280 ZOOPHYTES. 



Look down into its depths, where life 



In such strange shapes is seen, 

 That he who thinks that human strife 



On earth hath only been, 

 Will turn again to landward plain, 



And own it more serene. 

 Life in each fish and finny creature 



That revels in the flood ; 

 Life in each tangled weed, by nature 



Porm'd for a curious brood : 

 Life in each shell of varied feature, 



With many a tint imbued. 

 The spars that glitter up from chasms 



Where zoophytes abound ; 

 The shells, flung out from darksome pits", 



To shine on sun-struck ground ; 

 The plants that grow deep down below, 



Whence comes a solemn sound : 

 Those spars, shells, plants, have each and alt 



A God-given life within ; 

 And solemn thoughts, in thickness fall 



Upon my spirit, when 

 I think on man's superior claim 



To grace, with all his sin. 

 But mysteries hide in heavenly love 



As in the dark deep wave ; 

 And all we know, or need to know 



Of life, and of the grave, 

 Is that God gave to man a soul 



For his own Son to save. 

 Nor, without object, gifted He 



With life, those groups that grow- 

 Like woodlands, in the quaint old sea, 



Whose every bud and bough 

 Teems with existence ; why, or how, 



We cannot guess or know. 

 Enough to know that they, like us, 



Were form'd by power divine ; 

 Enough to know, that weal and woe, 



That darkness and sunshine 

 Have each their time of reign below 



TO end when He makes sign." 



