St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-28
He THOUGHT IN ROME
And Last Night Rev. William
Wilkinson Told What He
Thought.
Rev. H. M. Simmons Talks
About the NarroW-M Minded
Man.
Rev. H. H. French and Sarah
Bernhardt--Tha Plym-
outh Story.
How a Smooth Young Man
Fleeeed Minneapolis
PaWnbrOkerS.

Rome as he saw it in July last. The
speaker said the Romans. like all great
people, have left behind them marks of
their peculiar characteristics, and their
singular history, both in church and
state, has made them, whether of love
or hate. of an admiration which is ready
to sacrifice everything in its interests,
| or a fear which watches with astute
alertness every move made by the lead
ers in the glorious city. No part of the
world outside of Eden, Bethlehem and
Calvary have called forth such inter
est. There is no sign that Rome
will in the future be less noted
| than in the past. That she is destined
| to play mostlmpOrtant part in the his
| tory of the world, is fact which every
| man of thought and knowledge must
admit.
Il speak tonight" he said, mot of
| the mighty men who in Rome to-day are
busy i'll honest work, as they believe.
| for the good of men and the glory of
God. That l reserve for another time.
L speak of the places of worldwide
renown, and as one by one they are
named. if you know anything of their
| history, what mighty visions of departed
| glory spring to your minds, of the pomp
! of vOluptiOuS ages, the fire of dauntlesS
courage, the diSpair of men whose hope
deferred made their hearts sick! As
we think of the Coliseum what magic
there is in that one word to bring to
us tidings of the hoary past! We
go back to the days of its foundation,
and know that the people demanded Its
erection, for such magnificent Struct-
ureS do not come into being without a
cause. And we see the sturdy design
ers at work on their plans in discussion
of two forces, push and pull, for in all
their incidence and effect they are to be
seen here; and as we stand In the
| moonlight or i'll the monday back
comes the gladiator in the flush of
| earnest desire to gain momentary
cheer and applause. From the hundred
thousand Romans assembled to see the
fights in this Coliseum thousands of
the bravest men Italy ever had came to
their death. In the arena, here could
be seen for a hundred days in success
sion scenes which in their horrible
ness have no equal in the cruel
sports of Spain. 1t was here that hun
dredS of Christian people came to their
deaths by wild beats. The shouts of
the victOrS. the grOanS Of the dying,
the gay courteSan crowds who, ever
ready for some new atrocity, visited
with eager mind the Coliseum, bear
to this day testimony to the kind of peo-
pie the ancient Romans were. Yet
they could not be called ignorant, for if
they had few advantages, as we reckon,
amongst them lived in intellect god
like men, as the building shows. 1t has
some of the best work, competent
judges say, in it, of all schools of
architectures. To this day it is, by
architects, studied with patient care. Its
magnitude may be imagined when
it is remembered that it is over 600 feet
across, and that its walls are 100 feet
high, and that it could accommodate
over 100000 people. 1t will yet stand
for ages monument of cultured archi-
tectural power with the depraved tastes
of great people. Near to it is the i'm
perial palace of the Caesars in ruins.
We can, in the light of these two ruins
alone, the Coliseum and the palace,
see how 1t became possible for
GOTH AND VANDAL
hordes to overthrow Rome. The things
they stand for have no constructive,
conserving power, III so far as society,
trade, work, progress are concerned.
All history cannot produce one great
creation whose place has been abid-
most prominent ideas have been
qualification in cruelty and splendors
in regal conquest of abject people, so to
every observant mind in Rome to all
time the Coliseum and the palace
stand not as stars to light the natives on
their way, but as desperate warnings
against cruelty and pride, against an
aristocracy of luxury and plebian
class little better circumstanced than
slaves. At the back of the imperial
| palace of the Caesars runs the old APP
nj ic ftota loo,
long and goes to Brindesi. Up this
road have come the conquering hosts,
and in degradation which has no
equal il military life have trod men
whose chief blame was that they re-
| sisted naughty aggression. 1.-The
tyrant of their fields withstood,"
only to be starved to death in
| vile prisons. 1t was on this
way the great st. Paul came. Despised
by lictor, jeered by jester, scorned by
| philosopher, led to prison in which l
thrill as his life is thus called up from
the ancient past? Mightier than Caesar
Or Cladius, he has glorified the cell in
which he was placed, and because of
his history the place of his imprison
ment is glorified. An altar is built
there, and mass is daily said. Such
changes and corrections do the whirli-
gig Of time bring happily for the
righteous who are oppressed with
wrong. st. Paul, in person. is mightier
than his prosecutors. Any day of the
year can be seen men and women who
| have taken time and spent treasures to
look upon spots like this. We then
| journeyed to the Pantheon, in it we
walked up and wondered. 1t has 10 WIN
dows and it is lit from the top. A circle
| is left for light Since twenty-Seven
years before Christ it has stood. 1t was
dedicated to all the gods. The men of
that time who surrounded Aggripa did
not want to be exclusive. If Christ had
come and said: "Giye me a place in
your Pantheon. You are right; all re-
ligiOns are of equal value; do not be par
| tlcular, have good time. all will end
welI"--you would not have had the story
of His cruciiXion. Here in this circu-
lar Pantheon are enshrined memories
of principles which have held half the
world in subsection. AS you stand upon
its marble pavement, which the rain has
pelted for nearly two thousand years,
you are in place which has been held
sacred by warrior, by poet and seer.
The apostles often stood on this his
toric floor. Their hearts were moved to
flame, in pity for the superstition of the
heather and with love for the noble re-
ligion they had to show to the children
of men. Let US not mock those who, in
days of old. worshiped in the Pan
theon, and laugh at their credulity.
Our own age has specimens, not rare, to
show of men who hold more degrading
creeds, and, in many instances, not
higher practice. In COS of our era the
emperor of Constantinople gave it to
Pope Boniface ", who consecrated it
to st. Mary and the martyrs, by which
name it is known. To the fact that it
thus became temple of worship it is
due that we have it to-day the most per-
feet specimen of all ancient buildings.
As One Sees the Pantheon
and many other buildings dedicated OF
old to worship, not trade. and remem.
bers all that is said about our pu<i
faith, we are led to exclaim, ''Oh, thai