The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1898-10-21
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
ACROSS THE CONTINENT"
LAST SUNDAYS subject.
The FoOtsteps of the Creator Seen on
Every Hand whilo Journcying over
Our Vast Expanse of Empirc.-strange
Sights.

Texts-Isalah 80: 6: Streams in the
desert" Psalms 1O4: So; "He toucheth
the hills and they smoke"
My rrst text means irrigation. 1t
means the waters of the Himalaya, or
the Pyrenees, or the Sierra Nevadas
poured through canals or aquedi is
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 a wheat field, or a cotton
plantation, or a vineyard-"streams In
the desert" My second text means
volcano like Vesuvius or Cotopaxi, or
1t means the geysers OF Yellowstone
Park or of California. You see a hill
calm and still, and for ages immov-
able, but the Lord out OF the Leavens
puts his finger on the top OF 1t, and
from it rise thick and impressive va
pors: "He toucheth the hills and they
smoke!"
Although my journey across the
continent this summer was for the
eighth time. more and more am l 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 1t is all
to be irrigated, glorified and Edenized.
What a change from the time when
Daniel Webster on yonder Capitollne
Hill said to the American Senate In
regard 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 OF these great mountains, I'M
penetrable and covered with eternal
snow? What can we ever hope TO do
with the western coast, rock-bound,
cherries and uninviting. and not
harbor on it? / will never vote one
cent from the public treasury to place
the Pacific coast one inch nearer Bos-
ton than 1t now is" What a mistake
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
lantic, and all this realm from sea to
sea 10 be the Lords cultivated posses
sion.
Do you know what in seine respects
Is the most remarkable thing between
the Atlantic and Pacific? 1t is the
figure OF a cross on a mountain In
Colorado, 1t is called the Mount Of
the Holy Cross" A horizontal crevice
filled with perpetual snow, and a per-
pendicular crevice filled with snow,
but both the horizontal line and the
perpendicular line so marked, so bold,
so significant, so unmistakable, that
all who pass in the daytime within
many miles are compelled to see 1t.
There are some figures. some con-
tours, some mountain appearances
that you gradually make out after
your attention is called to them. So
a mans face on the rocks in the White
Mountains. So a maiden'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 similarity. But the
first instant you glance at this side OF
the mountain in Colorado. you cry out:
"a cross! A cross!" Do you say that
this geological inscription just hap
pens so? No! That cross on the
Colorado mountain is not human de-
vice, or an accident OF nature, or the
freak of an earthquake. The hand OF
God cut II there and set il 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 assas-
sination, believe the Creator meant
Il to suggest the most notable event
In all the history Of this planet, and
he hung 1t there over the heart OF this
continent to indicate that the only
hone for this nation is in the cross on
which our Emmanuel 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 crucifixion?
The valley of the Yosemite is eight
miles long and a half-mile wide and
three thousand feet deep. 1t seems as
II It had been the meaning OF Omnipo-
tence to crowd into as small a place
as possible some OF the most stupen-
dous scenery Of the world. Some Of
the cliffs you do not stop to measure
by feet; for they are literally a mile
high. Steep so that neither foot Of
man nor beast ever scaled them, they
stand in everlasting defiance. II Je-
hovah has a throne on earth, these
are its white pillars! Standing down
in this great chasm of the valley you
look up, and yonder is Cathedral rock
vast, gloomy minister built for the
silent worship OF the mountains! Yon-
der is Sentinel rock, 3,270 feet high,
bold, solitary, standing guard among
the ages, its top seldom touched, until
bride, one Fourth of July, mounted
It and planted the national standards,
and the people down In the valley
looked up and saw the head of the