Vers. 1-3.-Spiritual reformation. "And now, 0 ye priests, this corn mandmen t is for you," etc. The grand subject we gather from these words is spiritual reformatign, "Now, 0 ye priests.'' The priests are specially addressed and reproved, for they, whose mission it was to raise the people to true worship and to holiness, led them into sin. Notice- I. 'l'HE NATURE OF THE SPIRITUAL REFORMATION REQUIRED. "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my Name, ~aith the Lord of hosts." From this language it would appear that true spiritual reformation involves two things. 1. .A practical application of the Word of God. 'fhere should be right attention to it, That Word is not only to be heard, earnestly listened to, but to be laid to heart, which means practical attention. It is to be applied to correct the wrong that is in us, and to generate and develop the true. 2. .An entire dedication to the glory of God, "To give glory unto my Name.'' All genuine spiritual reformation is implied in this-right attention to the Divine Word, ril(ht application of the Divine Word, and an entire dedication to the glory of God. This is a reformation not of l!ALAOHL II 84 THE BOOK 01" MALACHI. [cH. II. 1-17.
parchment but of principle, not of systems but of souls. It is In truth tho only reformation worth having. IL THE URGENOY OF THE SPIRITUAL REFORMATION REQ'ut'RED. The neglect th/Jreof incurs : 1. A curse. •• I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings." "• I will curse your benedictions.' Not the personal 11.dvantnges nnd perquisites enjoyed by the priests, but the blessings they pronounced upon the prople. The service bad been merely forme.l without any sort of reverence in it; the blcssin"'R they uttered should retributively be e,·acuated of e.11 efficacy and should be a me~o formula." (Dr. Dods). Whe.t an 11wful thing to have blessings turned into curses! and yet if we a.re unregenerate e.nd unrenewed this takes place by the very laws .of our moral constitution. .A.s hemlock turns even the sunbeam iuto poison, corrupt souls turn God's blessings into maledictions. 2. .A rebuke. According to Keil, Ewald, and othen;, the expression, "Behold, I will oorrupt your seed," should be, "Behold, I will rebuke your arms." Perhaps the idea is-1 will wither your power, I will check the wowth of your posterity. There is no true prosperity without spiritual reformation. 3. Contempt. "I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your. sol~mn feasts." "The dung in the maw of the victims sacrificed on the feast-days;· The maw wa.s the perquisite of the priests (Deut. xviii. 3), which gives peculiar point to the threat here. Yon shall get the dung of the maw as your perquisite instead of the maw. And one shall t&ke you away with it, i.e. you shall be taken away with it, it shall cleave to you wherever you go" (Moore). "Dung shall be thrown in your fe.ces, and ye shall be taken away, i.e. removed out of the way, ns dung would be, dung- be.grimed a.s ye shall be (1 Kingsxiv.10; Jer. xvi. 4; xxii.19)"(Fausset). CoscLUSION. .Are we tbe subjects of this spiritual reformation? Have we been renewed in the spirit of our minds? "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."-D. T. Vers. 4--9.-The minuter of Divine truth. "My coveMnt was with him of life and peace," etc. We have here the minister of Divine truth as he always should be, and as he often u;- • L THE MI!S.STER OF Drvn.E TRUTH AS HE ALWAYS SHOULD BE. We'learn:: 1. That he &hO'U,ld be a man divinely oolled. "Ye shall know that I· have sent this com- mandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts." Wbe.t was the Divine commission to the priesthood? Here it is: "Phinehas, the son. of Eleazar, the son of AAron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the chHdren of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him m}' covenant of peace:· and he shall have it, and his seed after him" (Numb. xxv. 11-13).. The Aaronic priests were called of God to be the ministers of life and peace to the people. Two of the greatest blessings of being. What is existence without life-intellectual and spiritual life? and· what is life without peace-peace with self, the universe, and with God? 2. That he sl,O'IJ,/,d be a man of profound rever.ence. "I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my Name." The priest was not only to be entirely free' from a volatile and frivolous spirit, but to be profoundly reverential, pervaded by a holy awe. Be was to be impressed with the solemnity of the commissron with which he was entrusted. 3. That he should be a man of moral truthfulness. "The law of truth w&b in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips." The moral laws which he has to inculcate and adwinister are to be regal forces in hie own soul, 'and en, bodied in his life. He is to be free from the control of all shams and theories, a mm of stern, moral realities. 4. Tl,at he should be a man of practical devotion. "He walked with me in peace and eq u.ity." His life should be a walk; there should be progress i11 it; he should walk with God, and walk with God in" peace and eqnity.u 5. That he should be a man of the highest usefulness. "And did turn many away from iniquity.'' Iniquity is man's curse and ruin; to turn him from that is to save him, and that iA the work of the true minister. The commission given to Paul was to "turn men from rla, kness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" (.Acts xxvi. 18). 6. •Thal b.e •hould be a ma-n of the 1,ighest intilligence. "For the priest's Hp~ should keep knuwl~dge, and they should seek the Law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." Being a "messenger of the Lord of hosts," b,e' is to understand CII, II, 1-17,] THE BOOK OF MALACHI.