THE SILK-WORM.

137

LXXXI.

The Silk-Worm.

N being shown some silk-worms, kept by a boy in a band-box, and fed with mulberry leaves, Gotthold thought with himself: And so it is a worm that ministers to men the means of luxury and pomp! I could wish that no ribbon were ever either sold or put on, until such a worm were shown and contemplated. Perhaps this might lead some to reflect how absurd it is for one worm to ornament himself with what another spins, especially considering that at last, with all his glory, he must become the prey of worms. For the rest, the silk-worm obeys the instinct which is common to all the caterpillar tribe. When it has eaten its portion, and lived its time, it looks about for some corner in which it may lie down, unseen and undisturbed, and die. There it immures and envelops itself in its web, and all the store which it has gathered, serves no other purpose than to make for it a burying-place. Alas, ye children of men! you, too, eat and drink, accumulate fortunes, and strain every nerve to become great in the world; but all this issues at last in the necessity of choosing for yourselves a grave. Happy he who, from this insect, learns in time to forego temporal things, and bends all his thoughts to consider how he may at last die in peace!

138

THE RYE IN FLOWER.

Thou faithful God! my chief anxiety is for my soul, and the best thing I can do for it is to wrap and clothe it in the fair white silk of Christ's righteousness.1 Grant that, like a beautiful butterfly, I may one day burst forth, and wing my way to the life eternal.

LXXXII.

The Rye in Flower.

XPERIENCE shows that if you pluck a stalk of rye, strip it of the blossom, and hold it for a little in your hand, the blossom will come again. Conversing with a friend, to whom he had shown this, and who expressed his surprise at the fact, and his desire to know the cause, Gotthold said: In many things we observe a strong vegetative power. From the grain of corn in the ground nature elicits a shoot, and pushes it through the stiff crust of the earth, and then from the shoot a stalk, and from the stalk an ear. In trees there is a pressure which moves the sap, and from the duces leaves, and flowers and fruits.

branches of the vine, too, the sap is

1 Revelation xix. 8.

solid wood proIn the stock and

forced upwards,

THE RYE IN FLOWER.

139

and when the pruning has made the room to hold it insufficient, it flows out, as if the plant were weeping. Now, in these ears there is a power of the same kind, and of a strength sufficient to renew the blossom, even when that has been stripped away. This power others may call by what name, and describe in what way, they please. I say, that it is the incessantly productive goodness of God, which operates always, makes all things shoot and grow, and never ceases promoting the good of man.

From it

But what you observe in plants, you ought also to experience within yourself; according to the words of the apostle: As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' In truth, the power of God's Spirit is never at rest. It quickens and moves continually the hearts of the godly. proceed all holy thoughts, devout desires, heavenly yearnings, longing sighs, affectionate tears, fervent prayers, and unwearied diligence in the service of God and mankind; as flower succeeds flower in the rye, so does one act of devotion, love and joy, another. If you have no experience of the kind, learn now from this humble stalk that the fault is your own; either you do not mark, or you do not obey, the motions of God's Spirit.

Lord Jesus! what can I do without Thy strength? For what am I fit without Thy Spirit? Unless it

1 Rom. viii. 14.

quicken the inward powers of my soul, I am impotent alike either to will or to do. Quicken me, then, O God! but help me likewise to obey Thy impulse with alacrity.

LXXXIII.

Thistles.

ASSING a field one day, Gotthold observed that there were many thistles mixed with the wheat, and rivalling it in growth, on which he observed: We often see the match of this in

the world. It happens, for instance, with superior minds; for along with the fine wheat of useful counsels and lofty thoughts, they likewise breed and foster many a thistle of folly and dangerous error. The same thing happens also with our own heart, which, when bedewed with the grace and Spirit of God, sometimes promises to abound with the fruits of righteousBut, alas! how many thistles and weeds does not the enemy scatter among these, and how many grow of themselves, as in all barren land? In fine, the same is also the case with our prosperity and temporal welfare. When our wheat is ripest, and we imagine that nothing remains but to apply the sickle, and gather

ness.

TRANSPLANTED TREES AND FLOWERS. 141

it in, in full sheaves, we find that the Most High has caused thistles to grow amongst it; I mean, He has checkered our prosperous state with much adversity, in order that we may recognize the nothingness of the world, and long all the sooner, and all the more ardently, for heaven.

My God! in the world there is no wisdom without folly, no happiness without misery, no piety without sin, no good without evil, and no use without abuse. Oh, guide me to the place where Thou Thyself dwellest, and where Thou art surrounded with the adorations of Thine elect! There is no evil with Thee. In Thee I shall possess all things, for Thou wilt be all in all.1

LXXXIV.

Transplanted Trees and Flowers.

S Gotthold was examining, with delight, some double pinks, which at the time were in full blossom, he was told by the gardener that the same plants had in former years borne only single flowers, but that they had been improved and beautified by repeated transplantations, and that in

11 Cor. xv. 28.