The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-04-26
BRILLIANT BITTERNESS.
Or. TALMAGE's SUNDAY MORNING
SERMON AT THE TABERNACLE.

DR.. TALMAcE's SUNDAY MORNING
SERMON AT THE TABERNACLE.
The Eloquent Preschex u IN 0p<imist
and Looks Forward 70 the Time when
Christ WIN Set His Throne between
the Alleghanies and siexrs NevAdas.
BROOKLYN, April 20.-The Rev. T.
De Witt Talmage D. D., preached this
morning at the Tabernacle ON the sub
ject THE Star Wormwood, or Brilliant
Bitterness" The musical exercises were
assisted by the organ and cornet
Thousands Of voices In the main audi
torium and in the adjoining pa-lor and
lecture room and corridor, joined in sing
ing:
Wen crowd thy gates with thankful songs,
High al the heavens and 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 Guiilmant. After
DR.. Talmage had expounded the sarcasm
of Elijah at the offering Of the Baalites
he spoke as follows:
Revelation viii, 1o-11: ssThere fell
great star from heaven, burning 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 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 a star,
and. like wormwood, be embittered
everything he touched. We have Studied
the star Of Bethleheln, 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 Bitter
ness
A more extraordinary character his
tory does not furnish than this man re-
ferred to in my text-Attila, the king of
the Huns. One day wounded heifer
came limping along through the fields,
and herdsman followed It's bloody track
on the grass to see where the heifer was
wounded, and went ON back, further and
further until he came to 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
had been cut. The herdsman pulled up
that sword and presented it to Attila.
Attila 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 liberators or the Merciful
or the Good, but Attila called himself
| and demanded that others call him the
| Scourge of God. At the head of 700, 900
troops, mounted on Cappadocian horses,
he swept everything 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 r1inous levy, put up at auction
| massive silver tables and vases of solid
gold A city captured by him, the In
habitants were brought out. and put into
three classes: The first class, those who
could bear arms, who must Immediately
| enlist under Attila or be butchercd; the
second class, the beautiful women. who
were made captves 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.
It was common saying that the grass
never grew again where the hoof of At
tila's horse had trod. His armies reddened
the waters Of the Seine and the Moselle
and the Rhine with carnage, and fought
on the Catalonian plains the fercest battle
since the world stood, 300,000 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, g
cloud of dust seen in the distance, a
bishop cried: ut is the aid of God;" and
all the people took up the cry: '1t Is the
aid of God" As the cloud Of dust
was blown aside the banners oi
reinforcing armies marched In te
help against Attila, the scourge Of God
The most unimportant occurrence he
used as supernatural resource, and after
three months of failure to capture tht
city. of Aquileia and his army had giver
up the siege, the fight Of stork and
her young from the tower of the city
was taken by him as sign that he wa.
to capture the city, and his army, In
spired with the same occurrence, re
sumed the siege and took the walls at {
point from which the stork had emerged
So brilliant was the conqueror In attire
that his enemies could not look at him
but shaded their eyes or turned thei
heads.
Slain on the evening Of his marriage b.
his bride Ildico, who was hired for tn
assassination, his followers bewailed hin
not with tears but with blood, cuttin,
themselves with knives and lances. II
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 grav
were poured the most valuable coin ant
precious stones, amounting to the wealtl
Of kingdom. The grave diggers and al
those who assisted at the burial wer
massacred 80 tha# u would never b
known where so much wealth was en-
tombed. The Roman empire conquere'
the world but Attila conquered the Romal
empire. He was right in callinl
himself scourge, but instead o
being the scourge Of God, he wa
the scourge Of hell. Because 9
his brilliancy and bitterness the couanen
, tators were right in believing him to b
the star Wormwood Of the text. As th
regions he devastated were parts mos
opulent with fountains and streams an
rivers, you see how graphic my text Is
''There fell great star from heaven
burning as it were lamp, and It fs
upon the third part Of the rivers. an
upon the fountains Of waters; and th
name Of the star Is called Wormweod.
Have you ever thought how many EN-
bittered lives there are all about us, nis
anthropic, morbid, acrid, saturnine? Th
: European plant from which wormwoo
Is extracted, Artemida Absithium, Is
perennial plant, and all the year round
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 shed bale