176 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 



same in character. So likewise St. Jude forcibly paint- 

 ing the character of the ungovernable schismatics of 

 his own day, and of the last days, compares them 

 most forcibly to ** roaring waves of the sea foaming 

 out their own shame." How full of sacred signi- 

 ficance therefore is that sublime vision, in which 

 St. John beholds heaven itself opened, and a victorious 

 host, having the harps of God, standing upon ** a sea 

 of glass, mingled with fire,'* (Rev. xv. 2,) to celebrate 

 their victory : as if to convey the strongest idea of the 

 glorious tranquillity of their redeemed state when con- 

 trasted with their former scenes of tribulation and tu- 

 mult, amidst the stormy billows of a changeable and 

 perilous world ! 



A dificrent series of ideas crowd upon us from 

 the Sea, when we look at the ships that are crossing 

 to and fro upon its ample bosom. How naturally 

 does the Psalmist, while beholding a similar spectacle, 

 observe, ** There go the ships !" What a number of 

 interesting reflections are included in these few words • 

 Ships and the Ocean are the connecting links of that 

 great chain of existence that runs round the globe. 

 What unites the merchant of England and the mer- 

 chant of India ? What enables the poor man of our 



