God will spare us approvingly, as having much in us to approve, much in us to admire (mystery of mysteries !), much in us to
1 J. Sargent, Life and Letters of the Rev. Henry Martyn, 28.
502 A PECULIAR TREASURE
reward and crown. In the day of Christ, remembrance will be made of every service that we ever did. Nothing will be forgotten — not even the cup of cold water given by His poorest people. It will be remembered how, when Christ was hungry, we fed Him ; when thirsty, we gave Him drink ; when a stranger, we took Him in ; because, doing so to the least, mayhap, of His many brethren, we did it unto Him. To ourselves our services may seem so few, and the few so feeble, that we conclude they must be nothing in the sight of God. Ah ! but He treasures them to-day, that He may tell of them at last, and then say, " Servant of God, well done."
T| Forres suggests the name of Martin, who was a short time in the ministry after Mr. Murker's ordination. He was a Haldane student, and of him the story is told that a military gentleman, who was one of his stated hearers, remarked one day — "Why, Mr. Martin, if I had power over the pension list, I would actually have you put upon half pay for your long and faithful services." Mr. Martin replied — " Ah, my friend, your master may put you off in your old age with half pay, but my Master will not serve me so meanly. He will give me full pay. Through grace I expect a full reward." x
*§ Here [in a letter written by Oliphant to Alice L'Estrange, who afterwards became his wife] is another fine apprehension of that more magnanimous view of Christian work and recompense which was dear to those visionary souls : —
"I was thinking to-day, darling, how it would help us, to realize that all pleasures, joy, and happiness must never be considered except as being the accident of service. The mistake of the popular theology is that it makes people desire their salvation for its own sake, instead of its being the accident of our working for other people. It seems very hard upon God that He cannot invest His service with delight without our having a tendency to drop the service and appropriate the delight. We have thus got into the habit of putting the cart before the horse. . . . We are not forbidden to enjoy intensely the pleasure He attaches to the fulfilment of our highest duties ; but the love of those highest duties must be greater than that of the delight which they impart." s
1 J. Stark, John Murker of Banff, 175.
3 Mrs. Oliphant, Memoir of the Life of Laurence Oliphant, 246.
MALACHI in. 17 503
III.
A Peculiar Treasure.
" They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do make, even a peculiar treasure."
The Lord Jesus when on earth was one of the poorest of men. He was born to poverty ; He was cradled in a stable ; He went through His brief life on foot; He had no home during His ministry in which to lay His weary head ; and His crucified body was buried in a family tomb borrowed from one who was almost a stranger. Yet He was all the time laying the foundations for the most magnificent possessions in the universe of God. He was accumulating the only treasures that can outlast this fleeting globe. They are the innumerable human souls redeemed by Him unto everlasting glory. To them His prophetic eye looked forward when He said, " They shall be mine in that day when I make up my jewels." More closely rendered, the passage is, " They shall be my peculiar treasure in the day I act."
TJ There are very few alterations in the Eevised Version which give us a keener pang than this one. The time-worn phrase " When I make up my jewels," has been so precious that it seems almost sacrilege to touch it. But, except for the hallowed associations of the Authorized Version, the Eevised Version is equally precious. The word segullah is one of the most endearing terms in the Hebrew language. Its locus classicus is to be found in 1 Chron. xxix. 3, where we find that David had prepared for the temple 3000 talents of gold and 7000 talents of silver ; but over and above this, David had a segullah, " a private treasure of his own of gold and silver," and this he] was willing to dedicate to the same purpose. That part of a man's possessions, then, which he values most of all is his segullah. The word occurs in Exod. xix. 5 : "If ye will obey ... ye shall be to me a segullah above all peoples " ; Deut. vii. 6 : " Jehovah has chosen thee to be a segullah to himself"; and in the passage before us, the Lord says : " In the day that I do make " — " that day," " the day of the Lord," "the unique day," so often mentioned in the prophets — " they shall be mine, a peculiar treasure." *