The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-10-28

commemorate
SUNRISE AND SUNSET.
Wide reaches of stone OF intermingi-
ed colors, blue as the sky, green as
the foliage, crimson a. the dahlia,
white as the snow, spotted as the Loop
ard, tawny as the lion, grizzly as the
bear, in circles, in angles, in stars, in
c%oronets. in stalactites, in stalagmites.
Here and there are petrifed growths,
or the dead trees and vegetables OF
other ages, kept through a process of
natural embalmment. In some places
waters as innocent and smiling as a
child making a first attempt to- walk
from its mothers lap, and not far off
as foaming and frenzied and ungoy-
ernable as a maniac in struggle with
his keepers.
the geyserite enchantment for days
and begin to feel hat there can be
nothing more Of interest to see you
suddenly come upon the peroration of
all majesty and grandeur, the Grand
canyon. 1t is here that it seems to
me-and / speak it with reverence
Jehovah seems to have surpassed Him
self. 1t seems a great gulch let down
into the eternities. Here, hung I'D and
let down and spread abroad, are all
the colors of land and sea and sky.
Upholstering Of the Lord God AL
mighty. Best work of the Architect
of worlds. Sculpturing by the Infinite.
Masonry by an Omnipotent trowel.
Yellow. You saw yellow unless
you saw it there. Red, You never
saw red unless you saw it there. Vio-
let! You saw violet unless you
saw it there. Triumphant banners
Of color. In a cathedral of basalt, sun
rise n sunset married by the setting
Of rainbow ring.
Gothic arches, Corinthian capitals
and Egyptian bascilcas, built before
human architecture was born. Huge
Notifications of granite constructed
before war forged its first cannon. Gil
braltars and Sevastopols that never
can be taken. A1hambras, where kings
of strength and queens of beauty
reigned long before the first earthly
crown was empearled. Thrones on
which no one but the King of heaven
and earth ever sat. Fount Of waters
at which the hills are baptized, while
the giant cliffs stand around as spon-
sors. For thousands of years before
that scene was unveiled to human
sight the elements were busy. and the
geysers were hewing away with their
hot chisel, and glaciers were pounding
with their cold hammers, and hurri-
canes were cleaving with their light
ming strokes, and hailstorms giving the
finishing touches, and after all these
forces of nature had done their best
in our century the curtain dropped.
and the world had a new and divinely
inspired revelation, the Old Testament
written on papyrus, the New Tesla
ment written on parchment and this
last Testament written on the rocks.
A HALL OF JUDGMENT.
Hanging over one of the cliffs, 1 look
ed off until I could not get my breath;
then, retreating to a less exposed place
l lOOked down again. Down there is a
pillar Of rock that in certain condi-
ton Of the atmosphere looks k a
pillar of blood. Yonder are fifty feet
of emerald on a base of 500 feet Of
opal. Wall of chalk resting on pedes-
tails of beryl. Turrets of light trem-
bling on floors of darkness. The brown
Frightening into golden. Snow of crys-
tai melting into the fire of carbuncle.
Flaming red cooling into russell. Cold
blue warming into caffron. Dull gray
kindling into solferino. Morning twi-
light flushing midnight shadows. Auro-
ras crOuching among rocks.
YOnder is an eagles nest on a shat
Of basalt. Through an eyeglass we see
among it the yOun eagles, NUT the
among it the young eagles, but hurl
a stone near enOugh to disturb the
feathered dOmesticity. Yonder are
heights that would be chilled with hor-
ror but for the warm rob of forest
foliage with which they are enwrapped
Affairs of worship at which nations
might kneel. Domes of chalcedony or
temples of porphyry. See all this car
mage Of color and down the cliffs. II
must have been the battlefield of the
war Of the elements. Here are all the
colors of the wall of heaven, neither
the capphire, nor the ~chrysolite, mol
the topaz, nor the jacinth, nor the am
ethyst, nor the jasper, nor the twelve
gates of twelve pearls wanting. Il
spirits bound from earth to HEAVIER
could pass UP by way of this canyon
the dash Of heavenly beauty would no
be so overpowering. 1t woul only b.
from glory to glory. Ascent through
such earthly cenery, in which thu
crystal is so bright, would be fit prep
aration for the "sea of glass mingled
with fire"
Standing there in the Grand canyor
of the Yellowstone park for the mos
part we held our peace, blu afte
awhile it flashed upon M with sucl
power I could not help but say to m,
comrades, What a hall this would b.
for the last judgment!' See tina
mighty cascade with the rainbows
the foot of it. Those waters CONCEAL
ed and transfixed with the agitation
of that day, what a place they woulC
make for the shining feet of a Judg
of quick and dead! And those rain
bows look now like the crowns to b
cast at his feet. At the bottom of thi
great canyon is a floor on which tn
nations of the earth might stand, an,
all up and down these galleries of roc
the nations of heaven might sit. An
what reverberation of archangei;
trumpet there would be through a.
these gorges and from these cavern
n over all these heights. Why shoul
not the greatest of all the days tn
world shall ever see close amid tn
grandest ~scenery O~mpinotence eve
built?
CHRIST'S DOMINION.
oh, the sweep Of the American cor
tinent, Sailing up Puget sound, il
shores SO bold that for 1,500 miles
ships Prov would touch the shore b.
fort its keel touched the bottom. 0
n of my visits l said, This is tn
Mediterranean of America" Visitin
Portland and Tacoma and Seattle an
Victoria and Port Townsend and Var
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