Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1876-05-11
&eading fut the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
(Original.l
MALACHI, $50.

REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
[Onginall
MALACHI, $40.
aye are cursed with curse" God is an
unchangable God. "He is from all mutation
free" What he was on the morning of crea-
ton, he is to-day and will be forever. As he
dealt with the children of Israel, so is he deal.
ing with US to-day, and so will be continue to
deal with the human family as long as the
world lasts. On account of their sins, God
cursed the whole nation of the Jews. The
nations of the earth continued to sin against
God as did the Jews, and God still curses them
with curse for their transgressions.
The sins of the Jews, on account of which
God cursed them with curse, are specified.
The people had become sorcerers, adulterers,
false.swearers, oppressors Of the hireling, ofthe
widow, of the fatherless, and of the stranger.
The land was full of strolling fortune.tellers.
Multitudes of persons resorted to system of
trickery for the purpose of making living.
The streets were full of bastards. The mar.
riage relation was treated with contempt. The
laborer was defrauded out of his wages, by a
system of swindling, and the widow and or
phan were oppressed. These were grievous
sins; but they were only a part Of the curse
with which the nation was cursed. That ma.
ton, which is full of stroling fortune-telers is
surely cursed of God. In social and politi'
cal point of view, no greater curse can be in.
aicted upon any people than to make the
youth of the country fornicators and the mar.
ried men and women adulterers. A nation
of bastards would be frightful sight. That
individual who cheats and deirauds the hire
ling out of his wages tramples on his own in
terest, and he who turns deaf ear to the cry
of the widow and orphan, would rob the grave
The tender mercies of such man are as cruel
as death.
The practice of sorcery, adultery, false.
swearing and oppression, brought them to a
state of absolute poverty. Fortune.telling
adultery, falseswearing and oppression court
poverty. squalid want arises from such
practices, as filthy odor arises from putrid
carcass. The practice of the sins specified re-
suited in miserable want. Desolation spread
over the land and hunger, gaunt and frightful
took his seat in every dining-room. The sin
which produced all these sins, resulting in SO
much social, national and individual misery
was robbing God. All the evils with which
the Jews, as nation, were cursed befell them,
on account of their robbing God. They first
sinned against God, and then commenced sim
ming against each other and themselves. From
Nehemiah, who was the contemporary civil
ruler with the prophet Malachi, we learn
that the Jews had withheld from the Levites
the positions which God in his law, had or.
dered to be given to them. The result was
that many of those who we're commanded by
God to serve in the temple as priests and
singers, were forced to labor in the field that
they might provide living for themselves
and their households. Nehemiah, 13: TO- This
indicated desperate state of wickedness.
Under old Testament dispensation, the tribe
of Levi was given ne portion of the territory.
God appointed that this tribe should be pro-
vided for by the other tribes. As the Jews
had but lately been brought out of Chaldea,
no doubt they pleaded poverty. No doubt
they said, ave cannot support our families
and make the contributions which the law re-
quires to be made for the support of the Le-
vites." God called this robbing him, and
because they withheld the offerings of the
Lord the whole nation was cursed with a
curse
If we will cast our eyes over the nations of
the earth, we will find that robbing God is
the sin of this age, and in consequence Of this
sin individuals and nations are cursed with a
curse. The land is cursed with Juggling trick
sters. Justice has taken her exit from the
courthouse because men deliberately swear
falsehoods. The hire of those who have reap
ed down the fields, which has been kept back
by fraud, has entered into the ears of the
Lord of the Sabbath. James, 5:4. Fortunes
are wasted in wantonness. Men who live in
a Christian land and have received Chris
tian education, have been practicing asystem
of high handed robbery. They have been
stealing from God and God has cursed the
land with grievous curse. In consequence
of our having robbed God, we have been
cursed with bad government, bad laws, and
government good in theory, but unright'
eously administered. The foundations of 30
ciety are destroyed and the land groans be.
meath the curse Of almighty God.
The remedy for all these evils is not in the
ballot.box, as many suppose; neither is it in
the mere thoroughly educating the masses.
Until the true and God-provided remedy is
found and applied, the ballot-box will be
cursed, and the masses of the people will be-
come more ignorant and degraded. There is
remedy. God has pointed it out as plainly
as words can make it. Here it is: Bring ye
all the tithes into the store-house, that there
may be meat in mine house, and prove me
now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I
will not open you the windows of heaven and
pour you out blessing that there shall not
be room enough to receive it, And l will re-
buke the dsvourer for your sakes, and he
shall not destroy the fruits of your ground
neither shall your vine cast her fruit before
the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts
And all nations shall call you blessed for ye
shall be delightsome land, saith the Lord of
hosts" Malachi, 3:10-12.
Until reformation takes place in the