| 215 and have become outstanding witnesses to many of the great truths of God. Thus, although none of them is God's temple, or the depository of God's gift, or the resting place of his glory-because none of them is erected upon the foundation stone, and according to God's pattern-yet all of them put together, manifest the excellency of many important truths which the church of Christ will exhibit in their fulness [fullness] when it is established upon the earth.
After enumerating the peculiarities of the various leading sects of the day, which he considers as consistent with the principles of eternal truth, he thus continues:
O, my God, my God! I have, according to the light which thou hast given me, glanced at every would-be christian church of the day, and I see all is of man's building; and although each of them is, to some extent, promoting thy glory, by exhibiting one or more of thy blessed truths, yet each of them is marring thy glory, and is only rubbish, which must be removed before thou canst lay thy foundation stone in Zion. Every living stone, in each of the churches, is so debaubed with filth, and so broken as to its jointing, that methinks thou must go to the quarry of nature, hard though it be, rather than to the old, battered, and defiled materials that are scattered throughout the churches.
My beloved hearers, my soul is in heaviness, and what am I to do-to build? I am willing, but where am I to build? I see what ought to be, but how to forward the purpose of God in temple-work, I know not-I know how to go about the conversion of a sinner; and success has proved that, in this, I am not mistaken; but where is the foundation of the temple to be laid? When shall the Lord my God discover his little hill of Zion? Do; any of you ask me, in what condition is your own little sect and party, my friends? I am ashamed of the terms, sect and party; but since things must have names, names they must have. My reply is a short but painful one. Some few who are connected with me are weeping and groaning, like myself, day and night, because there is no resting place for the ark of the Lord: because there is no living temple for the manifestation of the glory of our God, Many hundreds of others are mere babes in Christ, newly begotten of the Lord; like little children they are joyful in their God, rejoicing in their first love; and they are not yet ripe for bearing the burden of the Lord; and the remainder are neither more nor less than the Methodists, and I have taught them to be so. O my God, help me, for man cannot. Man has not brought me into this dilemma, and man cannot take me out of it. This much I have reason to be thankful for. I am not in a humor to be led away by any foolish fantasy of man, or of satan's devising. I will, by God's help, have clear direction from God, and solid gospel ground, for every step; but stand still I will not-stand still I dare not, unless it be to wait the direction of my God; and if the road lead to the stake, by the help of my God, I will take it. I will have temple-building work, and temple-building blessings, else I will fail in the attempt. This morning I was blessed by the application of this truth to my mind-"God has chosen the little hill of Zion." The mountains and the hills around leaped with rage, because the Lord made choice of the little hill; and I have felt convinced ever since, that if some score or two of devoted christians, filled with the spirit, were to come together, and be of one accord, and cry unto God day and night, God would come to Zion; God would lay the foundation stone, or rather, build them upon the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the head of the corner. God would restore temple-building gifts, and the temple-building blessings. God would raise a church that would become a praise in the earth; and through that church, the earth would soon be filled with the glory of the Lord.
That all of you may have a clear apprehension of what is wanted-yea, of what is promised; of what a christian church must be, before Christ can be said to reign in Zion, I shall give you a very slight sketch of the promised Bible church. And, oh, what a picture presents itself to my mind! The blessed Jesus is the first stone, and the alone foundation. The apostles and prophets, the second row this building, were like the foundation, and had their purity, their wisdom and power, by virtue of their union with him! and the remaining stones must be like unto these, else, built upon the same foundation they never can be. The whole power of the church must be from Christ-and it must be like unto these, else, built upon the same foundation they never can be. The whole power of the church must be from Christ-and it must be nothing less than the power of Christ. Every member of the church must be like Christ; and the life, and purpose, and policy of the church, must be that of the precious foundation. Such a Zion the Lord will build, such a church the Lord must have; and he will bring his treasures into it; and his gifts as well as his graces shall be there; and he will gloriously manifest his presence and his power there. Yea, he will glorify the house of his glory; and by such a church he will subjugate the kingdoms of the earth; and through the instrumentality of its members, the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of God. O! ye that sigh for the temple-building blessings, begin the work of repentance. Repent! repent! because ye have usurped the prerogatives
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