AT^THOZOA HYDEOIDA. 99 



cloud he may deign to protect his irrational creatures in the 

 present day. When the cuttle-fish is pursued by its enemies, 

 it can eject an inky fluid from a bag with which it is fur- 

 nished, so that, involved in a murky cloud of atramentous 

 water, it is concealed from the grasp of its voracious foes. 

 The Ascidia which we mentioned, seems inert and defence- 

 less, and would be a very savoury mouthfuU to a prowHng 

 haddock; but if, when the gourmand begins to nibble its 

 prey, it on a sudden became like a live coal, we suspect that 

 the boldest haddock would stand aghast. If He thus defend 

 with a robe of fire this helpless inhabitant of the deep, how 

 much more will He, according to His promise, be " a wall 

 of fire around his people and the glory in the midst of them." 

 And when is it that these tiny dwellers in the deep appear 

 in greatest splendour? It is in troublous times — in the 

 darksome hour of danger. And is it not under the cloud 

 of affliction and in the dark night of distress that God^s 

 chosen people most sweetly shine? Is not the brightest 

 page of their history that which tells how '' they wandered 

 about in mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth, not 

 „ accepting dehverance, that they might obtain a better resur- 

 rection"? And if they shone in that hour of darkness, it w^as 

 as the moon when she looks on the orb of day, — it was be- 



