And what is the building itself? It consists of stones; yea, of living stones. Stones, indeed, are we all by nature, gravitating earthwards, cleaving to the dust, hard, cold, lifeless. How many of you have sat for years, unmoved alike by tenderness or wrath! The rain and dew have fallen from heaven; the sun has shone in his brightness; the awful storm of thunder and lightning has passed over you; and yet you are what you were, unfeeling, obdurate, unchanged. Is not this like the stone, like the rock of flint? But, thanks be unto God, there is one who can, of these stones, raise up children unto Abraham. It is even these hard and unyielding materials that God has selected for the building of the spiritual temple, that the greatness of his power may be made manifest. It is not the angels and the heavenly host; it is not the legions of devils and the fallen morning stars that he has chosen; but the spiritually dead, miserable, and helpless children of Adam; these are the quarry from whence he collects the stones, with which to raise the walls of Zion.

And as the whole work is the Lord's, so is the separation of the stones from the quarry. His servants, the ministers of the word, have power to loosen no stone; for he speaks the word by their mouth; he directs the stroke where it shall fall. 66 My word," saith the Lord, "is as the hammer, and as the fire which breaketh in pieces the rocks." God's methods in effecting this great work are not uniform, but various. Some are loosened, gradually and gently, after long preparation, as Mary, Lazarus, and Martha. Others are more forcibly severed; then is the work more speedy, and also more perceptible, as Peter and Nicodemus. Others are rent as by a flash of lightning, like Paul on his way to Damascus, or the jailor at Philippi : there is a clap of thunder, and at once the stone is set free.

But when may it be said that the stone is loose? It is at that moment, my brethren, when the man becomes conscious that he is a poor sinner, and utterly lost, and is led to repentance by the Spirit of God. Then he is separated from the quarry. God has taken him thence, and he is altogether changed, different from the stones which remain in the quarry; he has become a living stone, and is awakened to recollection and calling upon God. He is now formed and polished by the hand of the builder, and laid

upon the wall of the spiritual temple, being united to Christ, the foundation, by a living faith, by a faith of the operation of God.

If we examine the building more narrowly, we shall discover a remarkable similarity in the living stones of which it is composed. Collected from the various nations of the earth, both savage and cultivated, and differing greatly from each other both in kind and quality, as soon as they occupy the place assigned them in the spiritual temple, all diversity ceases, and they severally form a constituent part of that magnificent edifice, which is distinguished for uniformity of execution, no less than unity of design, and in the harmony and beauty of whose several parts, the glory of the Lord is specially made manifest. They are all sprinkled with the same blood, all renewed by the same Spirit and though to themselves they appear utterly unworthy, they are, in the eyes of God, pure as the lily, and whiter than the snow. They are a lowly, contrite people, strangers in Mesheck, pilgrims of God, who have here no continuing city, but seek one that is to come.

In the world they have tribulation, but in Christ they have peace : they long and wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of their body, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. They have one faith, one hope, one baptism, one God, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in them all. Herein is the unity of the true Church. Jerusalem is a city that is at unity in itself.

One in spiritual life; the gifts and graces of the members of Christ are manifold and diversified. Behold, saith the Lord, to his Church, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires; and I will make thy windows of agate, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. They are all precious stones; but one, in whom hope predominates, may be compared to an emerald; a second is distinguished for love; he is a ruby: in a third we are struck by the prevalence of a child-like simplicity and humility; he is a sapphire; a fourth is a transparent crystal, shining in wisdom and knowledge. One is contemplative and intellectual; another is active and laborious. One is a babe, another is a young man, a third is a father in Christ. One has been

brought to Christ in one way, another in another way; yet they are all one in Christ Jesus. And all this worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

One Spirit works in all, and, as He wills,
Gives varied gifts on either hand;
But when each stone its place allotted fills,
The temple shall completed stand;

Glorious amidst the city of our God!

There shine those gems of many a hue,
Thus shall his church appear--his saints abode,
Who seemed so mean to mortal view.

II. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion. But how deeply and how tenderly he loves her, she appears not to know; or why does she utter this mournful complaint, "The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." O Zion, weep rather for thyself. If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God.

