Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-10-02

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 Trapscontinental
Journey" Text: Psalms lxxii., 9-"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 sea, or between
the Red sea and the Mediterranean sea, or
between the Black sea and the North sea.
No; in such case my text would have NAM
ed them. It meant from any large body Of
water on the earth clear across to any other
large body of water. And so l have right
to read it: He shall have dominion from
the Atlantic sea to the Pacific sea. My
theme is, America for God.
First consider the immensity f this pos
session. If it were only a small tract of
land capable of nothing better than sage
brush and with ability only to support
prairie dogs, should not have much en-
thusasm in wanting Christ to have it add
ed to his dominion. But its i'm rlensty and
aff1uence no one can imagine u"less, in i'm
migrant wagon or stage coach or in rail
train of the Union Pacific or the Northern
Pacific or the Canadian Pscific or the South
ern Pacific, he has traversed it. Having
been privileged six times to cross this Con-
tineat, and twice this summer, 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 Nevada on one side or slip off in
to the Pacific waters on the other, Cali
fornia, the thin slice of land as l supposed
it to be in boyhood, l have found to be
larger than all the States of New England
and all New York State and all Pennsyl-
vania added together; and if yon add them
together their square miles fall far short of
California. 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 Wyoming and New
Mexico. What is the use keeping them
out in the cold any longer? Let US have
the whole continent divided into States with
senatorial and congressional representatives
and we will all be happy together. If some
of them have not quite the requisite mum
ber of people, fix up the Constitution to
suit these cases. Even Utah will by drop
ping polygamy soon be ready to enter.
Monogamy has triumphed in parts of Utah
and will probably triumph at this fall elec-
tion in Salt Lake City. Turn all the Ter
ritories into States, and If some of the SIS
ters are smaller than the elder sisters, give
them time and they will soon be as large as
any of them. Because some of the daugh-
ters of family may be five feet in stature
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 utterances of our
good friend, the wise statesmen and great
author, the brilliant orator and magnificent
soul, S. s. Cox, was the expressed determi-
nation to move next winter in Congress for
the transference Of other Territories into
States.
"But," says some one, sin calculating
the immensity Of our continental acreage
you must remember that vast reaches of
our public domain are uncultivated, heaps
of dry sand, and the bad lands of Mon
tana, and the great American desert" L
am glad you mentioned that. Within twen-
ty-five years there will not be between the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts hundred miles
of land not reclaimed either by farmers
plow or miners crowbar. By irrigation, the
waters of the rivers and the showers of
heaven in what are called the rainy season
will be gathered into great reservoirs and
through aqueducts let down where and