The Future of our Planet.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4226, 18 July 1882, Page 2

The Future of our Planet.

Mr Denton delivered his concluding' lecture on Sunday night, the, subject being " The Future of our Planet." He said in his opinion this planet will last for millions of years to come. It is one of the youngest children of the sun, and has just started on its career. As for ourselves, we are at best babies. A woman's thoughts are of a bonnet, aDd a man will spend three years coloring a meerschaum pipe, to puff poisonous tobacco. Men's greatest ambition did not soar above pushing a piece of timber through the water ; as witness the hurrahs that arose fro*n thousands when the wire flashed the intelligence that Trickett had won the sculling race. We are just as ripe as this planet will allow us at this time of its history. It will take au eternity to bring the earth to that perfection of which it is capable. There was a time when it was a hell, all but the devils ; nothing could live on it. But it is steadily improving, and the earth is thickening. A time will come when volcanoes will give their last puff, and earthquakes their last heave. Let a man be dropped down in the reptile period, and he would have served but as j a sort of eighth breakfast for some of the monsters then existing. But where are these? All gone. Where are the wild beasts which man had first to contend against, compared with which the lion would have been as the cat of to-day is as compared to the lion ? Vbe3e too have' disappeared. Then the immense trees of the carboniferous ages, for which we have no use, are now nowhere to be found. Plants that are unserviceable will disappear, and the earth will abound with fruits whichneither we nor our fathers have seen. The earth's surface will increase. Fishes have now 8 llths of it. About a million years hence, the distribution of land and water will be about equal, and the earth be in its prime. The mountains are rising and the continents with them ; the water will sink deeper. The moon is dead and has neither air nor ocean, the water having sunk to the interior. The climate will improve. If the centre of the earth became cold, it would only be one degree colder for the magnetic force is decreasing as the sun's power is increasing. But suppose nature did jjot render the circum stances more favorable, the world would be man made. The earthquakes, volcanoeSj, and the forces of nature would be mastered by him.' He saw a possibility of earthquakes and volcanoes being converted to the use of man. The country would be roofed over with glass and agriculture greatly improved. Electric ploughs and dibbles which would sow the seed at regular intervals were probabilities of the future. Means would be found of rendering the climate equable. Sup posing the coal deposits used up, the oil beds have only just been tapped, and they are much more extensive than the coal deposits, would be available for fuel. Then a way would probably be found to burn the water, for there are inflammable elements therein that only require to be skilfully treated to produce fire, and then when burnt it could be reconverted to water. The face of the globe would in time to come be made to look like tbe garden of God. England is not overcrowded, it would support 100,000,000 of people if the villains who hold the land were only taught that it belongs to the people. The lecturer proceeded to inveigh against strong drink. Some time there would be no more waste in that direction. There was nothing beneficial about them; from brandy to beer they were a curse and a nuisance. They are made of good grain, which would feed a large number of human beings. He had not tasted intoxicants for 50 years, and he was now 60 years of age, and was never ill, for he obeyed the laws of health, and-that 'is what the people of the future would learn to do. A time was coming when folk would be very careful about telling anyone that they were unwell, for they would be met with the inquiry, " What have you been up to, you sinner?" With regard to tobacco, a smoker carried more poison in his mouth than a rattlesnake. The time was coming when the human race would be clean, and they could not be if they used tobacco. There were three things Solomon could not understand, and if he lived to day there would be a fourth, viz., How any clean, healthy woman could unite herself to a tobacco smoker. If the women smoked like the men, what an heritage of woe would be the fate of their offspring ? The time was coming when the people would not use tea and coffee. These are unnecessary stimulants and hurtful. Look at a number *of ladies met together, how glum and silent they were before the cups of tea were passed round, and how lively and talkative, after it. He did not use them, nor did his children. They used the liquor from the eternal untainted springs. You cannot mend ifc. Brain was increasing every day. The first men had poor brains. The first storey, which they had in common:with the brutes, was well finished, the second storey half finished, and the third was just begun. It was this latter storey that would be built in future years —the cultivation of fie moral sentiments. Then it will be against tlie order of things, against one's nature, to do wrong, If we do wrong we suffer for it, and a man who does wrong is both a fool and a sinner.. New Zealand will have a hundred times its present inhabitants, and there will be neither grog shops nor tobacco smokers, and the people will be healthy from the cradle to the grave. There will bo com* fortable residences, for all. The air will made melodious with sweet songsters, and fragrant with rich perfumes. Men will be free from sin, and good-a part of their nature. He thought it probable that a time would come when the inhabitants of the earth would recognise their friends j who had gone before, and hold sweet j spiritual intercourse with them. The | grave is not our resting place. The body , is but the overcoat of the spirit, and after death we will still be men and women. But some orthodox friends might ask, Will there be no hell or heaven ? no place for the righteous to be rewarded or for the wicked to be punished ? He would ask, where are the wholly good or wholly bad ? Where are the righteous people, are there any in this town ? He had been looking for one for thirty, years. If anybody knew a righteous man let him bring him along", but let him bring his wife with him; she would tell where the patches . required to be laid on the old sinner. If it depends upon righteous people heaven is as empty as an orthodox church on week days, and God is a K ing without a subject. He had said that naone was wholly bad and any God who would crush that remaining goodness out in hell deserves to be cursed. Who shall draw an arbitrary line, and say this is a good man and that a bad one—-this a sheep and that a goat? If men do wrong they are going to suffer

for it in-the next worll. ' If Jesus were to come and say he would take away the consequences of b'l transgressions he would answei-, "No thank you, smite me again." If obedient we shall receive our reward; if wrong, stripes. But the stripes will heal us. The lecture concluded with an eloquent peroration.