ARCHITECTS OF THE DEEP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2286, 23 December 1897, Page 62

ARCHITECTS OF THE DEEP.

BY A BANKER.

; Far down in the receß3es of the ocean, hidden from view, and moatly dwelling in almost totaldarkoess, myriads of .living creatures ar«3 ever at work with unceasing energy and marvellous skill in the construction of great barriers and pyramids of adamantine .rock, which they slowly rear up from the depths with persistent perseverance and untiring energy, generation after generation continuing to carry out the erection of the great submarine fortress upon the same plan as was fixed by the original architects, perhaps mauy centuries before, the lines of the first-laid rock foundations being strictly adhered to, and the ponderous walls ra'sod higher and higher without change or mociification'of design or figure ; aud although thesa humble toilers of the sea ara so minute and ioeignifioint that many are, invisible to the naked eye, yet they sucsecd in erecting structures more massive and vast than any which proud man could construct, notwithstanding all his vaiied powers — structures which withstand a)l the violence of wave and storm, which mock at the impotent effort of ths hurricane to destroy them, and upon which all the turbulent raging of the furious, tempest-tossed surge can make no more impression than had they been built of solid granite or the most resistless of rocks. : Millions of millions thus, from age to age, With simplest skill, and toilunwearable, Laid line on line, on terrace .terrace spread, To swell the heightening, brightening gradual mound, By marvellous structure climbing towards the day. J Each wrought alone, yet all together wrought; Unconscious, not unworthy, instruments By which a hand invisible was rearing j A new creation in the secret deep. Omnipotence wrought in them, with them, by them : Hence what omnipotence alone could do Worms did. Wheu the coral reef has reached the high water surface of the sea, the builders csasc j their work, leaving the completion of the island i» other natural forces : first, a soil being fbrmed by detritus and the decay of marine pants ; this in course of time supporting a varied vegetation, the aeede, cocoanufs, and other fruits being either cast upon the island by the waves or deposited by birds, untl at j length it is ready for the occupation of man, | aud becomes the home of a thriving and prosperous colony. And, strange to say, the plan upon which the little marine architects construct the great erection is exactly adapted to the requirements of its future occupiers, for in many of these coral it-lands a commodious and spacious harbour is provided, well sheltered from the winds aud waves, and sufficiently deep to accommodate the large vessels which -trade with the island. This natural harbour is in some cases of sufficient extent as to be capable of sheltering a great fleet, and forms | the centre of the atoll or island, a vast wide ring of coral several miles in circumference j completely encircling the lagoon with tho exception of the narrow entrance, which the builders left, UQwittingly, for the subsequent use of man, and through which he can navigate his ships with safety and with ease. These coral islands in some cases rise up from a vast depth, the rock rising sheer 2000 ft or 3000 ft or more ; and as the nature list Darwin enunciated the theory that the coral polyps do not live at a greater depth than 15 or 20 fathoms, many geologists, with that absolute belief in all the crude theories of that speculative naturalist which formerly existed, but which ha 3 been so shaken of late, were obliged to formulate all manner of strange conjectural suppositions in order to account for the incontestable fact, the most favourite surmise beiug that as the reef rose in height so the hard, solid rock beneath gradually sank down into the earth ! But it is useless to waste time in endeavour- j ing to discuss the theories of those who, denying i the creation of man, claim for him a long | descent, beginning at a- protoplasm, then through a sort of oyster, then rising through ! varied gradually ascending form 3, which eventually develop-into semi-human beings) until at length he arrived, without any Divine guiding hand, but solely by a process of natural selection, at bis present condition of intellectual and physical superiority. .Surely those are to be envied who ; can believe, without the shadow of a shade of « doubt, that " God created man in His own image," aud that when his mortal life is ended there is reserved for him a far higher and eternal life if he will but confidently rely upon the great Atonement and will regulate his present life by the rules and precepts laid down in His Word. But there are those who refuse to do so ; and for them we are told there is awaiting in the great hereafter a remorse overwhelming and crushing, a tuin deadly and full of 'horror I