JULY XIX. THE EPHEMERAL FLY. THIS insect is called ephemeral, on account of the short duration of its life in the state of a fly. It is one of the prettiest sorts of little flies. It undergoes five transformations. First, the egg contains the principles of its life. It comes out a caterpillar, which turns into a chrysalis, afterwards into a nympha, and ends in being a fly. This fly lays its eggs on the water, where the heat of the sun hatches them. Each egg produces a very small red worm, which winds about as it moves. They are found all summer in great abundance on ponds and marshy places. But, as soon as the water begins to grow cold, the little worm makes itself a bag, or a little house, where it passes the winter. Towards the end of that season it ceases to be a worm; it enters into its third state, and is transformed into a chrysalis. It sleeps then till spring, and becomes by degrees a pretty nympha, or a sort of mummy, something in the form of a fish. On the day of its metamorphosis, the nympha at first appears lifeless and without motion. At the end of six hours, the head shews itself, and rises by degrees to the surface of the water. The body afterwards disengages itself slowly and gradually' till at last the whole animal comes out of the shell. The new born fly falls on the water, and remains motionless for some minutes. By degrees it begins to revive, and feebly stirs its wings. Then it moves them quicker, and tries first to walk and then to fly. As these flies are all hatched nearly at the same moment, they are seen in swarms jumping and playing on the furface of the water for two hours. The male and female then seek each other for two more hours. Afterwards they begin again to skip and play, lay their eggs, and soon after fall down and die. Thus they finish their short life, at the end of five or six hours, and never do they survive the day that gave them birth. Let the history of these little animals teach us how false a judgement we form of the duration of our lives in comparison of eternity. Suppose, that one of these flies had preserved its active and laborious life for twelve hours, and of course had arrived at extreme age, according to their nature, and in comparison with its companions, who had most of them died at noon. If this old insect could speak, perhaps a little before its death, towards sun-set, it would address the following discourse to the friends assembled round him: "I now see that even the longest life must end at last. The term of mine is arrived, and I do not regret it, for old age began to be a burden to me; besides, I no longer saw any thing new under the sun. All that I have seen during the course of my long life has taught me that there is nothing certain or durable here. A whole generation of ephemerals have been destroyed by a violent storm. The coolness of the air has carried off numbers of young people in their bloom. I lived in the first ages of the world. I have conversed with insects much more respectable, robust, and better informed, than any of the present generation. I can also assert for truth, that the sun which now appears so near the earth, I have seen it in the middle of the sky. Its light was formerly far more brilliant than at present, and our an cestors cestors were much more sober and virtuous than we are. I have seen many things. I have a long experience; and have outlived all my contemporaries. My life began exactly when the sun was rising. During years without number it has traversed the sky with majesty, and every where spread its benign warmth. But now that it is upon the decline, and going to set, I foresee that the end of all things draws nigh. O my friends! how I flattered myself formerly that my life would be eternal! How beautiful were the cells I had made to live in! What hopes I founded on my good constitution, my strength, my activity, and the use of my wings! But, after all, I have lived enough, and none of those I leave behind me will run so long and happy a course as mine.” Thus might an insect speak, which had lived near twelve hours upon earth. But might not a man who had lived fourscore years hold nearly the same language. The difference between twelve hours and fourscore years is nothing when compared with eternity. Do we, in general, make a better use of our fourscore years, than the fly does of its twelve hours? ..>.. JULY XX. NOTHING PERISHES IN NATURE. IF there was any thing in the world which perished without being of use, one might doubt the wisdom of God's government. But we have reason to suppose, that, throughout the immense circle of the creation there is nothing lost, not even the smallest grain of dust; but that every 13 thing thing exists for certain purposes, and that each answers in its way the design for which it was created. The seed which falls from a flower is not destroyed. It is often carried away by the wind to make other flowers fruitful, or it takes root in the ground and becomes a tree. Other seeds or fruit which fall are eaten by birds and other creatures. They mix with their juices, and go through digestion, and the necessary preparation to make manure for the fields, for the use of men and animals. Certain things, it is true, corrupt and dissolve; but then they become parts of some other substance, and serve, under a new form, the designs for which they would not have been proper in their former state; because, in order to do so, they required being prepared by different transformations, and by mixing with other substances. The butterfly would not have produced a butterfly, if it had not at first been a worm. No animal whatsoever, such as we see them, could have existed if the seed had not preexisted in the first animal of its kind. Nothing then in nature is lost. Things are only separated or dissolved, in order to appear in a new form, and to become parts of some other substance. Each grain of dust may be called the seed of a new creature, and holds its place in the chain of beings, which has been produced for the perfection of the whole. If you take a handful of the sand you tread on, you perhaps destroy the lives of a million of insects which inhabited those grains of sand. If we were better acquainted with the inside of things, we might determine, with more certainty, what the other substances were in which they were in a manner concealed before, and into the composition of which they entered. But abortions, or children who die in the the birth, ought they not to be considered as creatures that perish without having been of use? Certainly not. They fulfil (in their way) the design of the Creator, and are prepared by many changes for their future state. Nature does no→ thing at one step. Man was first a child, the tree a shrub. Each creature exercises its powers during its short duration, and prepares itself for a new state. The step that man must take to pass from the mere sensitive life of childhood to the rational life of a riper age, is certainly not greater than that which the child must take in its mother's womb in learning to feel. And we can no more say, that such a child has not answered the purpose for which it was created, than we can say it of a man, because he may not here below have answered those designs which he is not to fulfil till he becomes an inhabitant of heaven. Each creature fulfils, in its way, and in proportion to its faculties, the end proposed.--Like the wheels of a watch, some move quick, others move slowly; but all tend, in a nearer or more remote manner, to the great end of their existence, and contribute, according to their power, towards the general plan formed by God. We may meet many things in nature, which will, at first sight, appear useless, and consequently to have been produced without design. We may imagine, that others have been entirely destroyed or annihilated. But let us not judge rashly, or too readily blame the ways of Providence. Let us rather believe, that all we behold, however strange and unconnected it may appear to us, is planned most wisely; and that God fulfils his designs, even when we, blind and ignorant mortals,. can form no idea of the end he proposes. Let us be assured, that the hand of the Lord. has, planned I 4 |