353. Any one can confirm himself in favour of the Divine from the visible things of nature, if he choose to do so, and he also does confirm himself, who thinks about God in regard to life. Take, for instance, the birds of the air, how each individual species knows its own food and where to find it, recognises its kind by sound and sight, and which among other kinds are its friends and which its enemies; how they mate, know sexual union, skilfully build their nests, lay eggs therein, sit upon them, know the period of incubation, at which time precisely they hatch out their young, love them most tenderly, cherish them under their wings, bring food in their bills to nourish them, and this until they can act for themselves, do the same things themselves and bring forth a family to perpetuate their kind. Every one who is willing to reflect on the Divine influx through the spiritual world into the natural can see this influx in these things. He can also, if he will, say from his heart, "Such items of knowledge cannot flow into them from the sun through its rays of light, for the sun, from which nature derives its origin and essence, is pure fire, and therefore its rays of light are absolutely dead"; and thus he can draw the conclusion, that such wonders come from the influx of the Divine Wisdom into the outmost things of nature.