186 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 9 
statement in the Scriptures, “ The sea is His, and He made 
it.” Grand, and terrible in its grandeur, as the ocean is 
when it “tosses up its waves on high;” beautiful in its 
gentleness when He says, “ Peace, be still," and the mighty 
deep in obedience “ coucheth” (Deut. xxxiii: 13); it is as 
nothing compared with Him who spake it into being. It is 
a wonderful work of an Almighty hand. It would be so 
even if it were only a world of waters ; but tenanted as it is 
by the countless multitudes of living creatures, from the 
Leviathan which takes his pleasure therein, making the 
deep hoary with his gambols, to the tiny Zoophyte, too 
small for the naked eye to see its beauty, and “ the tilings 
creeping innumerable,” together with the wonderfully beau¬ 
tiful and varied “ vegetation of the waters,” fills the con¬ 
templative mind with astonishment, and the language of 
the Psalmist is that which it appropriates—“ Such know¬ 
ledge is too wonderful for me; I cannot attain unto it.” 
“ In wisdom hast thou made them all." And the beautiful 
plants of the ocean—the Sea Weeds—how exquisitely they 
are formed—how varied in their beauty—how endless in 
variety! And still, even these Weeds are, as it were, con¬ 
formed to certain rules, and while among land plants 
“ nothing is so variable or uncertain as colour, among Algce, 
on the contrary, it has been ascertained that the classes of 
colour are, to a great extent, indicative of structure, and, 
consequently, of natural affinity; ” so that it has been well 
remarked, that they are “ True to their colours ”—“ Con¬ 
stant.” 
There are three colours, which, in their varieties of 
shade, include all—tire Red Weeds, the Green Weeds, and 
the Olive; and it was suggested to the writer that there 
were many striking analogies—many comparisons which 
might be drawn between these and the three Christian 
graces of “Faith, Hope, Charity;” and it is remarkable, 
that as these three great divisions of the Algo' include every 
variety, so those three Christian graces include each and 
every holy attainment. 
The Red Weeds, which may bo considered as emblematic 
of Faith, grow and flourish best in deep, dark places. The 
colour is never good in shallow pools, and faith is ever the 
strongest in dark and troubled times. Some of these Weeds 
grow to a great size. On the Irish coast, Nitophyllum punc- 
latum has been found live feet long by three broad; but 
Red Weeds of this size are not common, “ not many exceed 
two feet, and great numbers never exceed six inches. And 
thus, it is rare to meet with a Paul, who could, in all 
sincerity say, that he counted all things but loss for the 
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord; or an 
Abraham, whose faith enabled him to leave home and 
country, and to go out, not knowing whither he went, 
leaning on the simple, but sure promises of God; or a 
Moses, who, refusing to be called the son of Pharoah’s 
daughter, chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of 
God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. There 
are gradations of faith, from these noble specimens down 
to the faith of a little child (the little six-inch Weed), 
which, in its measure and degree, may be as perfect as a 
full-grown faith ; for the smaller Weeds are very lovely, and 
often found to bo full of fruit when examined through a 
microscope; and so the young believer may, to the eye of 
the Almighty, to Him who seeth not as man seeth, be well- 
pleasing, abounding with the fruit of the Spirit, abiding 
upon the rock. 
As in the natural habit of Sea Weeds there is much 
variety, so Christians vary much in disposition. There 
are the joyous and the sad; believers rejoicing in the full 
assurance of faith, and weak ones, saying, with tears, 
“Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” Still, they 
have all “one faith;” for “ without faith it is impossible to 
please God.” They have also “one hope.” Hope is a 
cheering grace, and it may well be represented by the bright 
Green Weeds, “which grow'in shallow places, of clear water, 
in full sunshine," and he may well be called a happy person 
whose hope is in the Lord his God. Such a hope “ maketh 
not ashamed,” for the hope that is laid up in heaven is as 
an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, keeping the 
believer from being greatly moved, seeing that the rock on 
j which he anchors is Christ, the hope of glory. There is a 
j full assurance, hope , spoken of in the Scriptures, as well as 
j a full assurance of faith (Heb. vi. 11) ; and it is a blessed 
hope, for it looks forward to the glorious appearing of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And how exalting its 
tendency! Every man that hath this hope in him, “ puri- 
fieth himself even as He is pure.” 
