Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-02-16
AT THE TABERNACLE.
DR.. TALMAGE ON HISTORIC CRUEL.
D TIES AND MODERN PARALLELS.

Political and Pugilisiic Arena.
BEooKlYN, Feb. 13.--Eev. Dr. Talma9e
this morning, after commenting on the
Scriptures and giving out hymns, in which
the multitude of worshipers in the Brook
Ign Tabernacle joined, discoursed from the
text Romans j, 49, II am ready to preach
the gospel to you that are at Rome also"
Rome! What n city it was when Paul
visited it, What city it is nowl Romcl
The place where Virgil sang and Horace
satirZed and Terence laughed and Gait
line conspircd and Ovid dramatized and
Nero fiddled and Nespasian prosecuted and
Eulla lcgislatcd and Cicero Numbered and
Aurclus and Decius and Caligula and Ju-
liam and iIadrian and Constantine and
Augustus rcigucd and Paul the apostle
preached the gospel.
| am not much of a craftsman, but have
in my memorandum book sketch which
/ made in the winter Of 1889, when | went
out to the gate through which Paul entered
Rome and walked up the very street he
walked up to see somewhat how the city
must have looked to him as he came in on
the gospel GRAND proposed in the text
Palaces on either side of the street through
which the little missionary advanced Piled
mp wickpdness. Enthroued aCcurSedncss.
Tempted cruetioe Affairs to sham deitips
Glorifed dclusiors. Pillared, archcd,
domed, turretcd denominations. Wicked
ness OF all sorts at Il high premium and
Righteousness 1914 per cent Off And now
he passes by the foundations Of a building
which is to lie almost unparalleled for vast
ness. You can see by the walls, which
have begun to rise, that here is to be some
thing enough stupendous to astound the
centuries. Aye, it is the Coliseum started.
ANCIENT AND SINFUL SCENES.
OF the thc8ter at EhpCsus where Paul
fought with wild beasts, of the temple of
Diana, Of the Parthenon, Of Pharaoh's pal
ace at Memphis and of other great build
ings the ruins Of which have seen it has
been my privilege to address You, but
member Of my family asked me recently
why l had not spoken to You of the Coli
scum at Rome, since its moral and religious
lessons are so impressive.
Perhaps while In Rome the law Of con-
trast wrought upon me. 1 had visited the
Mamertine dungeon where Paul was incar-
cerated. | had measured the opening at
the top of the dungeon through which Paul
had been let down, and it was % inches by
26. The ceiling at its highest point was
feet from the floor, but at the sides of the
room the ceiling was 5 feet 7 inches. The
room at the widest was - feet. There was
a seat of rock Pa feet high. There was a
shelf 4 feet high. The only furniture was
a spiders web suspended from the roof,
which / 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
stone from the AlbanO mountains. Oh, it
was dismal and terrific place! You never
saw coal hole so dark or so forbidding. The
place was to me nervous shock, for | re-
membered that was the best thing the
world would afford the most illustrious be-
ing except one that it ever saw, and from
that place Paul went out to die. From
that spot l visited the Coliseum, one of
the most astounding miracles of architec.
ture that the world ever saw. Indeed |
saw it morning, noon and night, for it
threw a spell on me from which 1 could not
break away
; Although now a vast ruin, the Coliseum
is so well preserved that we can stand in
the center and recall all that it once was.
1t is in shape ellipsodal, oval, oblong 1t
lis at It's greatest length 612 feet. After
it had furnished seats for $1,000 people it
had room for 1900 more to stand, so that
100000 people could sit and stand trans
fixed by its scenes of courage and martyr
dom and brutality and horror. Instead of
our modern tickets of admission they en-
tered by ivory check, and a check dug up
near Rome within a few years was marked,
section 6, Lowest Tier Seat No. IS"
, You understand that the building was
not constructed for an audience to be adj
dressed by human voice, although l tested