The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-03-22
.lIFES BITTERNESS.
Dr.. TaImage EIoquenliy Contrasts
sSeifishness and Kindness.G
SOME HELPFUL THOUGHTS.
We Should All Strive TO Make
This World a Pleasant Place
and Not Scatter Worm
Wocd.

uSItuSSS aux - 80
forth hy Or Talmase While diseour>,
ine upon the baIcful character OF a
conoperor Of olieu tine; text. Reveta-
tion viii, 10, II, There fell great
star from heaven. burning as 1t 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
some other commentators say that the
star Wormwood Of my text was type
of Attila. king of the Hans. He was
so called because he was brilliant as a
star. and like wormwood, be iMbltterec
everything he touched We have stu
died the Star of Bethlehem and the
Morning Star of Revelation anc the
Star of Peace, but my subject calls Us
to gaze at the star Wormwood, ana my
theme might be call Brilliant Bitter
ness.
A more extraordinary character his
tory does not furnish than tals man
Attila, the king OF the Huns. The
story goes that one day wounded
heifer came Iimping along through the
fields, and herdsman followed Its
bloody track on the grass TO see where
the heifer was wounded, and went on
back farther and farther until he came
to a sword fast in the earth, the point
6ovnvor1 &c though it had dropped
from the heavens, and against the edges
of this sword the heifer had been cut;
The herdsman pulled up that sword aud
presented it to Attila Attila sad 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 Iloera-
tors. or the Merciful. or the Good. but
Attila called himself and demanded
that Others call him the Scourge OF
At the head of 100000 troops,
mounted on Cappadocian horses, he
swept everything, from the Adr;atlc to
the Black sea. He put his iron heel on
Macedonia and Greece and Ihrace. tie
made Milan and Pavia and Pa6ua ana
Verona beg for mercy, which he be-
slowed not. The Byzantine castles, to
meet his ruinous levy, put up at auction
massive silver tables and vases OF solo
sold. When a city was captured by
him, the inhabitants were brought out
and put into three classes. The trst
class. those who could bear arms, must
Immediately enlist under Atti!a or be
butchered: the second class, the beau
tiful 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.
It was a common saying that the
grass never grew where the hoof OF At
tila's horse had trod. His armies red
dened the waters of the Seine and the
Moselle and the Rhine with carnage
and fought on the Catalonlan plalnS;
the 6ercest battle since the world $1,000
300, 600 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, then cloud OF
dust was seen in the distance and 9
bisnop cried, 1T is the aid OF God;
and all the people took up the cry, II
is the aid of God As the cloud Of
dust was blown aside the banners OF re-
enforcing armies marched in to helE
against Attila, ''the Scourge OF GOO.
The most unimportant occurrences ne
used as supernatural resource. After
three months of failure to capture the
city Of Aauileia, when his army hao
given up the siege, the fight Of ssork
and her young from the tower OF the
city was taken By him as a sign that ne
was to capture the city, and his army,
inspired with the same occurrence, re
sumed the siege and took the walls at
point from which the stork had cmerg-
ed. So brilliant was the conqEeror ln
attire that his enemies could not looS
at him, but shaded their eyes or turned
their heads.
Slain on the evening Of his marriage
BY his bride, ndico, who was hired to1
the assassination, his followers De
ma;... linn not with tears, but with
blood, cutting themselves with knives
and lances. He was put into three cot
fms, the first Of iron, the second OF sill
yer and the third Of gold. He was
buried by night, and into his grave
were poured the most valuable COPS
and precious stones, amounting to the
wealth of Kingdom. The gravedlg-
gers and all those who assisted at the
burial were massacred, so that It would
never be known where SO much wealth
was entombed.
The Roman empire conquered the
world, but Attila conquered the Roman
empire. He was tight in calling HIM
self scourge, but instead Of being the
Scourge Of Coo" he was the scourge OF
hell.
Because of his brilliancy and bitter
ness the commentators might well have
supposed him to be the star v Norwood
of the text. As the regions he devas-
tated were parts most opuIent with
fountains and streams and rivers, you
see how graphic ny t2xt Is: There fell
a great star from heaven, burning as it
were lamp, and it fell upon the third
part Of the rivers and upon the foun
tains of waters, and the name OF the
star is called Wormwood.
CBut are any Of you the star Worm
wood? Do you scold and growl from
the thrones paternal or maternal? Are
your children e7erlastingly pecked at?
Are you always crying Hush - to the
merry voices and swift feet and to the
laughter which occasionally trickles
through at wrong times, and is sup
pressed by them until they can hold 1t
no longer, and all the barriers burst
in+o rnliroiteS r11frSv and rachinnatiOn,