The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1893-02-23
AT TIE TABE RN ACLE.
OR. TALMAGE ON HISTORIC CRUEL
TIES AND MODERN PARALLELS.


Political and Pueilistic Arena.
BROOKLYN, Feb. l2.-ltev. DR.. Tai
mooe This morning, alter commenting ON
the Scriptmcs and giving ont hymns, in
which The multitude Of worship"rs IN the
HrOol;lyp Tabernacle joined, disCOurSed
from the text Romans |, Is, 81 am rea
dy to preach the Gospel to you that are
nt Rome also.'
Rome! What city it was when Paul
visited it! What a city il ls now! Rome!
The place where Virgil sang and IIOr-
ace snirized and Terence laughed and
CatiIinc conspired and Ovid lramat'Hcd
and Nero lidd.cd and Ncspasian verse
cute Il and Sulli legislatcd and Cicero
thundcred and Aurclus and DcClus and
Call1ula and Julian and lIadran AMI
Consinntinc and Augustus lcigned and
Paul the apostle pr, achcd the Gospel.
! am not much of Il craftsman. but
have in my memorandum book Il skc'c
which made in the winter OF 1889, when
went out to The cate through Which
Paul entered Rome and walked up the
very street he walked up to sec some
what low the city must have looked to
him rs he came in on The gospel errand
proposed Iu tIlc lcNt. l iluttS VII ctINcI
side OF the street through which The lit
tie missionary advanced. Piled up wick.
edness. Ent;ronod nccurscdncss. Tenn.
pied crucltics. Affairs to sham dei'ies.
Gloriicd dcluslons. Pillared, archcd.
d0med. trrrctcd denominations. Wicked
ness OF all sorts at a high premium and
righteousness 99i per cent of. Aud
now he passes by the foundation OF a
building which is to be al most unparal
led for vastness. You can sec by the
walls, which have begun to rise, tina
here is to be something enough stupen-
dous to astound the centuries. Aye, l..
is the COLISEUM started. OF the thcatcr
at Epcsus where Paul fought with wild
beasts, OF The temple OF Diana. Of Lh
pnrthcnon, of Pharaoh's palace
Memphis and ofothcr =, nat buildings
the ruins OF which have seen it. has
been my privilege to address you, but q
member OF my family asked me recent
ly why had not spoken IT, you of the
Coliseum at Rome, since its moral and
religious lessons arc so impressive.
Perhaps while in Rome the law Of
contrast wrought upon me. had vlsi
ted the Mamcrtnc dungeon where Pau
was lncarccratcd. | had measured tn,
opening at the top OF the dungeon
through VIII ch Paul had been lei down
it was % inches bv 2G. The ceiling
its highest point was feet from
floor, but at the sides of The room tn
ceiling was 5 feet inches. The roor
aL its widest WAS Is feet. There was
seat of rock 24a feet high. There was
shelf 4 feet high. The only furnitur
was SPIDERS web suspended from tn
root, which saw by the torchi"ht
carried. There was the subterreneor
passage from tie dungeon to the Roma
forum, so that the prisoner could b
taken directly from prison to trial.
The dungeon was built out of volcan
&c stone rom the Albano m0untons
on, il was dismal aud terrific place
You never saw coal hole so dark or g
lOrblddlnG. The place was TO me n nc
was vous shock, for | remembered the
tie best thing the world would afford tn
most lllustriOus being except one that i
ever saw, and liOm that place Pau
went out to die. From that spot Wis
tied the Coliseum, one of the most %
founding miracles Of architecture tha
lhe world ever saw. Indeed ! saw i
morning, noon and night, for it threw
spell on me from which could no
break away.
Although now vast ruin, the Coli
scum is so well preserved that we cal,
stand III the center and recall all that il
once was. II is in shape cllipsoidal
oval. oblong. II is a. its greatest
length Gl2 feet. Arcr it had furnish nee
seats lor -, 900 people it had room io,
lo,ouo more to stand, so that 100 600
people cou'd sit aud stand ira.isllXed by
lts scenes ot cOlmG%c and martyr,lom
and brutality and horror. Instead OF
our modern tickets OF admission, the,
entered by ivory check, and Il check
aug up near Rome within few wears
was marked, "Scction e., Lowest Tier
Seat No.. lS."
You understand that the building was
not constructed for an audience to be
addressed by human voice, although
1estcd it With some friends and could he
heard across it, but was made only fo,
seeing, and was circular and at any
point allowed Il full view of the spcctr.
Gle. The arena in the center in oldeu
llines was Strcwn with pounded stone
or sand, SO as not be too slppery with
human blood, ior II II were too slippcry
II would spoil the fun. The sand
flashed here and there with sparklcs oI
silver and cold, and Nero added CHINA
bar and Cali&ula added chryscolla.
The sides of the arena was composct
OF smooth marble ii feet high, 80 tha,
the wild beasts of the areup conld not
climb up into .hc audience. On the to,
OF these sides of smooth marble was q
metal railing having wooden rollers
which easily rcvolved, so that if n pan
ther should leap high enough to scale
The wall and with his paw touch an,
one OF these rollers iC would revolvc anC
drop him back again into the arena,
Back OF This marble wall surrounding
The arena was a level platform Of stone
adorned with statues Cf gods and god.
desses an! the artistic enigics OF mon
archs and conquerors.
Here were movable seats for the en-
peror and the impartial swine and
s"lnesSes with which he surrounde |
himself. Before the place where o.:
emperor sat the gladiators would walk
immediately after entering the arena,
crying: Hail, CT ar! Those abo, ,
10 dle salute theew The difrereI
ranks or spectators We q divided ,,y