r'. 



overmastering thought ; but now that the 

 months of toil are past, and all the imple- 

 ments of labour are cast aside, the finished 

 work absorbs all thought and fills all im- 

 aginations. So vast is it, and on such a 

 scale of magnitude, that one hardly saw 

 before the delicacy and exquisite adjust- 

 ment of parts, the marvellous art that 

 framed the smallest leaf and touched the 

 vagrant wild flower still blooming on the 

 edges of the woodland. It is, after all, when 

 the great festival days are over and the 

 thronging crowds have gone, that the true 

 worshipper finds the temple beautiful with 

 the highest visions of worship, and in the 

 silence of deserted aisles and shrines sees 

 with new wonder the workmanship of the 

 Deity. For all such this is the most solemn 

 of all the recurring Sabbaths of the year ; 

 the hush at noonday and at even is itself an 

 unspoken prayer. The moment of com- 

 pletion in the history of any great work is 

 always sacred. When the noise and dust 

 of the working days are gone, the great 

 illuminating thought shines out unobscured ; 

 154 



. 



