Malachi 3:18 Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not. The time alluded to by the prophet appears to be the awful day of judgment. Then shall ye return, says he, or be converted to a full sense of your neglected duty and your past transgressions. The delusions of folly and self-love shall be removed; conscience shall then no longer be blinded by the corruption of reason, or overpowered by the violence of the passions; but vice shall appear in all its depravity; guilt shall be attended with all its terrors and remorse; and you "shall discern the striking contrast between the state of him that serveth God, and him that serveth Him not." Without presuming to enter upon any imaginary description of the difference between the righteous and the wicked, in that future and invisible world to which we are all hastening, permit me to state some of the principal distinctions between "him that serveth God, and him that serveth Him not," here, in this present life. Consider the superiority of the pious, in their intellectual powers, as well as in the good qualities and virtuous endowments of the mind. By the "pious" understand only those who admit, with grateful adoration, the glorious truths of revealed religion, and who endeavour to fulfil the duties of the Gospel of Christ from a steadfast belief in its holy sanctions. 1. The man who serves God may be said to possess a steady, elevated, and comprehensive mind. His belief is a strong and lively faith, implanted in early youth, founded on the first elements of reason, cherished from inclination, and deriving, force from the influence of sentiment and the energy of the passions. He receives also that Divine revelation which graciously instructs him in the ways of His providence; enjoins his duty under various forms, and prescribes the reward of his due obedience. 2. The pious man, by frequent meditations on the Almighty Father, shows a natural relish for grandeur and sublimity. The mere worldling finds his little passions, his low thoughts and grovelling desires completely occupied with the pleasures and enjoyments which thins present world affords. If he claim any pretensions to what is called a taste for the sublime and beautiful, it is confined chiefly to the productions of art. At most, he admires only parts, not a whole; and looks with wonder at the mere creature, without raising his thoughts to the great Creator. The truly religious man is the very reverse of this. He can retire, as it were, within his own bosom, as into a sanctuary, and converse with God. Every species of excellence is admired in proportion as it approaches His wisdom, His goodness, or His power. 3. By "lifting up our hearts unto the Lord" in the fervour of prayer and thanksgiving it is impossible not to enjoy the highest sensibility of which the human soul is capable; — a sensibility very unlike the sickly offspring of a "worldly sorrow." The sensibility cherished by an habitual intercourse with God, purifies and ennobles the mind. 4. Akin to this intellectual enjoyment, is lively and impressive gratitude. It concerns both Divine and human obligations. 5. A constant sense of the benefits which he receives from God, prompts the pious man to imitate the Divine love, within the small circle of his power and abilities. Equally active is this Divine principle in promoting peace, in teaching forbearance, and in the forgiveness of injuries. 6. None but the pious man can have a proper sense of the dignity of his nature. Whatever the condition allotted to us here, however humble and dependent, we know that not all the world can estrange us from our Maker, or banish us from the presence of God. And nothing but sin can render the sense of this Divine presence afflicting, or leave us, in our sufferings, comfortless or degraded. 7. He who serves God with truth and fidelity will be endowed with a larger portion of fortitude than he who serveth Him not. It was proper that a life of discipline should abound with difficulties and dangers, temptations and calamities. They are the appointed measures of our virtue and obedience, and they form our spiritual warfare with the world. The pious man ever regards them as the means of improvement in righteousness and true holiness; as such, he submits to them with patience and resignation. Full of trust and confidence in the Divine wisdom and goodness, he learns "to suffer as a good soldier of Christ." If we take, therefore, from human life this grand principle of action — a principle that equally influences our hopes and fears — that gives steadiness of conduct, and fortitude of resolution in every situation, and that combines itself with all our nobler passions; is it not easy to perceive that we destroy the strongest support of moral duty, that we diminish the worth of every virtue, and poison the purest source of happiness in the human heart! Contrast, in conclusion, these two characters in the text, on the bed of sickness, and in the hour of death. (J. Hewlett, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. |
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