INTRODUCTION. 33 



'* For lie commandeth, and raisetli the stormy wind, 

 which lifteth up the waves thereof. They [the 

 mariners] mount up to the heaven, they go down 

 again to the depths: their soul is melted because 

 of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like 

 a drunken man, and are at their wits' end." The 

 Holy Spirit thus alludes to the terrific raging of 

 the tempest as eminently calculated to draw man's 

 attention to the power and majesty of God, while 

 the wondrous deliverances He has so often wrought 

 from its fury, are so many claims on man's grateful 

 love and praise. 



Let us, then, in contemplating a few of the in- 

 numerable objects of interest which the ocean pre- 

 sents to us, endeavour in dependence on His own 

 gracious aid, to recognise His hand, to discern the 

 greatness of His power in creating and upholding 

 all things; His unerring skill and wisdom in arrang- 

 ing and carrying out His designs; and the careful 

 and provident benevolence which He continually 

 exercises towards the sentient part of His creation. 

 The varied tribes of living beings that throng the 

 deep, from the wallowing whale to the luminous 

 animalcule, visible but as a sparkling point; the 

 multifarious forms of marine vegetation, displaying 



view of the horizon. After watching for a sufficient length of time to 

 verify the deductions, they descended, and measured the height of the 

 point of sight from the ship's water-lino ; deducting half of this distance 

 for the depression of the hollow below the level of the surface, the remain- 

 der gives the elevation of the highest wave. It is thus found that waves 

 do not usually exceed six feet in height, except when cross-waves over- 

 run each other ; and probably in no case do the very loftiest rise above 

 ten feet above the general level. 

 3 



