The Progress., 1893-10-21

ries of Sermons on the Coming RevOlu.
tion-osarvelous Progress of the Nine
teenth Century and Its Consequences.
New YORK, Oct. 15.-Rev. Thomas
Dixon, Jr., continued the series of ser
mons on the coming revolution at Asso-
citation hall this morning. The subject
of today's sermon was the period OF
transition or the characteristics of the
times which signify the approach of a
new social order. He discussed as such
signs the rapidity of material progress
in the elimination of time and space, the
marvellous development of mechanical
forces, the discoveries of science as well
as the growth of cities, the intensifica-
tion of life, and the rise of the common
people to political power, and the uni
versatility of education. He declares these
to be the elements which constitute the
basis of necessity of new social regime.
The text was chosen from Matthew xvi,
3, 'Ye know how to discern the face of
the heaven, but We cannot discern the
signs of the times"
History seems naturally to divide it
tory have characteristics which distin-
guish them from the centuries which
precede and the centuries which fol-
low the era of the crusades as clearly
and distinctly marked in medieval his
tory. The period of the French revolu-
ton in like manner has its special char
acteristics and is clearly defined in the
e c. -,
times there were centuries of develop
ment which are distinctly marked.
There are, upon the other hand, the cri-
ses of transition between the great his
toric centuries of development. These
periods of transition are the seedtime,
while the great centuries of revolution
and construction are the harvest times
in history.
A PERIOD OF PREPARATION.
The nineteenth century is peculiarly a
century of transition. 1t is period of
preparation. 1t has been one of tre-
mendous development, and yet it is the
development of a promise rather than
the fulfllment of that which has gone
before. The most marvellous develop
ment of the nineteenth century is the
prophecy it gives of the twentieth. With
all our wonderful achievements there is
nothing so wonderful as the universal
hope inspired in the human breast that
we will do something better in the near
future.
The import of action in a period of
transition is of inestimable Importance.
What is impressed upon the character of
this age will constitute the elements of
strength or of weakness in the new
century that is to be born. That which
is now shaping the forces that shall
dominate the life of the twentieth CEN
tury must partake of permanence. In
many respects it will be decisive.
There are certain elements in our cur
rent life which reveal to us the fact that
the century before US must be constituted
in its social, economic and political life
upon new basis. This must be So
First-Because of the rapidity of ma
terial progress during the past genera
ton and the speed of that progress in
this generation. The elimination of
time and space has been one of the most
remarkable developments of our period
of invention, and the period of the
worlds invention is the latter part of
the nineteenth century.
In the eighteenth century the world
was divided into isolated continents and
isolated nations. There was little inter-
course, and what there was came through
the slow travel by sail on water and
stagecoach on land. The facilities for
gathering news and distributing the his
tory of different nations among one an
other were of the most meager kind.
All this has been changed in the latter
part of the nineteenth century. The
world has literally been made a great
whispering gallery, and every nation
gives its quota to the days story. There
is no longer isolation of any sort. Eng
land and America are today in closer
contact than was Massachusetts, and
New York in the eighteenth century. 1t
is possible for man to leave America
tions of the east in the next. 1t is posi-
BILE for man at his breakfast table to
know all the important events that hap
pened the day before in every nation of
the world We cross the ocean in less
than six days. We go round the world
in two months, and we come in contact
with the current of the life of all peoples
and all nations.
OUR CIVILIZATION A SYMPOSIUM.
Our civilization is a symposium. The
very delicacies of our table are the prod
uct of the whole earth. What we eat
what we wear, what we place in our
homes, are the product joint of the ef'
fort of the world.
The problem of time and space has
within a few years been practically an.
initiated. The use of steam and elec.
tricity has brought the world thus in
close contact. But the speed with which
we are making progress even in annihi
lating time and space is so great that il
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