The Pulpit Commentary — Malachi — Section 60

devourer [porhl\pB the loousts] for your sa,kes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vino cast her fruit beforo the time in the field." 'rheir vines should produce fruit iu the season. (3) To give them good in the affec- tions of men. "And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome la1:1d, s11ith the Lord of hosts;" "H11ppy art thou, 0 Israel, who is like unto thee, 0 people, saved by the Lord, the Shield of thy help, and who is the Sword of thy excellency? And thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places" (Deut. xxxiii. 29). CoNoLUSION. Learn: 1. That a man iB a bad man who withlwlds from God his due. What are God's dues? All we have and are. " All souls are his." And if we render not up to him our souls-our all-we are bad. 2. A bad man becomes good by &urrendering his all to God. By bringing his all into the storehouse of God, devoting all to the Divine service. 3. The more good a man has in himself, the mvre go•1d he has from the universe. If his whole soul is filled with supreme love and reverence for right and God, all the heavens outside of him will "open their windows" and rain blessings on him. · Religious liberality. is of all profitable investments the most profitable.. And the converse. The niggard is "cursed with a curse." The ma11 who robs and defrauds God robs and defrauds himself. As the fabled eag,e who robbed the altar set fire to her nest with the burning coals that adhered to the stolen flesh she bore away, so the soul that defrauds God of his claims will set itself in ·fl.ames.-D. T. Vers. 13, 14.-Religion delineated and depreciated. "Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord," etc. In these words we have religion delineated and depreciated. l PRACTICAL RELIGION DELINEATED. Three expressions are here used to represent it. 1. To serve God. "Ye have said, It is vain to serve God." There is a great difference between serving God and serving man. (1) In the one case the servant benefits the master, in the other the sole benefit is the servant's. (2) In the one the service is .estimated by work actually done, in the other by work earnestly purposed. (3) In the one there is a surrender of freedom; in the other there is the attainment of it. He who engages to serve man must surrender some portion of his liberty; he who serves God alone secures the highest freedom. 2. To lreep God's ordinances. "We have kept his ordinance." This is only a branch of the service, or perhaps the method of doing it. God has ordinances or institutes, some of which are moral, some are ceremonial; the latter may cease to bind, the former are everlastingly in force. 3. To walk mournfully before the Lord. "We have walked mournfully before the Lord." To "walk" before the Lord is religion in perfection, religion in heaven. It irnplLs an abiding consciousness of the Divine presence, and continual progress in the Divine will. Walking "mournfully'' characterizes the religion of earth; it is associated with penitence, contrition, etc. 'l'be walk of religion is only mournful here. II. PRACTIOAL RELIGION DEPRECIATED. "Your words have been stout against me, saith the ,Lord( Yet ye say,. What have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, It'is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance?" Men say this: 1. When religion does not answer their secular expectations. Many take up with religion in these days because of the secular !::OOd they expect will accrue from their professfon of it; if the good comes not, they think it vain. 2. JVhen they see tM truly religious in poverty and affliction. Asaph saw this, and he said, "I have cleansed my heart in vain" (Ps. lu.iii. 13). 3. When they have taken up religion f ro-m selfish mo~ives: .A,man who takes up with religion for tho sake of guud will get 110 goocl out of it: he will get disappointment and damnation; for "he tllat seeketh his life shall Jose it." No truly religious man has said religion is vain; he feels it to be its own reward-the highest reward. For in truth, it is the only service on earth that will not prove vain. Whatever other labour fails, the success of this is ensured- ensured by the Word of God, the constitution of mind, and the arrangement~ of thti universe. "Therefore he ye t1telldfast, llllmova.ble, always abounding," etc. (1 Cur. 15, 68).-D. T. Vers. 16-18.-Genuine religion. Then they that feared. the Lord s_pake often one  60 '£HE BOOK OF MALACHI. [OB. lV, 1-6.