Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1893-02-13
THE CRUEL HEATHER
DR.. TALMAGE FINDS AN IMPRESSIVE
LESSON in THE ROMAN COLISEUM.

Condition of Rom When st. Iu1Preached
There-Emperor and People Alike Given
Over to Lust and 4CrueIty-Christianity
Mighty Work.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 12.-Rev. De. Tai
mage this morning, after commenting OH
the Scriptures and giving out hymns i'll
which the multitude of worshipers in
the Brooklyn Tabernacle joined, dis
coursed from the text Romans i, 10, 81
am ready to preach the gospel to you
that.are at Rome also"
Rome! What u city it'was when Paul
visited it'll What q cityit is now! Rome!
The place where Virgil sang; and Horace
satiEized and Terence laughed and Cat
lineoonspired;andS Ovid dramatized and
Nero fiddled and Nespasian prosecuted
and Sulla legislated and Cicero thun-
dered and Aurelius= and Decius and Cali
gula. and Julian, and Hadrian and Con
stantine and Augustus reigned and Paul
the apostle preached the gospel.
am not muchSof a craftsman, but 1
have in my memorandum book a sketch
which / made i'm 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 er
rand proposed in the text. Palaces on
either side of thesstreet through which
the little missionary advanced. Piled Up
wickedness. Enthroned accursedness.
Tempted cruelties. Affairs to sham, del
ties Glorifed delusions. Pillared, arched,
donaed, turreted, denominations. Wicked
ness of all sorts alta; high premium and
righteousness 9a percent, off. And now
he passes by determinations of q build
ing which is to be almost unparalleled fCr
vasfness. You can see by the walls.
which have begunito rise, that here is to
be something enough stupendous to as
found the centuries. Aye, it is the Coli
scum started.
THEIR MONUMENTS OF SHAME.
Of the theater 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 ruins of which I have seen
it has been my privilegegto address you,
but q member of my family asked me
recently why had not spoken to you of
tho Coliseum at Rome, since it's moral
IellSLOlo 1GSSCIIStaI0sSOI pIeSo1NG
Perhaps while in Rome the law OF
contrast wrought upon me. / had Wis
tied the AEa1nertine dungeon where Paul
was incarcerated. 1 had measured the
opening at the top of the dungeon
throus IN which Paul had beenlet down,
and it was % inches by 26. The ceiling
at its highest point was q feet from the
floor. but at the sides of the the
ceiling was 5 feet z inches. The room at
the widest was 10 feet. There was a;seat
of rock q feet high. There was a;shelf
4 feet high. The only furniture was d
spiders weS suspended from the roof,
which | saw by the torchlight /, carried.
There was the ssubterraneous passage
from the dungeon to the Roman forum,
SO that the prisoner could be taken ,di-
rectly from prison to trial.
The dungeon was built out of volcanic
stone from the Albano mountains. Oh.
it was q dismal and terrific place. You
never saw coal hole so dark or SO for
bidding. The place was to me d nervous
shock, for | remembered that was the
best thing that the world would afford
the most illustrious being, except one,
that it ever saw, and that from that
place Paul went out to die. From that
spot visited the Coliseum-one .Oe
the most astounding miracles of a1clli-
lecture that the world ever saw. IL
deed L sew it morning noon and nigh.
for it threw q spell on me from which
could rot break away
Although now q vast ruin, the Coli
scum is so we'll preserved that we can
stand in the center and recall all that it
=, IL Ill 5Io1
oblong. 1t is at its greatest length Gle
feet. After it had furnished seats for
81, eco people it had room for 15, coo more
to stand, SO that 100000 people could sit
and stand transfxed by its scenes of
courage and martyrdom and brutality
and horror.
Instead OF our modern tickets of admiS-
sion, they entered by ivory check, and a
check dug up near Rome within q few
years was marked, Section 6, Lowest
Tier, Seat No. 49, You understand that
the building was not constructed for al
audience to be addressed by human voice,
although ! tested it with some friends
and could be heard across it, but it was
made only for seeing and was circular,
and at any point allowed full view Of
the spectacle.
REQUIREMENTS OF CRUELTY.
The arena in the center in olden times
was strewn with pounded stone or sand,
SO as not to be too slippery with human
blood, for If it were too slippery it
would spoil the fun. The sand flashed
here and there with sparkles of silver
and gold. and Nero added cinnabar and
Caligula added chrysocolla. The sides
of the arena were composed of smooth
marble II feet high, 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 metal rail
ing, having wooden rollers, which easily
=or-olr-od tlat Il n 1lanfhe1. ShOull