The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-03-17
BITTERNESS OF LIFE.
DR.. Talmage Draws a Contrast Be-
tween Selfishness and Kindness.
Should Make the world n Pleasant
Plnce-Scntterers of NORWOOD
Are Likened to AttiIa
the Hun.

washington. March ~. Copyright, 1899
The contrast between a life of self
ishness and a life of Kindness is set
forth by DR., Talmage while discours-
ing upon the baleful character of a
conqueror of olden time; text. Rev
elation viii. 10. II: There fell great
star from heaven. burning as ii were
lamp. and it. fell upon the third part
of the rivers and upon the fountains
of water, and the name of the star il
called NORWOOD"
Patrick and Lowth. Thomas Scott.
Matthew Henry, Albert Barnes aud
some other commentators say that
the star Norwood of my text was a
type of Attila, king of the Huns. He
was so called because he was brilliant
as a star. and. like NORWOOD, he en-
Filtered everything he touched. We
have studied the Star of Bethlehem
and the Morning Star of Revelation
and the Star of Peace. but my subject
calls us to gaze at the star Norwood,
and my theme might be called Bril-
liant Bitterness"
A more extraordinary character his
tory does not furnish than this man
Attila. the king of the Huns. The
story goes that one day a wounded
hefer came limping along through the
fields, and a herdsman followed its
bloody tracks on the grass to see
where the heifer was wounded and
went on back farther and farther un-
til he came to a sword fast in the
earth, the point downward, as though
il 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 At
tia should conquer and govern the
whole earth, Other mighty men have
been delighted at being called liber-
ators. or the Merciful. or the Good
but Attila called himself and demand
ed that others call him "the Scourge
of God"
At the head Of 100000 troops, mount
ed on Cappadocian horses. he swept
everything from the Adratic to the
Black sea. He put his iron heel on
| Macedonia and Greece and Thrace. He
made Milan and Payia and Padua
and Verona beg for mercy. which he
| bestowed not. The Byzantine castles,
to meet his ruinous levy. put up at
auction massive silver tables and vases
Of solid gold. When a city was cap
ured by him, the inhabitants were
brought out and put into three classes.
The first class, those who could bear
arms, must Immediately enlist under
Attla or be butchered; the second
class. the beautiful 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 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 car
mage and fought on the Catalonian
plains the fiercest battles since the
world stood-30O000 dead left on the
field On and on until all those who
could not oppose him with arms lay
proStrate on their faces in prayer.
then cloud of 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,
! Ia. ct bn
important occurrences he used as a
supernatural resource. After three
months of failure to capture the city
of Aquileia. when his army had given
up the siege, the flight of stork and
her young from the tower of the city
was taken by him as sign that he
was TO capture the city, and his army,
inspired with the same occurrence,
resumed the siege and took the walls
at a point from which the stork had
emerged.
Slain on the evening of his marriage
by his bride, Ildico, who was hired
for the assassination, his followers be-
walled him not with tears, but with
blood, cutting themselves with knives
collins. the first of iron, the second of
silver and the third of gold lie was
buried by night, and into his grave
were poured the most valuable coins
and precious stones, amounting to the
wealth of kingdom, The gravedig-
gers and all those who assisted at the
burial were mastered, so that il
would never be known where so mach
wealth was entombed.
The Roman empire conquered the
world, but Attila conquered the Ro-
man empire. He was right in calling
himself a scourge but instead of be-
ing 1.-THE Scourge of God" he was the
scourge of hell,
Because of his brilliancy and bitter
ness the commentators might well have
supposed him to be the star Norwood
of the text. As the regions he devas-
tated We're parts most opulent with
fountains and streams and rivers, you
| l. Il, 10. l..