absolutely irresistible until it meets the higher ledges of rock,
when it is hurled back, and retires with a watery hiss that suggests
the idea of baffled rage.

But it is not conquered. With the calm majesty of unalterable
determination, wave after wave comes on, in slow, regular succession,
like the inexhaustible battalions of an unconquerable foe, to meet
with a similar repulse again and again.

There is, however, this peculiar difference between the waves on the
ordinary seashore and the billows on the Bell Rock, that the latter,
unlike the former, are not always defeated. The spectator on shore
plants his foot confidently at the very edge of the mighty sea,
knowing that "thus far it may come, but no farther". On the Bell Rock
the rising tide makes the conflict, for a time, more equal. Now, the
rock stands proudly above the sea: anon the sea sweeps furiously over
the rock with a roar of "Victory!"

Thus the war goes on, and thus the tide of battle daily and nightly
ebbs and flows all the year round.

But when the cunning hand of man began to interfere, the aspect of
things was changed, the sea was forced to succumb, and the rock, once
a dreaded enemy, became a servant of the human race. True, the former
rages in rebellion still, and the latter, although compelled to
uphold the light that warns against itself, continues its perpetual
warfare with the sea; but both are effectually conquered by means of
the wonderful intelligence that God has given to man, and the sea for
more than half a century has vainly beat against the massive tower
whose foundation is on the Bell Rock.