Israel after the flesh, lamenting their Jerusalem which is now not theirs, and mourning over their ruined temple, in all their synagogues repeat constantly the prayer, O Lord, build thou the walls of Jerusalem!  O Lord, build!  O Lord, build!  O Lord, build! is the solemn chorus, marking by its repetition the earnestness of their desire.  And should not this be the prayer of the Israel of God, scattered now as they are into their thousand divided and corrupted synagogues, and no token to be seen of the pure and universal Church, the living temple of the Spirit of God; should not we too, privately and publicly, join in the prayer of the earthly Israel, and pray that Christ would build for us the walls of our true Jerusalem?  For only think what it would be, if Christ’s Church existed more than in name; consider what it would be if baptism were a real bond; if we looked on one another as brethren, redeemed by one ransom, pledged to one service; if we bore with one another’s weaknesses; if we helped one another’s endeavours; if each saw and heard, in the words and life of his neighbour, an image of Christ, and a pledge of the truth of his promises.  Consider what it would be, if, with no quarrels, with no jealousies, with no unkindness, we sought not every man his own, but every man also another’s welfare; as true members one of another,—­of one body, of which Christ is the head.  Consider what it would be, if our judgments of men and things were like Christ’s judgments; neither strengthening the heart of the careless and sinful by our laxity, nor making sad the heart of God’s true servant by our uncharitableness; not putting little things in the place of great, nor great things in the place of little; not neglecting the unity of the Spirit; not stickling for a sameness in the form.  Or, if we carry our views a little wider; if we look out upon the world at large, and hear of rumours of wars, and see the signs of internal disorders, and perhaps may think that the clouds are gathering which, herald one of the comings of the Son of man to judgment, whether the last of all or not it were vain to ask; how blessed would it be, if we could see such an ark of Christ’s Church as should float visibly upon, the stormy waters; gathering within it, in peace and safety, men of various dispositions and conditions, and opinions; those who held much of truth, and those who had mixed with it much of error:  those whom Christ would call clean, and those, too, whom some of their brethren call unclean, but whom Christ has redeemed, and will save no less than their despisers; all, in short, who fled from sin and from the world to Christ, and to the company of Christ’s people!  O if we could but see such an ark preparing while God’s long-suffering yet withholds the flood!  O that all God’s scattered and divided children would join together in one earnest prayer, O Lord, build thou the walls of Jerusalem!  O Lord, build!  O Lord, build!  O Lord, build!