
must have dropped from the heavens from
the grasp of the god Mars, and that its
being given tC hun meant that Attlla
should conquer and govern the whole
earth. Other mighty men have been de
lighted ut being called liberators or the
Msrciful or the Good, but Attila called
himself and demanded that Others call him
THE sCoURGE OF GOD.
At the head of seven hundred Thousand
troups, mounted on Cappa1ocian horses,
he swept everything from the Adriatic tC
the Black Sea. He put his iron heel on
Macedonia and Greece and Thrace. he
made Milan and Pavia and. Paiua and
Verona beg for mercy which he bestowed
not. The byzantine castles TO meet his
rninous levy put up at auction massive
silver tables and vases Of solid gold. A
city captured by him, the inhabitant:
we're brought out aud put into three
classes: The first class, those who could
bear arms, who must Immediately enlisi
under Alfalfa or he butchered; the second
class, the beautiful women, who were
made captives to the Huns; the third
class, the aged men and women, whG
were robbed Of every thing and let go bach
to the city to pay heavy taxes.
1t wasa common saying that the gras'
never grew again where the hoOf OF Attila':
horse had trod. His armies Redeemed thu
waters Of the Seine and the Moselle and the
Rhine with carnage, and fought on th'
Catalonian plains the fiercest battle since
the world stood, three hundred thousand
dead left on the field. 0n and on unti
all those who could not oppose him will
arms lay prostrate On their faces in pIayel
and, cloud of dust seen in the distance
a bishop cried: 'It is the aid Of Cod
and all the people took up the cry: 1T ii
the aid OF God. As the cloud of dust Wal
blown aside the banners of reinforcing
armies marched in TO help against Attila
the Scourge of God. The most unimportan
occurrences he used as q supernatural re
source, and after three months Of failur,
to capture the city Of Aquileia and hi
army had given up the siege, the flight o
. stork and her young from the tower o
the city was taken by him as q sign tha
he was to capture the city, and
HIS ARMY INSPIRED
with the same occurrence resumed th,
siege and took the walls at point from
which the stork had emerged. So brillian
was the conquerOr in attire that hi
enemies could not look at him, but shaded
their eyes or turned their heads.
Slain on the evening of his marriage BY
his bride IIdico, who was hired for the us
sassination, his followers bewailed hin
not with tears, but with blood, cuttin!
themselves with knives and lances. II,
was put into three cofins, the first o
iron, the second of silver. and the third o
gold. He was buried by night, and Int.
his grave were poured the most valuabl,
coin and precious stones amounting to th,
wealth of q kingdom. The grave digger
and all those who assisted ut the buria
were massacred so that il would never b,
known where so much wealth was en-
tombed. The Roman empire conquered
the world, Int Attila conquered tn,
Roman empire. He was right il
calling himself q scOurge, bat in
stead of being the scOurge OF God
he was the seourge of hell. Because o
his brilliancy and bitterness the commeu
tstors were right in believing him to b,
the star WOrmwood Of the text. As tn,
regions he devastated were parts mos
| opulent with fountains and streams abC
rivers, you see how graphic my text is
There fell great star from heaven, burn
ing as it were lamp, and il fell upon thu
third part of the rivers, and upon th'
fountains of waters; aud the name of tn,
star is called Wormwood."
Have You ever thought how many EN-
bittered lives there are oil about us, mis-
anthropic, morbid, acrid, saturnine? The
European plant from which wormwood il
extracted, Artemisia Absinthium, is {
perennial plant, and all the year around i
is ready to exude its oil. And in man!
human lives there is perennial distilla
ton Of acrid experiences. Yea, there ar
some whose whole work is to
SHE'D A BALEFUL INFLUENCE ON OTHERS
There are Attilas Of the home, or Attila
of the social circle, or Attilss Of thu
Church, or Attilas of the State, aud one
third Of all the waters Of the world, If no
two-thirds Of the waters. are poisoned by
the falling of the star Wormwood. 1t il
not complimentary TO human nature tha
most man, Us soon as they get great power
become overbearing. The more powe
men have the better, if their power b,
used for good. The less power men hav,
tine better, if they use it for evil.
! Birds circle round and round and round
before they swoop upon that which the,
are aiming for. And If my discourse 8
far has been swinging roupd and round
this moment it drops straight on you
II he nnootsnp. Il vnnr Inf