A

SERMON,

&c. Sc.

MALACHI, I. 11.

FOR FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN EVEN UNTO THe going DOWN OF THE SAME, MY NAME SHALL BE GREAT AMONG THE GENTILES; AND, IN EVERY PLACE, INCENSE SHALL BE OFFERED UNTO MY NAME, AND A PURE OFFERING; FOR MY NAME SHALL BE GREAT AMONG THE HEATHEN, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS.

THE Prophet Malachi lived at a period when the Jewish Nation had sunk into a deplorable state of immorality and impiety.

The people had forgotten the lesson which their captivity seems to have taught them for a time; as they had previously forgotten that, which was intended for them by the dispersion of Ten Tribes belonging to their original family. Acknowledging God in their profession, they appear, at this par

ticular period, to have, in every other respect, denied him.

In the awful account given of them by the Prophet, we may see the degradation into which they: had fallen. They were sorcerers-adulterers-falseswearers: they oppressed the hireling in his wages. the widow, and the fatherless; and they turned aside the stranger from his right: and the source of all this was, as God declared by his Prophet--They: fear not me! While they were thus immoral in their practices, they were negligent, as might be expected, of every thing connected with the due expression of devotedness to God: he charged: them with robbing Him in tithes and offerings, which they withheld from Him; and when they: did not go the length of absolutely withholding, what they should have brought, they did that which may be considered worse, they offered the blind for sacrifice—the lame and the sick on his altar; and brought Him such an offering, as they would not dare to bring before their Governor. Offer it now unto thy Governor, Jehovah says indignantlywill he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person?

And thus iniquity was aggravated by its peculiar ingratitude. The Eternal God expostulates with the people by his Prophet, and reminds them of the special kindness which he had bestowed on Jacob their ancestor, and the privileges which

he had granted to him beyond those bestowed on Esau; and, marking the little effect which these things had upon them, He declares that He had no pleasure in them, and would receive no offering at their hands. But, from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, Jehovah declares, my Name shall be great among the Gentiles ; and, in every place, incense shall be offered unto my Name, and a pure offering. As though he had said

You refuse to bring me offerings !-know, that pure offerings shall be presented to me, and in abundance-not from one solitary nation, consisting of comparatively but few individuals, but from all people on the face of the earth-from the rising of the sun, to the going down of the same ! In all the vast extent of my lower creation, I shall be celebrated and honoured-my Name shall be great! and my creatures, influenced by my Spirit, shall be found willing to present-not the maimed, the blind, and the lame-but the incense of prayer and thanksgiving, and the pure offering of a heart cleansed by my Spirit, and washed from its sins in the blood of my Son."

In this Prediction, we shall consider the SUB JECT brought before us the CERTAINTY OF ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT-and the DUTY which in consequence devolves on us.

I. We have, first, to consider the SUBJECT of this prediction.

It is, that the Name of the Lord shall be great among the Heathen; and that, in every place, incense shall be offered to his Name, and a pure offering.

1. The first thing stated here is, that THE NAME OF JEHOVAH SHALL BE GREAT-My Name shall be great among the Gentiles.

There is a passage in the LXXVIth Psalm, which furnishes an illustration of this part of our subject: -In Judah is God known: his Name is great in Israel. Why is it great ?—because it is known: and when, therefore, we are told, that the Name of God shall be great among the Gentiles, it is implied, that his Name shall be made known-that the people who know him not now, shall know him--and that those who were not the people of God, shall be called his people.

Melancholy, in every respect, is the view of the Heathen World! Whether we consider its present corruptions or its future prospects, its state is most awful! And all arises from this-that they know not God! But they SHALL know him!—and so know him, that his Name shall be great.

(1) They shall know Him, as the only Living and True God, and that all the idols which they have worshipped are but vanities and lies, and things that cannot profit.

How gloomy the picture furnished by the Heathen World, of all that human reason can effect on the subject of Religion!-of all that can be accomplished therein, by the moral energies which exist, as some conceive, in human nature! Look at the idolatrous Gentiles. You will find, that, from the earliest period to the present day, they have not made one advance in Religion-not one step forward, toward a correct notion of the Divine Being, or of any one of his perfections! Yet are they not endued with reason? Are they not acute in various departments of science? Have they not manifested refined skill in various works of art? Why, then, are they still ignorant of God?-because man, by searching, cannot find out God-because the world, by its wisdom, knows Him not! To this very day, they are sacrificing to stocks and stones, and are saying to the works of their own hands, Ye are our Gods!

My Christian Friends!-in the same degree that we know what it is to be delivered from the awful state of being without God in the worldin the same degree that we know the happiness to be enjoyed now in an acquaintance with the Living and True God-in the same degree that we can anticipate correctly the future and everlasting blessings connected with that knowledge-it is precisely in that same degree, that we shall feel for the awful state of the Heathen.