Democratic messenger., 1893-02-18
THE CRUEL HEATHEN
Or. TALMAGE FINDS AN IMPRESSIVE
LESSON IN THE ROMAN COLISEUM.

Or. rALMAGE FINDS AN IMPRESSIVE
LESSON IN THE ROMAN COLISEUM.
Condition of Rene When 81. Paul Preached
Thsre-Emperor and People Alike Giver
Over to Lust and Cruelty y Christianity,
Mighty Work.
BROOKLYN. Feb. 12.-Rev DIR. Tai
mage this morning. after commenting oi
the Scriptures and giving ont hymns il
which the multitude of worshipers il
the Brooklyn Tabernacle joined. dis
coursed from the text Romans ]. II, al
am ready to preach the gospel to yor
that are mt Rome also"
Rome! What n city it was when Pau
visited it! What city it is now. Rome
The place Were Virgil sang and Horac.
satirized and Terence laughed and Gait.
line conspired and Ovid dramatized and
Nero fiddlcd and Nespasian prosecuted
and Sulla lcsislatcd and Cicero thun
dered and Aurelius and Dccius and Cali
gula and Julian and Hadrian and Con
stan:inc and Augustus reigncd and Pan
the apostle preached the gospel.
| am not much of craftsman, but
have III INV 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 ,treet he walked up to see
somewhat how the city must have looked
to him as he came i'll on the gospel er
rand proposed in the text. Palaces on
either side of the street through which
the little missionary advanced. Piled NJ
wickcdress. Enthroned accurse1ness
Tempted cruelties. Affairs to sham del
ties Glorificd delnsions. Pillared. archc,l,
domed. turr, ted denominations. Wicked
ness of all sorts at high premium and
righteousness .a9 Fer cent off. And now
he passes by the foundations of build.
ing which is to be almost unparalleled fo:
vastncss. You can see by the walls.
which have begun to rise. that here Is to
be something enough s;upendous to as
tound the centuries. Ave. it is the Coli
scum started.
THEIR MONUMENTS OF SHAME.
OF the theater mt Ephcsus where Paul
| Will Will btskSkS, tIt va
Diana. of the Parthenon, of pharaoh
palace at Memphis and of other great
buildings the ruins Of which ! have seen
it has been my privilege TO address you,
but 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.
| Da,.Ia,N, xx-l,l.a IN, fln l,x.- 80
contrast wrought uron me. had Wis
tied the Mameitinc dungeon where Paul
was incarccrated | had measured the
opening 1T the top of the dungeon
through which Paul had been let down,
and it was 23 inches by &c. The ceiling
at its highest point was feet from the
floor. but at the sides of the room the
ceiling was j feet inches. Tie room mt
the widest WIS - feet. There was seat
Of rock ,. fc,: high. There was shelf
4 feet high The only furniture was a
spiders web suspended from the roof,
whic.i ). !. = ;.c torchlight | carried.
There was the subtcrraneous passage
from the dungeon 10 the Roman forum,
so that the prisoner could be taken di-
rcctly from prison to trial.
The dungeon was built ont of volcanic
stone from the Albano mountains. Oh.
it was dismal and terrific place. You
never saw coal lole so dark or so for
bidding The place was to me 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 ont to die. From that
spot / visited the Coliseum-one oe
the most astounding miracles of archi-
lecture that the world ever saw. In
deed j saw it morning noon and night.
| for it threw Il spell on me from which
could not brc:k away.
Although now vast ruin, the Coli
senm is 80 well preserved that we can
stand in the center and recall all that it
once WAS. 1t is in shape ellipsoidal. oval.
oblons. 1t is at its greatest length Gla
feet After it had furnished seats for
&. 600 people il Lad room for $4,000 more
TO stand so that 1CO.OG0 people could sit
and staEd iransfixcd Iy its scenes Of
courage and martyrlom and brutality
and horror.
Instead Of our modern tickets of adnis-
sion. they entered by ivory check. and u
check dug mp near Rome within few
years WAS marked, Section O. Lowest
Tier. Seat No. lS" 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 mt any point allowed full view OF
the spectacle
REFISEMESTs OF CRUELTY.
The arena in the center in oldcn times
was strewn with Founded stone or sand,
so as not 10 he too slippery with human
blood. for if il We're too slippery il
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 VI
into the audience. On the top of these
rides of smooth marble was metal rail.
ing. having wooden rollers, which easily
revolved. SO that ii panther should
leap high enough to scale the wall and
with his paw touch any one of those
rollers it would revolve and drop him
back again into the arena.
Back of this marble wall surroundin.
the arena was level platform Of stone,
adorned with statues of gods and god
esses and the artistic efiigies of monarchs
and conquerors. Here were movabl
seats for the emperor and the imperial
swine and swinesscs with which he sur,
rounded himself Before the place where
the emperor sat the gladiators would
walk Immediately after entering the are.
ma, CRYING: "Hail. Caesar. Those about
TO die salute thee"
The different ranks of spectators were
divided by partitions studded with mo
saics of emerald and beryl and ruby and