The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-10-09
AMERICA FOR GOD.
Or. Talmage Discourses on the
Immensity Of Our Country.
A Graphic Description OF the Wonderful
Scenery OF che Great West and It's
Bound.css Resources = How
the Continent Is to be
Gospelized.

In his recent sermon at the Brooklyn Tab
ernacle, Rev T Dewitt Talmage chose for
his subject. From Ocean to Ocean, or My
Transcontinental Journey" Text: Psalms
lxxii. s: He shall have dominion from sea
to sea-'' The eloquent divine spoke as fol-
lows:
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 cases my text would have named
them It meant from any large body OF
water on the earth clear across to any other
large body OF water. And 50 have right
to read it: he shall have dominion from the
Atlantic Sea to the Pacific Sea- Ny theme
is: America for God!
First, consider the immensity OF this pos
session. If it Were only small tract OF
land capable of nothing better than sage
brush and with ability only to support
prairie dogs, should not have much en-
thusiasm in wanting Christ to have it added
to His dominion. But its immcnsity and al
fuence no one can imagine unless in immi-
grant wagon or stage coach or IN rail train
of the Union Pacific or the Northern Pacific
or the Canadian Pacific or the Southern Pa
ciic, he has traversed It, Having been
privileged six times to cross this continent,
and twice this summer, / have come to some
appreciation Of its magnitude. California,
which 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 Neva-
da on the one side or slip off into the Pa
cific waters on the other; California, the
thin slice of land as supposed it to be In
my boyhood, have found to be larger
than all the States Of New England and all
New York State and all Pennsylvania
added together; and if 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 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 representa-
tives and we will all be happy together. If
some Of them have not quite the requisite
number of people, fix Up the Constitution to
suit these cases. Even Utah will 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 If some Of the sisters are
smaller than the elder sisters, give them
time and they will soon be as large as any
of them. Because some Of the daughters
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 statesman and great
author, the brilliant orator and magnificent
soul S-S-Cnx.-ras the-eYnressed- deter
minatioc to move next winter IN Congress
for the transference Of other Territories
into States.
ssBut," says some one, 'in 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 Montana
and the great American desert" am glad
you mentioned that. Within twenty-five
years there Will not be between the Attain
tic and Pacific coasts a 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 aaueducts let down where and
when tie people want them. Utah is an OBJ
iect lesson. Some parts Of that Territory
which were so barren that spear Of grass
could not have been raised there in hun
dred 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 pitcher and get it full Of
water and then set it on table and take 8
drink out Of it when you are thirsty, and
never think Of drinking pitcherful all at
once, so 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
of 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 off,
cially taken poss sssion 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,
will be lassoed and corralled and penned up
until such time as the farmers need them.
Under: the same processes the 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
;he Atlantic and PaaiS4a-e-.aa,,a-a to be fas-
.Iifzed IS no new experiment. It 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, given up to rattlesnake
and bat and prairie dog, lands enough to
support whole nations Of industrious popu-
lation The work begun will be consum-
mated. Here and there exceptional lands
may be stubborn and refuse to yield any
wheat or corn from their hard fists, but If
The hoe fail to make an impression, the
miners pick-axe will discover the reason
for it 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-
neers and the Senatorial commissions, and
the capitalists and the new settlers, and the
husbandmen who put their brain and hand
aad heart to this TRANSPORTATION OF the
American continent!
But while speak OF the immensely ofthe
continent, must remark it is not an i'm
nensity Of monotone or tameness. The
larger some countries are the worse for the
world This continent is not more remark
able for its magnitude thar for its wonders