The Cairo bulletin., 1904-08-14
THE BULLETINS SUNDAY SERMON
BY REV. FRANK DE WITT rALMAGE, o. D.

the Ioot OF man. In all probability tim
time will never come before the day
when the seas have been licked Ill
by the long red tongues OF the flames
which shall wrap themselves about
this old earth; when the archange
shall stand with one foot upon the land
and the other foot upon the sea and
swear that time shall be no longer
Oh. the mysteries OF the sea. Who
has ever been able to describe them
1t was my privilege, some weeks ago
to see some of the wonders of the
mighty deep. | took ship and went to
the famous Catalina islands, off the
southern coast Of California went
there for the fishing. | had heard
away back In the east Of the wonderful
sea sport at that place. | leurd 1t was
no unusual sight to see there three and
four or five Jewish brought in.
each weighing upward Of 300 pounds;
that some fish had been caught there
weighing over 800 pounds. These fish
ermen had told me that there swan
the tuna, the gamest fish of all the
seas. There are the yellowtails and
the barracudas and the rock bass and
the whitchsh. and scores of other fish.
But though | saw fish caught at Cata-
lima weighing $50 pounds, the most
marvellous sight by far that | ever
witnessed there was what was revealed
to me in the depths of the sea by the
glass hottomed boats
Survival of Fittest.
A strong muscled oarsman, who
knew every nook and corner of that
coast. rowed us ont. The center Of the
boat had no keel, but instead. a glass
flooring. AS we rowed on we could see
down and down, fifty, sixty, seventy
and eighty feet. Here were the rocks,
piled up In incongruous forms, like
unto the Bad Lands of the Dakotas.
There were walls of rocks, dismantled
fortresses in rocks. crumbling cathe-
drals In rocks, shattered masonry in
rocks whole fallen Jerichos in rocks;
pyramids and palisades were in rocks.
Rocks in column, rocks aslant, i'm
mensities and lnflnities of rock In
dwelling. We could see his head as he
silently kept vigil, watching the other
fsh swim by. Now darted past hun
ireds of thousands of sardines, chased
BY larger fish. In those depths, as on
he land, the survival Of the fittest'
s the law of life-the big fish eat the |
smaller fish.
Now we seem to be pushing our way |
INTO the marine farmlands. Whole |
gardens OF vegetables seem to be plant |
ID upon the rocks. Many of those |
.orms of vegetable life are named after |
he table foods we grow in our country |
gardens. There are the waving wheat
fields and silken bearded corn just |
eady for the husklng. and the meadow
ands green. and red with clover tops.
Vow we seem to be entering the Indian
md African jungles The seaweeds
re matted and snarlcd together. They
ecnpto take upon themselves all col
rings Here are the long, clinging
ines, there the broad leaves and the
harrow leaves. the short leaves and
he long leaves. There are leaves jim
he mass and here leaves with rents In
heir curtains, through which we can
ee the glistening fin of a goldfish, red
s gold-aye. red as blood Fish, like
INTO which In color | never saw, be-
ause these fish are never caught with
he hook; these goldfish are vegeta
ians. Now4we seem TO be wandering
mong the Calaveras groves of the sea.
'hese weeds lift themselves like
nightly oaks. With their outSpreading
ranches they seem TO be Offering sure
nchorages forabirds' nests, only for
be fact that no feathered orchestras
an dwell in the depths Of the seas
'ow the bare rocks appear again and
,em to be like unto mighty mountains
! their impressiyeness, crying: Come,
IAN, come. and take my gold! Come
MI take my silver. My bones are cop
err, my heart is iron; come and take
~ wealth. AS we wandered on.
eering into this strange and unknown
'orld | say to myself: There are the
,vcaleG mysteries Of the sea seventy
,et deep. What must be the mys-
,ries of the sea hundreds OF feet deep,
lies deep. unfathomably decpf What
Iust be the mysteries Of the sea when
ne Jewish. weighing one-half thou
ind pounds. rubs mp his side against
10 whale weighing thousands upon {
lousands of poundsT' Yes. the sea is
mystery. a great unfathomable mys-
ry att go tit
God Is n Mystery.
What the mysterious sea was 70 the !
nelly exile looking off upon the Med
erranean God always has been and 9
ways will be TO us On earth. He is !
mystery. We know that lac created
e world. but howl We cannot tell ]
g know that In the beginning Christ 7
as. and yet he was born a helpless {
lbc Howl We cannot tell We 9
low that John. as the beloved dis
pie. walked and lived with Christ. {
IT. concerning many facts about the !
rsonallty Of Jesus. John was as much !
the dark rs was NicOdemus when {
said. "How can these things beT c
lul compares our knowledge Of God T
a little child's knowledge Of hu- $
an parent. We know that our babies =
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