d consequently in what thick darkness they are
respecting spiritual things.

417. "Every one that is willing to do so, may confirm himself in favor
of the Divine from the visible things in nature; and he also who thinks
of God from the principle of life, does so confirm himself; while, for
instance, he observes the fowls of heaven, how each species of them
knows its proper food and where it is to be found; how they can
distinguish those of their own kind by the sounds they utter and by
their external appearance; how also, among other kinds, they can tell
which are their friends and which their foes; how they pair together,
build their nests with great art, lay therein their eggs, hatch them,
know the time of hatching, and at its accomplishment help their young
out of the shell, love them most tenderly, cherish them under their
wings, feed and nourish them, until they are able to provide for
themselves and do the like, and to procreate a family in order to
perpetuate their kind. Every one that is willing to think of a divine
influx through the spiritual world into the natural, may discern it in
these instances, and may also, if he will, say in his heart, 'Such
knowledges cannot flow into those animals from the sun by the rays of
its light:' for the sun, from which nature derives its birth and its
essence, its pure fire, and consequently the rays of its light are
altogether dead; and thus they may conclude, that such effects are
derived from an influx of divine wisdom into the ultimates of nature.

418. "Every one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from what is
visible in nature, while he observes worms, which from the delight of a
certain desire, wish and long after a change of their earthly state into
a state analogous to a heavenly one; for this purpose they creep into
holes, and cast themselves as it were into a womb that they may be born
again, and there become chrysalises, aurelias, nymphs, and at length
butterflies; and when they have undergone this change, and according to
their species are decked with beautiful wings, they fly into the air as
into their heaven, and there indulge in all festive sports, pair
together, lay their eggs, and provide for themselves a posterity; and
then they are nourished with a sweet and pleasant food, which they
extract from flowers. Who that confirms himself in favor of the Divine
from what is visible in nature, does not see some image of the earthly
state of man in these an