Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-09-15
ASHTABULA, o., SATURDAY MORNING. SEPTEMBER Isl 1860

Gospel OF my Lord Jusus Christ, for it /,
the power Of God, and the wisdom of Goo
unto every one that bellcveth" In the Ole
| Coliseum yonder, a white. headed old msr
stood the center Of eighty thousand eyes
while a hungry lion rushed upon him anc
devoured him; and when people asked why
"lle was Christian--he said he bore thi.
Christ within him" .....r... ......
Make what we will of it, there stands the
| Coliseum in runs--the place Of the CAESARS
moIdering-and over every temple, every
column yet left Of old Rome, the statue oI
some Christians martyr land the Vatican
holding all the Roman gods and god1esses
train OF magnificent captiYes 1t seems
that the lonely jew between two soldiers
was not so far wrong in saying, 81 am not
ashamed OF the Gospel of my lord Jesus
Christ, for it is the potocr of God"
ii was then in spirit Of gigantic triumph
that Michael Angelo, behoding the magni.
hcent remains of ancient art, proposed to
himself not to initiate, but to Guido them
TO pile up cliffs aud fabrics Of architecture
that should outdo even tho gigantic concep-
tions of heatheR Rome
1t is only because everywhere this human
triumph is too evident that one feels that
Christianity bas gained only in name, and
not in fact. For if the devil could enthroue
the spirH Of old Rome in the Christian city,
what cared he whether the temple was call
ed OF Jove of Jesus 2 Que does not feel the
spirit of this pile Of buildings to be any such
that, if it were proclaimed tomorrow to be.
long to the old C9sarS, one would feel an
incongruity, Notwithstanding its images of
eyangclists and martyrs-at Milan one
uGoud, A Caesar awakiug on its roof would
be at loss to explain the spirit of
of the building-here he would ret A
great triumph domc--.H splendid exultation
"A dedication Of some demi.god he could
accept it at once.
Michael Angelo expressed only that por-
tion of the religious element which belongs
to PagNnism ana Christanism-that OF
uastneSs and po1oer. There was no sweet.
ness, no pathos, no tenderness, no love
One feels that a human prayer might flut
ter like bewildcred butterfly under the
polished arches of ST. Peters, aud lose it.
self in The Infinite vastness without touch.
ing heart of love anywhere. .
1t is just as grand, and sublime, aud
cold as old RomuniSm, aud her Michael
Angelo seems to me only an old Roman
risen from the dead, expressing with slight
changes of form all the old Roman ideas
His Christ is a Jupiter with handful OF
thunderbolts. His Moses, far fro m being
that motherly man that brooded pc ople
in his bosom, as hen broods her young
is great craggy, Roman dem-god, mighty,
mysterious, and cold. You see no trace
of the man who wept and interceded for
SHINING Israe-who said in his passionate
love, If thou wilt, forgive their sins ; but
if not, blot me pray thee, out of thy
| book
Michael Angeles Moses never shed a
tear, and never thought Of giving himself
for anybody-he is a true Olympian divni-
ty, very strong, very high, very knowing,
very cold-for Michael Angelo could put
no more 10 him than he had in himself.
His true place is with the rest of his race,
in the halls of the Vatican, rather than in
n Christian church. All his saints and
martyrs seem to be much on the same or
der. The spirit of Christian Rome, so far
as expressed by him, seems to be that OF
worldly retaliation-as if saying-'Here,
you devils look ont for yourselves ; you
stoned and crucGed and burned as, now it
is our turn. We saints have got the Ro-
man empire, and mean to have it our own
way. We are going to lord it on the top
of columns and monuments, and you are
going to lie in the dust at our feet. We
are going to have marble halls and gems
aud mosaics aud chariots and horses and
servants. Down with your old palaces. If
we Christians now we have got you down
cau't beat you in your own line, it's a pity.