With God in the Yellowstone Part 6

After leaving the Punch Bowl we followed the trail down across the bridge where a number of surprises awaited us. The HANDKERCHIEF POOL, which is sometimes called the LAUNDRY, was among them. We threw our handkerchiefs in and they were carried down into the opening, and then brought back and delivered, as carefully as if they were being handled by unseen hands.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HANDKERCHIEF POOL _Haynes, St. Paul_]

EMERALD POOL is not far from the Handkerchief Spring, and is by far the most beautiful in the upper basin. It thrilled me as I looked at it from different angles, blending from a deep green in the center to yellow toward the edge. The formations around the pool are red, the water is hot, but never boils, and slightly overflows.

CLIFF SPRING boils violently. Some people call it a geyser, but it is supposed to be only a spring.

BLACK SAND SPRING and SPECIMEN LAKE simply defy language in trying to describe them, the coloring presents such remarkable varieties. The extremely delicate pinks are mingled with equally delicate tints of saffron and yellow, with here and there shades of green.

While the springs in this neighborhood are fascinating in the extreme, we did not tarry long, as it was nearly noon, and our guide said we would have to hasten.

When the party started toward Old Faithful Inn and the camp, I decided to take my time and go alone. I had gone only a short distance through the wood when a harmless snake crossed my path. It frightened me, and I tried to kill it, but did not succeed. There was a significance to me in running on to the reptile; it settled something in my mind, whereas I had not as yet been able to come to a decision; and I took it as being among the all things that work together for good to them that love G.o.d and who are the called according to His purpose.

On my way to the camp, I came to three boiling pools, and was surprised that no mention had been made of them on the tour. Later, I learned that they were the THREE SISTERS, not far from Castle Geyser on the road leading from Riverside Geyser, to Old Faithful Inn.

I stopped at Haynes' Picture Shop. Here I saw some marvelous specimens of art, showing the wonders of the Yellowstone, but none, of course, could do justice to what I had seen.

To finish up the tour it would take another day, but our time was limited, and as we had spent a day at Cody and the weather was getting cool, we decided to leave in the afternoon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EMERALD POOL _Haynes, St. Paul_]

Among some of the attractions that we would have to miss in not finishing the tour to Yellowstone Lake, were Kepler Cascade, Two Ocean Pond, Moose Fall, and the Continental Divide which extends from Canada to Mexico.

At the THUMB there are several geyser cones, springs, and paint pots.

The FISHING CONE with a boiling spring in the center, is surrounded by the cold water of the lake. At one time fishermen, without moving out of their tracks caught fish from the lake and swung them into the spring where they were cooked while still on the hook. This practice, however, is now prohibited by law.

CHAPTER IX

THE VOICE OF G.o.d

Thirty-four years ago, while teaching school, I had an opportunity of going to Yellowstone National Park with a camping party of school teachers and others from Southern Montana, but as I needed money, I decided to teach a summer school and to postpone the trip until some future time. When the party returned and tried to tell me about the many wonders they had seen, I resolved not to lose another opportunity to go, but I did, and for the same reason that kept me from going before. After this I was not so enthusiastic over the Yellowstone and the many miracles to be seen there.

However, I was always interested in some of the descriptions of the geysers,--Old Faithful, the Giant, Giantess, and others, that threw boiling water, at intervals, from 150 to 250 feet into the air. In Gospel messages I used them to ill.u.s.trate spiritual truths, but no one had ever given me the slightest conception of the Grand Canyon, the Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls, the boiling pools, the paint pots, the cascades, Mammoth Hot Springs, the exquisite colorings of the mineral formations, Roaring Mountain, "h.e.l.l's Half Acre," the majestic mountain peaks and ranges, Rainbow Lake, the Punch Bowl, Amethyst Spring, and a thousand other things which so awed and inspired me that out of the depths of my being, I exclaimed, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet."

But how unworthy has he proved to be! Amidst the magnificence and grandeur of the wonders of Nature, he is ever showing his ingrat.i.tude, and the tendency to prost.i.tute these things to the uses of his baser nature, and take all the glory to himself. He makes use of the gold and silver to build himself a habitation that storms are destined to shatter, leaving him exposed to divine wrath.

As I meditated upon these things, my heart cried out, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; ... He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the G.o.d of his salvation" (Ps. 24:3-5). My heart overflowed like the boiling springs and the gushing geysers, which symbolize the sanctified life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JUPITER TERRACE _Haynes, St. Paul_]

When I first had opportunity to go to Yellowstone Park, I did not enjoy the experience of sanctification, and therefore could not have appreciated its many wonders as I do now. Who knows but this is the reason why the door closed and did not open for me to go until I should be in the enjoyment of this experience, and able to impart spiritual truths to others?

There is an inner chamber of the soul that corresponds to the hill of the Lord. It is the place where the Shekinah dwells and His secrets are made manifest. Those who know Him in the relationship of the Bride can better appreciate His handiwork. Submission to the whole will of G.o.d is the price of such an experience.

There are those who appreciate the grandeur and magnificence of the Yellowstone as a whole, but there are thousands of spiritual lessons which the book of nature unfolds that the ordinary sightseer fails to grasp.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUFFALO HERD _Haynes, St. Paul_]

At one place, there are two openings in a pool, or two springs so close together that they are called THE GOGGLES. Here again the two works of grace are beautifully set forth. Our guide ill.u.s.trated some love affair by the two springs to the amus.e.m.e.nt of the young people in the company, but inadvertently my mind turned to the deeper spiritual truths of which they furnish a splendid example.

