Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-02-16
AT THE TABERNACLE,
DR.. TALMAGE ON HISTORIC CRUEL.
TIES AND MODERN PARALLELS.


In the Coliseum of Ancient Rome
"christianus ad Leonis"-The Modern
Political and Pugilistic Arena.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 12.-Rey DR.. Talmagt
This morning, after commenting on the
Scriptures and giving out hymns, in which
the multitude of worshipers in the Brook.
Ign Tabernacle Joined, discoursed from the
text Romans l, Is, II am ready to preach
the gospel to you that are at Rome also.n
Romel What city it was when Paul
visited It'll What a city it is nowi RomeI
The place where Virgil sang and Horace
satirized and Terence laughed and Gait
line conspired and Ovid dramatized and
Nero fiddled and Vespasian prosecuted and
Sulla legislated and Cicero Numbered and
Aurelius and Decius and Caligula and Ju-
lian and Hadrian and Constantine and
Augustus reigned and Paul the apostle
preached the gospel.
am not much of craftsman, but have
in my memorandum book a sketch which
l 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 accursedness
| Tempted crIelties. Affairs To sham deities
Glorided decisions. Pillared, arched
/ domed, turreted denominations. Wicked
ness Of all sorts at high premium and
righteousness 1914 per cent off. And now
he passes by the foundations Of a building
which is to be almost unparalleled for vast
ness. You can see by the walls. which
have begun to rise, that here is to be some
thing enough stupendous to astound the
centuries. Aye, it is the Coliseum started.
ANCIENT AND SINFUL SCENES.
or the theater at Ehpesus where Paul
fought with wild beasts, of the temple OF
Diana, of the Parthenon, Of Pharaohs pal
ace at Memphis and Of other great build
ings 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 Coli
scum at Rome, since its moral and religious
lessons are so impressive.
Perhaps while in Rome the law OF con
trast wrought upon me. l had visited the
Mamertine dungeon where Paul was incar-
cerated. | had measured the opening at
the top of the dungeon through which Paul
had been let down, and it was % inches by
20. The ceiling at its highest point was z
feet from the floor, but at the sides Of the
room the ceiling was feet inches. The
room at the widest was Is feet. There was
a seat of rock 81 feet high. There was a
shelf feet high. The only furniture was
a spiders web suspended from the roof,
which | saw by the torchlight l carried.
t1.te
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, il
was dismal and terrific PLACED You never
saw coal hole so dark or so forbdding. The
place was to me a nervous shock, for | re
membered that was the best thing the
world would afford the most illustrious be
ing except one that it ever saw, and from
that place Paul went out to die From
that spot visited the Coliseum, one Of
the most astounding miracles of architec-
ture that the world ever saw. Indeed i
saw it morning. noon and night, for it
threw spell on me from which 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 ellipsoidal, oval, oblong. 1t
is at it's greatest length 6l2 feet After
it had furnished seats for 81, 1000 people it
had room for 10, 900 more to stand, so that
100000 people could sit and stand trans
fixed by its scenes of courage and martyr
dom and brutality and horror Instead of
our modern tickets of admission, they en-
tered by ivory check, and a check dug up
near Rome within few years was marked,
Section 8, Lowest Tier, Seat No. 49,
You understand that the building was
not constructed for an audience to be ed
dressed 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 center 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 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 up |
into the audience. On the top of these sides |
of smooth marble was metal railing hav-
ing wooden rollers which easily revolvedi |
SO that if a 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 surrounding the /
arena was level platform of stone adorned |
with statues of gods and goddesses and the /
artistic efligies of monarchs and conquerors. |
THE FILTHY ROMAN RULERS.
Here were movable seats for the emperor |
and the imperial swine and swinesses with /
which he surrounded himself Before the |
place where the emperor sat the gladiators /
would walk Immediately after entering the |
arena. crying: Hail, Cesarl Those about |
to die salute theel' The different ranks of 7
spectators were divided by partitions stud
ded with mosaics of emerald and beryl and
ruby and diamond. Great masts Of wood
arose from all sides of the building, from
which festoons of flowers were suspended,
crossing the building, or in time of rain
NI