Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-10-09

| idNd anu uarkncSS ana desOlat1On and
woe with which more than 1s centuries
ago it submerged Pompcii, Ms with the
liturgy Of fire and storm the mountain
proclaimed at the burial, "-Ashes to ashes,
dust to dust"
My friends. 1 cannot tell what practi-
cal suggestion comes to your mind from
this walk through uncovered Pompeii,
but the first thought that absorbs me is
that, while art and culture are impor-
tant, they cannot save the morals or the
life of great town. Much of the paint
ing and sculpture of Pompeii was 50 cx-
quisite that, while some is kept on the
walls where it was first penciled, to be
admired by those who go there, whole
wagon loads and whole rooms full Of it
have been transferred to the Museo Bor-
bonico at Naples, to be admired by the
centuries.
Those Pompeiian artists mixed such
durability of colors that, though their
paintings were buried in ashes and sco-
ri@ for ZOO years, and since they. were
uncovered many of them have remained
there exposed to the rains and winds
and winters and summers Of 1870 years,
the color is as fresh and vivid and true
as though yesterday it had passed from
the easel. Which of our modern paint
ings could stand all that? And yet many
Of the specimens of Pompeiian art show
that the city was sunk to such depth
of abomination that there was nothing
deeper. Sculptured and petritied and en-
balmed abomination. There was state
of public morals worse than belongs to
any city now standing under the sun.
Yet how many think that all that is
necessary is to cultivate the mind and
advance the knowledge and improve the
arts. Have you the impression that elo-
quence will do the elevating work?
Why, Pompeii had Cicero half of every
year for its citizen. Have you the idea
that literature is all that is necessary to
keep city right? Why, Sallust, with a
pen that was the boast of Roman litera-
ture, had mansion in that doomed city.
Do you think that sculpture and art are
quite sufficient for the production of
good morals2 Then correct your delu-
sion by examining the statues in the
Temple of Mercury at Pompeii, or the
winged figures of its Parthenon, and the
colonnades and arches of this house Of
Diomed.
BY all means have schools and Dussel-
dorf and Dore exhibitions and galleries
where the genius of all the centuries can
bank itself up in snowy sculpture, and
all bric-a-brac, and all pure art, but
nothing save the religion of Jesus Christ
can make a city moral In proportion
as churches and Bibles and Christian
printing presses and revivals of religion
abound is city clean and pure. What
has Buddhism or Confucianism or Mo
hammedanism done in all the hundreds
of years of their progress for the eleva-
ton of society Absolutely nothing.
Peking and Madras and Cairo are just
what they were ages ago, except as Chris
tianity has modified their condition.
What is the difference between our
Brooklyn and their Pompeiif No diff
ference, except that which Christianity
has wrought. Favor all good art, but
take best care of your churches, and your
Sabbath schools, and your Bibles, and
your family affairs.
TWO REMARKABLE CEMETERIES.
Yea, see in our walk today through
uncovered Pompeii what sin will do for
a city. We ought to be slow to assign
the judgments of God. Cities are some
times afflicted just as good people are
afflicted, and the earthquake, and the cy-
clone, and the epidemic are no sign in
many cases that God is angry with a
city, but the distress Is sent for some
good and kind purpose, whether we
understand it or not. The law that ap-
plies to individuals may apply to Chris
tian cities as well, "All things work
together for good to those that love
God"
But the greatest calamity of history
came upon Pompeii not to improve its
future condition, for it was completely
obliterated and will never be rebuilt. II
was so bad that it needed to be buried
LOO years before even its ruins were fit
to be uncovered. So Sodom and Gomor-
rah were filled with such turpitude that
they were not only turned under, but
have for thousands of years been kept
under. The two greatest cemeteries are
the cemetery in which the sunken ships
are buried all the way between Fire
island and Fastnet lighthouse, and the
other cemetery is the cemetery of dead
cities.
get down on my knees and read the
epitapheology of long line Of them,
Here lies Babylon, once called "the ham
mer of the whole earth" Dead and
buried under piles Of bitumen and bro
ken pottery and vitrefed brick. And /
hear a wolf howl and reptile hiss as !
am reading this epitaph isaiah xiii. 2l),
''The wild beast Of the desert shall be
there, and their houses shall be full OF
doleful creatures"
The next tomb kneel before in this
cemetery Of cities is Nineyeh. Her
winged lions are down, and the slabs Of
alabaster have crumbled, and the sculp-
ture that represented her battles is as
completely scattered as the dust Of the
heroes who fought them. Perhaps l
put my knee into the dust Of her Sar-
danapalus as stoop to read her epitaph
(Zephaniah ii, 14,) Now is Nineveh des-
olation and dry like wilderness. and
focks lie down in the midst Of her. all
Ill .