Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1893-03-01
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
"THE COLISEUM OF ROME"

TEXT: ~ am ready TO preach the gospe
TO you that are at Rome also. "--Roman
j., Is.
Romel What a city it was when Pa,
visited It'll What a city it is nowl Rome
The place where Virgil sang and Horac
satirlzed. and Terence laughed and Catlin
conspired, and Ovid dramatized and Ner
flddled, and VesDasian prosecuted and Sull,
legisated, and Cicero Numbered, and Aurel
Jus and Decius and Calgula and Julian an,
Hadriad and Constantine and Augusta
reigned, and Paul the Apostle preached tn
gospel.
am not much of a craftsman, but hav,
in my memorandum book a sketch which
made in the winter of 1899, when went on
to the gate through which Paul entered
Rome and walked up the very street h,
walked up to see somewhat how the cit,
must have looked to him as he came in OF
the gospel errand proposed in the text
Palaces on either side of the street through
which the little missionary advanced. PILED
up wickcdness. Enthroned accursedness
Tempted cruelties. Affairs to sham deities.
Glorifed delusions. Pilared, archel
domed, turreted denominations. Wickednes.
of all sorts at high premium and righteous
hv vt fh az fa, p tnns nf buidiny which &c 10
ny ny o olr mnnoraIIeIed for vastreSs Von
mn eco hv the walls which have ha,un 10
rico tbot here ;s 70 bo somethin5 ano,,ab
st,,nondo,s ~ ostou,d tbo cnnt,,rins 40
it is the Coliseum started.
OF the theatre at Ephesus where Paul
fought with wild beasts. the temple Of Diana,
of the Parthenon, of Pharaoh's palace at
| Memphis and of other great buildings, the
rims Of which 7 have seen II has heen m "
nr;vilege IN address Won hit monhor ~
NV family sled ma ,ecsntv WIN had,Ot
snokan r. vou of the CoIiserm at Ron,o
since lie moral md reIig;ous lessons nre so
in,nross;va
Parhons yvbi,o in Roma tba law If oo,t,.,s,
wrought unon mo had yisited the Man.
ertine dungeon where PAM was incarcera.
| ted 1 had measured the opening at the tor
of the dungeon through which Paul had
been let down, and it was twenty-three
inches by twenty-six. The ceiling at its
highest point was seven feet from the floor,
but at the sides Of the room the csiling was
five feet seven inches. The room at the
widest was fifteen feet There was a seat of
rock q feet high. There was shelf four
| feet high. The only furniture wasa spiders
web suspended from the roof win ch | saw
| by the torchlight l carried. There was the
| subterraneous passage from the dungeon to
| the Roman FORUM SO that The prisoner could
| be taken directly from prison to trial.
The dungeon was built out OF volcanic
Itone from the Albano Mountains. Oh, it
was a dismal and terrific place. You never
saw coal hole 50 dark or so forbidden. Ths
| place was TO me nervous shock, for re-
member that was the best thing that the
world would afford thu most illustrious be-
ng, except one, that l ever saw, and that
from that place Paul went out to die. From
that spot visited the Collselm-one OF the
most astounding miracles OF architecture
that the world ever saw. lndee i, l saw 1t
morning, noon anu night, for 1t threw
spell on me from which could not break
away.
Although now vast ruin, the Coliseum
Is so well preserved that we can stand in the
center and recall all that 1t once was 1t is
n shape eIlipSoidal, oval, oblong. 1t is at
It's greatest length 6l2 feat. After it hal
furnished seats for 81, O)0 people it had room
Tor Is, GOO more to stand, SO that 100, 900 peo-
nle could sit and stand transixe by its
scenes of courage and martyrlom and bru-
tality and horror.
Instead OF our mo Tern tickets of aimis-
sion they entered bv ivory check. and
check dug IN near Rome within few wears
was marked "Section 6. Lowest Tier. Seat
No 1S.n You understand that the building
was not constructed for an audience to be
addressed by human voice. although tested
it with some friends and could be heard
across il. but it was made only for seeing
and was circular and at any point allowed
full view OF the snectacle
The arena in the centre in olden times was
strewn with pounded stone or sand, 50 as not
to be too slippery with human blood, for il
it were too slippery 1t would spoil the fun.
The sand flashed here and there with
sparkles OF silver and gold, and Nero added
cinnabar and Caligula addei chrysocolla.
The sides of the arena were composed OF
smooth marble eleven feet nigh, so that the
wild beasts OF the arena could not climb up
into the audience. On the top of these sides
Of smooth marble was a metal railing, hav-
ing wooden rollers, which easily revolved.
SO that if a panther should leap high enough
to scale the wall and with his paw touch any,
one of those rollers it would revolve and
drop MN PACK again INTO Tue areh1.
Back oil THIS marble wal surrounding tle
arena was leVei platform oi S.one, auoInel
WIN statues Oh sous anu Bouess's au.l Vue
Here were movable seats for the emperor
and the i'm nerial swina and swinesses with
winch ne surrouhded hlInse'i; before Ihe
pace where the emperor say the ga iaeors
would walk lmmeulauelY atter enterihS one
arena, crying: 'hal', .@Sar' lhoSe ABOUT
TO die salute thee.
The different ranks OF spectators were al.
vlded by partitions SUI idel WIN mosa'cS Oh
emerald ana Deryl ana ruoy AM diamond.
Great masts OF wood arose from all sides Oh
the building. from which festoons of f)wers
were suspended, crossing ths buildin. or in
time of rain awnings of silk were suspended,
the Coliseu n having no roof. The outside
wall was incrusted with marble ami had
four RANGES and the three lower ranges had
SO columns eaca and arches a, to, arches.
and ON each arch an exquisite statue of a
god or a hero,
lh'o TO- ieev Vi alVItu "a SUI vh3 Cors.
eu.,' ~ s''Utelel ah h,shot "uu suoie
WIN "noie SUNRISE aiu SUNSETS VI ua"I'e,
meht. A,1er tue auienc' nau ASSN s;li i,eu
aronatic liqulis ooh'a IRON tuo.s u.sVIt, .,
from pipes anu Ialheu sehiTa' ou va' i'u..-
1uueS anu nlel eue an wv ~ y. nya,
tiiIh anu nei.o.,ope dn e,F.an sn ,h,, I IT,,
oasalil anu my lin au: ''''' ~ 'n''
can. the poet. saws OF 1t:
At once ten thousand saffron currents flow
And rain their odors ON The crow bacw,
But where was the sport to come from!
Well, l went INTO t9e ceiars opening on
from the arena, AMI saw tle place waere
they kept the hyenas an hons ana panther;
and Wild bears ami beastly vlolsnce; OF all
sorts without food or water until M lie ii ,rce
enough for the arena, an / saw the under
ground rooms where the gadiators were
accustomed to wait until the clappingof the
people outside denan lei tnat thsy cone
forth armed-to murder or be mur lerei.
All the arrangements were complete, as
enough OF the cellars and galleries still re-
main to indicate. What fun they must have
had turning lions without food or drink up
on an unarmed disciple OF Jesus Christ!
At the dedication of this Coliseum 5000
wild beasts and l0, 900 immortal men were
.,o;, g., .hot booj NJ man and bea,t NOT