pe. 
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being withdrawn from their native element, shrank into their 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 afford 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 death comes on the little polypes, 
it finds them always actively employed in answering the 
purposes 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 Herculaneum were first 
opened up, the position in which the skeletons were found 
