November Eighteenth.
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DOVE AND SERPENT.
"Be ye therefore wise [prudent] as serpents, and harmless as doves."—Matt. x. 16.
THE serpent denotes the sensuous principle or love of self; so that by the words, "Be ye prudent as serpents," the Lord would instruct us to be as prudent and watchful, even as the most sensual mind who believes only in present enjoyment and present existence; but at the same time to be harmless as doves. The watchfulness and the circumspection of the sensuous principle must always be accompanied by the love and harmlessness of the dove. In other words, the counsel of the Lord seems to be this: Strive after all the care and watchfulness of the serpent, but keep clear of its malignity. But the Lord, by this simile, would further instruct us, that the perfection of the human character arises from the combined perfections of the animal, referred to their Divine Source, that is to say, connected with the Lord Jesus Christ.
It would thus appear that the perfection of the human character will be increased in proportion to the addition therein of the perfections of the inferior creatures.
Certain it is, that the life of man is a compound life, made up of an indefinite variety of affections and thoughts; and hence we may conclude that the constitution will be more perfect, as the variety is more extended, and especially as the corresponding principles are in due proportion to each other. We may
