156 THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
fore him. In this journeying, valleys of living 
flowers, pinnacles, and mountains, almost gem¬ 
like in their preciousness, will await explora¬ 
tion ; gorgeous halls and domes hold the en¬ 
raptured gaze; and, oftentimes, vast acres of 
formations so precious as to be greedily sought 
as among the richest treasures of human wealth 
—living gems when in their ocean-beds, and 
gemming the living when plucked by the hand 
of man. The little lapidaries that fashion these 
gems of the sea are often as beautiful as their 
precious workmanship, tinting the waters of the 
ocean with their delicate coloring, or making- 
them flash and radiate with phosphorescent 
light. And now tell me, O dullard and doubt¬ 
er! has the sea no life nor voice to speak for 
God ? Hides the deep no handiwork of Jeho¬ 
vah, and do its billows intone no anthem to 
his praise ? 
“ For exhibiting man’s power through the 
few thousand years of his existence some great 
cities are instanced, and the wasted grandeur 
of others is pointed out. Vain man! the lit¬ 
tle jelly-like toilers of the sea could cover up 
all your boasted monuments; hide your pigmy 
cities, so that their sites could not be searched 