Rut now the crowning grace of Charity claims attention. 
It is represented by the Olive-coloured Weeds. “ Some of 
the larger kinds of these inhabit deep water, but the greater 
number are found upon tidal rocks, where they are exposed 
to the influence of the sun and air for some hours each 
day.” There are Olive-coloured Weeds of great size, “ sur- ' 
passing in the length of their fronds the tallest forest-trees." 
One plant of this order (a Laminaria), inhabiting the ■ 
north-western shores of America, has “ a stem no thicker | 
than whipcord, but upwards of three hundred feet in length, | 
bearing at its apex a huge vesicle six or seven feet long, 
shaped like a barrel, and crowned with a tuft of upwards of j 
fifty forked leaves, each from thirty to forty feet in length. 
The vesicle being filled witli air buoys up this immense 
frond, which lies stretched along the surface of the sea.” 
Another kind is almost like a submarine palm-tree, while 
others are minute and delicately formed. Those which 
inhabit the deep waters may be compared to the true, the 
large, the abounding love of the Apostle John for the 
Saviour; a love which he expresses again and again, and 
the expression of which, indeed, forms the sum and sub¬ 
stance of his Epistles; for charity is but another name for 
love, and Jesus Himself said that this law of Jove was the 
first of all the commandments—Love to God, and then love 
to man; and we can no longer wonder at charity being- 
spoken of as the greatest of graces, when we are told that 
God is love! that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love! and 
that it wms love which brought the Saviour from heaven to 
become a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, in order 
that wo might live ! What a proof of the strong love of God 
for fallen man, that He “so loved the world that He gave 
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life." And though 
the love of a sinful being can never be compared to this, 
yet is it a part of the same heavenly grace, just as a portion 
of gold, though small, is still a precious thing, of the same 
origin and nature as the larger quantity; and it was this 
love which caused the Apostle Paul to suffer the loss of all 
tilings, and to suffer gladly; and it is tlife same love of 
Christ which constrains the believer not to live unto himself 
hut unto God. It is this love which leads our Missionaries 
to leave all that is dear to them on earth, and to go forth 
to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ; which causes 
the Christian Minister and his people to visit the poor, and 
needy, and afflicted; and it is love which w T ould fain wipe 
away the tears of the widow and orphan. 
The Olive Weeds grow on maritime rocks exposed to the 
rise and fall of the tide, now dry, and now in full stream; 
still they flourish, and are refreshed and invigorated by the 
returning waters. And charity suffereth long and never 
faileth ; it knows-liow to abound and how to suffer need ; it 
can do all things through Christ, which strengthenetli it; 
and as the returning tide refreshes the plants of ocean, so 
the renewed supplies of the Holy Spirit strengthen this and 
every other grace. The more minute, but perfect and beau¬ 
tiful Olive Weeds may represent the gentle loving-kind¬ 
nesses of a refined and delicate mind; the charity which 
fears to wound even when performing acts of benevolence ; 
the love which will not let the receiver of it know that there 
is any self-denial exercised; that fears to hurt the feelings 
of another, for charity is kind; that is not ready to take 
offence, for it suffereth long; not vexed with the prosperity 
of others, for “ charity envieth not;” which never plumes 
itself on what it has performed for others; charity vaunteth 
not itself, is not puffed up. The subject, however, is too full 
to be properly discussed in a paper like this. But may we 
ever “ follow after charity;" for though Faith, and Hope, 
and Charity abide, and shall abide for ever, still “ the 
greatest of these is charity.”—S. B. 
“IS THE ROUP CONTAGIOUS?” 
Notwithstanding the decided manner in which your 
correspondent answers this question in the negative, I feel 
quite certain that it is contagious. My reasons for my 
