Tuesday, February 21, 2006

tuesday spider blogging

From Jonathan Edwards' "Spider Letter," written 1723, when he's 20 years old:

Corollary 1. Hence the wisdom of the Creator in providing of the spider with that wonderful liquor with which their bottle tail is filled, that may so easily be drawn out so exceeding fine, and being in this way exposed to the air will so immediately convert to a dry substance that shall be so very rare as to be lighter than the air, and will so excellently serve to all their purposes.

Corol. 2. Hence the exuberant goodness of the Creator, who hath not only provided for all the necessities, but also for the pleasure and recreation of all sorts of creatures, even the insects.


He never loses this enthusiasm and delight in the world around him. It's such a compelling picture of belief that encompasses happy spiders swinging from leaf to leaf!

p.s.: Yes, the hellfire and brimstone does come later.

2 comments:

Scrivener said...

Oh, I haven't thought of the "Spider Letter" in years! I so enjoyed reading that in grad school.

Bardiac said...

You know, it never occurred to me that he was joyful in any way, from the little bits I read way back. Nice to know different.