74 METAMORPHOSES. 



buried under the earth, (though sometimes its sepul- 

 chre is in the water, and at others in various substances 

 in the air,) and after this creature and others of its 

 tribe have remained their destined time in this death- 

 like state, to behold earth, air, and water, give up their 

 several prisoners : to survey them, when, called by the 

 w armth of the solar beam, they burst from their sepul- 

 chres, cast off their cerements, from this state of torpid 

 inactivity, come forth, as a bride out of her chamber, — 

 to survey them, I say, arrayed in their nuptial glory, 

 prepared to enjoy a new and more exalted condition of 

 life, in which all their powers are developed, and they 

 are arrived at the perfection of their nature ; when no 

 longer confined to the earth they can traverse the fields 

 of air, their food is the nectar of flowers, and love be- 

 gins his blissful reign ; — who that witnesses this inter- 

 esting scene can help seeing in it a lively representa- 

 tion of man in his threefold state of existence, and moie 

 especially of that happy day, when at the call of the 

 great Sun of Righteousness, all that are in the graves 

 shall come forth, the sea shall give up her dead, and 

 death being swallowed up of life, the nations of the 

 blessed shall live and love to the ages of eternity ? 



But although the analogy between the different 

 states of insects and those of the body of man is only 

 general, yet it is much more complete with respect to 

 his soul. He first appears in this frail body — a child of 

 the earth, a crawling worm, his soul being in a course 

 of training and preparation for a more perfect and glo- 

 rious existence. Its course being finished, it casts off 

 the earthy body, and goes into a hidden state of being 

 in Hades, where it rests from its works, and is pre- 



