The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1893-10-14
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
The BROOKLYN DIVINE's SUN
DAY SERMON.

OF many centurles-Vesuvius. Giant son ~
an eartnquaSe. Intoxicated mountain Of
italy father OF many conSternations 4
volcano, burning so long, and vet 10 keep on
burning until, perhaps it may be the verv
torch that will kindle the last confederation
and set all the world on fire. 1t eclipses in
violence 81 behavior CotopaXi and Ftna and
Stromholi and Krakatoa Awful rysterv
Funeral pyre o! dead cities. Everlasting
paroSysm Of mountains. 1t seems like p
chimney Of he'll. 1t roars With fiery rennin
lscence OF what II has done and with threats
OF worse things that it may yet do. I wonld
not live in one Of the villages at its base for a
present Of ell Italy.
On a day in December, 1851, il threw IN
3soes tnat hoated away hundreds and hun
7reds OF miles and dropped in Constantine
pie, and In the Adriatic sea, and on the
apennineS. as well rs tramplin9 out at its
own foot the lives OF lS 600 people. Geo
t9SIsts nave tried to fathom its mysteries. but
me neat consumed the iron instruments and
drove back the scorched and blistered ex-
plorers from the cindery and crumblinc
clements
At one time far back its top had been n
fortress, where Spartacus fought and was
surrounded and would have been DESTROYED
nad II not been for the grapevines which
clothed the mountainside from top to base
and laying hold OF them he climbed hand
under hand TO safety in the valley. But for
centuries It has kept It's furnace burning as
~e saw It that night on our arrival in Novem,
Der of 1889
Or course the next day we started 10 eaa
some of the work wrought by that frepziei
mountain. An out for Pompeii ~ was the
Try OF the conductor And now we stand bv
ne corpse OF that dead city. As we entered
he gate and passed between the walls took
of my hat, rs one naturally does In the pres
snce OF some imposing obsequies. That city
bad been at one time capital Of beauty and
pomP. me home Of grand architecture. ex-
quisite painting. enchanting SCULPTURE rnre-
strained
nigh wall twenty feet thick three-fourths Of
still visible, encircled the city. or those
walls. at distance Of only 100 yards from
each Oth.'c. towers rose for armed men who
watched the city. The streets ran at right
angles and from wall to wall, only one street
excepted.
In the days of the citys prosperity it's
covers Ghttered in the sun eight strong
Zates for inGrcss and egress. Cato of the
Senshcre. Gate Of Herculaneum Gate of
Vesuvius being perhaps the most important
fonder stood the Temple of Jupiter, hoisted
~ an imposing elevation. and with its six
,ornthian columns OF immense girth which
stood like carved icehergs shimmeriug IN the
light. There stands the Temple Of the
lwoivo Gods. Yonder see the Temple Of
Hercules and tho Temple OF Mercury with
affairs OF marble and bas- relief wonderful
enough 10 astound ali succeeding ages Of art,
md the Temple OF Esculapius brilliant with
sculpture and gorgeous with painting.
Wonder are tho theatres, partly cut into
'ur"d walls and entered under arches OF i'm
HcS'ng masonry, and with rooms for capti.
Tatcl and npplaudatory audiences seated or
'taniing in vast scmi-cirCle. Yonder are the
,ostiS and immense public baths of the citv
With more than the modern ingenuities Of
-hTisbaf. Notice tho warmth of those an
lent teridnriums, with lowering radiance
u root, and the Vapor Of those csldariums,
with decorated alcoves, and the cold dash OF
heir friGidarums. with floors of mosaic and
ceilings of oil skilfully intermingled hues,
md walls upholstered with all the colors Of
he setting sun, and sofas on which to recline
or slumber after the plunge
Wonder are the barracks of the celebrated
s!ctiators. ECnder is the summer home of
sallust, the Roman historian and Senator,
he architecture Gs elaborate as mis- charac-
;er was corrupt. There is the residence OF
:ho poet Pansa, with a compressed Louvre
md Luxembourg within his walls. There is
he home OF Lucretius, with vases and antiqui-
ies enough 10 turn the head of a virtuoso
fonder see the Forum, at the highest place
n tho city. II IS entered by two triumphal
arches. 1t IS bounded on three sides by
1cTic columns
Wonder, in the suburbs Of the city, is the
Houe of Arrius Diomed, the mayor OF the
:uburbc terraced residence OF billionaire-
lOm. gardens, fcuntained. statued colon.
nadcd the cellar of that villa filed with bot
les of rarSet wine. few drops of which
wore found 1900 years afterward. Along the
'rcets Of tho city are men of might and
many centuries had no power to bedim. Bat
:lc scenes on walls in colcrs which all time
-annot efface. Great city OF Pompeii, So
Seneca and Tacltus and Cicero pronounced
r.
Stand with me on its walls this evening OF
August 20, A. D. 40. See tho throngs pass
ing up and down In Tyrian purple and CIR
dies Of arabesquc, and necks encheined with
precious stones, proud official in imposing
'oga meeting the slave carrying trays a-clink
with goblets and a-smoke with delicacies
from paddock and sea, and moralist musins
over the degradation OF the times passes tho
orO1igate doing his best to make them worse
Hark TO the clatter and rataplan Of the hoofs
on tho streets paved with blocks Of basalt
See the vcrdured and lowered grounds slop-
ing into the most beautiful bay OF all the
earth-the bay Of Naples.
Listen to the runbling chariots, carrying
convivial occupants to halls Of mirth and
masquerade and carousal. Hear the loud
dash of fountains amid the sculptured water
nymphs. Notice the weird, solemn farreach-
ing mum and din and roar OF n city et the
close Of q summer day. Let Pompeii sleep
we'll tonight, for it is the last night OF peace
ful slumber before she falls into the deep
slumher Of many long centuries. The morn
ing OF tho 2Jth Of August, A. ID. 70, has ar
rived, and the days roll on, and it is l o'clocl;
in the afternoon. Look" L say 70 you,
standing on this wall. ao the sister Of Pliny
said 70 him, the Roman essayist and naval
commander, on the day OF which speak. as
she pointed him In the direction in which
point you.
There is a peculiar cloud on the sky
spotted cloud, now white. now black. 1t is
Vesuvius in awful and unparalleled eruption.
Now the smoke and fire and steam OF that
black monster throat rise and spread, as, by
my gesture, I now describe il. 1t rises n
great column OF fiery, darkness, higher and
higher and then spreads cut hko the
branches OF tree, with midnights enter
wrapped in its foliage wider AMI wider.
Now the sun goes out, and showers Of
pumice stone and water from furnaces mora
Than seven times heated, and ashes in avail
anche after avalanche, binding and scalding
and suffOcating, descend north, south, east
and west burying deeper and deeper in
mammoth sepulcher, such as never before
or since was opened, Stabie, Hercunneum
and Pompeii. Ashes ankle deep, girIle
deep, chin deep. ashes overhead.
Out Of the houses and temples and thea
tres and into the streets and down to the
beach fed many of the frantic, but others, II
not sufTocated Of the ashes were s"ald"i 10
death by the heated deiuge. And then cImc
heavier destruction in rocks after 70 Ks,
crushing in homes and temples and theatres.
a