The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1911-12-22
INTERNATIONAL
SUNlYS(IlOOL
LESSON
LESSON FOR DECEMBER "a
MALACHI RERUKEs JUDAH.
LESSON TExT-Malachi 3:1-4:s.

MEMORY VERSES-3:16, II.
GOLDEN TEXT. Return unto me,
and l will return unto you, saith the
Lord of hosts. NAL S:7.
Q. unto you is born this day in the
city of David a Savior, which Is Christ
the Lord."-Luke I'll.
TIME-Some time during the age OF
Ezra and Nehemiah, but 1t Is not certain
whether about 45S (Ezra) or 444 or 4So.
PLACE-Jerusalem and vicinity.
CONTEMPORARY HISTORY - Aici-
blades at Athens The Peloponnesian
war 431-4OD. The republic at Rome. gov
erned by consuls and military trlpunes'
About this time Socrates was teaching
the only approach to a pure morallty
which Athens ever knew. Herodotus was
nearly through his travels (4S4-4OC. Plato,
the philosopher (49O-35O), was now BOY,
listening to Socrates. Xenophon (444-5o4l
leads the retreat of the ten thousand
back to Greece (4O0), which retreat ne
has immortaized in his Anabasis.
There is no certainty as to the
definite time when Malachi uttered
his prophecies, because no data IS
given in the book, and the sins when
he sought to reform were present
throughout the whole period of Ezra
and Nehemiah, from ASS through the
rest of the century. Most place MIN
soon after Nehemiah's second coming
to Jerusalem, between 433 and 43O.
He is plain spoken, and direct, with .
out high eloquence, or supreme poetic
power, but Astounding in effective
smiles, metaphors and imagery which
hit the mark, and do the work. Wnat
a London paper says of dlstin-
guished mans straightforward
speeches applies we'll to the sermons
of Malachi: "a sound and healthy
gospel doubly welcome because the
world is waking to the consciousness
of intellectual and moral hunger
which only these truths can satisfy.
If we read the later chapters or
Nehemiah and compare the sins and
evils which Nehemiah labored TO re-
| form, with the sins and evils WnlcF
Malachi denounces, it will be seen
that both are laboring for the same
ends. and realize the same necessity
of reform. God was dishonored, ana
religion made mere form and farce,
bv Offering mean things for sacrifices,
as polluted bread, and lame and SICK
animals. by refusing to do the SIM
plest service in the temple without
pay, by refusing to pay tithes for the
support of the temple worship, by
being weary of serving the Lord, by
intermarrying with the heather. In
all these things they broke the d.
vine law; they showed that their
minds were all wrong.
One of the peculiar glories OF the
Bible is that from the very beginning
its golden age is in the future, not, as
in other ancient nations, in the past
And as the golden age must have
maker. Gods revelation soon brings
into view the one, the Messiah who
alone can make the age OF gold which
is the Kingdom Of Heaven. Isaiah
tells us that unto us a child Is born,
unto us a son is given; and the gov
eminent shall be upon his shoulder;
and his name shall be called Wonder
full Counsellor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince OF
Peace"
In the last book Of the Old Tesla
ment. about 400 years before Christ
was born, the last prophet brings the
hope and ideal and goal in the person
of the Messiah, Christ, the Jesus who
was born on the true Christmas day.
Behold l, God, will send my messen-
ger, one coming in Gods name, and
bearing a divine message, whose
work shall be to prepare the way be-
fore me, the coming Of God himself
This messenger, interpreted by our
Lord himself on two occasions, was
one who should come in the spirit
and power of Elijah, doing the same
work, rebuking sin, denouncing all
wrongs, calling men to repentance,
awakening the conscience.
It is possible that these words had
a partial fulfilment in Nehemiah, a
foreshadowing on smaller scale, Of
;. John the Baptist who completely ful-
filled the prophecy. Nehemiah's re-
forms we're a part Of the preparation
for the coming of the Kingdom OF
, Heaven, and fixed the eyes of the
I I
:. people on the great ideal toward
which they were slowly moving.
Suppose we make two maps or the
9 world on the plan furnished by the
: United States census to show the de-
gree in which ignorance, certain dis
eases, and many other things prevail
by means of higher and darker
: shades. On one map we will note the
countries where the purest Christian
ity prevails, by white. A darker shade
will mark the more imperfect forms
and then let the shades grow darker
g and darker through Mohammedanism
n and the various forms of heathenism
d till we come to the blackness OF the
|, lowest fetishism.
n Then, with entire independence
t make a similar map Of the moral ant
intellectual condition of men. Where
e there is the most manhood, the no