A Beautiful Incident.


ON a beautiful summer's day a clergyman 

was  called to  preach in a  town in  Indiana, 

to  a  young Episcopal congregation.  At the 

close of his discourse he addressed his young 

hearers in such words as these :

"Learn that the present life is a preparation

for, and has a tendency to, eternity.  The 

present  is  linked to the  future  throughout 

creation, in  the vegetable, in the  animal,  and 

in  the moral world.  As is the seed, so is the 

fruit;  as  is  the egg, so  is  the fowl;  as  is  the 

boy, so  is  the man;  and  as  the rational  being 

in this world, so will  he  be in  the  next; 

Dives estranged from God  here, is Dives    

estranged from God  in  the  next,  and  Enoch 

walking with God here,  is  Enoch  walking 

with God  in  the  calm  and  better  world. 

I beseech you, live, then, for a blessed eternity. 

Go to  the  worm  that  you  tread  upon,  and 

learn  a  lesson  of wisdom.  The very cater- 

pillar  seeks  the  food  that  fosters  it  for  an- 

other  and  similar  state;  and,  more  wisely 

than  man,  builds  its  own  sepulcher,  from 

whence, in  time, by  a  kind  of resurrection, 

it comes forth  a  new  creature  in  almost  an 

angelic form.  And now that which crawled, 

flies,  and  that  which  fed  on  comparatively 

gross  food, sips  the  dew  that  revels  in  the 

rich  pastures,  an  emblem  of  that  paradise 

where flows the river  of  life  and  grows  the 

tree of life.  Could the  caterpillar have been 

diverted from its  proper  element  and  mode 

of life,  if  it  had  never  attained  the  butter- 

fly's splendid form  and  hue, it  had  perished 

a  worthless worm.  Consider her ways  and 

be wise.  Let it not be said that you are more 

negligent than  worms,  and  that  your reason 

is  less available than their instinct.  As often 

as  the  butterfly  flits  across  your  path,  

remember that  it whispers in  its flight,  

'Live for the future.'"  





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