Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1893-10-11
AMONG THE FLOWERS.
raImage's Eloquent Discourse on 'he
Gcrden of the Sea
A Look Into Untried Regions of Thought
Jonah's Resting Place Before His Meet
Ing With the Whalo-Beautiful
Views ofthe Botany of the World.


Brooklyn tabernacle, as in many other
discourses, Rev. T.. Dewitt Talmage
took his hearers and readers through
an untried region of thought, and found
subject for most practical gospeliza-
ton in 1.-The Gardens of the Sea"
The text selected was Jonah il, 5:
1.-THE weeds were wrapped about my
head"
The Sotany of the Bible, or God
among the flowers, is a fascinating
subject. hold in my hand n 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 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, butter
| cups, 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 it
Is new revelation. 1t is the New
Testament of the fields. But my text
leads US into another realm of the boz
tanical kingdom
Having spoken TO you in a 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 ichthyolo-
gy of the Bible. or God among the
fishes; the conchology of the Bible,
| or God among the shells; the
chronology of the Bible, or God
/ a
20 you about the botany of the Bible,
or God among the gardens of the sea.
| Although / purposely take this morn
| Ing 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.
1t is the same God who inspires the
page of the natural world as the page
of the Scriptural world. What a fresh
ening up it would be 10 our sermons TO
press into them even n fragment of
Mediterranean sea-weed. We should
have fewer sermons awfully dry if we
initiated our blessed Lord, and in our
discourses, like Him, we would let a
| lilly bloom or crow fly, or a hen
brood her chickens, or n crystal of salt
dash out the preventative qualities of
religion. The trouble is that in many
of our theological seminaries men who
hre so dry themselves they never could
| get people TO come and hear them
| preach are now trying TO teach young
men how 10 preach, and the student is
| put between two great presses of dog
matte 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
! recreant prophet Jonah made when
| dropped over the gunwales of the Medi-
| terranean ship he sank many fathoms
/ down into . tcmpestuous sea Both be-
| fore and after the monster OF the deep
swallowed him, he was entanged in
sea-weed. The jungles of u e deep
threw their cordage of vegetation
around him. Some of the sea-weed was
anchored TO the bottom of the watery
abysm and some of it was ahoat and
Iwallowed by the great sea-monster, so
hat, while the prophet was at the bot
tom 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 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 a handful Of
sea-weed pressed on a page, and I
| called them The Shorn Locks of Nep-
tune"
| These products OF the deep, whether
brown or green or yellow or purple or
red or intcrshot of many colors. are
most fascinating. They are distributed
all over the depths and from Arctic TO
Antarctic That Cod thinks well OF
them ] conclude from the fact that he
has made G,OOO species of them. Some
times these water plants are 400 or 700
feet long, and they cable the sea. One
specimen has n growth of 800 feet
On the northwest shore of our country
Is sea weed with leaves thirty or forty
+, feet long, among which the sea otter
] makes his home, resting himself on-the
| buoyancy of the leaf and stem. The
1 thickest jungles of the tropics arc
not more full Of vegetation
than the depths OF the sea. There
are forests down there and vest prairics
al abloom, and God walks there as He
walked in the Garden OF Eden In the
cool Of the day" Oh, what entrance
ment this sub-aqueous world Oh, the
| God-given wonders Of the sea-wced
It's birthplace is palace OF crystal
The cradle that rocks IL is the storm.
It's grave is n sarcophagus Of beryl and
sapphire. There is no night down
there. There are creatures Of God on
tho bottom OF the sea so constructed
That strcwn all along. they make q fir
mamcnt bcsprent with stars. constclla-
tions and gaiazies OF imposing luster.
The sea-feathcr Is a lamp-iighter. The
| rymnotus IS an electrician and he is
surcharged with elect- city. and makes
the deep bright with the lightning Of
the sea The gorEona flashes like
Jewels There are sea- ancmoncs ablaze
with light There IS the star-fsh and
thc moon-dsh. SO called because they
co powerfully suggest stellar andauuar
illumination. OH. these midnight Jam
terms ~ the ocean cavcrns. these pro-
ccss'on 81 hamc over tho white floor
Of thc dccp. these Examinations three
miles down under The sen. these gorve.
ously upholstered castles Of the AL
mighty iu thc under world The author
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