Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-02-13
ROMAN VICKEDNESS.
REV DR.. TALMA6ES ELOQUENT SERMON YES
TERDAY.
AZ an Ready to Preach the Gospel to Yon That
Are st Rome Also'-A Powerful
Bible Lesson.

BRooBLYN, February 70, 1s93.-Rev.
DR.. Talmage this morning, after COM
menting on the Scriptures and giving
out hymns, in which the multitude Of
worshipers In the Brooklyn tabernacle
Joined. discourSed from the text, Ro-
mans lis: 81 am ready 70 preach toe
gospel TO you that are 90 Rome, also.
Rome. What a city 10 was when Paul
visited i'll The place where virgil sang
and Horace satirized and Terence
laughed and Catalina c0nspired aud
Ovid dramatized and Nero fddled and
Vespasian prosecuted and Suila legisiat-
ed and Cicero Numbered and AurelluS
snd Decius and Caligu,a and Julian and
Hadrian and Constantine and Augustus
reigned, aud Paul the Apostle, preached
the Gospel.
lam not much OF a craftsman, but i
have in my memorandum book sketch
which / made I'm the winter OF 1889,
when 1 went out Co the gate through
which Paul entered Rome, and walked
ND the very street he walked up 20 see
somewhat how the city must have look
ed 20 him as he came 10 on the Gospel
errand proposed in the text. Palaces
on either SIDE % the street through
which the little missionary advanced.
Piled up wickedness. EnthrOnsd ac-
curseduess. Tempted cruelties. Affairs
90 sham deities. GlOriied decisions.
Pillared, arched, domed, turreted abOm-
nations. WickedneSs Of all sorts at
high premium and Righteousness nine
ty-nine and three-fOUrth per cent. of.
And now be passes by the foundations
Of building which is 10 be almost IN
paralleled for vaStneSS. You can see
by the walls, which have begun TO rise,
that here is % be something enough
siuDendous TO astound the centuries.
Aye, 10 is
THE COLOSSEUM STARTED.
OF the theatre at Ephesus where Pau
fought with wild beasts, Of the temple
OF Diana, OF the ParthenOn, of Phara
obs place az Memphis, and Of other
great buildings, the ruins OF which /
have seen, 10 has been my privilege 10
address you, but a member OF my fam
fly asked me recently why l had not
spoken TO you OF the Colosseum at
Rome, since its moral and religious les
sons are so impressive.
Perhaps, while I'm Rome, tie law Of
contrast wrought upon me. / had Wis
tied the Mamertine dungeon where Paul
was incarcerated. had measured the
opening at the top OF the dungeon
through which Paul had been let down,
and it was twentY-three inches by
twenty-six. The ceiling at its highest
point was seven feet from the floor, but
at the sides Of the room the ceiliug
was five feet, seven inches. The
room, az the widest was fifteen
feet. There was a seat OF
rock two and a half feet high. There
was a shelf four feet high. The only
furniture was a SPIDERS web suspended
from the roof, which i saw by the
torchHght / carried. There was the
subterraneOus passage from the dun
geon 10 the Roman forum, so that the
prisoner could be taken directly from
- trial The dungeon was
built out Of volcanic stone from the
AlbanO mountains. Oh, it was dis
nal and terrific place. You never saw
coal hole so dark or so iorebdding. The
place was 10 me a nervous shock, FOR /
remembered that was the best thing
that the world would afford the most il
lnstrious being, except One, that 10
ever saw, and that from that place
Paul went out 20 die.
FROM THAT SIP OF
visited the Colosseum, one OF the most
astounding miracles Of architecture
that the world ever saw. Indeed l saw
10 morning. noon and night for il
threw a spell on me from which / could
not break awsy. Although now a vast
ruin. the Colosseum is so we'll pre-
served that we can stand In the centre
and recall all 10 once was. 10 is in
shape enlpsoidal, oval, oblong. 1t is,
At its greatest length, GIG feet. After
IL had furnished seats for eighty-seven
thousand people 10 had room for fifteen
thousand more to stand, so that one
hundred thousand people could sit and
stand transfxet by It's scenes Of courage
and martyrdOm and brutality and hor-
ror Instead OF our modern tickets OF
admission, they entered by ivory check,
and a check dug up near Rome within
few years, was marked: section 6,
Lowest Tier, Seat No. IS" You
understand that the building was not
constructed FOR an audience to
be addressed by human voice, although
i tested 10 with some friends and could
be heard across Go, but il was made only
for seeing, end was circular and az any
point allowed full view Of the spectacle.
The arena in the centre ia Olden times
was strewn with pounded stone or
sand, so as not 20 be too slippery with
human blood. but II it were too slip
perry, 70 would spoil the fun. The sand
flashed here and there with sparkles of
silver and gold, and Nero added CHINA
bar and Caligula added chrySocolla,
The sides of the arena were composed
OF smooth marble, eleven feet high, so
that the wild beasts Of the arena could
not climb into the audience. On top OF
these sides OF smooth marble was a
metal railing, having wooden rollers,
which easily revolved, so shat II
panther should leap high enough TO
scale the wall and with his paw touch
any one OF those rollers, 10 would re-
volve and drop him back again into the
arena.
BACK OF THIS MARBLE WALL
surrounding the arena was level plat
form OF stone, adorned with statues Of
gods and goddesses and the artistic ei-
igies Of mODarchS and cOnquer0rs.
Here were movable seats for the en-
peror ADD the imperial swine and swim
esses with which he surrounded him
self. Before the place where the en-
peror sat, the gladiatorS would walk
Immediately after entering the arena,
CRYING: "Hail, Cesar! Those about -
die salute thee. ~ The different ranks
of spectatOrs weA.divided by partitions