Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-10-27

lowing sermon, takes his hearers
among the mighty wonders OF the
great west, where he finds everywhere
the footprints Of the Creator. The
texts are: Streams in the DESERT
Isaiah, xxxy., .; lie toucheth the hills
and they smoke.--Psalms, CIV, 80.
My first text means irrigation. 1t
means the waters of the llimalaya, or
the Pyrenees, or the Sierra Neyadns
poured through canals and aqucducts
for the fertilization of the valleys. 1t
means the process by WHICH the last
mile of American barrenness will be
made an apple orchard, or an orange
grove, or n wheat field, or cotton
plantation, or vineyard--"stream
In the DESERT" My second text means
q volcano like Vesuvius or Cotopaxi,
or it means the geysers of Yellow
stone park or of California. You see
hill calm and still, and for ages Inn
movable, but the Lord out of the
Heavens puts Ills finger on the top OF
II, and from IL rise thick and impress
siye ynpors: "Ile toucheth the hills
and they smokc!"
Although my journey across the
continent this summer was for the
eighth time, more and more am l inn
pressed with the Divine hand in its
construction, and with its greatness
md grandeur, and more and more am
thrilled with the fact that IL is all to
be irrigated gloriiled and Edcnized.
What "a change from the time when
Daniel Webster on yonder Captoline
hill said to the American senate in re-
gard to the center OF this continent,
and to the regions on the Pncilic
const: "Whnt do you want with this
vast, worthless area, this region OF
savngeR and wild beasts, of deserts
aud cactus, of shifting sands and
ever put these great deserts or these
great mountains, impcnctrnble and
covered with eternal SNOW? What can
we ever hope To do with the western
coast, rock-bound, chcerless and UNI
inviting, and not II hnrbor on itp i
will never vote one cent from the pub
lie TREASURY to pine" the Pacific const
one inch nearer Boston than 1t now
Is" What mistake the great states
man made when he said thatl All
who have crossed the continent realize
that the states on the Pacific ocean
will have quite us grand opportunities
ms the states ON the Atlantic, and all
this realm from sen 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 II cross on II mountain In Colorado.
1T is called the "Mount of the Holy
Cross" A horizontal crevicc filled
with perpetual SNOW, and u perpendic-
uar crcNice ilIed with snow, but both
the horizontal line and the pcrpendic-
ular line SO marked, SO bold, SO signiil-
cant, 50 unlnislukuhlc, that all who
pass IN the daytime within many miles
are competed To see it. There are
somr figures, some contours, some
mountain appearances that you grad
umllN make ont after your attention iS
calcd ia tlt,m, So II MANS face on the
rocks IN the White mountains. So n
maidrn'% form cut ia the granite of the
Adilondacl>s, SO II city in the moving
cluuus. Yet yuu have tn look under
the pointing Of your friend or guide
for some time before YOU can see the
similarity, But the first instant you
glance ut this side of the mountain in
Colorado, you cry ont: IA cross! A
CrossI" Do you say that this geologi-
cul inscription Just happens SOP No!
That cross un the Colorado mountain
H. not Il human device, ar an accident
OF nature. or the freak OF an earth
quake. The hand ct God rut Ii there
aud set it up for the nation to look ut.
Whether set up in rock before the
cross of wood was set up on the blutt
back OF Jerusalem, or set up At some
time since that assassination, be-
lievc the Creator meant II to suggest
the most notable event In all the HIS
tory Of this planet, and He hung II
there over the heart OF this continent
to Indicate that the only hope for this
nation is in the cross on which our
Emmanuel died The clouds were vo-
cal al ourSa>iours birth, the rocks rent
nj Ills martyrdom, why not the walls
Of Colorado bear the record of the cru
ciiNionp
First, consider the immensely Of
this continental possession. If it were
only u small tract Of land, capablc of
nothing better than sage-brush, and
with ability only to support prairie
dogs, | should not have much enthu-
kiasm in wanting Christ to have itadd'
cd to His dominion. But its inn
mcnsity aud aNturnvc no one can
imagine, unless, in Immigrant wagon
OF stage coach, or in rail train Of the
Mon Pacific or the Northern Pacific
or the Canadian Pacific or the South
ern Pacific, he has tra>ersed il.
supposed in my hoyhood, from its
size on the map, that california was u
few yards across, Il ridge OF land on
which one must walk cautiously lest
he hit his head against the Sierra Ne.
,ada on enc side, or slip of into the
L. 4 l. /. Ii