Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-10-02
THE SEAS GARDENS.
DR. RlLMAsES TABERNACLE SERMON YES-
TERDAY.
4hs Brooklyn Divine Takes BIS Hearers Through
Unrisd Regions Of Thought and Draws
aLssson From he Botany
Of The Bibla

BROOKLYN, October 1, 1898. In his
sermon this forenoon Ia the Brooklyn
Tabernacle, as In many other dis
courses, Rev. 4. De Witt Talmage took
his hearers and readers through az
untried region OF thought aud found q
subject for most practical GOspelizatiOn
In The q ardenS OF the Sea" The
text selected was Jonah .: 5, ''The
weeds were wrapped about my head"
The Botany of the Bible or God
among the flowers, is q ~facinating sub
ject. 1 hold in my hand a book, which
/ brought from Palestine, 6ound in
Olive wood, and within it are pressed
flowers which have not only retained
their color, but their armOra; flowers
from Bethlehem, flowers from Gethse-
name, flowers from Mount Of olives,
flowers from Bethany, flowers from
Sloan, flowers from the valley OF Je-
h~osiphat, red anemOnss, aud wild mig
nOmette, butter-cups, daisies; cycla-
mems, chamomile, blue-bells, ferns,
MOSES, grasses, and a wealth Of dora
that keep me iacinated by the hour,
and every time 1 open it, il is a new
revelation. IL is the New Testament OF
the fslds. But my text leads US into
another relm Of the botanical kingdom.
HAVING SPOKEN TO YOU
IN q course Of sermons about God every
where; on the Astronomy Of the Bible,
or God among the Stars; the OrnithO-
logy Of the Bible; or God among the
Birds; the IchthyOlogy of the Bible, or
God among the Fishes; the MineralOgy
OF the Bible, or God among the Ame-
thysts; the %COnchOlOgy OF the Bible, or
God among the Shells; the Chronology
Of the Bible, or God among the Cen
turtles, / speak uow 20 YOU about the
Botany OF the Bible, or God In the Car
dens Of the Sea. Although / purpOsely
take this morning for consideration the
least-observed and least-apDreciated or
all the botanical products OF the world
we shall find the contemplation very
absorbing. In all our Theological Sem
inaries where we make ministers, there
ought 70 be professors 20 rive lessons
IN notural history. Physical science
ought % be taught side by side with
Revelation. 10 is the zane God who in
spires the page OF tb9 natural world as
the page OF the SCI plural world.
What q freshe"ing up 10 would be 70
our sermons to press into them even a
fragment Of Mediterranean sea-weed.
We should have fewer sermons awful
" dry IL we initiated our blessed Lord,
add in our d|iscourses, like him, we
would let a lily bloom, or q crow fly, or
a hen brood her chickens, or a crystal
Of salt fash out the pre%seryative quail
ties OF religion. The trouble is that 10
many Of our Theological Seminaries
meu who are so dry themselves they
never could get people 20 come and
hear them preach, are now trying TO
teach young men how 20 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 az least one
lesson on the Botany Of the Bible.
THAT WAS AN AWFUL PLUNGE
hat the recreant Prophet Jonah made
when dropped over (he gunwales CT the
Mediterranean ~ be sank many
fathoms down 20 a tempesJuous sea.
Both betor Id after the monster OF
be allowed him, he vas en-
seaWeed. The jungles Of the
lreW their cOrdage OF vegetation
.ound him. Some OF this sesweed
was anchored 20 the bottom Of the
watery abysm and some OF 10 was ahOat
aud swallowed by the great -sea-mOnster,
so that, while the prophet was at the
bottom Of the deep after be was hOrrl-
bly, imprisoned, and be could exclaim
and did exclalm in the words OF my
text: THE weeds we're wrapped about
my head Jonah was the first TO re-
cord Inst there are grOWths upon the
b6tom Of the sea, as we'll as upon land.
The sra picture 1 ever owned was a
handful of seaw5ed pressed on a page,
and 1 called them THE ShOrn Locks OF
Neptune.R
These PRODUCTS Of the deep, whether
brown or areen or yellow or purple or
red or int5T-shot Of many cOlors, are
most fascinating. They are distributed
Al over thet depths and from Arctic TO
Antarctic. What God thinks we'll OF
them I conclude from the fact that he
has made six thousand species OF them.
Sometimes theSe Water-plants are four
hundred or seven hundred feet lorg,
and they cable the sea. One specimen
has a growth Of Fifteen hundred feet.
On the northwest shore OF our country
IS q seaweed with leaves thirty or forty
feet long. amid which the sea otter
makes his home, resting himself on the
buoyancy Of leaf and stem. The thick
est iungles of the tropics are not more
full Of vegetation than the depths or
sea. There are forests down there and
vast p~rairies all abloOm, and God walks
there as he walked 10 the Garden OF
Eden "in the cool Of the day Oh,
what enhancement, this s~uO-acQueous
world! Oh, the God-given wonders OF
the ssa-weed! It's birthplace is
APALACE OF CRYSTAL.
% cradle that rocks IL Is the storm.
grave is a sarcOphagus Of 6eryl and
hire. There Is no night down
There are creatures OF God on
ottom OF the sea so constructed
strewn all along they make a
.ent besprent with stars, constel-
and galaXies OF imposing luStre.
feather is a l~amplighter. The
3 is an electrician, and he is
ed with electricity, and makes
bright with the lightning Of
The gorgOna flashes like jew
are sea amenOneS ablaze
There is the star-hsh and
b., sO-called because they
suggest stellar and lunaS
Oh! these midnight Ian
mar caverns: these pro-
me over the white floor OF
csc i~lluminatiOns three
ader the sea: these gor-
stored castles OF the Al
VI -mLA