Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-02-16
AT THE TABERNACLE.
DR.. TALMAeE ON HISTORIC CRUEL
TIES AND MODERN PARALLELS.

m lf>-f"ftIC ON IT'D OfflC CHUEL-
TIES AND MODERN PARALLELS.
Vivid and Realistic sketch OF Gala Day
In the Coliseum Of Ancient Rome.
''ChrIstianus ad Loonis''-The Modern
Political aad Pugirstic Arena
BROOKLYN, Feb. 12.-Rev. DR.. Talmage
this morning, after commenting on the
Scriptures and giving out hymns, in which
the multitude of worshipers IN the Brook
lyu Tabernacle Joined, discoursed from the
text Romans !, Is, II am ready to preach
the gospel 70 you that are ct Rome also"
Romel What a city it was when Paul
visited itl What city it is nowi RomeI
The place where Virgil sang and Horace
satirized and Terence laughed and Cati-
line conspired and Ovid dramatized and
Nero 1iddled and Vespasian prosecuted and
Sulla legislated and Cicero thundered 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
/ made in the winter Of 1880, when went
ont 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.
Fafaces on either side of the street through
which the little missionary advanced. Piled
up wickedness. Enthroned accursedness.
Tempted cruelties Affairs to sham deities.
Glorified delusions. Pillared, arched.
domed, turreted abominations. Wicked
ness OF all sorts at high premium and
righteousness 99A per cent off. And now
he passes by the foundations of 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.
OF the theater at Ehpesus where Paul
Diana, of the Parthenon, of Pharaoh's 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. 1 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
49, The ceiling at its highest point was 7
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
seat of rock 81 feet high. There was a
shelf 4 feet high. The only furniture was
a spiders web suspended from the roof,
which / saw by the torchlight 1 carried.
There was the subterraneous passage from
the dungeon to the Roman forum, so that
the prisoner could be taken directly from
prison to trial.
The dungeSn was built out of volcanic
stone from the Albano mountains Oh, it
was dismal and terrific placel You never
saw coal hole so dark or so forbidding. The
place was to me 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 I visited the Coliseum, one of
the most astounding miracles of architec-
ture that the world ever saw Indeed ]
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 its greatest length 612 feet. After
it had furnished seats for 81, 900 people it
had room for 5000 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 6, Lowest Tier, Seat No. 49,"
You understand that the building was
not constructed for an audience to be adj
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 toe
slippery with human blood, for II 1t were
too slippery it would spoil the fun. The
sand flashed here and there with sparkles
Of silver and gold, and Nero added cinnaba1
and Caligula added chrysocolla.
The sides OF the arena were composed oi
smooth marble IL reet hlgh, 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 q metal railing hav'
ing wooden rollers which easily reVoived
so tha6 Ii panther should leap high enough
to scale the wall and with his paw touch
any one OF those rollers 1t would reyolve
and drop MN back again into the arena
Back OF this marble wall surrounding the