It takes the Holy Spirit to read G.o.d in nature as much as it does to interpret His word. Jesus said, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." Also, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; ... and he will shew you things to come" (John 16:13).

The two springs, to me, represented Justification and Sanctification,--the two works of grace in the atonement, without which the soul is exposed to the wrath of G.o.d. It is the office work of the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to the heart and to act in the capacity of the Comforter, but when He takes possession He cleanses and purifies His temple. This is done when the heart is sanctified wholly. It is thenceforth the abiding place of the Holy Spirit.

I could not help but think of what it shall be when the earth shall be rent, the mountains removed from their places, and men shall cry for the rocks and hills to fall upon them to hide them from the presence of Him that sitteth on the throne. There is no fear where the Holy Spirit is the abiding Guest. The rocks may rend and the earth be removed out of its place, but peace will flow like a river.

Those who are so fortunate as to see the wonders of the Yellowstone will either soften or harden as the result of coming in touch with that which is so closely allied to the supernatural. It is like the melting influence of the Holy Spirit under a Gospel message when men are compelled to make their decision for eternity. G.o.d forbid that they should harden. If so, what could awaken them to their danger? The great war that has so recently terminated, bringing so much suffering and sacrifice, has made people better or worse. It has been a blessing or a curse, and so will the geyser region be to those who visit it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ELK STALLED IN SNOW _Haynes, St. Paul_]

Should there be those who pa.s.s by the wonders of the Yellowstone with cold indifference and a lack of response to what is seen there, it is proof that the world has already played havoc with their finer sensibilities, and as a result of this hardening process the mind and heart refuse to yield when brought under the strongest moral and spiritual influences. May G.o.d save people from such a calamity,--from becoming clay that is irresponsive to the divine touch. May they learn to magnify His name while suspended by the brittle thread of life over a yawning chasm of burning lava which is threatening to engulf them.

Should man not be prepared for the great event that must come to everyone, there will be no one to blame but himself. G.o.d has made him a free moral agent, capable of choosing between right and wrong. If he should make the wrong decision, he will have to abide by the consequences.

How many tourists will see the spring called the Ear and yet fail to hear the voice of G.o.d speaking to the soul through its many beauties!

How many fail to hear Him speaking through the great subterranean channels hundreds of feet below the surface, thundering the terrors of a broken law and heralding the news of His impending judgments!

[Ill.u.s.tration: GOLDEN GATE CANYON AND VIADUCT]

A great author said, "O woman, thy name is frailty." The many short-comings of the gentler s.e.x provoked this expression, but does not the word frailty equally apply to every individual on whom the curse has fallen? There is ever a downward tendency and a p.r.o.neness to place the affections on material things, to worship the creature rather than the Creator.

It is with much difficulty that tourists in the Yellowstone are prevented from defacing the formations around the geysers, which have been centuries in making. There are those who would pay almost any price to be permitted to carry away souvenirs, but if they were allowed to do so one can readily see what the consequence would be. Of what use are pieces of geyserite when taken away from their natural environment? It would be impossible to form an opinion as to what they represent. Likewise there are those who are satisfied with mere forms of religion,--baptism, church membership, or any subst.i.tute for real salvation. What knowledge would a piece of geyserite give a person of Old Faithful, the Giant, or the Giantess, in action?

Baptism with water is an outward sign of an inner work, but there are mult.i.tudes who are satisfied with the souvenir and go blindly on to the Judgment to find their mistake when it is too late to make amends.

There can be no excuse on account of ignorance, for the Scriptures furnish abundant evidence that there must be a work wrought by the Holy Spirit in the heart before a person is ready for the skies.

There is no better ill.u.s.tration of the sanctified experience than that which the geysers demonstrate. Jesus said to the woman at the well, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

So with one who obtains the living water,--he has an inexhaustible supply, springing up in his soul. Outward conditions do not affect the deep whence it has its source, but it flows on regardless of conditions on the surface, bringing life and happiness to mult.i.tudes.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, we boarded one of the touring cars to Yellowstone, Montana, the Western Entrance to the Park, where there is a branch terminal of the Union Pacific Railroad. A little more than four days had elapsed since we started on the tour at Cody, Wyoming, but to me it was the beginning of a new epoch, and I felt that enough had been crowded into the four days to talk and write about for the rest of my life. I had stocked up my storehouse with a supply of ill.u.s.trations to be used in books and Gospel exhortations; and not only expected to profit by what I had seen, but to do what I could to make an impression upon others; and the result so far has been satisfactory.

THE YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOW IT WAS NAMED

The Devil was sitting in Hades one day, In a very disconsolate sort of a way.

One could tell from his vigorous switching of tail, His scratching his horn with the point of his nail, That something had gone with His Majesty wrong, The steam was so thick and the sulphur so strong.

He rose from his throne with a gleam in his eye, And beckoning an agate-eyed imp standing by, Commanded forthwith to be sent to him there Old Charon, employed in collecting the fare Of the wicked, who crossed the waters of Styx, And found themselves soon in a deuce of a fix.

Old Charon, thus summoned, came soon to his chief, As the Devil was angry, the confab was brief.

Says the Devil to Charon, "Now, what shall I do?

The world it grows worse and grows wickeder, too; What with Portland, Chicago, Francisco, New York, I get in my mortals too fast for my fork; I haven't the room in these caverns below, St. Peter, above, is rejecting them so.

So hie you, my Charon, to earth, far away, Fly over the globe without any delay, And find me a spot, quite secluded and drear, Where I can drill holes from the center in here.

I must blast out more s.p.a.ce; so survey the spot well, For the project on hand is the enlargement of h.e.l.l.