But if this, in its reality, does not now exist; if, although God’s temple be on earth, the appointed sacrifice in it is not offered, the living sacrifice of ourselves; if the society has, by spreading, become weak, and the kingdoms of the earth are Christ’s kingdoms in name alone; are we, then, come back once more to the condition of the Jews in Babylon? are we exiles from God, living amongst strangers? and must we, too, say, with the prophet, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

This was the question which I proposed to answer:  What can we do to make our condition unlike that of exiles from God:  to restore that true sign of his presence amongst us, the living fire of his Holy Spirit pervading every part of his temple?  I mean, what can we do as individuals? for the question in any other sense is not to be asked or answered here.  But we, each of us, must have felt, at some time or other, our distance from God.  Put the idea in what form or what words we will, we must—­every one of us who has ever thought seriously at all—­we must regret that there is not a stronger and more abiding influence over us, to keep us from evil, and to turn us to good.

Now, the vestiges of Christ’s church left among us are chiefly these:  our prayers together, whether in our families or in this place; our reading of the Scriptures together; our communion, rare as it is, in the memorials of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour.  These are the vestiges of that which was designed to be with us always, and in every part of our lives, the holy temple of God, his living church; but which now presents itself to us only at particular times, and places, and actions; in our worship and in our joint reading of the Scriptures, and in our communion.

It will be understood at once why I have not spoken here of prayer and reading the Scriptures by ourselves alone.  Most necessary as these are to us, yet they do not belong to the helps ministered to us by the church; they belong to us each as individuals, and in these respects we must be in the same state everywhere:  these were enjoyed by the Jews even in their exile in Babylon.  But the church acts upon us through one another, and therefore the vestiges of the church can only be sought for in what we do, not alone, but together.  I, therefore, noticed only that prayer, and that reading of the Scriptures, in which many of us took part in common.

Such common prayer takes place amongst us every morning and evening, as well as on Sundays within these walls.  Whenever we meet on those occasions, we meet as Christ’s church.  Now, conceive how the effect of such meeting depends on the conduct of each of us.  It is not necessary to notice behaviour openly profane and disorderly:  this does not occur amongst us.  We see, however, that if it did occur in any meeting for the purposes of religious worship, such a meeting would do us harm rather than good:  its witness to us would not be in favour of God, but against him.