"They that feared the Lord," he says, "spake one with another." It was their surest means, by God's grace, of resisting the temptations of their enemy, and so it is ours. It was the greatest earthly blessing of their lives, and so it is of ours. An earthly blessiDg indeed it ought scarcely to be called; for it reaches from earth to heaven. The Communion of Saints which is begun here will go on for ever and ever ; only that, whereas now they who fear the Lord speak to one another of Him, hereafter He will Himself join their company, and they shall be one in Him and in the Father.
The Authorized Version reads, "They that feared the Lord
spake often one to another " ; but the word " often " is omitted in
the Revised Version, and does not occur in the original. It is one
of those words that seem to add to, but in reality detract from,
1 E. B. Pusey, Tht Minor Prophets.
MALACHI in. 16 465
the meaning of the text. " Spake often one to another " admits of gaps in the fellowship. "Spake one with another" tells the whole story of their communication, for it marks the attitude rather than the occupation of a life. " They spake one with another." It is the great statement of fellowship, of the gather- ing together in a community of hearts holding the same treasure, of characters that were growing into the same likeness ; it is the statement of a great necessity ; darkness all around, light becomes focussed ; evil spreading its ramifications on every hand, children of righteousness come close together.
I.
The Persons.
Who were they ? They are characterized by two phrases : (1) " They that feared the Lord " ; (2) " and that thought upon his name."
1. " They that feared the Lord " — those who had been brought to know Him as the sin-hating and sin-avenging God, to know Him as Him whose very nature it is to abhor sin, being of purer eyes than to behold evil or look upon iniquity. Every truth of revelation concurs in giving us those views of God and of our- selves which are suited to produce this reverential fear. Look at the universal dominion and the infinite holiness ascribed to God every- where in His Word; must not these overawe the mind when brought to a proper and intelligent apprehension of them ? Must they not lead the soul to reverential fear of the Divine majesty, holiness, and glory ? Will not the result be that solemn awe, humble adoration, and jealous circumspection characteristic of the gracious soul, which lead him to act habitually as in the presence of the all-seeing and heart-searching God, and cause him to fear the frown, and desire the favour of God above everything else ?
In the opening note of the Divine complaint, the prophet said : " A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master ; if then I be a father, where is mine honour ? and if I be a master, where is my fear ? " Here is a company that have " feared the Lord," and have "thought upon his name"; so that amid all the mass of
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466 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE SAINTS
people who had lost the sense of fear of their Master, there was an Elect Kemnant, a select few, who not only called Him " Master," but also feared Him. The thought of fear is linked, then, with the word " master," and with all that that word implies. If we speak of a master, we at once think of a servant ; and while the relationship of the master to the servant is that of authority and will and guidance, the relation of the servant to the master is that of obedience and service. Bearing this in mind, we notice that service is looked upon here rather as condition than as action. Character is marked in this word, " They that feared the Lord " ; they that lived within the conscious realm of the Divine, and re- sponded to that claim ; that number of units in the great crowd who recognized the Divine Kingship, not merely as theory, or as some- thing of which they made a boast to other people, but as the power in which they lived their lives and spent all their days : " They feared the Lord." There were men and women all around making offerings, and crowding the courts of the Temple at the hour of worship. Among those who came, God detected the men and women who really feared, and He selected only the gifts of those who pre- sented something — not as an attempt to make up what they lacked in character, but as an output of character, and as a revelation of what they were within themselves. " They feared the Lord."
Tj Another expression for that inward submission in which we commune with God is " the fear of God." To the Christian this fear is not a momentary horror at the mysterious power that is over his life. It is always possible for the creature moved by its love of life to escape from this emotion into renewed calm forget- fulness of God. But the Christian fear of God is rather that deep and joyful acknowledgment of God as the only mighty and living One, which we may and ought always to feel. "It is thus we must understand the fear mentioned in the Scriptures ; it does not denote a fear or a terror lasting for an instant, but it is our whole life and being, walking in reverence and awe before God " (Luther, Erlangen edition, xxxiv. 174). " What we, following the Scriptures, call the fear of God, is not terror or dread, but an awe that holds God in reverence, and that is to remain in a Christian, just as a good child fears its father " (Luther, xvii. 349). Thus the Christian's fear of God is the reverence of the child for that Father within whose mighty care it feels itself still sheltered. The Christian fears the Father whom he recognizes in Christ, " not on account of the pain and punishment, as unchristian men