St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-08-08
BRILLIANT BITTERNESS,
&SeN Z Dewitt Talnage breaches !
Masterful Sermon

eN- = Dewitt Talmage breaches /,
Masterfu Sermon
Oeaatag with the Destiny Of NatSons-I
was Delivered In the Edln~e where
Presidents Have Been Wo.t
to worahiP.
The following disceurse on s.The Les
Eany OF Naticns"Was delivered by Rev
e. Dewitt Talmage before his Wash
angton congregation. The text was:
There tell great star from Heaven. burain,
- we're lamp, and It fell upon tAird pAr
% - rivers. and upon the fountains Of Va
tS; and the name Of the star Is called Worm
0Od--Hcvel0ttOns will, 10 u.
Many commentators, like Patrick
and Lowth, Thomas Scott, Matthew
Henry and Albert Barnes, agree il
saying that the star Wormwood, men
TONED in Revelation. was Attila, king
OF the Huns. He was SO called be.
cause he was brilliant rs a star, and
lkewormvood, he embittered every
thing he touched. We have studied
the Star of Bethlehem, and the Morn
ing Stay. of Revelation, and the stat
OF PEP ce, but my present subject calls
Ms TO gaze ut the Star Wormwood, and
my theme might Be called Brilliant
Bitterness.
more extraordinary cha aracter his
tory does mot furnish than this man
thus referred to, Attila, the king oi
the Huns. One day a wounded heller
came limping along through the fields,
And herdsman followed ita bloody
track on the grass to sec where the
heifcr was wounded, and went on
back further and further, until he
came to : sword fast in the earth, the
point downward, rs though 1t had
dropped from the heavens. and against
the edges of the sword the heifer had
been cut. The herdsman pulled MP
that sword and presented it to Attila.
Attila said that that sword must have
dropped from the heavens from the
grasp Of the god Mars, and its being
given to him meant that Attils should
conquer and govern the whole earth.
Other mighty men have been de-
lighted 1t being called liberators, or
she merciful, or the good. but Attila
called himself, and demanded that 9TH
iers call him. the ScourKe OF God. At
the head Of 700, 600 troops. mounted on
CAppadociAn horses, he swept every
ehing from the Adriatic to the Black
Sea- He put his iron heel on Mace
donia and Greece and Thracc. He
made Milan and Pavia and Padua and
Verona beg for mercy, which he be-
astowed not. The byzantine castles,
TO meet his ruinous levy, put up
at auction, massive silver tables
and vases of solid gold. A city cap
cured by him. the inhabitants were
brought ont and put into three classes;
tie first claEs, those who could bear
erma, who must ustimmediately enlist un-
der 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
! wero robbed Of everything and let 60
hark to'the city to pay heavy tax
II was = common saying that the
grass never grew again where the
lh0of of Attilla's horse had trod. His
armies Redeemed the waters Of the
Seine and the Mosclle and the Rhine
with carnage, and fought on the Cata-
Aoaian plains the fercest battles since
the world stood-3O0, 600 dead left on
tho field! On and on, until all those
who could not oppose him with arms
lay PROSTATE on their faces in prayer,
and, : cloud Of dust seen in the dis
trance, bishop cried: ut Is tho aid
g God!" and al the people took up the
cry: 1T Is the aid Of God!" "As the
cloud of dust was blown aside the
banners Of reinforcing armies
marched In to help against Attila,
tho ScOruge of God. The most
0nimportant occurrences he used
as > supernatural resource, and after
three months of failure to capture the
City OF Aquileia, and his army had
given mp the siege, the flight Of stork
and her young from the tower OF the
city. and his army. inspired by the
same occurrence, resumed the siege,
and took the walls 1t = point from
which tho stork had emerged. So
brilliant was the conqueror in attire
that his enemies 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 assassination, his followers, be-
walled him mot with tears, but with
blood, cutting themselves with knives
and lances. He was put into three
cohins-the frst 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 most precious stones, amounting
70 the wealth Of kingdom. The
grave diggers and al those who as-
sisted at the burial were massacred, 90
that it would never be known where
80 much wealth was entombcd. Tho
Roman empire conquered the
world, but Attila conqured the Ro-;l
man empire He was right in calling
himself scourge, but instead Of be-
Ing the soourge Of God, he was the
scourge of hell. Because of his bril-
lance and bitterness the eommenta-
tors were right In believing him to be |
the star Wormwood. As tho regions
he devastated were parts most opulent
with fountains and streams and rivers.
you zee how graphic il this reference
in Revelation: There fell : great
star from Heaven. burning - 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 4
called Wormwood."
Have you ever thought how many
embittered lives there are all about
~. mtsanthropic, morbid, acrid, satur-
nine? This European plant from
which wormwood Il extracted. arte-
Misia ahsinthium, i : perennial plant.
- al the year round It Is ready 70
Gee it, oil. And In many human
l1ees there Is : perennial distillatiou
q acrid experiences Yea, there are
oome whose whole work = 70 shed =
baleful influence on others There are
Attilas Of the home, or AttilAs OF the 20
cial circle. or Attilas Of the church. or
Attflne o4 the state. and ome-k third ~