The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-01-23
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: The Outlook Inspiring - A Far
Look Into the Future-Marvelous Ad-
vances Predicted - Religion and Sci
ence in the Next Hundred Years.

| vanceS Predicted - Religion ana Del
| ence in the Next Hundred Years.
copyright 1901
WASHINGTON. D. Gin this discourse
DR.. Talmage tells something of what he
expects the next hundred years will
| achieve. and declares that the outlook is
most inspiring; text, II Samuel xiii, 4,
"a morning without clouds"
"What do you expect of this new cen.
tury?" is the question often asked of me,
and many others have been piled with the
same inquiry. In the realm of invention 1
expect something as startling az the tele-
graph and the telephone and The X-ray.
In the realm of poetry I expect as great
poets as Longfellow and Tennyson. In
the realm of religion l expect more than
one Pentecost like that of 1857, when 500,-
900 souls professed to have been con.
verted. I expect that universal peace will
reign, and that before the arrival Of the
two thousandth year gunpowder will be
out of use except for glasting rocks or py'
rotechnic entertainment. l expect that
before this new century has expired the
millennium will be fully inaugurated. The
twentieth century will be as much an i'm.
provement on the nineteenth century as
the nineteenth century was an improve
ment on the eighteenth. But the conven-
tional length of sermonic discourse will al
low us only time for one hopeful consider.
alton, and that will be the redemption of
the cities.
Pulpit and printing press for the most
mart in our day are busy discussing the
condition of the cities at this time, but
would it not be healtkfully encouraging to
all Christian workers and to all who are
toiling to make the world better If we
should this morning. for a little while,
look forward to the time when our cities
shall be revolutionized by the gospel of the
Son of God, and all the darkness of
sin and trouble ard crime and suffering
shall be gone from the sky, and it shall be
"a morning without clouds?
Every man has pride in the city Of his
nativity or residence if it be city dstin-
zuished for any dignity or prowess. Caesar
boasted of his native Rome, Virgil of
Mantua, Lycurgus of Sparta, Demosthe-
mes of Athens, Archimedes of Syracuse
and Paul of Tarsus. I should have suspi-
cion of base heartedness in a man who
had no escepcial interest in the city of his
birth or residence-no exhilaration at the
evidence OF its prosperity, or its artistic
embellishments, or it's scientific advance
ment.
I have noticed that man never likes
city where he has not behaved we'll! Peo-
pie who have free ride in the prison van
never like the city that furnishes the We
hcle. When I find Argos and Rhodes
and Smyrna trying to prove themselves
the birthplace of Homer, conclude right
away that Homer behaved well. He liked
them, and they liked him. We must not
war on laudable city pride or with the
idea of building ourselves up at any time
to try to pull others down. Boston must
continue to point to it's Faneuil Hall and
to its superior educational advantages;
Philadelphia must continue to point to its
independence Hall, and its mint and its
Iirard College; New York must continue
to Nexult in its matchless harbor, and it's
vast population, and its institutions OF
mercy, and its ever widening commerce;
Washington must continue to rejoice in
the fact that it is the most beautiful city
lnder the sun.
If I should find a man coming from any
city, having no pride in that city, that
city having been the place of his nativity
or now being the place of his residence,
would feel like asking him right away:
What mean thing have you been doing
there? What outrageous thing have you
been guilty of that you do not like the
place."
Every city is influenced by the character
ST the men who founded it. Romulus i'm
pressed his life upon Rome. The pilgrim
fathers will never relax their grasp from
New England. William Penn left leg
acy of fair dealing and integrity to Phila-
1elphia, and you can now, any day, on the
streets of that city, see his customs, his
manners, his morals, his hat, his wife's
bonnet and his meeting house. So the
.Hollanders, founding New York, left their
impression on all the following generations.
So this capital of the nation is perpetual
eulogy upon the Washington who founded
it.
I thank God for the place of our resi-
dence, and, while there are a thousand
things that ought to be corrected and
many wrongs that ought to be overthrown,
while thank God for the past, look for
ward this morning to glorious future. l
think we ought-and l take it for granted
that you are interested IN this great work
Of evangelizing the cities and saving the
world-we ought to toll with the sunlight
in our faces. We are not fighting in
miserable Bull Run of defeat. We are on
the way to final victory. We are not fol.
lowing the rider on the black horse, lead
ing US down to death and darkness and
doom, but the rider on the white horse,
with the moon under His feet and the stars
of heaven for His tiara. Hail, conqueror,
hail
l know there are sorrows and there are
sins and there are sufferings all around
about us, but as in some bitter cold win
ter day when we are thrashing our arms
around us to keep our thumbs from freez-
ing we think of the warm spring day that
will after awhile come, or IN the dark win
ter night We look up and see the northern
lights, the windows Of heaven illumined
by some great victory, just 60 we look up
from the night of suffering and sorrow and
wretchedness III our cities, and we see a
light streaming through from the other
side, and we know we are on the way to
morning-nore than that, Oh the way to
"a morning without clouds"
/ want you to understand, all you who
are toiling for Christ, that the castles of
sin are all going TO be captured. The VIC
tory for Christ in these great towns is
going to be so complete that not man on
earth, or an angel in heaven, or devil in
hell will dispute it. How do I know? l
know it just as certainly as God lives and
that this is holy truth. The old Bible is
full Of it. The nation is to be saved; of
course all the cities are to be saved. 1t
makes great difference with you and
with me whether we are toiling on toward
a defeat or toiling on toward victory.
Now, in this municipal elevation of,
which speak have to remark there will
pe greater financial prosperity than our
cities have ever seen. Some people seem
to have a morbid idea OF the millennium,
and they think when the better time
comes to our cities and the world people
will give their time up to psalm singing
ana the relating of their religious expe-
rience, and as all social life will be puri-
fled thee will be no hilarity, and as all
business will be purified there will be no
enterprise. There is no ground for such
an absurd anticipation. In the time of