The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-12-08
A RIGHTEOUS EARTH.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on the
World as 1t Will Be
Improvement I'm Human Conditions
After IL Has Been RevOIutionixed
for GOOd-GIories of the
Coming Century.
copyright, 1893. by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington,


discourse shows how the world Will look
after it has been revolutionized for
good; text, ? Peter 3:13: "a new earth,
wherein dwelleth Righteousness"
Down in the struggle to make the
world better and happier we sometimes
get depressed with the obstacles 10 be
overcome and the work TO be accom-
plished. VIII it not be a tonic and an
inspiration to look at the world as it
will be when il has been brought back
to Paradisaical condition? So let us for
a few moments transport ourselves into
the future and put ourselves forward in
the centuries and sec the world in its
rescued and perfected state, as we will
see it if in those times we are permitted
TO revisit this planet, as 1 am sure we
will. We all want TO see the world after
tthas been thoroughly Gospelized and all
wrongs have been righted. We will
want TO come back, and we will come
back to look upon the refulgent consum-
nation toward which we have been on
larger or smaller scale toiling. Having
heard the opening of the orchestra on
whose strings some discords travelled,
we will want to hear the last triumph
ant bar of the perfect oratorio. Having
seen the picture as the painter drew its
first outlines upon canvas, we will want
TO see il when il is as complete as Reu-
ben's Descent from the Cross" or
Michael Angeles Last Judgment"
Having seen the world under the CLEAN
of the star of Bethlehem, we viii want
20 see il when, under the full shining of
the sun of Righteousness, the towers
snail strike IL AT noon.
There will be nothing in that coming
century of the worlds perfection to him
der our terrestrial visit. Our power and
velocity of locomotion will have been
improved infinitely. 1t will not take us
long to come here, however far off in
Gods universe Heaven may be. The
Bible declares that such visitation is
going on now. Are they not all minis
tering spirits sent forth to minister to
those who shall be heirs of salvation p
Surely the gates of Heaven Will not be
bolted after the world is Edenized so
as to hinder the redeemed from de-
scending for a tour of inspection and
congratulation and triumph.
You know with what interest we look
upon ruins-ruins ofKenilworth castle,
ruins of Melrose abbey, ruins of Rome.
ruins of Pompeii. So this world in
ruins is an enchantment TO look at, but
we want to see it when rebuilt, repil-
Jared, recovered, realtered, rededicated.
The exact date of the worlds moral
restoration 1 cannot foreten. 1t may be
that through mighty awakenings it will
take place in the middle Of the nearby
twentieth century. 1t may be at the
opening of the twenty-irst century, but
II would not be surprising if it took
more than 100 years to correct the raw
ages of sin which have ragged for 6,U0O |
years. The chief missionary and evan !
gehstic enterprises were started in this |
century, and be not dismayed ifit takes !
n couple of centuries to overcome evils |
that have had full swing for 60 cen |
turtles. l take no responsibility in say |
ing on what page of the earthly calen- |
da- il will roll in, but Gods eternal |
Veracity is sworn to it that it will roll |
in, and as the redeemed in Heaven do /
as they please and have all the facilities |
of transit from world to world, you and |
i, my hearer or reader, Will come and
look at what my teXt calls "a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness
Alighted on the redeemed earth, we
are first accosted by the spirit of the
twenty-frst century, who proposes to
guide and show US all that we desire to
see. Without his guidance we would
lose our way, for the world is so much
changed from the time when we lived
in it. First of all, he points out TO us
a Of nh Il orl hull |
ask this spirit of the twenty-first CEN
fury: What are those structures
whose walls are falling down and whose
gates are rusted on the hinges?" Our
escort tells US: Those were once peni-
tentiaries filled with offenders, but the
crime of the world has died out. Theft
and arson and fraud and violence have
Quilted the earth. People have all they
want. and why should they appropriate
the property of others even if they had
the desire? The marauders, the assas-
sins. the buccaneers. the Herods, the
Mana Sahibs, the ruflians, the bandits.
arc dead or, transformed by the power
OF the Christian religion, are nov up ;
right and beneficent and useful.
After passing on amid columns and
statues erected in memory of those who
have been mighty for goodness in the
worlds history, the highest and ths
most eXquisitely sculptured those IN !
honor of such as have been most eff ,
fectual III saving life or improving life
rather than those renowned for de- 7
life, We come upon another I
group Of buildings that must have been {
transformed from their original shape {
and adapted to other uses. What is all !
ihis% we ask our escort. He answers: 7
Those were almshOuseS and hospitals, 7
but accuracy in making and prudence a
IN running machinery of all sorts have 7
almost abolished the list of casualties,
and sobriety and industry have nearly t
abolished paupeTism, so that those 9
buildings which once were hospitals C
md almshouses have been turned into Y
homes for the less prospereG, V
Ind If you will look in you viii see the 1
poorest table has abundance, and the I
smallest wardrobe luxury, and the harp, a
Waiting TO have its strings thrummea i
Gaming against the piano, waiting fol ],
Is keys TO be fingered. !,
Hospitals and almshouses must have b
'een anecessity once. but they would be a
seless now. and you see all the swamps il
lave been drained, the sewerage of the s
-reat towns has been perfected, and the Of
worlds climate is so improved that a
here are no pneumonias TO come out of n