The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-10-11
POMPEIPS DESTRUCTION
Furnishes a Theme for Sermon
by Rev. DR.. Telmage.
Standing by the Corpse of n Dead City-Th'
Ruin that Was Wrought by tho Burn
Ing volcano-Lesson Drawn From
Walk Through tho
Buried City.


cities of to-day drawn from the tomb
Of dead city Of the past. The subject
was "Pompeii and Its Lessons" the
text chosen being Isaiah XIV, .
Thou hast made of a defenced city o
ruin" E+
A fash on the night sky greeted us
as we left the rail train at Naples,
Italy. What was the strange illumi
nation? 1t was the wrath OF many
enturies-Vesuvius Giant son of an
earthquake. intoxicated mountain OF
Italy. Father of many consternations.
A volcano, burning so long, and yet to
keep on burning until, perhaps, it may
be the very torch that will kindle the
last confagration and set all the world
on fire. 1t eclipses in violence of be-
havior Cotopaxi and Etna and Strom'
boli and Krakatoa. Awful mystery.
Funeral pyre of dead cities. Everlast'
ing paroxysm of mountains. 1t seems
like a chimney Of hell. 1t roars with
fiery reminiscence of what 1t has done,
and with threats of worse things that
it may do. would not live in one OF
the villages at its base for present OF
all Italy. On day in December, 1881,
It threw up ashes that hoated away
hundreds and hundreds of miles, and
dropped in Constantinople and in the
Adriatic sea and on the Apennines, as
we'll as trampling out at its own foot
the lives Of eighteen thousand people.
Biologists have tried to fathom its
mysteries, but the heat consumed the
iron instruments and drove back the
Ecorched and blistered explorers from
the cindery and crumbling brink. 1t
seems like the asylum of maniac ele'
ments. At one time far back its top
had been q fortress, whe re Spartacus
fought and was surrounded, and would
have been destroyed had 1t not been
for the grape vines which clothed the
mountain side from top to base, and
laying hold of them he climbed hand
under hand to safety in the valley.
But for centuries 1t has kept its fur
mace burning as we saw it that night
on our arrival in November Of 1889.
OF course, the next day we started to
see some of the work wrought by that
frenzied mountain. "All out for Pom
peiip' was the cry of the conductor.
And now we stand by the corpse Of that
dead city. As we entered the gate
and passed between the walls take
off my hat, as one naturally does in the
presence of some imposing obsequies
That city had been at one time {
capital of beauty and pomp, the hom'
Of grand architecture, exquisite paint
ing, enchanting sculpture unrestrainet
carousal, and rapt assemblage. A higl
wall, twenty feet thick, three-fourth
of IL still visible, encircled the city. Oh
those walls at distance Of only on,
hundred yards from each other, tower
rose for armed men who watched tn
city. The streets ran at right angle
and from wall to wall, only one stree
excepted. In the days Of the city
prosperity, its towers glittered in tn
sun; eight strong gates for ingress ant
egress; Gate of the Sea Shore, Gate o
Herculaneum, Gate of Vesuvius, beinl
perhaps the most important. Yonde
stood the temple OF Jupiter, hoisted a
an imposing elevation, and with its si
Corinthian columns Of immense girth
which stood like carved icebergs, shin
mering in the light. There stands tn
Temple of the Twelve Gods. Yonde
see the Temple OF Hercules, and tn
Temple of Mercury, with affairs c
marble and bas-r elief, wonderfu
enough TO astound all succeeding age
Of art, and the Temple of Esculapiui
brilliant with sculpture and gorgeou
with painting. Yonder are the thei
ters, partly cut down into surroundin
hills and glorified with pictured wal
and entered under arches Of imposin
masonry, and with rooms for capt
waited and applauditory audience
seated or standing, in vast semi-circl
Yonder are the costly and immeni
public baths Of the city, with moi
= than the modern1ingenuitles OF Carl
bad. Notice the warmth Of those Al
cient tepidariums with lowering rad
ance of roof, and the vapor Of tho'
L caldariums with decorated alcoves an
g. the cold dash Of their frigidarium
with floors of mosaic, and ceilings
all skillfully intermingled hues, ar
walls upholstered with all the colors
4, the setting sun, and sofas on which
recline for slumber after the plung
y. Yonder are the barracks of the eel
: brated gladiators. Yonder is the sur
mer home Of Sallust, the Roman hi
torian and senator, the architecture
elaborate as his character was corrup
. There Is the residence Of the poet Pa
sa, with a compressed Louvre and Lu
embourR within It's walls There is II
home Of Lucretius, with vases and a
tiquities enough 10 turn the head Of
virtuoso. Yonder see tho Forum,
the highest place Of the city. II Is Q
tered by two triumphal arches. II
bounded on three sides by Dorio cC
umns. Yonder, In the suburbs Of 4
eity, Is tho homo Of Arrius Diomed, Il
mayor OF the suburbs, terraced re
donce Of billionairedom, garder
fountained, statued, colonnaded, Z
cellar Of that villa filed with bottl
Of rarest wine, q few drops Of whi
- were found eighteen hundred years
terward. Along the streets Of the ci
re arc men Of might and women Of beau
" " formed into bronze that many q
turies had no power 10 bedim. Bat
ls scenes on walls In colors which
h. time cnnnot efface. Great city Of Po