Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-10-13
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
TIIE BROOKLYN DININE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
,;nrcr: "PourEu AMI ITS LESSONS"

TEXT Thou hast made Of a Decreased cit,
a rum. Isaiah XIV, 2
fash on the night sky greeted us IA We
left the rail train at Nipples Italy What wa,
the strange illumination2 II was that wratI
Of many centuries Vesuvius Giant son OF
an earthquake. Intoxicated mountain o,
Italy. Father Of many concentrations A
volcano, burning so long, and vet To keep on
burning until, perhaps, it may he the very
torch that will kindle the last CONFEDERATION
and set all the world on fire II eclipsrs m
violence ~ behavior CotOpaNi and ftna and
Stromholi and Krakatoa. Awful mystery
Funeral pyre Of dead cities Everlasting
parOXySm OF mountains. II seems Ike a
chimney OF hell. Ii rOnrs with fiery remin-
iscence Of what it has done and with threats
OF worse things that it may yet do | would
not live In one Of the villages at its base for a
! present Of all Italy.
On day in December, 1851, it threw M
sshes that Heated away hundreds ind hun
dreds OF miles and dropped iu Constantino-
/ pie, and IN the AdrHtic sea. and on the
Ap"nnines, rs well as trampling out at its
! own foot the lives of 5000 people, Geo
loglsts have tried to fathom Its mysteries, but
! the heat consumed the iron instruments and
drove back the scorched and blistered ex-
plorers from the cindery and crumbling
? 'ilhh' ~ St'lllH llhe lilc asylum OF maniac
elements.
/ At one time far back its top had been a
7 fortress, where Spartacus fought and was
surrounded and would have been DESTROYED
had It not been for tho grapevines which
/ clothed the mountainside from top to base.
and laying hold of them he climbed hand
under hand to safety in the valley. But for
centuries II has kept its furnace burning as
We saw 1t that night on our arrival i'll Novem-
Der Of 1889.
OF course the next day we started to see
some OF the work wrought by that frenzied
mountain. IAN out for Pompeli " 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 took
of my hat, AS one naturally does In the pres
ence OF some imposing obsequies. That city
| had been at one time u capital Of beauty and
pomp. The home of grand architecture. ex-
quisito painting, enchanting sculpture, unre-
strained carOusal and rapt assemblage.
high wall twenty feet thick, three-fourths OF
1t still visible, epcircled the city. OF those
walls at n distance of only 100 yards from
each other, towers rose for armed men who
watched the city. The streets ran at right
angles and from wall to wall, only one street
excepted.
In the days Of the city's prosperity its
towers glittered in the sun eight strong
gates for inGress and egress Gate OF the
Senshore. Gate OF HercuIaneum, Gate of
Nesuvius being perhaps the most important
londer stood the Temple OF Jupiter, hoisted
at an imposing elevation and with Its six
rorinthlan columns of immense girth, which
stood Ike carved iceberEs shimmering In the
light. There stands the Temple OF the
Twelve Gods Yonder see the Temple OF
Hercules and the Temple of Mercury, with
affairs Of marble and bas-relief, wonderful
enough to astouud ali succeeding ages Of art,
ana the Temple Of Escuapius brilliant with
sculpture and gorgeous with painting.
lohder are the theatres. partly cut into
surrounding hills, and glorihed with pic
lur"d walls, and entered under arches of i'm
posing masonry, ami with rooms for capt.
waited and applaudatory audiences seated OF
standing Ill vast semi-cirrle Yonder are the
costly and immense public baths OF the city.
with more than the modern iHgenuitiee OF
Carlsbad. Notice the warmth OF those an
Client tepidarlums, with lowering radiance
OF roof ana tn" vapOr of those caldarums,
with decorated alcoyes and the cold dash of
their lrIEdariums. with floors of mosaic and
ceilings OF all sktlfuIly iutermiugled hues,
and walls upholstered with all the color4 81
tue setting sun, and sofas on which TO rrclne
Tor -umber alter the plunge.
