COCK AND HEN >> Pleasure in the Pursuit of Useful Knowledge

Our common domestic fowls, with small powers of flight, but busy all day scratching and searching the ground for seeds, insects, and scraps of everything that has nutriment  in it, represent a love of collecting all sorts of knowledge serviceable to good natural life. They never stray far from their own house or barn, which represents a subservience to uses. They lay up the nourishment they obtain in a generous supply of eggs, the first use of which is the multiplication of their kind; but another, not second in importance, is to furnish food to man. The meat in the eggs corresponds to knowledge which has been digested and prepared to nourish other similar affections for knowledge, and to serve for use to spiritual thought.

The calf has also been called a love of knowledge; but his love is for knowing the things which will make him useful to society. The fowls, spiritually understood, love knowledge of the same kind; but they serve by knowledge itself, not by affection or work.

Their early crowing is from pleasure in the coming light by which knowledge may be gained; their fighting is from conceit of knowledge; the motherly carefulness of hens is from delight in ministering to desires for knowledge.  The Lord said to Peter, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice”; predicting the utter lack of faith in Him before the dawn of His second coming. This coming is heralded by a new pleasure in the pursuit of useful knowledge, of which we see an amazing increase in every direction; and that increase is for the service of spiritual thought and life when the sun ariseth.  He also said to Jerusalem, “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings; and ye would not.” They would not, because they had no desire for the knowledge of useful life.

   Author: JOHN WORCESTER 1875