Sharp County record., 1888-05-24
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
peware Lest, Having Forgotten
God, Ye Perish.
rafety Only in Righteousness rowan Vt
God and Justice Toward MAN.
The Lessons of History Illus
trating the Subject

Row y Dewitt Talmage took for the
ruhiect of recent sermon IN BroOhlyn
ToborrooIo "The Star WOrmwood, OF
Rrilliant Bitterness" taking for his teNV'
,rboro fell n great star from Heaven, burning
nc II il we're lamp and it fell upon the tlii.
mart of the rivers, and upon the fountains VI
potors. and the name of the star was called
ormwood-Revelations viii, lO ana IL,
Patrick and Lowth, Thomas Scott, MAI
thew Henry, Albert Barnes and all tne
other commentators agree in saying tnaV
the star WOrmwood of my text was AGVil"'
Kino of the Huns. He was so called De-
couse he was brilliant as a star, ana, ike
Tormwood. he embittered every thing ne
touched. We have studied the otar ol
Bethlehem, and the morning Star OF tne
Revelation, and the Star of Peace, put my
subiect this hour calls us to gaze at tne
star Wormwood, and my theme might De
called brilliant bitterness.
A more extraordinary character history
does not furnish than this man relerIeu
70 in nv text, Attila, the King OF the
Hun,. One day a wounded heifer came
Emping along through the helas'
and herdsman followed ltS
bloody track on the grass ~
see where the heifer was wound
ed, and went on back further and turther'
mill he came to a sword fast in the earth,
+he point downward, as though 1t had
dronned from the heavens, and against
tbe edges of this sword the helter had
been cut, The herdsman pulled up that
sword and presented it to Attlla' Attlla
said that sword must have dropped from
the heavens from the grasp OF the gou
Mars. and its being given to him meant
that Attila should conquer and govern
the whole earth. Other mighty men nave
been delighted at being called llberatorS,
or the merciful, or the good, put
Attila called himself and demanded
that others call him the ScOurge Of God.
At tbe head of seven hundred thousand
troops, mounted on Cappadoc5an horses,
he swept every thing from the Adrlatlc 10
the Black Sea. He put his iron heel on
Macedonia and Greece and Thrace. lie
made Milan and Pavia, and Padua, and
Verona beg for mercy which he bestowed
not. The Byzantine castles, to meet MS
ruinous levy, put up at auction MASSIVE
silver tables and vases OF solid gold
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 Attlla
or be butchered; the second class, the
beautiful women, who were made captlVeS
: to the Huns; the third class, the aged men
and women, who were robbed OF every
. thing and let 60 back to the city to pay
[ heavy tax.
II was a common saying that the grass
never grew again where the hoot OF
Attila,s horse had trod. His armies red
a dened the waters of the Seine and the
/ Moselle and the Rhine with carnage, anC
{ 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 coulc
pot apnose him, with arms lay prostratt
dust seen in the distance, q Bishop CRED
: "It is the aid of GOd" And all the people
q took up the cry, "It is the aid Of GOdo
AS the cloud of dust was blown aside the
! banners of reinforcing armies marched
in to help against Attila the ScOurage OF
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 a stOrk
and her young from the tower of the city
was taken by him as a sign that he was to
capture the city, and his army, inspired
with the same occurrence, resumed the
ksiege, and took the walls at a point from
which the stOrk had emerged. SO brilliant
was the conqueror in attire that his enc
mics could not look at him, but shaded
their eyes or TUNED 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 cofins-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
| WIS tubOUlDcu' lut IDllldu EluDlTe 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
as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third
part Of the rivers and upon the fountain OF
waters, and the name Of the star is called
Norwood
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 it 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 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 One-third of |
the waters of all the world. if not two
thirds of the waters, are poisoned by the
falling of the star Norwood. It is not