The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1889-10-03
FROM OCEAN TOOCEAN
DR.. Talmage Makes His Recent Trip
the Subject Of o Very interest
Ing Sermon.

crowded throngs at the Brooklyn tabernacle.
where the Rev. r. De Witt Talmage D. D.
preached as usual. The opening hymn was
"No more let human blood be split,
Vain sacrifice for human guilt;
But to each conscience be applied
The blood that flows from Jesus side"
The subject of the sermon was, "From
Ocean to Ocean, or My Transcontinental
Jonrney." Text: Psalms, Ilxxm., 8: He shall
have dominion from sea to sea-" The
preacher said:
What two seas are referred to? Some
might say that the text meant that Christ
was to reign over all the land between the
Arabian sea and Caspian SEQ, or between
the Red Sea and the Mediterranean sea, or
No, in such case my text would have named
them. 1t meant from any large body OF
water on the earth clear across to any other
large body of water, And 80 have right
to read It: He shall have dominion from
the Atlantic sea to the Pacific sea- My
theme is, America for Godl
First, consider the immensity of this pos
ession. lfit we're only small tract OF land
capable of nothing better than sage brush
and with ability only to support prairie dogs
should not have much enthusiasm in want
ing Christ to have it added to his dominion.
But it's immensity and affluence no one can
imagine unless, in immigrant wagon sggaonn ST stage
coach or Iii Tass.! tTGaih OF the Union Pacific or
the Northern Pacific or the Canadian Pacific
or the Southern Pacific, he has traversed it.
Having been privileged six times to cross the
continent, and twice this summer. l have
come to some appreciation of its magnitude.
California, which l supposed in boyhood
from its size on the map was few yards
across, ridge of land on which one must
walk cautiously lest he hit his head against
the Sierra Nevadas on one side or slip off into
HI De- d. Ah.O~ &hnu Vol NnI
the thin slice of land as l supposed it to be
in boyhood l have found ito be larger than
all the states of New England and all New
York and Pennsylvania added together, and
If you add them together their square miles
fall far short ofCalifornia. North and South
Dakota, Montana, and Washington
territory, to be launched next winter into
statehood will be giants at their birth. Let
the congress OF the United States strain
point and soon admit also Idaho and Wyom-
ing and New Mexico. What is the use keep
ing them out in the cold any longer? Let US
have the whole continent divided into staJes
with the senatorial and congressional rep
resentatives and we will be able to be happy
together If some of them have not quite
the requisite number of people fx up the con-
stitution to suit these cases. Even Utah
will by dropping polygamy soon be ready to
enter. Monogamy has triumphed in parts of
Utah and will probably triumph ut this, fall
election iu Salt Lake City. Turn all the ter
ritories into states, and If some OF the sisters
are smaller than the elder sisters give them.
Because some Of the daughters OF family
NAV be five feet in statute and the Others
only four feet do not let the daughters five
feet high shut the door in the faces of those
who are only four feet high. Among the
dying utteTances of our good friend, the wise
statesman and great author, the brilliant
orator and magnificent soul, S. s. Cox, was
the expressed determination to move next
winterin congress for the transference OF
other territories into states.
But while speak OF the immensity of the
continent / must remark that it is not an
immensity of monotone or tameness. The
larger some countries are the worse for the
world. This continent is not most remark
able for it's magnitude than for its wonders
OF construction. What pity the United
States government did not take possession
of Yosemite, California, as it has of Yellow
stone, Wyo., and o. Niagara falls New York;
Yosemite and the adjoining California re-
gions! Who that has seen them can think of
them without having his blood tingle? Trees
now standing there that were old when Christ
lived, These muuurchs of foliage reigned
before Caesar or Alexander, and the next
thousand years will not shatter their scepter.
They are the masts of the continent, their
canvas spread on the winds while the old ship
bears on it's way through the ages Their
size, of which travellers often speak, does not
effect me so much as their longevity Though
so old now, the branches ofsome of them will
crackle in the last conhagration ofthe planet.
