The Penn's Grove record., 1899-03-17

He n Type of the Norwood Men
toned In Revelation?
TEXT: fThere fell a great star from
heaven, burning ms it were q lamp, and !
fell upon the third part OF the rivers, an
upon the fountains OF waters, andt the nam,
OF the star Is called Norwood. "-Revela
tioh x, II.
Patrick and Lowth, Thomas Scott, Mat
thew Henry, Albert Barnes n some othel
commentators say that the star Norwood
% my text was a type OF Attila, king Of the
Huns. He was Sd called because he. wa!
brilliant as a star, aud, like NORWOOD, HI
imbittered everything he touched. w
have studied the Star OF Bethlehem. anC
the Morning Star Of Revelation and thu
star Of Peace, but my subject calls tis t.
gaze at the star Worm wood. and my theme
might be called brilliant Bitterness
A more extraordinary character history
does not furnish than this man Attila, the
king Of the Huns, The story goes that in,
day wounded heifor came limping along
through the fields, and n herdsman fol
lowed Its bloody track on the grass to see
where the heller WINS wounded, and went OF
back, farther and farther, until he came to
asword fast In the earth, the point down
ward, as though 1t had dropped from til,
heavens, and against the edges of thi.
sword the heller had been cut. The herds
maj pulled mp that sword and presented Il
to Attila. Attila said that sword mtisI
have dropped from the heavens from the
grasp of tie god Mars, and its being giver
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 tina
others call him ''the seoutge of dod.'
At the head Of 700, 900 troops, mounted
nm M tNna1oaion bnr5aa ha e,rant o,a.,.
thing, from the AdriRtic to the Black Sea
He put his iron hee, on Macedonia and
Greece and Thrace. He made Milan and
Pavia and Padua and Verona beg fol-
mercy, which he bestowed not. The BY.
zantine castles, to meet his ruinous levy,
put up at auction massive silver tables
and vases Of solid gold. When a city was
captured by him, the inhabitants were
brought out and put into three classes,
The first class, those who could bear arms,
must Immediately enlist under Attila oil
be butchered, the second class, the beauti.
full women, were made captives to the
Huns; the third class, the aged men and
women, were robbed of everything and
let go back to the city to pay n heavy tax.
1t was a common saying that the grass
never grew where the hoof Of Attila's horse
had trod. His armies Redeemed the waters
of the Seine and the Moselle and the Rhine
with carnage and fought on the Catalonian
plains the fisrcest battle since the world
stood-S00, 0e0 dead left on the field. On
and on until all those who could not op-
pose him with arms lay PROSTATE on their
faces in prayer, then u cloud or dust was
seen In the distance, and a bishop cried,
at is the aid of God" and all the people
took up the cry. at is the aid of God.''
As the cloud OF dust was blown aside the
banners of reinforcing armies marched In
to help against Attila, 1.-THE Scourge of
God" The most u%nimportant occurrences
he used as supernatural resource. After
three months of failure to capture the cit
OF Aquileia, when his army had given up
the siege, the flight Of a stork and her
young from the tower of the city wa taken
by him as a sign that he was to capture the
city, and his army, inspired with the same
occurrence, resumed the siege and took
the walls at Il 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 their heads.
Slain on the evening OF his marriage by
his bride, Idico, 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 coins, the first of iron,
the second of silver and the third of gold.
He was buried by night, and into his
kIuN5 WAS pOuICu tue nlOSL NdluuDl6 COINS
and precious stones, amounting to the
wealth OF a kingdom. The gravediggers
and all those who assisted at the burial
were massacred, so that 1t would never be
known where so much wealth was en-
tombed.
The Roman empire conquered 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 brilliancy and bitterness,
the commentators might we'll nave sup
posed him to be the star Norwood of the
text. As the regions he devastated were
ports most opulent with fountains and
streams and rivers, you see how graphic
my text is: There fell a great star from
heaven, burning as 1t were a lamp, and il
fell upon the third part OF the rivers, and
upon the fountains OF waters, and the name
OF the star is called Wormwood."
Have you ever thought how many embit-
tered lives there are all about us, nissan
thropic, morbid, acrid, saturnine? The
European plant from which NORWOOD is
extracted, Artemisia absinthium, is a per-
ennial plant, and all the year round il is
ready to exude its oil. And In many hu-
man lives there is a perennial distlllation
of acrid experiences. Yea, there are some
whose whole work is to shed a baleful in
fuence over others. There are Attilas of
the home, Attilas of the social circle. At
tilas of the church, Attilas of the State, and
one-third of the waters of all the world are
poisoned by the falling of the star Worm
wood. 1t Is not complimentary to human
nature that most men, as soon ms they get
great power, become overbearing. The
more power men nave the better, IL their
power be used for good. The less power
men nave the better, II they use 1t for evil.
But are any of you the star Wormwood2
Do you scold and growl from the thrones
paternal or maternal? Are your children
everlastingly packed at? Are You always
crying "Hushl" to the merry voices and
swift feet, and to the laughter, which
occasionally trickles through at wrong
times, and Is suppressed by them until
they can hold 1t no longer, and all the
barriers burst into unlimited outlaw and
exclamation, as In high weather the
water has trickled through q slight open
ing in the milldam, but afterward makes
wider and wider breach until 1t carries all
before 1t with Irresistible freshet? Do not
be too much offended at the noise your
children now make. 1t will be still enough
when one of them Is dead. Then you would
give your right hand to hear one shout
from the silent voice, or one step from the
still foot. You will not any OF you have to
wait very long before your house is stiller
than you want 1t. Alas tina there are SO
many homes not known to the Society for
the Prevention Of Cruelty to Children,
where children are whacked and cuffed and
ear pulled, n senselessly called to order,
and answered sharply aud suppressed, I'M
til 1t is a wonder that under such processes
they do not all turn out Mana Sahibsl
But | will change this and suppose you
are a star of worldly prosperity. Then you
have large opportunity, You can encour-
age that artist by buying his picture. You
can improve the fields, the stables, the
highway, by introducing higher style Of
fowl and horse and COW aud sheep. You
can bless the world with genealogical
achievement in the orchard. You can ad-
vance arboriculture and arrest the death
full destruction of the American forests,
You can put n piece OF sculpture into the
niche of that public academy. You can
endow a college. You can stocking 1000
bare feet from the winter frost. You can
build a church. You can put a missionary
OF Christ on that foreign shore. You can
nelp ransom n world. A rich man with his
heart right-can you tell me how much
good Il James Lenox or n George Peabody
or a Peter Cooper or a William Il. Dodge
did while living or is doing now that he is
dead There is not n city, town or neigh
borhool that has not glorious specimens
OF consecrated wealth.
But suppose you grind the face OF the
poor. Suppose, when a man wages are
due, you makeh him wait for them because
he cannot help himself. Suppose that, be-
cause his family Is sick and he has had ex-