J.C. Ryle: God's Way of Working In and Through the Church

"Great is the wisdom with which the Lord Jesus Christ builds His Church!  All is done at the right time, and in the right way.  Each stone in its turn is put in its right place.  Sometimes He chooses great stones, and sometimes He chooses small stones.  Sometimes the work goes on fast, and sometimes it goes on slowly.  Man is frequently impatient, and thinks that nothing is doing.  But man's time is not God's time.  A thousand years in His sight are but as a single day.  The great Builder makes no mistakes.  He knows what He is doing.  He sees the end from the beginning.  He works by a perfect, unalterable and certain plan.  The mightiest conceptions of architects, like Michelangelo and Wren, are mere trifling and child's play, in comparison with Christ's wise counsels respecting His Church."