Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-10-05
AT THE TABERNACLE.
DR.. TALMAGE DlSCOURSES ON THE
GARDENS OF THE SEA.

BROOKLYN, Oct. lin his sermon this
forenoon in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, as in
many other discourses, Rev. II. De Witt
Talmage took his hearers and readers
through an untried region of thought and
found a subject for most practical gospeli-
zation in 1.-THE Garden 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 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
Jerusalem, flowers from Gethsemanc,
towers from Mount of Olives, flowers from
Bethany flowers from Sloan, flowers
from the valley of Jehoshaphat, red anem-
ones and wild mignonette, buttercups, dal-
sizes, cyclamers, camomilc, bluebells, ferns,
moses, grasses and wealth of fora that
keeps me fascinated by the hour, aud every
time | open it it is a new revelation. 1t
is the New Testament of the fields But
my text leads lis into another realm Of the
botanical kingdom.
Having spoken to you in n course of ser
mons about God everywhere-on The AS
tronomy of the Bible; or, God Among the
Stars" 1.-The ORTHODOXY of the Bibles or,
God Among the Birds" THE Ichthyoogy
of the Bible; or, God Among the Fishes"
THE Mineralogy of the Bible; or, God
Among the Amethysts;' THE Conchologv
of the Bible; or, God Among the Shells"
THE Chronology of the Bible: or, God
Among the Centuries 81 speak now to you
about The Botany of the Bible; or God
In the Gardens of the Sea"
BOTANY OF THE BIBLE.
Although | purposely take this morning
for consideration the least observed and
least appreciated Of all the botanical prod
ucts of the world, we shall find the contem-
plation very absorbing. In all our theolog-
ical 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 Scrip
tural world.
What a freshening up it would be to our
sermons to press into them even frag-
ment of Mediterranean seaweed Weshould
have fewer sermons awfully dry if we imi-
tated our blessed Lord, and in our dis
courses, like him, we would let lily
bloom, or a crow fly, or a hen brood her
chickens, or crystal of salt flash out the
preventative qualities of religion. The trou-
BILE is that in many of our theological sem
inaries men who are 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 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 re-
creant prophet Jonah made when, dropped
over the gunwaes of the Mediterranean
ship, he sank many fathoms down into
teInpestuOtis sea. Both before and after
the monster of the deep swallowed him, he
was entanCled in seaweed The iungles
of the deep threw their cordage of vegeta-
ton around him. Some of this seaweed
was anchored to the bottom of the waterv
abysm, and some of it was aAoat and swal-
lowed by the great sea- monster so that
while the prophet was at the bottom of the
deep after hc was horribly imprisoned
he could eXclam and did exclaim in the
words of my text. 1.-The weeds were wrap
ped about my head.
JONAHs SUBMARINE DISCOVERIES.
Jonah was the first to record that there
are growths upon the bottom of the sea as
owned was a handful of seaweeds messed nm
page, and called them the shorn locks
of Neptune" These products of the deem
whether brown or green or yellow or nurnie
or red or intershot of many coIors are most
fascinating. They are distributed oIl over
the depths and from Arctic to Antarctic
That God thinks well of them 7 conclude
from The fact that he has made G,00O species
of them Sometimes these water nIonts
are 400 or 700 feet long. and they cable tha
sea One snecimen has = Growth of l 5o0
foot
ON ,le northwest shore Of our countrv IA
a seaweed with leaves 70 or al foot lon,,
nnid which the sea otter makes his bono
re.tir,, bimeeIf IN tho huoro,cv thaI,nf
and stem The tbicke.t innolos If tLa
tronics are not more mn of citation
thar the dentha of fine son There ara fnr
psts down there and vast nrniri.. an
,hIoom and God vaIl<. tba,a az bo ,,,,Il,oI
In tho Garden of Edan .,in tho cool nf tl,a
dovu on what entrorcement III s,I,-
no,,ao,,. would, oh +ha "a ,,ia,, ''