people, were scarcely able to elevate their thoughts above worldly things; they had no spiritual devotion of soul, and this is the reason why a future life was but dimly revealed to them. It was the Lord Jesus Christ, who by His coming, brought life and immortality to light, and revealed the certainties of a life after death. The worldly-minded Jews, by this law, were taught the first principles of humanity, even to the lower animals; for it would be cruel to take the dam, and leave the young to perish! but if the dam were left to go free, and the young taken to be nourished in their growth, life and prolification would be preserved. Now, the preservation of natural life, in the laws and precepts of Scripture, shadows forth the preservation of spiritual life, and in this sense the law is important and heavenly. Birds, spiritually, signify the thoughts of the understanding; for as birds have the power of elevating themselves above the earth into a purer atmosphere, so the thoughts of the mind elevate man above this to a purer world! Heavenly thoughts respecting wisdom and purity of life, are in Scripture called birds of heaven, and when the mind is destitute of all heavenly affection and purity of thought, Scripture describes the state by saying, "all the birds of the heavens are fled." (Jer. iv. 25.) Young birds are emblems of the young and tender thoughts just budding forth into life and activity, and these are to be taken, nourished, and brought up with care; while the dam, or that principle of love which first brought forth these tender thoughts, is not to be confined to ourselves, but to go free and at large, and thus to become the nourisher of others, that so celestial love, as the mother or dam, may be free to produce the thoughts
