shed and
incompleted works of man; if the painter, or sculptor, or artificer,
would shrink from having his labours judged of when in a rough,
unpolished, immatured state; how much more so with the works of God? How
we should honour Him by a simple, confiding, unreserved submission to
His will,--contented patiently to wait the fulfilment of this
"_hereafter_" promise, when all the lights and shadows in the now
half-finished picture will be blended and melted into one harmonious
whole,--when all the now disjointed stones in the temple will be seen to
fit into their appointed place, giving unity, and compactness, and
symmetry, to all the building.

And who is it that speaks these living "words," "What _I_ do?" It is He
who died for us? who now lives for us! Blessed Jesus! Thou mayest _do_
much that our blind hearts would like _un_done,--"terrible things in
righteousness which we looked not for." The heaviest (what we may be
tempted to call the severest) cross Thou canst lay upon us we shall
regard as only the _apparent_ severity of unutterable and unalterable
love. Eternity will unfold how _all_, _all_ was needed; that nothing
else, nothing less, could have done! If not now, at least then, the
deliberate verdict on a calm retrospect of life will be this,--

"_THE WORD_ OF THE LORD IS RIGHT, AND ALL HIS WORKS ARE DONE IN
TRUTH."

5TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"Herein is my Father glorified, that _ye bear much fruit_."--John
xv. 8.

The Father Glorified.

When surveying the boundless ocean of covenant mercy--every wave
chiming, "God is Love!"--does the thought ever present itself, "What can
I do for this great Being who hath done so much for me?" Recompence I
cannot! No more can my purest services add one iota to His underived
glory, than the tiny taper can add to the blaze of the sun at noonday,
or a drop of water to the boundless ocean. Yet, wondrous thought! from
this worthless soul of mine there may roll in a revenue of glory which
He who loves the broken and contrite spirit will "not despise." "_Herein
is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit._"

Reader! are you a fruit-bearer in your Lord's vineyard? Are you seeking
to make life one grand act of consecration to His glory--one
thank-offering for His unmerited love. You may be unable to exhibit much
fruit in the eye of the world. Your circumstances and position in life
may forbid you to point to