The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-09-25
AMERICA FOR GOD.
Dr. Talmage Discourses ON the
Immensity OF Our Country.
A Gr.phIe Description Of the wondsrfaI
Scenery OF the Great west and Its
Boandiess R~soarees How
the ConfIneat Il to be
GosbeIlzed.


his subject. "From Ocean 70 Ocean, or Nv
lxxii s: He shall have dominion from sea
tossa" The eloquept divine spoke as fol-
lows:
What two seas are referred TOT Some
might ssy that the text meant that Christ
was TO reign over all the land between the
Arabian Sea and Caspian Sea, or between
TIE Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. or
between the Black Sea and the North Sea.
No; In such cases my text would have named
then II meant from any largo body Of
water on the earth clear across to any other
large body Of water. And 50 have a right
70 read IL: He shall hsvedominiOn from the
Atlantic Sea TO the Pacific Sea Ny theme
Il: Amersca for GOdI
First, consider the immensity Of this pos
session II it were only q small tract Of
land capable Of nothing better than sage
brush aud with ability only to support
prairie dogs. should not have much en-
thnsiasm in wanting Christ 20 have Il added
to His dominion But its immensity and af-
nuence no one can imagine unless in immi-
grant wagon CT stage coach or in rail train
Of the Union Pacific or the Northern Pacific
or the Canadian Pacific or the Southern Pa
cihc, he has traversed L. Having been
privileged six times to cross this continent
and twice this summer, / hayecome to some
appreciation Of its magnitude. California,
which supposed in boyhood from its sire
on the map, was few yards acrsss, aridge
OF land on which one must walk cautiously
lest he hit his head against the Sierra Neya-
da on the one side or slip OF into the Pa
cihc waters on the other; California, the
thin slice Of land As supposed il TO be in
ny boyhoOd, have found TO be larger
tAan an the States Of New England and al
New York State and all Pennsylvania
edded together; and II you add them To-
gether their square miles fall far short OF
California North and South Dakota, Mon
tana, and Washington Territory, to be
launched next winter into statehood, will
be giants at their birth Let the Congress
Of the United States strain q 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 snd Congressional Representa-
\ lives and We will all be happy together II
some Of them have not quite the requisite
number Of people, Hx up the Constitution to
suit these cases. Even Utah viii BY dropping
polygamy soon be ready TO enter. Monoga-
my has triumphed In parts Of Utah and will
probably triumph at this fall election In
Salt Lake City. Turn all the Territories
into States and II some Of the sisters are
smaller than the elder sisters give them
time and they win soon be as large as any
Of them. Because some Of the daughters
Of family may be i've 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 ere only four feet
high. Among the dying utterances Of our
good friend. the wise statesman and great
sufhor, the brilliant orator and magnificent
soul, & s. Cox, was the expressed deter
mination TO movement winter IN Congress
for the transference Of other Territories
INTO States
sBut,n says some one, Sin calculating the
tmmensity Of our continental acreage you
must remember that vast reaches Of our
public domain are uncultivatod heaps Of
dry sand, and the bad lards' Of Montana
and the great American desert" am glad
you mentioned that Within twenty-five
years there viii not be between the Allan
nc and Pacific coasts q hundred miles OF
tand 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
viii be gathered into great reservoirs and
through aqueducts let down where and
when the people want them. Utah Is an OBJ
Iect lesson Some parts Of that Territory
which were 50 barren that 4 spear Of grass
,ould not have been raised there in hun
fred years are now rich as Lancaster County
farms Of Pennsylvania, or Westchester
farms Of New York, or Somerset County
farms Of New Jersey.
Experiments have proved that ten acres OF
ground irrigated from waters gathered in
great Neurological basins will produce as
much as fifty acres from the downpour Of
rain as seen in our regions. We have our
freshets and our droughts, but in those
lands which are TO be scientifically irrigated
there will be neither freshets nor droughts.
As you take a pitcher and get IL full Of
water and then set IL on a table and take a
drink out Of II when you are thirsty, and
never think Of drinking pitcherful all at
,nce, 50 Montana and Wyoming and Idaho
will catch the rains OF their rainy season
and take up all the waters Of their rivers in
great pitchers Of reservoirs and drink out
,f them whenever they will, and refresh
their Land whenever they will.
The work has already been grandly begun
By the United States Government. Over
four hundred lakes have already been on
rially taken poss ssssion Of by the nation for
the great enterprise Of irrigation Rivers
that have been rolling idly through thesere-
gions, doing nothing on their way to the sea,
viii be lassoed and corralled and penned up
until such time as the farmers need them.
Under the same processesfhe Ohio, the Mis-
sissippi and all the other rivers will be
taught TO behave themselves better, and
great basins will be made TO catch the sur
plus Of waters In times Of freshet and keep
them for times OF drought The irrigating
process by which all the arid lands between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are TO be fer
tilted Is no new experiment. IL has been
going on successfully hundreds OF years In
Spain, in China, in India, in Russia, in
Egypt
About eight hundred million Of people Of
the earth to-day are kept alive by food
raised on irrigated land. And here we have
allowed 70 lie waste, givenup 70 rattlesnake
and bat and prairie dog, lands enough To
support whole nations Of industrious popu-
lsfion. The work begun viii bo consum-
mated Here and there exceptional lands
may be stubborn and refuse to yield any
wheat or corn from their hard hsts, but II
The hoe fall 70 mako an Impression, the
miners piclkaxe win discover tho reason
for IL and bring up from beneath these un-
productive surfaces coal and iron, and lead
and copper, and silver and gold God speed
the geologists and the surveyors, the engi-
nrrrr and fho Senatorial oommfsair.,. ..,d !