Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-10-04
Gothic nrches, corinthian CAN'T

e Gothic arches, Corinthian canitals
/ and Egyptian basilicas built before
human architecture was born. Huge
fortitcations of granite constructed be-
| fore wssr forged its first cannon. Gibral-
; tars AID Sebastopols that never can be
, TAKEN Alhambras, where kinrs of
, strength and queens of beauty reicnel
/ long before the first earthly crown was
empearled. Thrones on which no one
but the King of Heaven and earth ever
sat. Ftunt of waters at which the lesser
hills are baptized while the giant cliffs
stand round as sponsors. Forthousands
OF years before that scene was unveiled
to human sight, the elements We're busy,
and the geysers were hewing away with
their hot chisel. and glaciers we're
pounding with their cold hammers and
hurricanes We're cleaving with their
lightning strokes and hailstones giving
the finishing touches, and after ali these
forces of nature had done their best, in
our century the curtain dropped and the
world had new and divinely inspired
revelation. the Old Testament written
Oh papyrus, the New Testament written
on pare hmcnt, and now this last Tesla
ment written on the rocks.
Hang ing over one of the cliffs looked
off until could not get my breath, then
retreating to q less exposed place 1
looked down again. Down there is Il
pillar of rock that in certain conditions
of the atmosphere looks like pillar of
blood. Wonder are fifty feet of emerald
on Il base of five hundred feet of opal.
Wall of chalk resting on pedestals of
beryl. Turrets of light tumbling on
floors of darkness. The brown brighten
ing into golden. Snow of crystal melt
ing into fire of carbuncle. Flaming rcd
cooling into russell Cold blue warm
ing into saffron. Dull gray kindling
into solferino. Morning twilight flush
ing midnight shadows. Auroras crouch
ing among rocks.
1onder is an eagle's nest on shaft
of basalt. Through IN eyeglass we see
among it the young eagles, but the
stoutest arm of our group cannot hurl q
stone near enough to disturb the feath-
that would be chilled with horror but
for the warm robe of forest foliage with
which they are enwrapped. Affairs of
worship at which nations might knecl.
Domes of chalcedony on temples of por-
phyry. See all this carnage of color no
and down the cliffs; it must have been
the battle field of the war of the ele-
ments. Here are all the colors of the
wall of Heaven, neither the sapphire
nor the chrysolite nor the topaz nor the
jacinth, nor the amethyst nor the jasper
nor the twelve gates of twelve pearls
wanting. If spirits bound from earth
to Heaven could pass up by way of this
canyon, the dash of Heavenly beauty
only be from glory to gloy. Ascent
through such earthly scene,y in which
the crystal is so bright and the red so
flaming would be fit preparation for the
sea OF glass mingled with fine.
Standing there i'll the Grand canyon
of the Yellowstone park on tie morning
of August 8, for the most palt we held
our peace, but after while it flashed
upon me with such power I could not
help but say to my comrades: What q
Hall this would be for the last Judg-
ment!" See that mighty cascade with
the rainbows at the foot of it. Those
the agitations of that day, whit place
they would make for the shining feet of
a Judge of quick and dead. ind those
rainbows look now like the crowns to be
cast at His feet. At the botttm of this
great canyon is floor on which the ma
tions of the earth might stald and all
up and down these galleries ef rock the
nations of Heaven might sit And what
reverberation of archangels trumpet
there would be through all these gorges
and from all these caverns hnd over
greatest of all the days the world shall
ever see close amid the grandest scenery
Omnipotence ever built?
Oh, the sweep of the American CONT
nent! Sailingup Puget Sound, its shores
SO bold that for fifteen hundred miles Il
ships Prov would touch the shore be-
fore its keel touched the bottom, Isuid:
This is the Mediterranean of America. "
Visiting Tacoma and Seattle and Nicto-
ria and Fort Townsend and Vancouvers
and other cities Of the northwest re-
gion thought to myself: These are
the Bostons, New Works, Charlestons
and savannahs of the Pacific coast. But
after all this summers journeying and
my other journeys westward in other
summers. l found that l had seen only
q part of the American continent, for
Alaska is as far west of San Francisco
as the coast of Maine is cast of it, SO
that the central city of the American
continent is San Francisco.
have said these things about the
magnitude of the continent and given
you few specimens OF some of its Won
ders and let you know the comprehen-
siveness OF the text when it says that
Christ is going to have dominion from
~" " oS", lude ID. 1Iou UuC eAC1uutlc 10
the Pacific. Beside that, the salvation
OF this continent means the salvation of
Asia, for we are only thirty-six miles
from Asia at the northwest. Only
Behring straits separate us from Asia,
ana these will be spanned by a great
bridge before another century closes.
and probably long before that. The
thirty six miles of water between these
two continents are not all deep sea, but
have three islands and there are also
shoals which will allow piers for
bridges, and for the most of the way the
water is only about twenty fathoms
deep.
The America siatic bridge which will
yet span those straits illmake America,
Asia, Europe, and Africa one continent.
Soyou see America evangelical, Asia
will be evangelical. Europe taking
ASIA from one side and America taking
it from the other side. Our great erand :
children will cross that bridge. America
and Asia and Europe all one, what sub
traction from the pangs of seasickness!
and the prophecies in Revelation will
be fulfilled. There shall be no more sea.
But do mean literally thot tbis anoori-