Page:Natural Phenomena and their Spiritual Lessons.djvu/18

6 But the more particular and exact correspondence of the insect and its metamorphosis is with man's condition by birth, when of necessity he is natural, and his subsequent state, when he has become spiritual; that is, with the preparatory alteration to be effected, that the change of scene induced by death may be from earth to heaven.

No one who attentively watches a caterpillar can fail to observe the persistency with which it feeds. 'Instead of simply eating in order to live, like most other beings, it only lives to eat; it has no other duty to perform at present but to eat as fast and as much as it possibly can in a certain time. Unlike other creatures who allow themselves a certain period between their meals, the larva sets to its feast and does not leave the table until it has devoured all its contents, upon which it immediately begins again elsewhere. No gourmand in the world, whether among human beings or brutes, can compare with the insect in this form for the amount of food consumed. Morning, noon, and night is to it only a continual round of feasting; and, as may well be imagined, the larva grows very rapidly accordingly.' There is here presented a striking and accurate image of the merely natural mind, and of the insatiable nature of its desires, whether directed to self or the world. Alexander weeping for more worlds to conquer, is a familiar illustration of the boundless appetite of the love of dominion; but, how often soever repeated, is too apposite to become trite. The selfish love of rule, however, is more subtle and concealed than the love of wealth; for it lies deeper in our nature, and is less clearly present to the consciousness. Few persons admit, even