I am called upon this afternoon quite unexpectedly to me, to address this congregation, and I earnestly pray that the spirit of the living God may rest down upon me and upon all who are gathered in this Tabernacle, that I may be inspired to say something which will be profitable to hear, and that all who listen to my words may be able to understand them in the spirit by which they are spoken.
We have assembled here to-day to worship God our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ His Son, under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit. In order that our worship may be acceptable to God, it must be done in the name of Jesus, and it must be done under the influence or His Spirit; for "God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." We must be sincere in our worship; we must be sincere in all that we do in order that it may be acceptable to God. But sincerity alone is not sufficient. We have to worship Him in truth as well as in spirit, and we must worship Him also in the way that He has appointed, not in our way. God does not accept the ways of man unless those ways are in accordance with His ways. And we have come here that we may learn the ways of God, and then walk in His path. This is in accordance with the ancient prophets. They declared that in the last days, people should come from all nations unto "the tops of the mountains" for this very purpose, that they might learn of His ways and walk in His paths. The reason why we have had to do this is because the ways of our fathers, in their worship and in their service towards God, have been only in accordance with their private notions, their ideas of what is right.