INTRODUCTION. 45 



being withdrawn from their native element^ shrank into their 

 cells, where they were dried, and unseen, it might be ques- 

 tioned by some whether they ever existed. By more than 

 one way, which he describes, he succeeded in causing such 

 instantaneous death, that the little polypes had not time to 

 withdraw into their cells, but remained in the exposed state 

 in which they were found when the sudden catastrophe 

 came upon them, so that, by being put in this condition 

 into spirits of wine, they could be preserved for any 

 length of time to afPord ocular demonstration that they had 

 really existed. Alas ! should not this sudden death of the 

 polypes remind us, that the King of Terrors may come 

 upon us as a thief in the night, at such an hour as we think 

 not ? At whatever time deatli comes on the little polypes, 

 it finds them always actively employed in answering the 

 poi'poses for which they were created ; — they have enjoyed 

 life, and have no account to render. Is it so with man ? 

 He must render an account. Is he always ready to render 

 it with joy ? How dreadful to be suddenly cut down in a 

 state of rebellion against Him to whom he is responsible, 

 and who is to be his righteous Judge. We remember 

 reading that when the ruins of H^rculaneum were first 

 opened up, the position in which the skeletons were found 



