The Bible Story Part 328

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MALACHI

(Malachi wrote after the Exile. The temple, whose building Haggai had urged, was erected; but the people were already tired of its service.

"What a weariness it is!" they said. They brought worthless animals for sacrifice, and would do nothing in the temple except for pay.

Malachi denounced their selfishness, but said that if they would turn to G.o.d, he would still be ready to bless them. Malachi's writing is less poetical in its style than most of the prophets, but he speaks in a very plain, straightforward fashion.)

"Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he cometh,"

saith the Lord of hosts. "But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against perjurers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me," saith the Lord of hosts. "For I the Lord change not; therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

"From the days of your fathers ye have turned aside {409} from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you," saith the Lord of hosts. "But ye say 'How then shall we return?' Will a man rob G.o.d? yet ye rob me. But ye say, 'Wherein have we robbed thee?' In t.i.thes and offerings. Ye are cursed with the curse; for ye rob me, even this whole nation. Bring ye the whole t.i.the into the storehouse, that there may be food in mine house, and prove me now herewith," saith the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field," saith the Lord of hosts.

"And all nations shall call you happy: for ye shall be a delightsome land," saith the Lord of hosts.

"Your words have been stout against me," saith the Lord. "Yet ye say, 'Wherein have we spoken against thee?' Ye have said, 'It is vain to serve G.o.d: and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are built up; yea, they tempt G.o.d, and are delivered.'"

Then they that feared the Lord spake one with another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

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SELECTIONS FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

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These selections from the Epistles are not in poetic form, but they are given here because they are, in a way, the culmination of the lofty and inspiring thought of the Bible. Not only do they treat of the great themes of life and death, but they treat of them in the most solemn and impressive manner. They are like organ music, not pleasing the ear by the delicacy of rhythm, not having the rhyme and melody of lyric verse, but moving with grandeur and sublimity of thought in the higher ranges of being. Thus they form the fitting climax for all the wealth of song and story which precedes them.

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THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND SERVICE

PAUL'S EPISTLES

The letters of a man tell us more about him than any books he could write. Now Paul never wrote any books; but he wrote many letters. Some were to the churches he had founded; some to his fellow workers. Some of these letters were preserved and are in the Bible under the name of Epistles. Even in these letters others are mentioned which are not preserved. We have two letters to the Corinthian Church, but in them Paul mentions other letters which he wrote to that church. In the letter to the Colossian Church, he mentions a letter to the church at Laodicea, a city near to Colosse. It is fair to suppose that many other letters have also been lost. Probably the best and most important of his letters were preserved. These letters are the outcome of long thought. They were on subjects that Paul had considered for many years. The writing of the letters, however, was often the work of a short time, and their expression is not smooth and polished and carefully wrought. Sometimes, as in the case of Galatians, the letter was written because of a situation which he felt demanded immediate attention. Sometimes, as in the case of I Corinthians, he replied to letters of questions that had been sent to him from the churches.

Sometimes, as in the case of Philippians, the letter was called out in thanks for the kindness of the church. The most important letter, Romans, was written to prepare the church, which he had never visited, for his expected coming to them. In every case--it is always true of letters--the occasion of the letter largely determines its style and tone, but in all cases the spontaneity of the letter-writer is seen.

Paul dictated or wrote his letters hurriedly. He cared less for style than for thought. Vigor and force mark his writing. He did not try to imitate the graces of the rhetorician. He did not {414} always follow out a topic to the end. He sometimes began a sentence in one way and finished it in another. He sometimes began a sentence, and, going off to another topic, never finished it at all. He is not always easy reading. But these evidences of a free, spontaneous writing are only occasional. The greater part of the letters of Paul are very clear, simple, forceful statements of what he wishes to say.

Paul was not merely a Jew. He was a citizen of the great world of the Roman empire. He had been brought up in a city where Greek culture and civilization were very flourishing. His travels brought him into contact with all the varying forms of Greek life. He visited Athens.

He made long stays in Corinth, where the commerce of the world crowded the docks, and sailors and merchants from all parts of the great empire were to be met in the streets. He lived for nearly three years in the great city of Ephesus, where the courtiers of the governor of the province, fresh from all the latest fashions of Rome, jostled the priests of the great temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Before the end of his life he was a prisoner in Rome itself, the one city into which all the world poured its representatives, where the fair-haired men from distant Britain in the North met the dusky Ethiopian from Africa, and the Spaniard from the Atlantic coast walked the street with the Scythian from the distant East. Paul the prisoner lived for two whole years in his own hired house, and had permission to receive all who came to him. During this time, and for two years of previous imprisonment, he was in daily contact with the Roman soldiery. This cosmopolitan man, with his wide experience of many phases of Roman and Greek life, has dropped here and there in his writings many pictures from the civilization with which he was in touch. He used it to ill.u.s.trate the Christian life.

The athlete in the theater gave him a picture of the earnest, eager strife of the Christian. The soldier with his clanging armor suggested to him the armor by which a Christian might meet his foes. The temples that studded every great town taught him how the Christian was himself the temple of the living G.o.d. Thus it happens that the most lasting memorial, the most widely read allusions, to the great civilization of Greece and Rome come from this wandering preacher of an obscure faith who at last {415} was a despised prisoner at Rome. How it would have astonished the crowds at Ephesus who shouted, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" to be told that their great temple and their G.o.ddess herself would be known to most people in the world only because of their connection with the life of this man Paul whom they wanted to put out of the way! It was a wonderful civilization in the midst of which Paul lived, and a very bustling, active, self-important world through which he moved, but the most permanent things in it were by no means the things that seemed to most people of the time to be the greatest.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of G.o.d, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to G.o.d, which is your reasonable service. And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of G.o.d.

For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but so to think as to think soberly, according as G.o.d hath dealt to each man a measure of faith. For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office: so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another.

And having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; or ministry, let us give ourselves to our ministry; or he that teacheth, to his teaching; or he that exhorteth, to his exhorting: he that giveth, let him do it with liberality; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that {416} which is evil; cleave to that which is good. In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honour preferring one another; in diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing steadfastly in prayer; communicating to the necessities of the saints; given to hospitality. Bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Set not your mind on high things, but condescend to things that are lowly. Be not wise in your own conceits. Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honourable in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men. Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto wrath: for it is written, "Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense," saith the Lord. But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

--_Romans 12_.

Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the law. For this, "Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet," and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: love therefore is the fulfilment of the law.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER AT CORINTH.

From a photograph taken by Mrs. Fontaine Meriwether, and used by her kind permission [End ill.u.s.tration]

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And this, knowing the season, that now it is high time for you to awake out of sleep: for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the l.u.s.ts thereof.

--_Romans 13:8-14_.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

--_Ephesians 6:1-3_.

For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or thou again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of G.o.d. For it is written,

As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, And every tongue shall confess to G.o.d.

So then each one of us shall give account of himself to G.o.d. {420}

Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge ye this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock in his brother's way, or an occasion of falling. I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself: save that to him who accounteth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of: for the kingdom of G.o.d is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

--_Romans 14:7-.17_.

I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me.

--_Philippians 4:11,12_.

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one G.o.d and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Wherefore he saith, {421}

When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men.

And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of G.o.d, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, which is the head, even Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.

--_Ephesians 4:1-16_.