Visitations of calamity or of judgment may indeed be sent, under which nothing would be more appropriate than such a complaint. When, at the time of Noah, the whole world stood in hostile array against the Lord and against his anointed, and all, with the exception of a single family, were overwhelmed in one common and universal destruction; or when, both in Israel and Judah, the seed of Abraham revolted from Jehovah, and the knees of his elect people bowed before the altars of Moloch and of Baal; or when the haughty king of Babylon trampled with the iron shoe of war over the ruined fragments of Salem's towers, and the abomination of desolation was set up by Antiochus, on the altar of the Lord, and the holy book of God was torn by profane hands, and cast into the flames; or when, in later days, papal darkness brooded over the church, and obscured the light of heaven; or when, yet darker still, a godless illuminator dared to

mock, as "the crucified," the Lord of Lords-ah! who then would chide the daughter of Zion because she hung her harp upon the willows, and clothed herself in mourning as a widow, and gave utterance to that melancholy cry, "The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me?"

And what is thy state in these our days, thou daughter of Israel? Thou standest upon thy watch-tower, and lookest round upon thy palaces, and behold they are rich and glorious. On all sides thou hearest again the loud acclamation of Hosannah, hosannah to him that cometh in the name of the Lord. Again there is a witness and a testimony awakened in the land, where there was silence and sorrow the witness of him whom thy soul loveth. The blood-red banner of the cross is again unfurled; and showers of blessings descend from the Lord. O take then thy harp from the bough of the willow, and utter a song of praise to the Lord, and of defiance to his enemies. But should any one enquire of thee, "What of the night?" then wouldst thou answer, not, indeed, without tears, "The morning cometh, and also the night; if ye will inquire, inquire ye, return, come." Thou regardest thyself still as vile, even as the worm, Jacob, and sittest solitary, as a lonely cottage in a vineyard. Thou thinkest how that in a thousand places the ways of Zion mourn, and all her ways are desolate, and her priests sigh and her virgins are afflicted. Thou castest thine eyes upon the countless host of hirelings who continually cause the people to err, and lead them through Golgotha to everlasting destruction. Thou beholdest the millions of wandering sheep which hear not the voice of the good Shepherd, and perish, eternally perish, and no man layeth it to heart. At the contemplation of this darkness around thee, thy heart is well nigh broken, and the bitter cry bursts from thee again, "The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me."

But if Zion did not collectively, at the present day, thus mournfully complain, yet do I well know that in Zion, in the hearts of many of the individual citizens thereof, this lamentation is not silenced. I hearken to you, and hear, O children of God; and O! on every side of me, the heavy sigh escapes from many a heart, "The Lord hath

forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." There sits a poor weeping penitent, and he smites upon his breast and cries, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" As

yet he knows not how to find the arms and heart of the Saviour, and he thinks none other than "the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." Yonder, behold a warrior in the hard conflict against sin and the devil, and as he deals his blows around him, he cannot overcome that creeping serpent, whose heads, when wounded, are continually renewed; and at length the poor soldier of the cross sinks upon the earth and exclaims, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" Here sits a poor soul in the darkness of heavy temptation, agitated and oppressed with fearful doubts, alarming forebodings, and thoughts which cause all his bones to tremble. He doubts respecting his state, he doubts respecting Christ and his love, and the cry impetuously bursts from his heart, "The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." There languishes another, who has now for a long, long time, been in the fire of outward tribulation, and the Lord comes not down to deliver him, and his enemies rejoice over him, and say, "Where is now thy God?" and alas! his God does not reveal himself. The footsteps of the Lord are in the great waters, and his head is veiled in the clouds, so that even the friends of this troubled soul begin to say, " If thou wert righteous, God would not thus deal with thee;" and the poor sufferer is dismayed, and cries out in the anguish of his soul, “The Lord hath forsaken me." And whatever other causes may be assigned, is it not true, beloved heirs of the kingdom, that the melancholy plaint is not unfrequently heard among us. "The Lord hath forgotten me?" From many a heart does it arise, in many a chamber does it become vocal, and on the beds of multitudes of the children of Zion is it uttered, with bitter cries and tears, in the night, when the world is still, and the inhabitants thereof are at rest.

Gather yourselves together, then, ye godly troubled souls, for I speak not to those who have the sorrow of the world. Gather yourselves together. Think not that I mean to rebuke you for your unbelief. No! That belongs not to