foll fe.ith the.t what God does is nlwe.ys goo,1; beMflt, to preserve their name for ever, and this sentiment \mS e.11 the harder to Thought upon hia Name, Prized his N'ame, cherish be<'anse they lived under a system regarded it with awe, Septun.gint, •iiA11• of tempon,l re,.-ards and pnniehment.e. The {Jovµ,vois -r~ l!voµ,a eJ.-ov, ".who rev:erenoed Septuagint and S.riM h&ve, "These things hie Name." sprike they the.t feared the Lord," as if the Ver. 17.-They shall be mine, etc. ·This two pl'e<'eding vel'l'<'B reported the words of is better rendered, in acoordanoe with the the pious. Some Fathera and commentators Septuagint and Vuigate, " They shall be to bn,-e taken the !'B.me view. But it is diffi- mo, saith the Lord. of. hosts, in the dar, cult to oonf'~i,-esuch words coming from the ,vhich I am preparing, a peculiar·treasure.' mouth of those who fear God; unless they Thi~ day of the Lord iii the duy1of judgment, are so f'&iled ironfrally. But this is inad- which God is always prepa.ring by his visi- missible, as we see that in the present verse tation of nations and individuala. Then they are represented in their true character, shall the righteous be to God a peculiar and such a sudden change from irony to treasure (segullah), that whioh he prizes as 11,('tuality is unnatural and quite opposed to his special possession (see Exod. • xix. 5, the prophet's usual manner. A book of whence the expression is derived; nndciomp. remembrance was written before him. The Deut. vii. G ; xiv. 2, xxvi. 18; Ps. oxxxv. book represents God's pro,-idence and om- 4). I will spare them ; i.e. when I punish niscience, his ever-wakefnl care, his unfe.il- sinners. They are spared on two groun\is, ing knowledge. "Are not these things because they are his sons, and because ihey noted in thy book ? " says the psalmist (Ps. serve him like obedient children (Ps. ciii, I vi. 8) ; and when the dead were judged, 13). Sep_tnagint, alp • .-1., 11b.-06s, "I will Daniel saw that the books were opened choose them.'' (Dan. vii. 10). The idea is ta.ken from the Ver. 18.-Then ·ahaU. y~ retnr~, an~ dis- national records wherein were noted events cern j Ol', ye shall again discern . . '.fhey had of importance, such as we find in the already had many opportuniti'3~'b!ith in the "uneiform inBCriptions (comp. l Kings xi. history of the nation and the life of in- 41, etc.; Ezra iv. 15; vi. l; Esth. vi. l; dividuals, of observing the different tree.~ Rev. =· 12). This book wa.s to lie, as it were, always before the eyes of the Lord, to ment of the godly and of sinners; but in the day of the Lord they , should have a remiud !Jim of the pious. Rosenmiiller more plain and convincing proof,of Gpd's compares the }ll'Overoial saying, 'E-yp,iCl"I El' more.I government (comp. Exocj. ,xi. 7; Wisd. .o.,11s l'Jb..-roLS, " It is written on the tablets of v. 1--5); "So that men s~al~- say, Verily Zeus," on which Erasmus comments in hie there is a reward for the µghteons ; veril7. • Ada.gia.,' under the title" Fides et Gravitas." there is a God that judgetl;i. in the 811.fth ' Par them that feared the Lord. For their (Ps. I viii. 11). .. " .
HOMILETICS. Ver. 2.-TM =ifestation of Christ a testvn.g-time to all; _We' m~y apply this ~- L To CHRIST'S FIRST MAND'EBT.A.TION TO THE WORLD. This truth W!\S forese~n by ' .
Simeon (Luke ii. 34', 35). And when Jesus e1:1tere~ on his public nii1;1istry~;h~s preacb.- ing and his very presence served as a testmg-t1me to 111\. l, His. teachmg W8:5, a process of sifting (Matt. iii 12). Socrates used to go a~out Athens tes~mg and_ refinrng men's ideas, and in his own unrivalled method extractmg the few grams of gold· from the mass of rubbish in young men's m~nds. Our L~rd did a more valuable servic~, testing men's hearts rather than therr h~ads, th~u -characters rat~er than their opinions. Illust. : Nicodemus, tested, convicted of ignorance, but_ ultimately refine~. Others when convicted were offended and repelled; e.g._ Matt. xv. 1_2-14;. John VI. 25-66 • viii. 33-59. So severe was this testing· process that Christ pronounced a special hlessi.ncr0 on all who stood it (Luke vii. 23). Yet Chrbt's teaching held out the door of mercy to all He showed t? the world_ that in the. ":'i~st of t_he dr?ss of. so~e of the foulest lives there were grams of gold, gems of Divrn1ty, which hfa punfying power could disengage. Sinful men and women ." loved m~ch," ~caUFe ~hr?1:'gh his words they learnt:d that they had been much forgiven. 2. ·'Ihe punty of his hie made his \'ery presence like the flame of a refin~r's fire. Men could not be much with him witliout beino- either attr::.cted and purified or repelled and made worse; e.9. the Ga,lureues, tl~e chief priests, Judas. On .. the other hand we note Z~ccl)reus, !he 1::,an 1arilau woman, the "sinn~r" (Luke vu. 37), the eleven apostles. This testing OH. III, Jr....18.] THE BOOK OF MALACHI. 43