Nay, this is not true. There is One who can still the stormiest waves, and make the most tumultuous billows yield a ready obedience, for "the sea is his and He made it, and his hands prepared the dry land.” QUESTIONS. What do you understand by the phrase, "The Mighty Deep?" What does the Psalmist say of it? Whereabouts in the Bible is the creation of the seas described ? Repeat the passage. What proportion does the water Are oceans larger than seas? What are rivers? Where do rivers take their rise? What are small water-courses Why is it sometimes difficult to determine the true source of a river ? What are its banks? To what is the swiftness of the How do geographers divide the course ? What are pools and ponds? From what kind of lakes do the largest rivers take their rise? Name one of these rivers, its country, and length. Are lakes supplied in any other way than those just specified? In what other respects do lakes differ? What are the older lakes said to be the remains of ? Where in the Bible do we find a description of the Deluge ? In what way are lakes sources of fertility? What would two holes dug in the sand, with a channel between, resemble ? What large bodies of water does the Strait of Dover connect ? What do you understand by the term ocean? Name the principal oceans. How much of the surface of the globe is covered by the Pacific? With what ocean are we most familiar? On which side of Britain does the Atlantic flow? What sea washes the eastern coasts ? What is the North Sea sometimes called? With what oceans do its waters unite ? What is meant by the term sea? Are bodies of fresh water ever called seas ? Why is the sea salt ? What is the chemical name of common salt ? Which is heaviest, fresh or salt water? In which is it easiest to swim ? What peculiar property has salt? What obvious advantage is there in this ? What tends to keep the waters of the sea pure? What colour is the ocean? How do they look when the sky is overcast ? What do voyagers tell us about the colour of the sea? What appears to be the most likely cause of this variety of colour? Are there any other causes? What effect has vegetable and earthy matter? What is there at the bottom of the sea? What other terms are there for the ebbing and flowing of the tides ? What do you mean by low-water mark? Where is this situated ? On what does its distance from high-water mark depend? How do we generally distinguish the latter? How frequently do the tides ebb and flow? What are scientific writers on this subject said to treat of? To what influence do they ascribe the phenomena ? What does the word flux mean? Does the moon exert the most powerful influence on the ocean? Why the moon ? What are spring tides, and how are they produced? What are neap tides, and when do they occur? By what power or great law of nature do the sun and moon so act upon the waters ? What does this action produce? What makes the tidal waves flow in with more or less power and In what do waves and tides differ? Name the three states in which What are rain and dew? Is the ocean controllable, and by whom P Repeat a Scripture passage which proves this. SECTION II. Ships and Boats. HAVING in our last section discoursed of the mighty deep, we will now speak of the different kinds of vessels made to float thereon; from the huge man-of-war down to the little fishingboat. First let us inquire what is the meaning of the term SHIP. It is derived from the Saxon scip, or the Teutonic schip, and signifies, as Dr. Johnson says, "a large hollow building, made to pass over the sea with sails." But this definition will not do for us now, for we have steam-ships, of which there were none when Dr. Johnson wrote, and these, although they generally carry sails, can, and do most frequently, pass over the sea without their aid. So we will give a more extended meaning to the term, and say that a ship, in a general sense, is any large vessel used for purposes of navigation; or, in a more particular sense, it is a vessel having three masts, each composed of three distinct portions, called the lower, top, and top-gallant masts: of these, and the other parts of a ship, we shall have to speak presently. We will now glance as far back into the past as the light of history penetrates, and endeavour to trace the rise and progress of ship-building, or NAVAL ARCHITECTURE, a tera derived from the Latin navalis, belonging to ships, and architectus, a builder. The Ark, built at God's command by Noah, for the safety of himself and his family in the great Deluge, of which we read in Gen. vi. is the first large floating vessel spoken of in Scripture. We read also in Numb. xxiv. 24, of ships that should come from the coast of Chittim, to afflict Asshur and Ebor; and this is the earliest notice which we find of vessels employed for hostile purposes, or war ships. Again we are told (1 Kings xxii. 48) that Jehoshaphat made ships to go to Ophir for gold; "but they went not, for the ships were broken;" that is, probably, wrecked and destroyed by the tempests. King Solomon was more fortunate with the ships which he sent to Tarshish; for we are told (2 Chron. ix. 21) that once in every three years they came back, bringing gold, and silver, and other products of the rich countries which they visited. These were the earliest merchant ships that we know of; unto them did the wise Solomon liken a virtuous woman, because she bringeth food from afar; that is, with the products of foreign lands, such as wool and flax, which are named (Proverbs xxxi. 14), she labours to increase her household store. These ships of Tarshish and Chittim are several times alluded to by the Prophets. It will be a good Scripture exercise for my readers to find out the passages in which these allusions occur. "The way of a ship in the sea" was one of the things which were wonderful even to Solomon, with all his wisdom; and his father David, when he contemplated "the great and wide sea," exclaimed, in admiration, "there go the ships." Allusion is several times made to ships in the Gospels and other parts of the New Testament; but the vessels so called in which our Saviour preached to the multitude, |