Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-02-16


bishop, or as a state or national official. or
as a potent factor in social life, or in any
way are depressing any one, know that the
same devil that possessed tho Roman Coli
scum oppresses You. The Diocletians are
not all dead The cellars leading into the
arena Of life's struggle are not all emptied Of
their tigers. The vivisection by young doc
tors Of dogs and cats andIbirds most of the
time adds nothing to human discovery, but
is only a continuation Of Vespasian's Coli
scum.
The eruelties OF the world generally be.
gin in nurseries, and in home circles, and in
day schools The child that transiixes a
fly with a pin, or the low feeling that sets
two dogs into combat, or that bullies a
weak or crippled playmate, or the indiffer-
ence that sterves eanagy bird, needs only
to be developed in o,r...s@e to make A. frst
class Nero or a full armed Apollyon. II
would be good sentence TO be written ON
the top line of child's book and flt in
seription to be embroidered in the arm
chair of the sitting room, and an appropri-
ate motto for judge and jury and district
attorney and sheriff to look at in the court
house, Blessed are the merciful, FOR they
shall obtain mercyr'
SOLEMN LESSONS FROM ROME.
And so the ruins of that Coliseum
preach to me- Indeed the most impressive
things ON earth are ruins. The four great
est structures ever built are in ruins The
Parthenon in ruins, the temple of Diana
in ruins, the temple of Jerusalem in
ruins, the Coliseum in ruins Indeed the
earth itself will yet be pile of ruins
the mountains in ruins, the seas in ruins,
the cities in ruins, the hemispheres in
ruins. Yea, further than that, all up and
down the heavens are worlds burned up
worlds wrecked, worlds extinct, worlds
abandoned. Worlds on worlds in ruinsl
But am glad to say it is the same old
heaven, and in all that world there is not
one ruin and never will be a ruin. Not one
of the pearly gates will ever become un-
hinged Not one of the amethystine tow
ers will ever fall. Not one of the mansions
will ever decay. Not one of the chariots
will ever be unwheeled Not one of the
thrones will ever rotk down. Oh, make
sure of heaven, for it is an everlasting
heavenl Through Christ the Lord get
ready for residence in the eternal palaces.
The last evening before leaving Rome for
Brindisi and Athens and Egypt and Pales-
tine went alone to the Coliseum. There
was not living soul in all the immense area
Even those accustomed to sell curios at the
four entrances of the building had gone
away. The place was so overwhelmingly
silent could hear my own heart beat with
the emotions aroused by the place and hour
paced the arena. walked down into the
dens where the hyenas were once kept
assembled to the place where the emperor
GA r I,ol =
from which the mighty throngs of people
had gazed in enchantment
To break the silence shouted, and that
seemed to awaken the echoes-echo upon
ecko And those awakened echoes seemed
to address me, saying: Men die, but their
work lives on. Gaudentius, the architect
who planned this structure, the 1900 en-
slaved Jews brought by Titus from Jerusa-
lem, and who toiled on these walls, the
gladiators who fought in this arena, the
emperors and empresses who had place on
yonder platform, the millions who during
centuries sat and rose in these galleries,
have passed away, but enough of the Coli
scum stands to tell the story of cruelty
and pomp and power Five hundred years
of bloodshed."
Then, as stood there, there came to me
another burst of echoes, which seemed
throbbing with the prayers and songs and
groans of Christians who had expired in
that arena, and they seemed to say, "How
much it cost to serve God in ages past, and
how thankful modern centuries ought to
be that the persecution which Redeemed the
sands of this amphitheater have been abol-
ished."
THE MIGHTY ONES ARE DUST.
And then questioned the echoes, say
ing "Where is Emperor Titus, who sat
here" The answer came, "Gone to judg-
ment." Where is Emperor Trajan, who
sat here?" "Gone to judgment" "Where
is Emperor Maximinus, who sat hereY"
"Gone to judgment" Where are all the
multitudes who clapped and shouted and
waved flags to let the vanquished up, or to
have them slain put thumbs DOWN."
| The echoes answered, ''Gone to Judgment"
/ inquired, "All?" And they answered,
"All."
And 1 looked up to the sky above the rtl-
ins, and it was full of clouds scurrying
swiftly past, and those clouds seemed as
| though they had faces, and some Of the
faces smiled, and some of them frowned,
and they seemed to have wings, and some
| of the wings were moongilt and the others
thunder charged, and the voices of those
| clouds overpowered the echoes beneath
Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every
eye shall see him."
And as stood lookingup along the walls
of the Coliseum they rose higher and high
er, higher and higher, until the amphithe-
ater seemed to be filled with all the nations
of the past, and all the nations of the pres
L ax,t oI1 t1a,, ,uti of thn ft1f1
who went down under the paws of wild
beasts, and those who sat waving flags
| to let up the conquered, and those who
held thumbs down to command their as
sassination, and small and great, and
emperor and slave, and pastor and peo-
| pie, and righteous and wicked, the am
| phitheater seeming to rise to infinite
heights on all sides of me, and in the
center of that amphitheater, instead of
| the arena of combatants, great throne
stood, rising higher and higher, higher and
| higher, and on it sat the Christ for whom
the martyrs died and against whom the
Diocletians plotted their prosecutions, and
waving one hand toward the piled up SPLEEN
dors to the right of him hecried, "Come, ye
blessed" and waving the other hand to-
ward the piled up glooms on the left of him
he cried, Depart, ye cursed"
| And so the Coliseum of Rome that even
ing of 1889 seemed enlarged into the amphi-
theater of the last Judgment, and passed
from under the arch of that mighty struc-
ture, mighty even in its ruins, praying to
Almighty God, through Jesus Christ, for
mercy in that day for which all other days
were made, and that as expected mercy
from God, might exercise mercy toward
others and have more and more of the
spirit of ''Let him up, and less and less of
the spirit of Thumbs down"
We may not be able to doa sum in higher
mathematics, but there is q sum in the first
rule of gospel arithmetic which we all may
do. 1t is a sum in simple addition: add
to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowl-
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