The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1893-02-17
THE CRUEL HEATHER
DIR. TALMAGE FINDS AN IMPRESSIVE
LESSON IN THE ROMAN COLISEUM.


Condition of Rome When st. Paul Preached
There-Emperor and People Alike GiVeI
Over to Lust and Cruelty Christianity''
Mighty Work.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 12.-Rev. DR.. Tai
mage this morning, after commenting OF
the Scriptures and giving out hymns III
which the multitude Of worshipers II
the Brooklyn Tabernacle joined, dis
coursed from the text Romans i, 10, 81
am ready to preach the gospel to you
that are at Rome also"
Rome! What city it was when Paul
visited it! What city it is now! Rome
The place where Virgil sang and Horace
satirized and Terence laughed and Gait
line conspired and Ovid dramatized and
Nero fiddled and Vespasian prosecuted
and Sulla legislated and Cicero thun-
dered and Aurelius and Decius and Cali
gula and Julian and Hadrian and Con-
stantine and Augustus reigned and Paul
the apostle preached the gospel.
I am not much of craftsman, but
have in my memorandum book sketch
which I made in the winter of 1889,
when went out to the gate through
which Paul entered Rome and walked
mp the very street he walked up to see
somewhat how the city must have looked
to him as he came in on the gospel er-
rand proposed in the text. Palaces on
either side of the street through which
the little missionary advanced. Piled up
wickedness. Enthroned accursedness.
Tempted cruelties. Affairs to sham del
ties. Glorifed decisions. Pillared, arched,
domed, turreted abominations Wicked
ness Of all sorts at a high premium and
righteousness 994 per cent off. And now
he passes by the foundations of build
ing which is to be almost unparalleled for
tvastness. You can see by the walls.
which have begun to rise, that here is to
be something enough stupendous to as
found the centuries. Aye, it is the Coli
scum started.
THEIR MONUMENTS OF SHAME.
Of the theater at Ephesus where Paul
fought with wild beasts, the temple of
Diana, of the Parthenon, of pharaoh's
palace at Memphis and of other great
buildings 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 Coliseum at Rome, since it's moral
and religious lessons are so impressive.
Perhaps while in Rome the 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 23 inches by 90. The ceiling
at its highest point was z feet from the
floor, but at the sides of the room the
ceiling was 5 feet Z inches. The room at
the widest was Is feet. There was seat
of rock p feet high. There was shelf
A feet high. The only furniture was a
spiders web suspended from the roof,
which saw by the torchlight carried.
There was the subterraneoCs passage
from the dungeon to the Roman forum,
so that the prisoner could be taken di-
rectly from prison to trial.
The dungeon was built out of volcanic |
stone from the Albano mountains. Oh. |
it was dismal and terrific place. You
never saw coal hole so dark or so for
bidding. The place was to me a nervous
shock, for l remembered that was the
best thing that the world would afford
the most illustrious being, except one,
that it ever saw, and that from that
place Paul went out to die. From that
spot | visited the Coliseum-one OF
the most astounding miracles of archi-
lecture that the world ever saw. In
deed l saw it morning noon and night,
for it threw spell ON me from which !
could not break away.
Although now a vast ruin, the Coli.
scum is so well preserved that we can
stand in the center and recall all that it
once was, It is in shape ellipsoidal, oval,
oblong. 1t is at its greatest length GIG
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 transfxed by its scenes of
Courage and martyrdom and brutality
and horror,
Instead of our modern tickets of admis-
SlOl, Uuey euI6Teu Dy Ivory CueCh, dl[tt a
check dug up near Rome within a few
years was marked, "Section 6, Lowest
Tier, Seat No. 49," You understand that
the building was not constructed for an
audience to be addressed by human voice,
1 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.
REFINEMENTS OF CRUELTY.
The arena in the center in Olden times
was strewn with pounded stone or sand,
so as not to be too slippery with human
blood. for if it were too slippery it
would spoil the fun. The sand flashed
here and there with sparlles of silver
and gold. and Nero added cinnabar and
Caligula added chrysocolla. The sides
of the arena were composed of smooth
marble II feet high, so that the wild
beasts Of the arena could not climb NJ
into the audience. On the top of these
sides of smooth marble was a metal rail
ing. having wooden rollers, which easily /