and if they are not we are apt to pass uncharitable judgment. Let us leave one

another in the hands of the heavenly husbandman, and let us not "judge one

another any more".

2. Heal the wounds.--When a fairly thick branch is to be taken out of a tree, the saw

must be used. Living wood resents the saw, and if the stump be left unattended

there is every possibility that the deadly canker may find an entrance. When the

saw cut is made it must be smoothed over with a knife, and the edge bevelled to

induce the formation of a cicatrix; how comforting is the thought that comes to

one while thus carefully tending the wounded branch--He who wounds is He who

heals.

3. Seasons.--Some trees will stand the pruner's knife at any period of the year -

others, particularly plums, must not be pruned until the quiet season, otherwise

there is a danger of bleeding the tree, perhaps to death. Grateful indeed are we

that the pruning of God's trees is in His hands. There are too many of the mind of

Peter who say, "And what shall this man do?", to whom the Lord must still

answer, "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me".

And so lessons could be multiplied. When we cease from the language of ungodly

science and speak of "Nature" as the "Works of God", we shall find continual parallels

and correspondencies between His Word and His Works; the Scriptural teaching

concerning fruitfulness unto God is a very blessed, albeit solemn one. Many other factors

must come into the practice of fruit culture other than pruning, but pruning there must be

if good fruit is to be produced.

The reader may be interested to note that the golden "snuffers" used in the temple

(I Kings 7: 50) are "pruners", being a similar word to that translated "pruning hooks".