Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1893-10-20
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divlne's Sun,
day Sermon.
Enbiect: "Pompeii and Its Lesson.

oTuin. Isaiah XIV
A flash on the night sky greeted ia 90 W.
left the rail train at Naples, Italy. What wa
the strange illumination? 1t was that wratl
OF many centuries-Vesuvius. Giant son O.
an earthquake. Intoxicated mountain o
1taly. rather OF many considerations.
Voicano, burning so long. and yet to keep on
burning until, perhaps, it may be tho very
loren that will kindle the last coDfiagration
and set all the world on fire. It eclipses in
violence Of behavior Cotopaxi and Etna and
S.ronooh and krakatoa. Awful mystery.
Funeral pyre of dead cities. Everlasting
paroxysm Of mountains II seems like q
chimney OF he'll. 1t roars with fiery remn-
iscence OF what 1t has done and with threats
OF worse things that it may vet do. I would
not live in one Of the villages at its base for n
present of all Italy.
On day in December. 1851. it threw TN
ashes that hoated away hundreds and hun
dreds OF miles and dropped in Constantine
PIE, and IN the Adriatic sea, and on the
| Apennlnes, as well as trampine out at its
own foot the lives OF Is, 1000 peopls. Geo
! logists have tried to fathom its mysteries Int
| the neat consumed the iron instruments and
| drove back the scorched and blistered ex
| plorerS from the cindery and crumblins
Drink. 1t seems like the asylum of maniac
elements
AT one time far back its top had been n
fortress, where Spartacus fought and was
surrounded and would have been destroyed
nao II not been for the grapevines which
clothed the mountainside from ton to base
and laying hold OF them he climbed hand
under hand to safety in the valley. But for
centuries it has kept its furnace burning no
we saw 1t that night on our arrival in Noyem.
Der of 1889. - ~ 0ln'
VI course the next day we started TO see
some OF the work wrought By that frenzied
mountain. "All out for Pompeii p was the
cry of the conductor. And now wa stand bv
the corpse of that dead city. AS we entered |
the gate and passed between the walls 7 took |
OH my nat, as one naturally does in the pres |
ence OF some imposing obsequies That city
nao oeen at one time capital of beauty and |
pomp. The home of grand architecture. ex
qulsle painting, enchanting sculpture. unre-
strained carousal and rapt assemblage. A
u nign wall twenty feet thick, three-fourths of
II Sill visible, encrcled the city. OF those
walls, at distance of only 100 wards from
each otner. towers rose for armed men who
Watched the city. The streets ran Bt RIGHT
angles and from wall to wall, only one street
excepted. ''i00'
In the days of the city's prosperity its
towers glittered in the sun; eight strong
gates Tor ingress and egress f; Gate of the
o,yeashore, Gate OF Herculaneum, Gate of
resuvius beng perhaps the most important.
onder stood the Temple Of Jupiter, hoisted !
Al an imposing elevation, and with its six I
5orlnthlan columns of immense girth. which ;
stood like carved icebergs shimmering in the :
I rght' Ihere stands the Temple of the {
Twelve Gods. Yonder see the Temple of :
hercules and the Temple of Mercury. with :
AFFAIRS OF arble and bas-relef. wonderful 7
enough to astound all succeeding ages ofarf. :
ma the Temple of Hsculapius, brilliant with +
sculpture and gorgeous with painting.
1onder are the theatres, partly cut into q
surrounding hills, and glorifed with pic /
ured walls, and entered under arches OF i'm .
posing masonry, and with rooms. for can't q
ated and applaudatory audiences seated or h
tanulng IN vast semi-circle Yonder arc the n
ostiy and immense public baths OF the CITY. a
'ltn more than the modern ingenuities of a
,arlsoad. Notice the warmth Of those an :,
lent tepldarlums, with lowering radiance :.
ROOF, and the vapor of those caldariums. :,
'ltn decorated alcoves, and the cold dash of r
nelr frleidariums, with floors OF mosaic and u
ellings of all skilfully intermingled hues ~
nd walls upholstered with all the colors nj r.
ne setting sun, and sofas on which to recline n
'r slumber after the plunge "
hOhder are the barracks of the celebrated n,
adlators. YOnder is the summer home of ~
allust, the Roman historian and Senator 90
lie architecture as elaborate as his cherac. h,
r was corrupt. There is the residence of ts
e poet Pansa, with compressed Louvre m
10 Luxembourg within his walls. There is hi
% nome OF Lucretius, with vases and antioui- ~;
IS enough to turn the head of a virtuoso. al
onder see the Forum, at the highest place or
the city 1t 1s entered by two triumphal dr.
cnes. 1t is bounded on three sides by va
,ric columns. V"
Yonder, in the suburbs of the CITY. is the ,vl
me OF Arrlus Diomed, the mayor of the an
ourbs, terraced residence of Millionaire III
m, gardens, fountained, statued, colon th
oed, the cellar of that villa filled with bot. wi
8 OF rarest wine, few drops OF which 90
IRE found 1900 years afterward. Along the Oh
eets Of the city are men of might and w
'men OF beauty formed into bronze that -
my centuries had no power to bedim. Bat po
scenes on walls in colors which all time nm
mot etface. Great city of Pompeiii So ~
neca and TacituS and Cicero pronounced 90
stand with me on its walls this evening of clio
gust 70, A. d. rs. See the thropgs pass. cii,
up ana down in Iyriah purple and Cir an;
IS OF arabesque, and necSs enchanted with II y
'clous stones, proud official in imposing mi
"a meeting the slave carrying trays a-clinS az
n gobIets and a-smoke with delicacies tho
N paddock and sea, and moralist inusirg p
n the degradation Of the times passes the NM
h1gate doing bis best to make them worse. AZ;
TX to the clatter and rataplan Of the hoofs ,r
me streets paved with blocks of basalt II n
the verdured and lowered grounds slop. ire :,
n tboLo,,ae oI"u'i1ui oay VI aii ine and
listen to the rumblinS chariots. carving t ~.
Ylvlal occupants to halls of mirth and md
querade and carousal. Hear the loud con,
OF fountains amid the sculptured water ied
lphs. Notice the weird, solemn farreach- Eas
mum and din and roar of city at the ia ~
g OF summer day. Let Pompeii sleep
tonight, for it is the last night of peace onit
'lumber before she falls into the deep Glip'
16er OF many long centuries. The morn tba
OF the 24th of August, A. d. 70, has ar niIe,
q, and the days roll on, and it is o'clock TTitr,
he afternoon. "LookP' 1 ssy to you, a re
ding on this wall, as the sister of Pliny cTss
to him, the Roman essayist and naval 49,
on;ntod ~ tno uay y! WHICH speas, as be fl
{ you -.
ere is peculiar eloui on the sky "a orc
TED cloud, now white, now black. 1t Is crrr
Yus in awful and unparalleled eruption, be-
the smoke and fire and steam of that dnst
monster throat rise and spread, as, by hans
gesture, l now describe it, It rises, a dopo
ar and ~ 9ba me'', uarHhess. nigner ana (Zep
,bos 80 - - P""' 0u' nAo INC tton
ned IN ito 1T fo1i' Win miuhignts enter dow
the sun goes out, and showers of Torn
ce stone and water IRON furnaces more Will,
ofter is'9t' u9l asnes IN avail hyen
uhocatihg, descend north south. east wont
west, burying deeper and deeper in
moth sepulcher such as never before .ou Z
ace was opened, Stabi8, Hercuaneum Puiol
'ompsii. Ashes ankle deep, girdle s sea
chin deep, ashes overhead tne $
Of HI