The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-10-26
FOOTSTEPS OF GOD
Rev. Dr.. Tatmage Finds His snts
print Everywhere.
THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE
Furnish a Theme FOR a Powerful
Sermon. Would Abolish All
Creeds and Denonl;-
nations.

rs with MIN on Journey " INC avn.
and finds the footsteps OF the Creator
everywhere. as Hugh Miller found them
in the old red sandstone: texts. Isaiah
xxxv. Is, Streams in the desert: PsalrnS
civ. 81. He touchcth the hills and
they smoke.
Nv first text mears irrigation. 1t
means the waters OF the Hlmalaya or
the Pyrcnces or the Sierra NevadaS
poured through canals and aqueduc5s
for the fertilization Of the valleys. 1t
means the process by which the last
mile of American barrcnneSs will DC
made an apple orchard, or an orange
grove, or a wheat field, ora cotton
plantation. or vineyard-''streams IN
the desert" My second text means
volcano like VesuviuS or Cotopa1i, or
it means the seysers Of Yellowstone
park or of California. You see nil
calm and still aud for ages immovable,
but the Lord out of the heavens puts
his finger on the top Of it, and from It
rise thick and impressive rapors: lie
toucheth the hills and they smoke!
Although my journey across the CON
tinent this summer was for the eighth
time, more and more am | impressed
with the divine hand in its conssrue-
tion and with it's greatness and grand,
eur. and more and more am | thrilled
with the fact that it is all to be lrrlga-
ted, giori6ed and Edenized. What
chance from the time when DAME!
Webster on yonder Capitoline hill SAID
to the American senate in regard to
the center of this continent, and to the
regions On the Pacific coast: w hat 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. impenetrable and COW
cred with eternal snow? What can We
ever hope to do with the western coast,
rock bound, cheerless and unlnvltlng
and not a harbor On it? will never
vote one cent from the public treasury
to place the Paciic coast one inch near
er Boston than it now IS. " hat mis-
take the great statesman 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 At
hntic, and all this realm from sea to
sea to be the Lords cultivated posses
sion.
Do YOU know what in some respects
is the most remarkable thing between
the Atlantic and Pacific? 1t is the
figure of cross on mountain IN Colo
rado. It is called the Mount OF the
Holy Cross" A horizontal crevice fill
ed with perpetual snow and perpen-
dicular crevice filed with snow, but
both the horizontal line and the per-
eendicular line so marked, so bold, SO
significant, so unmistakable, that all
who pass in the daytime within many
miles are compelled to see it. There
are some figures, some contours: some
mountain appearances, that you grad
ually make out after your attention Is
called to them. So'a mans face on the
rocks in the White mountains. So
maidep's form cut in the granite Of the
Adirondacks. So a city in the moving
clouds. Yet you have to look under
the pointing of your friend or guide for
some time before you can see the SINH
larity. But the first instant you glance
at this side Of the mountain in Colors-
do, you cry out: "A cross. A cross"
Do you say that this geological inscrip-
ton just happens so? No. That cross
on the Colorado mountain IS not hu-
man device or an accident of nature or
the freak of an earthquake. The hand
of God cut it there and set it up for the
nation to look at. Whether set up IN
rock before the cross Of wood was set
up on the bluff back of Jerusalem or
set up at some time since that assassl-
nation, l believe the Creator meant 1t
to suggest the most notable event IN all
the history of this planet, and he hung
it there over the heart Of this continent
to indicate that the only hope for this
nation is in the cross on which our Inn
manuel died. The clouds were vocal at
our Saviour's birth, the rocks rent at
his martyrdom, why not the walls OF
Colorado bear the record Of the cruel
f1ion? First, consider the immensity
Of this continental possession: II It
were not only small tract Of land,
capable Of nothing better than sage
brush and with ability only to support
prairie dogs, I should not have much
enthusiasm in wanting Christ to have
it added to his dominion. But It's IN
mensity and aHuence no one can lmag-
inc unless in immigrant wagon or stage
coach or in rail train of the Union Pa
eifc or the Northern Pacific or the "a
madam Pacific or the Southern Pacific
he has traversed it.
But while l speak of the immensely
of the continent | must remark 1t IS
not an immensity Of monotone or tame
ness. The larger some countries are
the worse for the world. This CONT
nent is not more remarkable for its
magnitude than for it's wonders Of con-
struetion. Yosemite and the adjoining
California regions. Who that has seen
them can think of them without hav-
ing his blood tingle? Trees now stand
ing there that were old when Christ
lived. These 1nonarchs of foliage reign
ed before Caesar or Alexander and the
next !, 900 years will not shatter their
scepter. They are the masts Of the
continent, their canvas spread on the
winds, while the old ship bears on its
way through the ages:
That valley of the Yosemite is eight
miles long and half mile wide and
5000 feet deep. 1t seems as II 1t had
been the meaning Of Omnipotence to
crowd into as small place as possible |
some Of the most stupendous scenery |
Of the world. Some Of the cliffs you
do not stop to measure by feet, for