St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-11-19
FOOTPRINTS OF GOD.
Rev. Dr.. Talmage Discusses On
Our Natural Wonders.
The Footsteps or tho Creator Upon the
Mountains and Plains OF tho
West-The salvation OF
Continent.

REV. =. Dewitt Iaimage, In the 10
lowing sermon, takes his hearel
among the mighty wonders Of Il
great west, where he finds everywhe,
the footprints of the. Creator. TIL
texts are: Streams in the desert
Isaiah, Nxxv., 6; He toucheth the hill
and they smoke.-Psalms, CIV, %.
II My first text means irrigation. ]
means the waters of the Himalaya, o
the Pyrenees. or the Sierra Nevada
poured through canals and aqueduct
for the fertilization of the valleys. ]
means the process by WHICH the las
mile of American barrenness will b
made an apple orchard, or an orang
grove, or wheat field, or a cottol
plantation, or vineyard-"stream
in the desert" My second text mean
a volcano like Nesuvius or Cotopaxi
or it means the geysers of Yellow
stone park or CT California. You Sc,
a hill calm and still, and for ages i'm
movable, but the Lord out of tn,
| Heavens puts His finger on the top o
| it. and from it rise thick and impress
sive vapors: He toucheth the hill.
| and they smoked"
Although my journey across the
continent this summer was for the
eighth time, more and more am I i'm.
pressed with the Divine hand in its
construction, and with its greatness
and grandeur, and more and more am
! thrilled with the fact that it is all to
be irrigated, glorified and Edenized.
What a change from the time when
Daniel Webster on yonder Captoline
hin said to the American senate in re
gard to the center of this continent,
and to the regions on the Pacific
coast: what do you want with this
vast, worthless area, this region of
savages and wild beasts, of deserts
and cactus. of shifting sands and
prairie dogs? To what use could we
ever put these great deserts or these
great mountains, impenetrabie and
covered with eternal snow? What can
we ever hope to do with the western
coast, rock-bound, cherries and I'm
inviting. and not a harbor on it?
will never vote one cent from the pub
lie treasury to place the Pacific coast
one inch nearer Boston than it now
is. What mistake the great states
man made when he said that! All
who have crossed the continent realize
that the states on the Pacific ocean
will have quite as grand opportunities
as the states on the Atlantic, and all
this realm from sea to sea to be the
Lords cultivated possession.
DO you know what in some respects
is the most remarkable between the
Atlantic and Pacific? 1t is the figure
of cross on mountain in Colorado.
1t is called the mount of the HOLY
Cross" 4 horizontal crevice filled
with perpetual snow, and a perpendic-
ular crevice filled with snow, but both
the horizontal line and the perpendic-
ular line SO marked, so bold, so signifi-
cant, SO unmistakable. that all who
pass in the daytime within many miles
are compelled to see it. There are
some figures, some contours, some
appearances that you grad |
lally make out after your attention is
jailed to them. So mans face on the |
rocks in the White mountains. So a
form cut in the granite of the |
Adirondacks. So a city in the moving
clouds. Yet you have to look under |
he pointing of your friend or guide
or some time before you can see the
similarity. But the first instant Won
'lance at this side of the mountain in
soiorado, you cry out: "A cross! AL
ross!' DO you say that this geologi-
al inscription just happens so? No.
hat cross on the Colorado mountain
) not human device, or an accident
t nature. or the freak of an earth
uake. The hand Of God cut it there
nd set it up for the nation to look at.
Whether set up in rock before the
ross of wood was set up on the bluff
ack OF Jerusalem, or set up at some
me since that assassination, L be-
eve the Creator meant it to suggest
ne most notable event in all the his
,ry of this planet, and He hung it
iere over the heart of this continent
indicate that the only hope for this
alton is in the cross on which our
died. The clouds were 70
Il at our Saviour's birth, the rocks rent
His martyrdom, why not the walls
Colorado bear the record of the cru
fixion?
First. consider the immeIsity Of :
is continental possession. If it were
lly a small tract of land, capable of !
'thing better than sage-brush, and
Ith ability only to support prairie :,
'gs. l should not have much enthu- J
asm in wanting Christ to have itadd-
to His dominion. But it's inn
ensity and affiuence no one can
lagine, unless, in immigrant wagon "
stage coach, or in rail train of the
mon Pacific or the Northern Pacific
the Canadian Pacific or the South !
n Pacific, he has traversed it. III
| supposed in my boyhood. from its !,
e on the map. that California was !.
" yards across, ridge Of land on :,
lich one must walk cautiously lest !.
hit his head against the Sierra Ne :,
da on enc side, or slip off into the +
cific waters on the other-Califor- i
!, the thin slice of land, as l sun 1,
sed it in my boyhood, have found i
be larger than all the states OF New !,
gland and all New York state and ),
Pennsylvania added together; and :,
you add them together their square ),
les fall short of California. And :.
N all these newborn states of the :.
ion. North and South Dakota. =.
shington, Montana, Idaho and wy :,
ing. Each state an empire in size. :.
But" says some one. in caIculat- :,
the immensely Of our continental ~
cage you must remember that vast :.
ches of our public domain are un- !.
tivated heaps OF dry sand, and the :,
d Lands of Montana and the Great =
erican Desert" am glad that you {.
that. Within TWENTY-FIVE ~
RS there will not be between the -
antic and Pacific COASTS hundred -
es of land not reclaimed either by -
mers' pillow or miners crowbar. BY
CATION, the waters of tn. rivers and 81
showers of Heaven, in what are ia'
ed the rainy season. will be gath "a
l into great reservoirs. and through So