The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1899-12-08
A RIGHTEOUS EARTH.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on the
World as Il Will Be.
Improyemeut la Human Condition,
After u Has Dcen Revoiutiontsed
for Good-Giories OF the
coming Century.
copyright. 1899. by Louis Klopseh.1

DISCOURSE SnONS hON shN WIN
after IL has been reyolutioniZed Tor
good: text, . Peter S:l3: IA new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Down in the struggle TO make the
world better and happier we sometimes
get depressed with the obstacles to be
overcome and the work to be accom-
plished. Will il not he tonic and an
inspiration TO look at the world as IL
will be when il has been brought back.
to paradisaical condition? So letus fof
few moments transport ourselves into
the future and put ourselves forward IN
the centuries and see 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 | am sure we
will. We all want to see the world after
II has 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 it when it 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 will want
to see il when, under the full shining of
the sun of righteousness, the towers
snail strike ~ at noon.
Alightcd on the redeemed earth, we
are first accosted by the spirit of the
.wenty-frst century, who proposes TO
guide and show us all that we desire 10
see. Without his guidance we woula
lose our way, for the world is so much
changed from the time when we lived
in il. First of all, he points out to us
group of abandoned buildings. We
ask this spirit of the tweuty-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 ruffians, the bandits.
Of the Christian religion. are now up
right and benefcent 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 tina
most exquisitely sculptured those IN
honor Of such as have been most eff
fectual in saving life or improving life
rather than those renowned for de-
stroying life, we come upon another
group of buildings that must have been
transformed from their original shape
and adapted to other uses. What is all
this?" we ask our escort. He answers:
''Those were almshouses and hospitals,
but accuracy in making and prudence
in running machinery of all sorts have
almost abolished the list of casualties,
and sobriety and industry have nearly
oDOAlshtd eo Nhdt
buildings which once were hospitals
and almshouses have been turned into
beautiful homes for the less prospered,
and if you will look in you will see the
poorest table has abundance. and the
smallest wardrobe luxury, and the harp,
waiting to have its strings thrummed
leaning against the piano, waiting for
its keys TO be fingered.
Hospitals and almshouses must have
been necessity once, but they would be
useless now. And you see all the swamps
have been drained, the sewerage OF the
great towns has been perfected, and the
worlds climate is so improved that
there are no pneumonias TO come out of
the cold, or rheumatisms out of the
dampness, or fevers out of the heat.
Consumptions banished, pneumonias
banished, diphtheria banshed, ophthal-
mia banished, neuralgia banished. AS
near as / can tell from what have read,
our atmosphere Of this century is
mingling of the two months of May and
October of the nineteenth century,"
And we believe what our escort says,
for as we pass on we find health glow
ing in every cheek and beaming in
every eye and springing in every step
and articulating in every utterance,
and yen and ! whisper 20 each other
as our escort has his attention drawn
to some new sunrise upon the morning
sky, and we say, each to the other:
"Who would believe that this is the
world we lived in over 100 years ago?
Look at those men and women we
pass on the road! How improved the
human race! Such beauty. such
strength, such gracefulness, such
geniality. Faces without the mark of
one sorrow! Cheeks that seem never
TO have been wet by one tear! A race
sublimated! A new world born!"
But ! say to our escort: "Did all
this merely happen so? Are all the
good here spontaneously goodP How
did you get the old shipwrecked world
afloat again, out of the breakers into
the smooth seas?" mo, no." responds
our twenty-frst century escort. do
you see those towers? Those are the
tOMprs ~ churches fowers NJ reform-