158 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,^ 



almost flat shore, ■with nothing apparently to stop the 

 progress of the waves from overwhelming the land. 

 And when we further reflect upon the numerous proofs 

 which the land every where presents of having heen 

 once covered by the sea, which has left behind it in- 

 numerable vestiges of its eff'ects upon the solid rocks, 

 and upon the fossil remains of animals which these 

 contain, we may well confess our ignorance of the 

 means employed by God to prevent the same catas- 

 trophe as that of a universal deluge from occurring 

 again.* Indeed the fact is so striking that the Divine 

 Being himself employs it to chide the folly and to 

 alarm the confidence of his ancient people : ** Fear ye 

 not me ? saith the Lord; will ye not tremble at my 

 presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of 

 the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it ; 

 and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can 

 they not prevail ; though they roar, yet can they not 



• Cornwall has generally been considered as a county contain-' 

 ing no fossil remains. This idea is now, however, proved to be 

 erroneous. The writer of this has several specimens in his 

 possession, of shells embedded in an argillaceous limestone^ 

 worked in the parish of Southpetherwin, near Launceston* 

 which establishes the fact that this district was once covered 

 hy the sea. 



