THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 155 



Had there been no showers, there would have been no 

 corn: and the fruits of the earth, which are yet 

 gathering in, (at whatever distance from the ocean,) 

 would soon have withered, but for the moisture com- 

 municated to the atmosphere from this inexhaustible 

 fountain. Hence therefore the Sea may justly be 

 viewed as a vast and boundless reservoir of life and 

 blessing to the whole globe. What the heart is to 

 the human body, the ocean is to the land — the main- 

 spring, or pulse of the whole system ; and as the for- 

 mer sends forth continually its crimson currents to 

 nourish the human frame, and receives it back again 

 after it has run its destined rounds ; so also, with 

 regard to the latter, when the fluid evaporated from it 

 has fulfilled its purposes of watering the earth, the 

 rivers return a portion of the precious treasure to 

 the place from whence it came, to be again sent forth by 

 the agency of the clouds, to the most distant extremities 

 of .that mighty mass around which the Sea rolls its 

 waves. 



The ocean is a favorite topic of reference with the 

 sacred writers : and what mind that is imbued with 

 any thing like a Scriptural feeling, can behold this 

 glorious object without having his thoughts carried 



