Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-12-07

INTERESTING AND aNsvRuoTivs


Reflections Of an Elevat ting charsctes
--wholesome Food for Thought-
Studying the scripturai Lesson In.
diligently and ProHtably.
The lesson for Dec 10 is found in
Nal. 1: Gil; 3: S-12. 1t Is lesson Oh
giving, and the golden text is, God low
eth cheerful giver."-2 Cor. D: z.
Malachi means my messenger; and 1t
is not at all an unlikely theory that the
book Is the work of an unknown prophet
who thus designates himself; though OF
course there Is nothing to prove that the
term is not a proper name.< His hook
cannot be exactly dated. The state OF
things described In 1t may be that OF the
middle or Of the last quarter OF the NTH
century--during Exra's early reforms, or
shortly before Nehemiah's second visit
During this entire period the people Of
Jerusalem seem to have been grossly
neglectful of their moral and religious du.
ties, except at the times when the re-
formers temporarily startled them out Of
their Indifference. Probably we should
date the book of Malachi somewhere
about 400 b. @. 1t should be read through
by all, as the passages selected for the
two lessons are intimately connected with
their context.
IF then l be a father, where Is mine
honor" The thought of God as father
had grown up largely during the age Of
the prophets. Hosea gave the germs OF
the doctrine, Jeremiah developed 1t, the
prophets Of the exile brought 1t to larger
fruitage. Malachi assumes 1t and de-
mands that the people give the filial ODE
sdience that God has a right to expect.
The priests and the people had insulted
the Almighty by neglecting the services
of the sanctuary, and more especially by
refusing to contribute to the support Of
the religious establishment. bs
The offering Of MANNED and imperfect
animals in sacrifice was Of course ex-
plicitly forbidden by the law; twas not,
therefore, merely sign of indifference
or lack of zeal, but positive disobedience.
1t is perhaps a pity that Christian people
to-day recognize no such law; regarding
their gifts or payments for religious
work, in far too many cases, as a burden
which is to be made as light as possible.
E "Who is there even among you that
Wouiu Suut Tic uOOTS lOI uOuShts WY
little meaning can be extracted from this
rendering of the old version. by all
means let us read with the revisers, "Oh
that there were one among you that
would shut the doors, that We might not
kindle fire on mine altar in vain!' 1t
is a stern and terrible rebuke. Better
that the temple should be closed entire
ly, with all that that implied of spiritual
desolation and famine. rather than that
it should be profaned by perfunctory and
meaningless ceremonies.
From the rising of the sun even unto
the going down of the same, my name
shall be great among the Gentiles;" since
Jehovah is so mighty, and his worship is
to extend to all nations, the peculiar peo-
pie of his choice should feel it privilege
to serve him most zealously, that they
might share in the glory Of that latter
day. 1t seems to be fact that while
the later prophets repeatedly predicted
the worldwide sway of Jehovah's king
dom, the great masses of the people
never grasped this sublime ideal and
chung to their old narrowness and racial
pride.
"Will a man rob GodT 1t is to be
uOttu, III thio iCSSoh "
Christian giving. that we are using an
adapted text. The tithes or tenths Of
the yearly harvest, increase in stock, ETC.,
which the Jews were required to pay
were taxes, assessed upon them by law.
About half of the sum was used for the
support of public education, the care of
the poor, judicial officers, etc.; the rest
was intended for the support Of priests
and Levites and the expenses Of worship.
Nothing at all was given for any such
purpose as the spreading Of the knowl.
edge Of God among foreign nations; moth
ing was given with the purpose Of arous-
ing unrighteOus Jews to a sense of their
sins and inducing reformation, except as
the regular system of ceremonial worship
might have that purpose. Nothing, in
short, could be called missionary. The
nearest in idea to our gifts for missionary
purposes would be perhaps the free will
offering" and the contributions which
pious Jews doubtless made to the support
of those prophets who gave their whole
time to the proclamation Of truth. Ii is
true, however, that the duty Of Christians
to-day to support literally not only the
regular services of the church at home,
but also the missionary labors of the
church's representatives in all parts of
the world. is equally binding with the
Jewish tithes, though enforced not by a
fixed law, but by the law Of love-. More
over, the Christian should feel it joy
to give more than the jew, inasmuch as
his privileges are so much larger.
Neglect of Christian giving will surely
cause spiritual death. One need not go
far to find a modern instance.