Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-12-14
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
SERIOUS SUBJECTS CAREFULLY
CONSIDERED.


s-------s .st4A IIUk
A scholarly Exposition of the Lesson
Thoughts worthy Of Calm Reaec-
tion-Half an Hour'sr study of the
scripturss-Time Well Spent.
This lesson, on the Fruits of Right
and Wrong Doing" Is for Dec. II. 1t Is
from NAL 3: 1918; A: 10. The golden
text, Whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap" is Gal. O.: Z. The final
words of Malachi are solemn and impress
sive. The position of the book In our
English Bible gives 1t place similar TO
that OF the Revelation in the New Testa-
mcnt, and their last chapters present a
striking contrast. 1t is hardly wise to
represent Malachi as the last voice OF the
old dispensation. That has rhetorical
interest, but is hardly justified by the
facts, whatever view we take of the Old
Testament. Some parts of IL were GER
tainly written after MalachIs time. He
| was, however, about the last OF the
prophets who pursued the method OF
| early times-the style OF spoken address.
From the exile onward prophecy tended
| to become more and more the writing
The book of Malachi Is in large part
an attempt to show that the misfortunes
and sorrows of the Jews are the result
| OF sin. This result, the prophet main
| taips, is inevitable and invariable. The
only way to secure the favor of God is
| to obey his law. That the observance Of
the national ritual was emphasized here
quite as much as merely moral obedience
| is natural in view of the circumstances.
For just now the observance or neglect Of
| the ritual meant, more definitely than at
some times in the past, the service or
the defiance Of Jehovah.
Explanatory.
"Your words have, been stout against
me-" The assumed ignorance Of the de-
faint Jews is true to life. The minister
goes to a careless, unbelieving man to-day
and endeavors to show him his duty to-
wards God. Nine times out Of ten the
man will not directly deny that ne does
owe some duty to God, but he will say,
why, 1 don't see that am any worse
than the average. There's your Deacon
Jones, he''-and then catalogue of Dea-
con Jones' defects. The man is defying
God, yet he pretends not to realize that
he has ever done so. f.
These Jews had supposed that they
could buy a certain degree Of prosperity
by their miserable hollow-hearted pre-
tense of worship, their MANNED sacrifices,
their blemished offerings, their withheld
tithes. They actually had the audacity
to complain because God had not reward
ed such mockeries of service. Yet this
is precisely what some Of us are doing
to-day. For it is always the half-hearted
Christian that complains. He, who has
never given to God his whole strength
and affection and loyalty, is the very one
who wonders why he is not the more
prosperous and happy, and why the Lord
has withheld from him so many of the
good things of life.
I'VE call the proud happy: the Jews
are still speaking. This is their senti-
ment, not the prophets. They claim that
the naughty and careless men who have
defied God are the really prosperous ones,
that Gods power and justice are thus
put in doubt.
"Then they that feared the Lord spake
often one to another" do not base any
teaching on the word "often," for it is
not in the original or in the revised YER
sion. Undoubtedly they that feared the
Lord did speak often, but that is not the
statement of the text. The class refer
red to is class of which comparatively
little Is said in the Old Testament, yet
which was the very salt Of the earth
during many centuries. Sometimes they
are called 1.-The meek" sometimes ''the
righteous" sometimes "they that fear Je-
hovah." They were men largely of hum
BILE birth and obscure of station. who re-
NAMED steadfast to the true God during
all the vicisstudes Of politics and priest
craft. During the exile their number
may have increased somewhat, the disci-
pline of that period teaching many the
lessons which all needed to learn. Dur
ing the century that followed they seem
to have been few, and the goddess major
ity had things very much their own way.
In the later psalms we have the utter
ances of some of these righteous men. In
the uncanonical books written in follow
ing centuries there are numerous men
tons of "the meek" "the righteous" etc.
They kept alive the Messianic hope; they
counterac.ed the rapidly formulating ten
dency of Pharisaism; they prepared the
way for the coming Of Christ. That they
should speak one to another was nat
ural; for such companionship as they had
would be among themselves.
In the day of Jehovah" the day of
judgment for the age that then was, the
day when all things were to be reckoned
up, the Lord would take these righteous
ones as his own peculiar treasure, as
something costly and beautiful. 1t is one
of the most intimate disclosures of the
divine mercy that can be found in the
Old Testament.
In that coming day the true relations of
things will be made clear. There will
be no difficulty then about telling which
is the sinner and which the saint
The picture OF the day Of Judgment as
a day of burning and destruction Is found
in many Of the prophets, more especially
the later ones. 1t Is imagery, of course,
Just as the gehenna of the New Testa-
ment is imagery: but imagery that GER
tainly had clearly defined meaning back
Of it.
1.-THE Sun of righteousness with healing
in his wings" there is to be a glorious
sunrise for those who fear Jehovah. 1t
is natural and usual to make this phrase
aomere name for Jesus Christ, hence to
spell sun with capital. The masculine
adjective "his' has nothing to do with
the case as some might suppose-'its"
was not i'm use in 1912. Prof, O.. r..
Brown, in the Biblical World, denies that
this passage and the preceding chapter
It--.xt. Nfo..,opio ~ Ia bof fhov