lOnder are the barracks Of the celebrated
EIaiiators. Wonder is the summer home of
halIust, the Roman historian and Senator,
III" architecture AS elaborate rs his chArac-
ter was corrupt. There Is the residence Of
the poet Pansa, with compressed Louvre
ana Luxembourg within his walls There is
the nome u Lucretlus, with vases and aRtiuui-
tics enough to turn the head Of "A yirtuoso
Wonder see the Forum, at the highest place
In the city 1t ts entered 10y two triumphal
arches. 1t Is bounded on three sides by
dOrlc columns
londcr, in the suburbs Of the city. IL the
nome OF Arrlus doomed, the mayor OF the
suburbs. terrarcd residence OF Millionaire
dom, gardens fountaine1, statued. colon
nhded, the cellar OF that villa filled with bot.
lies OF rarest vino, IL few drops OF which |
were found 1900 years afterward Along the
streets OF tn" city are men of might and |
women Of beauty formed into bronze that
many centuries had no power to bedim. Bat
Il" scenes on walls in colOrs which all time |
cannot etfac". Great city Of PompeH So |
Seneca and Tactus and Cicero pronounced |
il.
stand with me on its walls this evening Of
August ~, A. d. ~ Sec the throngs pass
ng up hnd down In Tyrian purple and CIR
lies OF arabesque, and necks enchanted with
precious stones proud official In imposing
oga meeting the slave carrying trays a-clink
with gohlets and a-smOks with deicacie4
rom paddock and sea- and mOralist musing
over tn" degradation OF the times passes the
proiligate doing his best to make them worse.
lark to the clatter and rataplan OF the hoofs
N the streets paved with blocks OF basalt
See the yerdured and lowered grounds slop-
NJ INTO the most beautiful bay of all the
'arth the bay Of Naples.
Listen to the rumbling chariots, carrying
occupants to halls OF mirth and
Masquerade and carousal. Hear the loud
lash Of fountains amid the sculptured water
lymphs. Notice the weird solemn farreach-
NJ hum and din and roar OF a city at the
lose OF summer day. Let Pompeii sleep
veil tonight, for 1t Is the last night of peace
nj slumber before she falls into the deep
lumber OF many long centuries The morn
ng Of the oath Of August, A. D. 10 has ar
ived and the days roll on, and it is o'clock
II the afternoon. Look ~ | say to YOU
landing on this wall, rs the sister OF Pliny
aid to him, the Roman essayist and naval
on the day Of which | speak as
he pointed him in the direction in which |
DOint you
There Is peculiar cloud on the sky a
potted cloud, now white, now black. 1t ID
esuvlus III awfuland unparalleled eruption.
VOW the smoke and fire and steam OF that
lack monster throat rise and spread, as, by
ny gesture, | now describe 1t. 1t rises, a
reat column Of fiery, darkness, higher and
iRher, and then spreads out like the
ranches OF "A tree, with midnights enter
trapped in its foliage, wider and wider
low the sun goes out, and showers OF
umice stone and water from furnaces more
han seven times heated, and ashes in avail
niche after avalanche, binding and scalding
nd suffocating, descend north, south, east
nd west, burying deeper and Deeper in
mammoth sepulcher, such as never before
r since was opened, staplB, Herculaneum ,,
nd Pompeii. Ashes ankle deep, girdle J
eep, chin deep, ashes overhead. !
Out Of the houses and temples and tboa-
res and into the streets and down TO the
each fed many of the frantic, but others, II :
OF suffocated of the ashes, were scalded TO
cath by the heated deluge. And then came
eavier destruction In rocks after rocks, =
rushing in homes and temples and theatres :
o wonder the sea receded from the beach az T,
Tough In terror, until much OF the shipping T.
as wrecked, and no wonder that when they T.