60 



p*mc(imlily ! Did it advance with a lawless, and u nil- 1 

 jnited swell, it might deluge whole continents. Was it 

 irregular and uncertain in its approaches, navigation 

 would be at a stand. But being constant in its stated 

 :rl, and never exceeding its appointed bounds, it 

 doe iice to the country, and serves ail ire ends 



of traffic. 



" Is tl -inned from ills voyage ? The flux is 



ready to is vessel to the very doors of tiie owner, 



without any hazard of striking on the rocks, or of be'ng 

 -ned in the saiids. Has the merchant freighted his 

 ship ? The reflux bears it away with the utmost expe- 

 dition and safety. Behold, O man, how highly thou 

 art favoured by thy Maker ! Pie hath put all things in 

 subjection under thy feet. All sheep and oxen, all the 

 leasts of the field : the fowls of the air, and the Jishes 

 of the sea. Yea, the surges of the sea are subservient 

 to thee. liven these, wild and impetuous as they are, 

 are ready to receive thy load, and like an indefatigable 

 beast of burden, carry it to the place \vhicji thou 

 choosest. 



" What preserves this vast flood in perpetual purity 1 

 It receives the refuse and filth of the whole world. 

 Whatever would defile the land and pollute the air, is 

 transmitted to the ocean. v ' How then is this receptacle 

 of every nuisance kept clean, kept from contracting a 

 noisome and pestilential taint? It is partly by its in- 

 cessant motion, and partly by its saltness. By the one it 

 is secured from any internal principle of corruption ; by 

 the other it works itself clear of any adventitious defile- 

 ment. 



" Consider the sea in another capacity, and it connects 

 the remotest realrhs of the universe, by facilitating the 

 intercourse between their respective inhabitants. The 

 ancients indeed looked on the ocean as an impassable 

 gulph. But we find it just the reverse; not a' bar of 

 separation, but the great bond of union. For this pur- 

 pose it is never exhausted, though it supplies the whole 

 earth with rain ; nor overflows, though all the rivers in 

 the universe are perpetually augmenting its stores, By 



