Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-02-18
REV. DR.. 7ALMAGH.
Ths Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.


TEXT: ~ am ready 10 preach ths g0sDes
to you that are at Rome also
l.. is.
Romei What city it was when Paul
visited It'll What a city it is nowi Romel
The place where Virgil sang and Horacs
conspired, and Ovid dramatizsd and Nero
fiddled, and Ves,asian prosecuted and Sulla
legisIated and Cicero thuniered, and Aurel-
Jus and Decius and Caligula and Julian and
Hadriad and Constantine and Augustus
reigned, and Paul the Apostle preached the
gospel.
am not much of 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 errand proposed in the text.
Palaces on either side of the street through
which the little missionary advanced. Piled
up wickedness. Enthroned accurse1ness.
Tempted cruelties. Affairs to sham deities
Glorified decisions. Pilared, archej,
domej, turretet denominations. Wjckedness
of all sorts at a high premium and righteous
ness 99M per cent. Oft. AMI now he passes
by the foundations of building which is to
be almost unparalleled for vastness You
can see by the walls which have begun to
rise, that here is to be something enough
stupendous to astound the centuries. Aye,
it is the Coliseum started
OF the theatre at Ephesus where Paul
fought with wild beasts, the temple of Diana,
of the Parthenon, of Pnaraoh's palace at
Memphis and of other great buildings, the
ruins of which have seen, it has been my
privilege to address you, but a member of
my family asked me recently why had not
spoken to you of the Coliseum at Rome
since its moral and religious lessons are SO
impressive.
Perhaps while in Rome the law of contrast
wrought upon me. l had visited the Nam
ertine dungeon where Paul was incarcera-
ted. had measured the opening at the top
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 ceiling was
FIVE feet seven inches. The room at the
widest was fifteen feet. There was a seat of
rock Oh feet high. There was a shelf four
feet high. The only furniture was spiders
web suspended from the roof, VIII ch | saw
by the torchlight 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
place was to me a nervous shock, for re-
member that was the best thing that the
world would afford ths most illustrious be-
Ing except one, that | ever saw, and that
from that place Paul went out to die. From
that spot l visited the Coliseum-one of the
most astounding miracles of architecture
/ that the world ever saw. Indeed, l saw it
morning, noon AMI night, for it threw a
spell on me from which l 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 elipsodal. oval, oblony. 1t is at
its greatest length 6l2 feet. After it had
furnished seats for 81, 900 people it had room
for Is, 600 more to stand, so that 100, 900 pso
pie could sit and stand transfixet by its
| scenes of courage ami martyriom and bru-
tality and horror.
| Instead of our moiern tickets of admis-
sion, they entered by ivory check, and
check dug up near Rome within few years
was marked Section 6, Lowest Tier, Seat
No. 49," 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 it, but it was made only for seeing
| and was circular, and at any point allowed
/ full view of the spectacle.
The arena in the centre 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 addei chrysocolla
| The sides of the arena were composed of
smooth marble eleven feet high, Sd 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 railing, hav-
! ing wooden rollers, which easily revoivad.
SO that if a panther should leap high enough
/ to scale the wall and with his paw touca any
one of those rollers it would revolve and
/ drop him back again into the arena.
/ BAG of this marble wall surrounding tae
arena was level platform of stone, adorneJ-
with statues of gods and goiess ss-snd the
artistic etigies of monarchs ana conquerers.
Here were moy25,e seats for the emperor
and the Imperial swine and swinesses with
] wssTn he surrounded himself. Before the
/ pace where the emperor sat the gladiators
would walk Immediately after entering the
arena crying. Hail, C@sari Those about
to die salute thee"
The different ranks of spectators were di.
| vded by partitions studded with mosaics of
emerald an beryl AMI ruby and damon ].
| Great masts of wood arose from all sides OF
the building, from which festoons of flowers
were suspended crossing ths building, or in
tluie VI ram a"hin5 - vi SILK were suspended,
/ the Coliseu n having no roof. The outside
wall was incrusted with marble and had
! four ranges, and the three lower ranges had
so columns each and arches attsc arches,
and on each arch an exquisite statue of a
god or a hero.
Into lS) feet of altitude soare1 the Coils
cum. II glittered and flashed and shone
with whole sunrises and sunsets of dazzle.
ment. After the audience had assembled
aromatic liquids oozsd from tubes distilled
| from pipes and rained gently on the multi
tudes and filled the air with odors of hya.
cinth and heliotrope and frausincense and
baIsam and myrrh and saffron, SO that Lu.
can, the poet, says of it: