The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-10-04
BOTANY OF THE BIBLE.
Subject Of a Sermon by Rev. T.
; Dewitt Talmage, D. D.
God in the Gardens of the sea-wonderfui
Growth Of Some of tho Water Plants
The Weeds which Were Wrapped
About Jonah's Head.

uOVs LII WIN AAD
hearers through an untried region of
thought and found subject for more
practical Gospelization In The Gar
dens of the Sea-" The text selected
was Jonah 9:5, 'The weeds were
wrapped about my head" y. 3.
The botany OF the Bible or God
among the flowers, is fascinating subj
ject. hold in my hand a book, which
1 brought from Palestine, bound In
olive wood, and within 1t are pressed
flowers which have not only retained
their color, but their aroma; flowers
from Bethlehem, flowers from Jerusa-
lem, flowers from Gethsemane, flowers
from Mount Of Olives, flowers from
Bethany, flowers from Sloan, flowers
from the Valley of Jehosaphat, red
anemones, and wild mignonette, but
tercups, daisies, cyclamens, chamomile,
blue-bells, ferns, MOSES, grasses, and
a wealth Of fora that keep me fasoi-
mated by the hour, and every time 1
open It, IL is new revelation. II is the
New Testament Of the fields. But my
text leads us into another realm Of the
botanical kingdom.
Having spoken to you In course OF
sermons about God everywhere; on the
astronomy Of the Bible, or God among
the stars; the ornithology of the Bible,
or God among the birds; the ichthyol-
ogy of the Bible, or God among the
fishes; the mineralogy Of the Bible, or
God among the amethysts the couch-
ology of the Bible, or God among the
shells; the chronology of the Bible, or
God among the centuries, speak now
to you about the botany Of the Bible,
or God In the gardens OF the sea: Al
though purposely take this morning
for consideration the least observed
and least appreciated Of all the botani-
cal products of the world, we shall find
the contemplation very absorbing. In
all our theological seminaries, where
we make ministers, there ought to be
professors to give lessons in natural
history Physical science ought to be
taught side by side with revelation.
II is the same God who inspires the
page of the natural world as the page
Of the Scriptural world. What fresh
ening up 1t would be TO our sermons to
press into them even a fragment of
Mediterranean sea weed. We should
have fewer sermons awfully dry II we
initiated our blessed Lord, and In our
discourses, like Him, we would let a
lily bloom, or crow fly, or hen
brood her chickens, or a crystal OF salt
fash out the preservative qualities OF
religion. The trouble is that in many
of our theological seminaries wen who
are SO dry themselves they never could
get people to come and hear them
preach, are now trying to teach young
men how TO preach, and the student IL
put between two great presses OF dog
matte theology and squeezed unit
there is no life left in him. Give the
poor victim at least one lesson on the
botany Of the Bible.
That was an awful plunge that thu
recreant prophet Jonah made wheI
dropped over the gunwales Of thu
Mediterranean ship he sank many
fathoms down into tempestuous sea
Both before and after the monster o
the deep swallowed him, he was en-
tangled In seaweed. The jungles o
the deep threw their cordage of vege
tation around him. Some OF this sea
weed was anchored to the bottom o
the watery abysm and some of it wa
afoat and swallowed by the great sea
monster, so that, while the prophe
was at the bottom Of the deep after h
; was horribly imprisoned, and he coulC
exclaim and did exclaim in the word
of my text: "The weeds were wrapped
about my head" Jonah was the frs
TO record that there are growths upol
the bottom Of the sea, as we'll as upol
land. The first picture 1 ever owne,
was handful of sea-weed pressed oI
a page, and / called them "The Shorl
Locks Of Neptune" These products @
the deep, whether brown or green; O
yellow or purple, or red or intershot q
many colors, are most fascinating
They are distributed all over tn
depths, and from Arctic TO Antarctic
That God thinks we'll Of them cor
clude from the fact that He has mad
six thousand species Of them. Somt
times these water-plants are four huI
r dred OF seven hundred feet long, an
J. they cable the sea, One specimen ha
a growth OF fifteen hundred feet. o
the northwest shore Of our country
q seaweed with leaves thirty or fort
, feet long, amid which the sea-ottC
makes his home, resting himseI
, on the buoyancy Of the leaf an
: stem. The thickest jungles Of tn
tropics are not more full of vegetatio
than the depths of the sea. There ar
forests down there and vast prairies n
abloom, and God walks there as h
walked In the Garden Of Eden "in th
cool Of the day." o, what entranc'
ment, this sub-aqueous worldl o, th
God-given wonders of the sea weedl Il
. birthplace Is q palace Of crystal tn
cradle that rocks II 10 the storm. II
grave Is sarcophagus Of beryl an
sapphire. There is no night dow
there. There are creatures OF God o
the bottom Of the sea so oonstructe
that, strewn all along, they make
armament besprent with stars, col
stellations and galaxies Of imposin
lustre. The seafeather Is q lampligh
or. The gymnotus is an electrician
and he Is surcharged with electrioit.
= and makes the deep bright with Il
"a lightning Of the sea The gorgor
ii flashes like jewela There arc %
10 amenones ablaEs with light There
= | A.. -. AL and hha s.nno.n Aah- =.