The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-10-04


as in many other discourses. Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage took his hearers and read
ers through an untried region of thought
and found a subject for most practical
gospelization in The Gardens of the
Sea" The text selected was Jonah ii. 3.
THE weeds were wrapped about my
head"
1.-THE Botany of the Bible; or, God
Among the Flowers Is a 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 Siloam flowers from the valley Of
Jehoshaphat, red anemones and wild
mignonette. buttercups. daisies. cycla-
mems, camomie, bluebells, ferns, MOSES,
grasses and a wealth of flora that keeps
me fascinated by the hour. and every
time l open it IL is a new revelation. II
is the New Testament of the fields. But
my text leads us into another realm of
the botanical kingdom.
Having spoken 10 you I'm a course of
sermons about God eveTywhere-on THE
Astronomy of the Bible; or. God Among
the Stars" THE ORTHODOXY of the
Bible; or. God Among the Birds The
Ichthyology of the Bible: or, God Among
the Fishes" THE Mineralogy Of the BIZ
BILE; or, God Among the Amethysts;"
1.-THE Conchology of the Bible; or, God
Among the Shells" 1.-The Chronology Of
the Bible; or, God Among the Centuries"
II speak now to you about 1.-The Botany
of the Bible; or, God in the Gardens of
the Sea"
Botany of the Bible.
Although / purposely take this morn
ing for consideration the least observed
and least appreciated of all the botanical
products of the world, we shall find the
contemplation very absorbing. In all
our theological seminaries where we
make ministers there ought to be pro-
fessors to give lessons in natural history
Physical science ought 10 be taught side
by side with revelation. 1t is the same
God who inspires the page Of the
natural world as the page Of the scrip
tural world.
What freshening up il would be to
our sermons TO press into them even a
fragment OF Mediterranean seaweed!
We should have fewer sermons awfully
dry if we initiated our blessed Lord. and
in our discourses, like Him, we would let
a lily bloom, or a crow fly. or a hen
brood her chickens. or a crystal OF salt
flash out the preventative 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 be-
tween 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.
That was an awful plunge that the re-
creant prophet Jonah made when
dropped over the gunwales of the Mediter-
ranean ship, he sank many fathOms
down into a tempestuous sea. Both be-
fore and after the monster of the deep
swallowed MIN, he was entangled in sea-
weed. The jungles Of the deep threw
their cordage Of vegetation around him.
Some of this seaweed was anchored to
the bottom of the watery abysm. and
some Of it was afioat 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 in the
words of my text. THE weeds were
wrapped about my head"
JOnah's Submarine Discoveries.
Jonah was the first to record that there
ere growths upon the bottom Of the sea
as we'll as upon land. The first picture
Il nod
pressed on a page, and called them the
shorn locks of Neptune" These products
of the deep. whether brown or green or
yellow or purple or red or intershot of
many colors, are most fascinating They
are distributed all over the depths and
from Arctic to Antarctic. That God thinks
we'll of them 1 conclude from the fact
that He has made 5000 species Of them.
Sometimes these water plants are 400 or
100 feet long, and they cable the sea-
One specimen has growth of 1900 feet.
On the northwest shore of our coun-
try is a seaweed with leaves 80 or 40
feet long, amid which the sea otter
makes his home resting himself on the
buoyancy 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 as He walked in the
garden Of Eden lin the cool Of the day"
Oh, what enhancement, this subaque-
Gus world Oh, the God given wonder of
the seaweedl Its birthplace is a palace
of cystai. The cradle that rocks II 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 bot
tom of the sea constructed that
strewn all along they make armament
besprent with stars, consultations and
galaXies Of imposing luster. The sea
feather is a lamplighter. The gymnotus
IS an electrician, and he is surcharged
with electricity and makes the deep
bright with the lightning OF the sea.
The gorgonia flashes like jewels. There
are sea anemones ablaze with light.
There are the starfish and moonfish,
these so called because they so power
fully suggest stellar and lunar illumina-
ton.
Oh, these midnight lanterns Of the
ocean caverns; these professions of fame
over the white floor Of the deep: these
Nominations three miles down under the
sea; these gorgeously upholstered castles
of the Almighty in the underworld! The
author OF the text felt the pull of the
hidden vegetation Of the Mediterranean,
whether or not he appreciated it's beauty.
as he cried out, 1.-The weeds were wrapped
about my head"
The SepuIcher of the Sea.
Let my subject cheer all those who