Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1893-02-22
RIVERS OF BLOOD.
Ter thousand Humans and as Many
Animals

Whose Deaths Afforded Pleasure a.
the Romans Early Life OF Rons
! and Its Colosseum-Scrmon Sy
Rev. II. Dewitt IainsEe ID. ID.
Rev. DIR. Talmage Sunday morning
discoursed from the text, Romans l. Is:
am ready TO preach the gospel to you
that are Mt Rome. also"
| Rome. What n city il was when Paul
visited it! What n city il is now! Romel
The place where Virgil sang and Horace
satarized. and Terence laughed and
Cataline conspired, and Ovid dramatized
and Nero fiddled. and Vcspasian pcrse-
cuted and Sulla lcgislated, and Cicero
Numbered and Aerelius and Decius and
Caliguia and Julian and Hadrian and
! Constantine apd Augustus reigued, and
Paul the Apostle, preached the gospel.
am not much of n draughtsman, but
! have in my memorandum book n
sketch which / made in the winter OF
| 1889, when l went ont to the gate
through which Paul entered Rome, and
walked mp the very street he walked
mp. TO see somewhat how the city must
have looked 10 him as he came in on
the gospel errand proposed in the text
through which the little missionary ad-
vanccd. Pilcd-up wickednesS En-
uroncd accurscdnesS Tempted cruel
ties. Affairs TO sham deiticS Glorihed
deluSions. Pillared. arched. domed.
turreted denominations. WiclSedness of
all sorts ut a high premium, and right
eousness nincty-ninc and three fourths
per cent. off. And now he passes by
foundations OF building which is to be
almost unparalleled for vastness You
can see 10y the walls. which have begun
10 rise, that here is To be something
enough stupendous 10 astound the cen
turtles, Aye, it is the colosseum started
OF the thcuter At Ephcsus where Paul
Ought with wild beasts. OF the
temple of Dana, OF the parthcnon. OF
Pharaohs palace ut Memphis. and of
other great buildings, the ruins of
which have seen, il has been my priv
ilcge to address you, but n mem Der of
my family asked me recently why i had
not spoken TO you Of the colosseum at
Rome, since its moral and religious les
sons are so impressive.
Perhaps, while in Rome, the law of
contrast wrought upon me, had Wis
tied the Marmertine dungeon where
Paul was incarcerated. ] had measured
the opening at the top of the dungeon,
through which Paul had been let down,
and 1t 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 ceiling
was five feet, seven inches The room.
at the widest, was fifteen feet There
was seat of rock two and n feet high.
The only furniture was spiders web
suspended from tho roof, which saw
by the torchlight carried
There was the subterraneous passage
from the dungeon To the Roman forum,
so that the prisoner could be taken di-
"ectly from prison TO trial The dun
geon was built out of volcanic stone
from the Albano mountains. Oh, il was
dismal and terrific place You never
saw n coal hole so dark or so forbiddiuc-.
The place was TO me n nervous shock.
for | remembered that was the best
thing that the world would afford the
most illustrious being. except one, that
IL ever saw, and that from that place
Paul went out TO die From that spot.
| visited the colosseum, one of the most
astounding miracles of architecture
that the world ever saw. Indeed, / saw
II morning, noon and night, for il threw
spell on me from which | could not
break away, Although now vast
ruin, the colosseum is so well preserved
that we can stand in the center and re-
call all that 1t once was 1t is. at its
greatest length, 6l2 feet
After it had furnished seats for 81, 600
people, it had room for 10, coo more to
stand, so that 100, 900 people could sit
and stand transfiNed by its scenes of
courage and martyrdom and brutality
and horror. Instead of our modern
tickets of admission. they entered bv
ivory check. and n check dug up near
Rome within few years, was marked:
Section g. Lowest Tier Seat No. IS"
You understand that the building was
not constructed for an audience to be
addressed by human voice, although
tested II with some friends and could
be heard across il, hbut il 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 strcwn with pounded
stone or sand, so as not TO be too slim
perry with human blood, for IL il were
too slippery IL would. spoil the fun.
The sand flashed here and there with
sparklcs OF silver and gold, and Nero
added cinnnbar and Caligula added
chrysocolla The sides of the arena
were composed of smooth marble,
eleven feet high, so that the wild beasts
VI the arena could not climb up into the
audience. On the top OF these sides OF
smooth marble was a metal railing.
iaving wooden rollers, which easily
revolved. so that II a panthar should
leap high enough TO scale the wall and
with his paw touch any one OF those
rollers 10 would rcvolve 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 goddesscs and the
artistic cfiigies OF mouarchs and con-
querors Here were movable seats for
the emperor and the imperial swine and
swincsscs with which he surrounded
himself Before the place where
the emperor sat the gladiators
would walk Immediately after
entering the arena. crying: Hail,
Caesar, Those about TO die salute thee"
The different ranks OF spectators were
divided by partitions studded with
mosaics Of emerald and beryl and ruby
and diamonds Great masts Of wood
arose from nil sides Of the building.