Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-09-16

you are in a few hours set dowh at Veronia,
Italy, and in few minutes begin examiu-
ing one Of the grandest ruins OF the world
the amphithsatre The whole building
sweeps around you in a circle. You stan
in the arena where the combat was oncs
fought or the race run, AMI on all sides the
seats rise, tier above tier. until YOU count
forty elevations or galleries, as | shall see
fit to call them, in which sat the senators,
the kings and the twenty-five THOUSAND ex-
cited spectators.
At the sides Of the arena and under the
galleries are the cages IN which the lions
and tigers are kept without fool until,
frenZied with hunger and thirst they are let
out upon some victim who. with his sword
and alone, IS condemned TO meet them. |
think that Paul himself oncs stood in such a
place, and that it was not only tisurA Atlvelv
but literally that he ha1 fought with
beasts at Ephesus."
The gala day has come. From all the
world the people are pouring into Verona
Men, women and children, orators and sena-
tors, great men AMI small. thou sanis upon
thousands, come, until the first gallery Is
full, and the second, the third. the fourth.
the fifth-all the way up to the twentieth,
ali the way up to the thirtieth, all the way
up to the fortieth. Every place is filed.
ImmenAty OF audience sweeping the great
circle. Silence! The time for the con-
test has come. Roman official leads forth
the victim into the arena Let him get his
sword with firm grip into his right hand.
The twenty-five thousand sit brsathlessly
watching hear the door at iha side Of the
! srena crsak open. Out plunges the half
starved lion. his tongue athirst for blood,
and with roar that brings all the galleries
| TO their feet he rushes against the sword OF
| the combatant
Do you know how strong Il stroke a man
/ N-st, - L.. !. i
| first thrust OF his blades The wild beast,
lame ami bleeding. sinks bacx toward the
side OF the arena; then, rallying his wasted
| strength, he comes uD with herc,r eye and
| more terrible roar than ey r. only to ba
| driven back with n fatal wounl, while the
comuatant comes ia with stroke after stroxe,
until the monster is lead at his feet and the
twenty-five thousand people clap their hand:
and utter shout that ma&es the city
| treubie.
sometimes the au iienc. came t. see
race; sometimes 70 see gla iiators fight eacd
other, until the people, com asslonste for
the fallen. turne1 Their thunus down as All
! appeal that toe vanquishet Oe splrei, ani
/ sometimes the combat was with wild beasts.
| To one OF the Roman amphitheatricll
audiences OF one hundred thousand people
! Paul refers when he says: 1--WE are com.
passed aoout with so great a crowd OF VIII.
|
passage is made TO race, out elsewhere
having discussed tnst | take now PautJ
! tavorits idea OF the Christian life as CO n
bat
! Ice fact is that every Christian man has
lion to light. Yours Is a b1 4 temper. The
! gates of the arena nave en opened, an
this tiger has come out TO destroy your sJul.
! 1t mas laclrated you with many a wound.
| You have been thrown by 1t time aud ayain
but in the siren 9Th Of God vou have arisen
i to drive 1t back. | verify believe You Will
! conquer. l thlnS that tds tenor1tlDn is
| getting weaker and weaker You hays
! given It 50 many wOun is that the prospect
is that it will die au you shalt bs victor,
through Christi Courage, brotherl Do not
let the sands OF the arena drink the blooI Of
! your souIl
Your lion is the pass ion for strong drink.
! You may have conteudei against it twenty
! years, but 1t is strong Of boiy aud thirsty OF
tongue. You have tried 70 fight it back
with brokea bottle or empty wine flask.
! Nay that is not the welu on. With one
horrible roar he will ssiz, thee by the throat
/ and rend thee limb from limb. Take this
weapon. sharp and keen--reacl up and get
it from Gods ar,nory-ths sword OF the
| Spirit With that thou nlayest drive him
back and conquer
But why specify, when every man and
woman has a hon to fight. Ii there be one
here who has no besettiug sin, let him speak
+ out: for him have offended. IL you have
/ not fought the lion, it Is because you have
let the lion eat you up. This very moment
the contest goes on. The Trojan celebration,
where ten thousand glaiiators fought and
eleven thousand wild beasts were slain, was
not so terrific a struggle as that which at
this moment goes on in many a soul. The
combat was for the life of the body; this Is
for the life OF the soul. That was With wild
beasts from the jungle; this is with the roar
ing lion OF hell.
Men think when they contend against an
evil habit that they have to fight 1t all alone.
Mol They stand in the .entre of an im-
msnss- circle OF sympathy Paul had bean
reciting the names OF Abel Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Joseph. Gideon and
Barak, aud then says: Being conpasssI
about with so great a cloud of witnesses"
Be. .ore get through will show you that
| you fight in an arena around which circle,
In galleries above each other, all the kin.
ding eyes and all the sympathetic hearts OF
the ages; and at every victory gained there
comes down the laundering applause OF a
great multitude that no man can number
Being compassed about with so great
cloud OF witnesses"
Though the arena be crowded with tenn
tations We shall, with the angelic he. 2
strike them down in the name of our Go
and leap on their fallen care lssesl o bend
ing throng Of bright angelic faces an | swift
wings and lightning footl hail you to .da
from the dust and struggle Of the arena
look again and SEQ the gallery Of tn
prophets and apostles Who are tho
mighty ones up yonderi Hosea and Jere
miah and Daniel and Isaiah and Paul an
Peter and John and James There sit
| Noah, waiting for all the world to come int
the ark; and Moses, waiting till the las
Red Sea shall divide; and Jeremiah, waitiu
for the Jews to return; and John, Of tn
Apocalypse, waiting for the swearing OF tn
angel that lime shall be no longer. Gloriou
spiritsl Ye were howlej at; ye were stoned
ye were spit upon! They have been in thi
fight themselves, and they are all with us
Daniel knows all about lions Paul Tough
with beasts at EDhesus.
In the ancient a,uphitheatre the people
got 80 excited that they would shout from tn
galleries to the men in the arena: AT il
againp "ForwardP Zone more stroke
Look outT "Fall backp Huzzal Huzz !
So In that gallery, prophetic and apostolic
they cannot keep their psacs. Daniel cris'
out "Thy God will deliver thee from tn
mouth OF the lionsp David exc!aials al
will not suffer thy foot TO be movedf' fsail
calls out Fear noti | am with theel
not dismayedP Paul exclaimS Victor
through our Lord Jesus Christr rha
thrOng OF prophets and apostles cannot kes
still. They make the welkin ring witt
shouting and halleluiahs.
look again and | ses the gallery OF tn
martyrs. Who is thati Hugh LATIN 81
sure enoughl He would not apologize fo
the truth preached ald 80 he diei the nigh
before swinging from the bedpost in perfeC
glee at the thought Of emancipation. VIII
are that army Of six thousand six hundre
and sixty-3irf They are the Theban legio
who died for the faith. Hero Is larger no
In magnificent array-eight hundred AT
eighty-four thousand-who persisted Il
Christ in the prosecutions Of Dioclesian.
Yonder is family grouo, Felicitas.
Rome, and her children. Will, they wei
dying for the faith she stood encouragin
: them. One son was whipped to death b
thorns another was flung from a rock, AT