174 THB CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 



ther." Such a man will not be aflfected by any of the 

 changes of removal, or relapse, by times, or circum- 

 stances ; becoming a different person at different sea- 

 sons, and taking as the polypedes do, the many colours 

 of the rocks on which they congregate. But he will 

 remain always the same; fixed amidst that which is 

 unfixed ; unturned amidst that which is turning ; a 

 rock, as. I think, not in the least shaken amidst the 

 attacks of winds and waves, but banquetting even upon 

 the assaults which they make upon hira/* 



How forcibly does such a state of religious stability 

 contrast itself with that restlessness and love of change 

 and novelty, which is the character of the present age ! 

 How significantly does St. Paul describe the antagon- 

 ism of Christian unity, and growth in grace, when he 

 speaks of those who are children tossed to and fro, or 

 more literally agitated by the waves of a rough ocean, 

 and blown or carried about with every wind of doc- 

 trine. (Ephes. iv. 14.) 



The Sea, no less than the world in general, is to 

 be regarded as exhibiting tokens of that disordered 

 state of things, under which *' the whole creation 



*Orat 27. § 13. 



