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I. It will be a time for REBUILDING THE RUINED. "In the day that thy walls are to be built." The walls of Jerusalem are referred to — the walls of fortification, protection, these are to be rebuilt. There is, however, a more important rebuilding than this — a rebuilding that is going on, and will go on, until the great moral city shall be complete.

1. The human soul is a building; it is a temple, a "spiritual house" reared as a residence for the Eternal. It is "a city whose builder and maker is God."

2. The human soul is a building in ruins. The walls are broken down; its columns, arches, .roof, rooms, all in ruins.

3. The human soul is a building to be rebuilt. Christ is to be the foundation stone, etc. This rebuilding is going on according to a plan of the Great Moral Architect; is being worked out by agents that know nothing of the plan.

II. It will be a time for REGATHERING THE SCATTERED. "In that day also He shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortresses even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain." The human family, which heaven intended to live as one grand brotherhood, has been riven into moral sections, antagonistic to each other, and scattered all over the world. The time will come when they shall be gathered together, not, of course, in a local sense, but in a spiritual — in unity of sentiment, sympathy, aim, soul. All shall be one in Christ. They will be gathered in spirit together from the four winds of heaven.

(Homilist.)

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KJV: In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed.

WEB: A day to build your walls— In that day, he will extend your boundary.