Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-10-06


forenoon in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, as in
many other discourses, Rev. Il. Dewitt
TalnaRe took his hearers and readers
through an untried region of thought and
found a sui, ect Tor most practical gospel
ization in "lhe Gardens OF the Sea-" The
text selected was Jonah ii:5, THE weeds
were wrapped about my head"
The botany of the bible, or God
among the flowers, is fascinating
subject. / hold in my hand a book,
which L rought from Palestine, bound
in olive wood, and within it are
pressed flowers which have not only
retained their color, but their aroma;
flowers from Bethlehem, flowers from
Jerusal III, flowers from Gethsemane,
flowers from Mount of Olives, flowers
from bethany, flowers from Sloan,
flo ers from the valley OF JehoSha-
plat, red anemones and wild mignon-
cite, buttercups, daisies, cyclamens,
chamomile, blue bells, ferns, MOSES,
grasses, and a wealth of flora that
keep me fascinated by the hour, and
every time | open it IL is new revela-
ton. 1t is the new testament of the
fields. But my text leads us into an
other realm Oh the botanical Kingdom
Having spoken to yQp in a course of
sermons aO ut God Everywhere; on
the Astronomy of the Bible, or God
among tue STAR; the Ornithology of
the Bible, or God among the BIRDS;
the lchthyology of the Bible, or God
among the Fishers, the Mineralogy of
the Bible, or God among the
Ametbysts; the Conchology of the
Bible. or God among the shells; the
Chronology of the Bible, or God
among the Centuries, i speak now TO
you about the Botany of the Bible, or
God in the Gardens of the sea.
Although purposely take this morn
ing for consideration the least OBJ
served d least appreciated of all the
botanical products of the world we
shall find the contemplation very alb
sorbing. In all our theological semi
naries where we make ministers, there
ought to be professors to give les
sons in natural history. Physical
science ought to be taught side by
side with revelation. 1t is the same
God who inspires the page of the
natu al world as the page of the
scriptural world. What freshening
up il would be % our sermons to press
into them even a fragment of Mediter-
ranean seaweed. we should have
fewer sermo S awfully dry if we imi-
tated our blessed Lord, and in our dis
courses, like him, we would let n lily
bloom, or "a crow fly, or hen brood
her chicA ems, or crystal of salt flash
out the preservative qualities OF re-
ligion.
That was an awful plunge that the
reereant prophet Jonah made when
drop, ed ov the gunwales OF the
Mediterranean ship he sank many faith
oms down into a tempestuous sea.
30 h before an after the monster of
hn
tangled in seaweed. The jungles of
the deep threw their cordage of vege-
tation around him. Some of this sea-
weed was anchored to the bottom of
the watery abysm and some of it was
atoat and swallowed by the great sea
monster so that while the prophet
was at the bottom of the deep after he
was rlibly imprisoned, anu he could
exclaim, and did exclaim, in the words
of my text, THE weeds were wrapped
about my head" Jonah was the first
to record hat there are growths upon
the bottom OF the sea, as well as upon
land. The first picture l ever
owned was handful OF sea-
weed pressed on page, and
called them ~ he Shorn Locks of Nep-
tune These products of the deep,
whether brown or green or yellow or
purple or red or inter-shot of many
colors, are most fascinating. They are
distributed all over tho depths and
from Arctic TO Antarctic. That God
thinks well of them l conclude from
the fact that he has made six thousand
species of them. Sometimes these
water plants are four hundred or
seven hundred feet long and they cable
the sea. One specimen has a growth
of fifteen hundred feet. On the north
east shore of our country is seaweed
with leaves thirty or forty feet long,
amid which the sea-otter makes his
home, resting himself on the buoy
aucy of the leaf and stem. The thick st
jungles of the tropics are not more
full OF vegetation than the depths OF
the sea. There are forests down there
and vast prairies all abloom, and God
walks there as he walked in the Gar
den of kden lin the cool of the day. "
Oh, what enhancement, tins sub
aqueous world! Oh, the God-giving
wonders of the seaweed! i S
birthplace is "a palace of crystal. The
cradle that no ks it is the storm. It's
grave is a sarcophagus of beryl and
sapphire. There is no night down
there There are creatures of God on
the bottom of the sea SO co structed
that, rewn all along, they make a
firmam mt besprent with stars, con-
stellations and galaxies of imposing
lustre. The seat ather is lamp
lighter. The gymnotus is an cleo
trician, and he is surcharged with
electricit. and makes the deep bright
with the lightning of the sea. The
gorgona flashes like jewels. There
are sea anemo es ablaze with light.
There is the star-fsh and the moon
fish, o-calied because they so power
fnlly suggest stellar and lunar illumi-
nation. Oh! these midnight l,nterns
OF the ocean cayerns; these roces-
sions of flame over the white floor of
the deep; these Examinations three
mil down un er the sea; these gor-
geously upholstered castles Of the
Almighty IN the under world! The
author of the text felt the pull OF the
hidden vegetation of the Mediterra-
mean, whether or not he appreciated
it's beauty, as he cries ont: The
weeds were wrapped about my head. :"
Let my subject cheer all those who
had friends who have been buried at
sea or in our great American lakes.
Which of us brought up on the Allan
A. o<aat hos NOT had lrindred Or friend