354、谁都能根据自然界中所看到的事物来确认支持神性，如他会发现：毛虫为满足某种欲望而寻求并渴望将它们在地上的状态变为更类似于天堂的状态；为此，它们会爬进角落，把自己包裹起来，就像进入一个子宫，以便重生；然后在那里逐渐变成茧、蛹、龄虫、若虫，最后成蝶；经过这一系列变形之后，它们各按其类，装扮上美丽的翅膀，飞入空中，仿佛飞到自己的天堂，在那里嬉戏玩耍，婚配，产卵，为自己预备后代；与此同时，它们靠花朵所带来的愉悦和甜蜜的食物来维持自己。凡从自然界中所看到的事物来确认支持神性的人，谁不能在如毛虫这样的生物中看到人的尘世状态的某种形像？在如蝴蝶这样的生物中看到天堂状态的某种形像？另一方面，那些确认支持自然的人的确看到这些事，但他们把人的天堂状态抛诸脑后，故将这些事称为纯粹的自然本能。
354. Anyone who looks at larvas can decide in favor of Divinity on the basis of observation of nature. Larvas are moved by the pleasure of some impulse to exchange their earthly state for one that is a parable of heaven. So they crawl off to particular places where they put themselves into a kind of womb in order to be reborn. There they become chrysalises, mature pupas, caterpillars, nymphs, and eventually butterflies. At the close of this transformation they are equipped with beautiful wings according to their species, fly in the air as though it were their heaven, play in it cheerfully, form marriages, lay eggs, and provide themselves with descendants. All the while they are nourishing themselves on sweet, soft food from flowers.
Does anyone who is deciding for Divinity on the basis of observation of nature fail to see a kind of reflection of our earthly state in the caterpillars and of our heavenly state in the butterflies? Yet people who are deciding for nature, since they emphatically reject any "heavenly state," say that these are simply earthly instincts.
354. Everyone can, from the visible phenomena in nature, confirm himself on the side of the Divine when he observes caterpillars, which to gratify some urge, seek and aspire to change the state of their earthly existence into a state more analogous to a heavenly one; which therefore creep into places and wrap themselves as though in a womb in order to be reborn, and there become chrysalises, pupae, instars, nymphs, and finally butterflies; and then, having undergone this metamorphosis and put on beautiful wings in accordance with their species, fly away into the air as though into their heaven, where they play amiably, mate, lay their eggs, and provide themselves a posterity, and meanwhile sustain themselves on pleasant and sweet nourishment from flowers.
What person who, from the visible phenomena of nature, confirms himself on the side of the Divine, does not see a kind of image of people's earthly state in these creatures as caterpillars, and an image of their heavenly state in them as butterflies? People who confirm themselves on the side of nature, however, see these phenomena indeed, but because they have rejected from their minds any concept of people's heavenly state, they call them mere instincts of nature.
354. Any one can confirm himself in favour of the Divine from things seen in nature, when he sees larvae, from delight of a certain desire, longing and hoping for the change from their earthly condition to one something like the heavenly, and creep into places and stow themselves away, as if into a womb in order to be reborn, and there become chrysalises, aurelias, caterpillars, nymphs, and at last butterflies; then having undergone this change of form and been decked with the beautiful wings of their kind, they fly upwards into the air as into their heaven, and there frolic joyfully, effect their marriages, lay eggs, and provide for themselves a posterity; and in the meantime are nourished with delightful and sweet food from the flowers. What man, confirmed in favour of the Divine by the visible things of nature, does not see a certain likeness to man's earthly state in these creatures as larvae, and a likeness to the heavenly state in them as butterflies? On the other hand, those confirmed in favour of nature see indeed the same things, but because they have cast out of mind the heavenly state of man, they call them mere instincts of nature.
354. Any one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from things visible in nature, when he sees larvae, from the delight of some impulse, desiring and longing to change their terrestrial state to a certain likeness of the heavenly state, and for this purpose creeping into corners, and putting themselves as it were into a womb in order to be born again, and there becoming chrysalises, aurelias, caterpillars, nymphs, and at length butterflies; and having undergone this metamorphosis, and each after its kind been decked with beautiful wings, they ascend into the air as into their heaven, and there disport themselves joyfully, form marriage unions, lay eggs, and provide for themselves a posterity, nourished meanwhile with pleasant and sweet food from flowers. Who that confirms himself in favor of the Divine from the visible things in nature can help seeing a kind of image of man's earthly state in these as larvae, and in them as butterflies an image of the heavenly state? Those who confirm themselves in favor of nature see the same things, but because in heart they have rejected the heavenly state of man they call them merely natural instincts.
354. Quisque ex visibilibus in natura pro Divino potest se confirmare, dum videt vermes, qui ex jucundo cujusdam cupidinis affectant et spirant mutationem status sui terrestris in statum quendam 1 analogum coelestis, et propterea repunt in loca, ac mittunt se sicut in uterum ut renascantur, et ibi fiant chrysallides, 2 aureliae, erucae, nymphae, et demum papiliones, et tunc hanc metamorphosin passi, 3 et secundum speciem pulchris induti alis, evolant in aerem sicut in suum coelum, ac ibi genialiter ludunt, agunt connubia, ponunt ova, ac prospiciunt sibi posteritatem; ac interea victu amaeno et dulci ex floribus se nutriunt. Quis, 4 qui pro Divino ex visibilibus naturae se confirmat, non videt aliquam imaginem terrestris status hominis in illis ut vermibus, et imaginem status coelestis in illis ut papilionibus: at illi qui pro natura se confirmant, vident quidem illa, sed quia coelestem hominis statum rejecerunt animo, vocant illa meros naturae instinctus.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: quendum
2. Prima editio: chrysalides,
3. Prima editio: passae,
4. Prima editio: Quis non,