Democratic messenger., 1893-10-07
GARDENS OF THE SEA.
REV. Or. TALMAGE ON THE BOTANY
OF THE BIBLE.

He Draws q Fnraiiet tirtWeen l'hysiCai
Science and Eeveiation-Thc Surprising
Wonders OF the Depths of the Sca-An
Eloquent Discourse.
BROOKLYN, Oct. lin his sermon tins
forenoon in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, rs
Witt Talmage took his hearers and read
crs through an untried region of thought
and found subject for most practical
cospelization in THE Gardens of the
Sea-" Tho 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 sub
ject. hold in my hand book which
brought from Palestine, bound in olive
wood, and within it are pressed flowers
which have not only retained their color,
but their aroma. Flowers from Bethle-
hem, flowers from Jerusalem, flowers
from Gethsemane. flowers from Mount
of Olives. flowers from Bethany, flowers
from Sloan, flowers from the valley of
Jehoshaphat, red anemones and wild
mignonette, buttercups. daisies. cyc1a.
mems. camomilc, bluebclls, ferns. moss
es. grasses and wealth of flora that
keep me fascinated by the hour, and
every time open it it is \ new revela-
tion. 1t is the New Testament of the
fields. But my text leads us into an
other realm of the botanical kingdom.
Having spoken to you in course of
sermons about God Evcrywhere"-on
"The Astronomy Of the Bible: or, God
Among tho Stars" "The Ornithology of
the Bible; or. God Among the Birds"
THE Ichthyology of the Bible: or. God
Among tho Fishes;" "Thc Mineralogy
of the Bible; or. God Among the Anne
thysts;" ''Thc Conchology of the Bible;
or, God Among the Shells" The Chro-
nolo:y of the Biblc; or. God imong the
Centurics"-I speak now to you about
1.-The Botany % the Bible; or. God In
the Gardens of the Sea-" Although l
purposely take this morning for consid-
Grafton the least observed and least ap-
preciated Of all the botanical products of
the world, we shall find the contempla-
ton very absorbing.
In all our theological alseminar;es where
we mako ministers there ought to be
professors to give lessons in natural his
tory. Physical science ought to be taught
side by side with revelation. 1t is the
same God who inspires the page of tho
natural world IS the page of the Scrip
tural world. What u freshening up it
would be to our sermons to press into
them even fragment of Mediterranean
seaweed! We should have fewer SER
mons awfully dry if we initiated our
blessed Lord, and in our discourse, like
him. we would let lily bloom, or n crow
fly, or n hen brood her chickens. or
crystal of salt flash out the preservative
qualities of religion.
The trouble is that in many of our
theological seminaries men 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 is put between
two great presses of dogmatic theology
and squeezed until there is no life left
in him. Give the poor victim at least
one lesson on the botany of the Bible.
WONDERS OF THE DEEP.
That was an awful plunge that the rec
reant prophet Jonah made when,
dropped over the gunwales of the Medi-
terrancan ship. he sank many fathoms
down into u tempestuous sea. Both be-
foro and after the monster of the deep
swallowed him, he was entangled in sea-
weed. The junglcs of the deep threw
their cordagc of vegetation around him.
Some of this seaweed was anchored to
the bottom of the watery abysm, and
some of it was afloat and swallowed by
the great sea monster, SO that. while the
prophet was at the bottom of the deep
after he was horribly imprisoned he
could exclaim and did exclaim i'll the
words of my text. The weeds were
wrapped about my head"
Jonah was the first to record that there
are growths upon the bottom of the sea
as well as upon land. The first picture
ever owned was n handful of seawceds
pressed ON a page, and called them
1.-THE shorn locks OF Neptune" These
products of the deep. whether brown or
green or yellow or purple or red or inter-
shot of many colOrs, are most fascinat-
ing. They are distributed all over the
depths and from Arctic to Antarctic.
That God thinks well of them conclude
from the fact that he has made 6,000
species Of them. Sometimes these water
plants are 400 or 200 feet long, and they
cable the sea. One specimen has a
growth of 800 feet.
On the northwest shore of our country
is seawced with leaves 80 or 40 feet
long, amid which the sea otter makes
his home. resting himself on the buoy
ancy of the leaf and stem. The thickest
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
rs he walked in the Garden of Eden ''in
the cool Of the day" Oh, what entrance
mcnt, this snbaqueous world. Oh, the
God given wonders of the scaweed! Its
birthplace is n palace of crystal. The
cradle that rocks it is the storm. Its
grave is IA sarcophagus of beryl and sap
phire. There is no night down there.
There are creatures of God on the bot
tom of the sea SO constructed that, strcwn
all along. they make armament be-
sprc:t with stars, consultations and
galaA Of imposing luster. The sea
featlr :. :amplighter. The gymnotus
is an Z, 'c,-,cian. and he is surchargcd
with electricity and makes the deep
bright with the lightning of the sea.
The gorgou.a flashes like jewels. There
are sea ancnones ablaze with light.
There are the >;arfish and the moonfish,
SO called becal. they SO powerfully sug-
gcst stellar ami lunar illumination.
Oh. these mi'night lanterns of the
U:ean caverns; ticse professions of flame
oyer i!.r white floor of the deep; these
illuminations three miles down under
Four Big Successes.
Having the needed merit to more than
make good all the advertising claimed for