That valley of the Yosemite is eight miles
long and half mile wide and 3, 900 feet deep.
1t seems as if it had been the meaning of om-
impotence to crowd into as small q place as
possible some of the most stupendous scene.
ry of the world. Some of the cliffs you do
not stop to measure by feet, for they are lit
terally mile high. Steep SO that neither
foot of man or beast ever scaled them, they
stand in everlasting defiance. If Jehovah
has a throne on earth these are the white pill
lars. Standing down in this great chasm of
the valley you look up and yonder is Cathe-
dral rock, vast, gloomy minister built for the
silent worship of the m ountains. Yonder is
Sentinel rock, 3,27O feet high, bold, solitary,
standing guard among the ages, it's top sell
dom touched until a bride one Fourth OF Ju-
ly mounted 1t and planted the national
standards, and the people down in the valley
looked up and saw the head of the mountain
turbaned with stars and stripes. Yonder are
the "Three Brothers," 1000 feet high;
Clouds Rest" North and South Dome, and
heights never captured save by the fiery bay
onets of the thunder storm.
No pause for the eye, no stopping place for
the mind. Mountains hurled on mountains
Mountains in the wake ofmountains. Noun
tains hanked by mountains. Mountains
split. Mountains ground. Mountains fallen.
Mountains triumphant. AS though Mount
Blanc and the Adirondacks and Mount Wash
ington were here uttering themselves in one
magnificent chorus of rock and precipice and
waterfall. Sitting and dashing through the
rocks the water comes down. Tho Bridal
Veil falls, so thin you can see the face of the
mountain behind it. Yonder is Yosemite
falls, dropping 1894 feet, sixteen times
greater descent than that ofNiagara. These
\ L. ~.
the white spirit of the slain waters ascend
ing in the robe of mists seeks the heaven.
Yonder is Nevada falls, plunging 700 feet,
the water in arrows, the water in rockets,
the water in earls, the water in amethysts,
water in diamonds. That cascade fings
down the rocks enough jewels to array all
the earth in beauty, and rushes on until it
drops into O very hell ofwaters, the smoke of
their torment ascending forever and ever.
But after you have wandered along the gey-
serite enchantment for days and begin to
feel that there can benothing more ofinterest
to see, you suddenly come upon the perora-
ton of oil the majesty and grandeur, the
Grand canyon. 1t is here that it seems to
me-and speak it with reverence-Jehovah
seems to have surpassed himself. 1t seems a
great gulch let down to the eternities.
Here, hung up and let down and spread
abroad, are all the colors ofland and sea and
sky. Upholstering of the Lord God Almighty.
Best work of the architect Of worlds. Sculp-
turing by the infinite. Masonry by an omni.
potent trowel. Yellowl You never saw yel-
low unless you saw itthere. Redl You never
saw red unless you saw it there. Violetl
You never saw a violet unless you saw 1t
there. Triumphant banners OF color In a
cathedral of basalt, sunrise and sunset mar
ried by the setting of rainbow ring.
Gothic arches, Corinthian capitals, and
Egyptian bastlcas built before human
architecture was born. Huge notifications
of fgranite constructed before war forged its
first cannon. Gibraltars and Sebastopols
that never can be taken. Alhambras, where
kings of strength and queens of beauty
reigned long before the first earthly crown
was impearled. Thrones on which no one
but the king OF heaven and earth ever sat.
Fountof waters at which the lesser hills are
baptized, while the giantcliff stand round az
sponsors. For thousands OF years before
that scene was unveiled to human sight the
elements were busy and the geysers were hew'
ing away with their hot chisel, and glaciers
were pounding with their cold hammers, and
hurricanes were ceaving with their lightning
strokes, and hailstones giving the finishing
touches, and after all these forces of ma
turehad done their BEST in our century the
curtain dropped and the world had q new
and divinely inspired revelation, the old
tpRtamnnt wriffau on nm Yavrfaa the new tNe |.