When I was older I learnt, what
is very interesting, that the gradual rising of the ocean, which is called
the "flow," and the gradual going back again of the water, which is called
the "ebb," do not happen at any chance time, for nothing is by chance in
God's creation, but at regular intervals, and in obedience to one of those
wonderful rules made by God, which people call the "laws of nature"--rules
which never change as the rules which men make so often do. And so we
notice that for about six hours from the time when the tide begins to rise,
the sea gains upon the land, either stealing on, step by step, over the
pebbly beach, and creeping tip the mouths of the rivers, or, when the winds
are abroad, rushing over the sand, and dashing against the rocks, as if it
would sweep all before it. No power upon earth can stop that steady onward
march of wave upon wave, until the unseen boundary is reached. Then we say,
"It is full tide." The mighty ocean seems to pause for a few minutes, then
some old fisherman, who has known that shore all his life, says, "The tide
has turned"; and for six hours the gradual fall goes on. At last the lowest
point of the "ebb" is reached--a few minutes' rest, and then the "flow"
begins again.
To those who have seen it all their lives there is nothing strange about
this, but when some brave Roman soldiers, who were accustomed to conquer
wherever they came, saw for the first time this ebb and flow of the tide,
they were more frightened than they would have been if they had seen an
army of savage men with spears and clubs rushing upon them with their
fierce war-cry.
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