A MODERN BABYLONIAN PALACE.
The “Marvel of the Century” is what the new building is called which the Paris World's Fair for 1900 is going to build for religion. It originated in a Catholic source, and has received “the earnest support” of Leo XIII. It will not be situated on the regular fair grounds, as there will not be room, but will have a ground of its own. The plan is said to be indorsed by “the whole hierarchy of the Catholic Church, as well as of influential statesmen and other prominent men in every Christian country.” The promoter of the scheme is M. August Delaigue, a Roman Catholic churchman, now in this country. We quote a part of its description as given by him to a New York Journal reporter:— “The first point of the problem that requires to be solved,” said M. Delaigue, “was this: how to excite to the highest possible degree the curiosity of the crowd; to compel, as it were, the attention of the world. What was required was that no visitor to the great World's Fair, whatever his religious belief, should be able to quit Paris without having visited our own exhibition; that the latter, in a word, should be the star feature of the fair.” “It was decided to construct a palace of colossal proportions, the largest the world has ever seen. It was conceived by the greatest architects in France, and you know that anything can be done with iron nowadays.” “Despite its enormous dimensions, however, nothing will be sacrificed from the esthetic point of view. The boldness and harmony of its proportions have excited the admiration of every artist who has seen the design. The dome will assuredly be one of the wonders of Paris. It will measure no fewer than one hundred meters at its base, whereas the largest dome hitherto constructed barely measures forty. Belied, as it will be, by a series of delicate and graceful colonnettes, its effect interiorly will be simply prodigious. Richly colored windows will illuminate it with a thousand tints, that will also light the eight naves that will converge to the circular space surmounted by the dome.” “Encircling the palace, spacious terraces will rise to the first and second stories, supporting hanging gardens around the dome. Ten thousand persons will be able to circulate as freely upon them as they now can in the gardens of the Trocadero, and visit the divers aerial installations ere they proceed to the summit of the central spire, situated at a height of over 550 feet.” “The basilica of St. Peter's, at Rome, whose boldness of proportion exceeds anything hitherto invented by human ingenuity, is only two-fifths of the size of our palace, which will be supported by immense pillars and columns innumerable.” “Under the cupolas that will surround the central dome, panoramas on a new system will be installed, which will reproduce life-size and with the completest illusion the principal events of Christianity. First, the life and death of Jesus Christ will be faithfully depicted in the luminous and melancholy landscapes of the east.” “Then the Colosseum, immense altar where from the blood of the martyrs burst the new faith, the Catacombs and their divine mysteries, Constantine in imperial Byzantine pomp proclaiming the Christian religion, the first bishops converting the barbarians, St. Genevieve stopping Attila, Charlemagne at St. Peter's tomb, Urban II. preaching the crusade, the taking of Jerusalem by Godfrey de Bouillon, the battle of Lepanto, Joan of Arc at Chinon and Rouen, the landing of Christopher Columbus in America, the council of the Vatican, the jubilee of Leo XIII., etc.” “In the great garden, suspended 300 feet above the earth, the world-famous pilgrimages will be reconstituted—the grotto of Bethlehem, the house at Nazareth, Lourdes, La Salette, Einsiedeln, Our Lady of Pilar and St. James of Compostello.” “Next will come the museums, such, for instance, as that of the foreign missions at Lyons, where specimens of all the instruments of torture by which the martyrs earned their palms of champions of the faith have been collected, and the Eucharistic Museum of Paray-le-Monial, which contains everything appertaining to the cult of the Holy Eucharist. A special section will be reserved for the cult of the Sacred Heart, another for the cult of the Virgin Mary.” “A number of splendid religious theatrical performances, covering all periods of the era, will be given, with the aid of a special mechanism that is destined to bring about a revolution in theatrical art, and monster concerts of 1,000 voices, 300 instruments, and the largest and most powerful organ in the world, will illustrate the progress of religious music from the Gregorian chants onward. The famous silver trumpets of St. Peter's and the choir of the Sixtine9Chapel will also be heard. An economic and social congress has also been provided for.” This and much more, which we have not space to quote, will be exhibited of Rome's doing and misdoing in the world. Of course she will not show the martyrs of the Inquisition, altho Ignatius Loyola will be numbered among her heroes. Neither will there be represented the martyred Waldenses, or Albigenses, or Huguenots. It will be a display to overawe, to charm, to hypnotize all those whose religion rests in outward form ornate display, and gorgeous ceremony. “It is expected,” continued M. Delaigue, “that from sixty to seventy million persons will visit the World's Fair. Think of the immense moral influence this imposing and practical demonstration of what Christianity [save the mark!] has accomplished is calculated to exercise upon the millions of those who will inevitably be subjected to it!” “Each Christian [?] nation will contribute to its success; and who knows but what it may be the means of bringing about what the combined efforts of the greatest intellects that expound the faith have failed to do—namely, the union of all divisions of the Christian religion?” “Much is hoped from this mighty country, the United States, which has risen to its present eminence among the nations by its steadfast adherence to the principles of Christianity, and has taken the first step toward the establishment of universal peace by nobly coming forward with the treaty of arbitration with Great Britain. Think what such a proposition, representing the will of seventy million freemen, means! It is meet, it is essential, that the New World, discovered by Columbus, which has proudly upheld the banner of the faith, should take a foremost place in this universal exposé of what that faith has accomplished.” And we say, Who knows but then and there will be the complete surrender of nominal Christianity to Rome, and Rev. 13: 3; 17: 13, 18: 7, will be fulfilled? But there is a beyond, and it may be learned in the history of a Babylonian monarch of old. Read Dan. 4: 29-31.