Page:Natural Phenomena and their Spiritual Lessons.djvu/23

Rh The real struggle in the battle of life is in the resistance to evil,—resistance in affection, intention, and thought, as well as in word and deed;—for the character is formed less by what we do than by what we refrain from doing; less by doing good than by shunning evil. What we do is the simple expression of what we are. It strengthens the existing state, but effects no other alteration in it. Rejecting evil, on the contrary, in any form, lessens its power; and persistent rejection procures its expulsion. The heart then opens for the reception of heavenly influences, and the affections are elevated and purified.

There is a state in which, while good affections have scarcely come into existence, a desire for their presence is experienced; producing a consciousness of the actual presence of their opposites. We wish not to love certain specific forms of selfishness or worldliness, but are sensible that we do love them. We long to act from pure motives, but know that we do not, and feel that we cannot. Deliverance from this thraldom, when the higher affections have acquired pre-eminence and govern the life, is symbolised by the transformation of the caterpillar into the butterfly.

Pursuing our observations, we remark that the insect's sustaining power is in its wings. Wings are the sole instruments by which it is lifted from the earth; and they correspond to spiritual truths,—the only means of mental elevation. The human will is endowed with a faculty of loving; but is destitute of ability to choose the objects of its affections, and must exercise them according to its inherent tendencies. It has no power by which it can refuse to love congenial objects, or elect to love