132 



THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



Nature's operations, which proceed by a wise and 

 orderly progression from the seed to the blade, and 

 from the blade to the ear, and from the ear to the full 

 corn in the ear, never anticipating at any stage what 

 belongs to a more advanced one, never exhibiting an 

 abnormal precocity, the kingdom of heaven in us should 

 develop its germinating fulness with the same ease and 

 quietude and steady progress. There need be no 

 anxiety on our part in thus tarrying the Lord's leisure, 

 for the work is His more than it is ours, and He, like 

 every true workman, has respect unto the work of His 

 own hands, so that what He has begun He will com- 

 plete, and perfect that which concerneth us. And what 

 we are to do in regard to the work of our own souls, we 

 are taught by the same object-lesson to do in regard to 

 the work of building up the house of God in the world. 

 We must not disregard the day of small things, but labour 

 on faithfully and patiently. What God requires is not 

 our success, but our work, for it will teach us as nothing 

 else can do what is the true value of our own life and 

 that of others. 



As the swallow builds its nest by minute accretions, 

 and deems no particle of clay too small to be of use, as 

 it makes its precious nest of the humblest materials, so 

 let us deem no opportunity too small for service, no 

 human being so sunk in vice and ignorance as to be 

 beneath our regard ; remembering that the nest of clay 

 which we are constructing is for the rearing of immortal 

 souls. And as the bird uses its own saliva, parts with a 

 portion of its own substance, to cement its nest, so 



