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Malachi, in his last chapter, prepares the people for the long silence of revelation by two words, of which one is a promise, and the other a precept. The command is, to walk by the law of Moses. The promise is, that in due time the Messiah's forerunner, coming in the spirit and power of Elijah, shall usher in the solemn yet glorious day of Christ, by his preparatory ministry. This was to be the next prophet whom the Church was entitled to expect. But his work was to be prominently a revival of parental fidelity and domestic piety. The work upon fathers and mothers was to be far more than the removal of domestic alienations. It was to embrace a great revival of parental and filial piety, an awakening of parents' hearts to the salvation of their children, and the docile seeking and reception of parental instruction by the children. This revival of domestic piety and parental fidelity is necessary to prevent the coming of the Divine Messiah from being a woe instead of a blessing to men. God's way of promoting revival is, not to increase" the activity of any. public, and outward means only, but to "turn the hearts of the parents to the children. The duty of parental fidelity is equally prominent in both dispensations.

1.The old terminates with it, the new opens wire it. This is the connecting link between both. The fidelity of the parents ought to imply the docility of the children. The duties are mutual.

I. THE URGENCY OF PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY APPEARS IN A SOLEMN MANNER FROM THE NATURE OF THE PARENTAL RELATION ITSELF. Wherever human society is, there a parent is. Every human existence begins in a parental relation. The glory of the Divine beneficence towards the human race appears in this, that the parents, without alienating anything of their own immortality, are able to multiply immortalities in ever-widening and progressive numbers. Here are the two facts which give so unspeakable a solemnity to the parent's relation to his children. He has conferred on them, unasked, the endowment of an endless, responsible existence. He has also been the instrument of conveying to this new existence the taint of original sin and guilt. Can the human mind conceive a motive more tender, more urgent, prompting a parent to seek the aid of the great Physician, for dealing with the spiritual disease which they have conveyed?

II. FROM THE UNIQUE AND EXTENSIVE CHARACTER OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY. Men win be held accountable according to the extent of the powers intrusted to them. The trust is that of immortal souls. Let the extent of the parent's legitimate or unavoidable power over his children be pondered. Neither Divine nor human law gives the parent a right to force the tender mind of the child, by persecutions, or corporeal pains or penalties; or to abuse it, by sophistries, or falsehoods, into the adoption of his opinions. But this power the providential law does confer: the parent may and ought to avail himself of all the influences of opportunity and example, of filial reverence and affection, of his superior age, knowledge, and sagacity, to reinforce the power of truth over the child's mind, and in this good sense to prejudice him in favour of the parental creed.

III. BUT THIS POWER HAS SUITABLE CHECKS AND GUARDS. One is found in the strict responsibility to which God holds the domestic ruler. Another is found in the affection which nature binds up with the parental relation.

IV. THE PARENT'S INFLUENCE FOR GOOD AND EVIL WILL BE MORE EFFECTUAL THAN ANY OTHER. As parents perform or neglect their duties, the children usually end in grace or impiety. The parent has the first and all-important opportunity. Application —

1. The education of children for God is the most important business done on earth.

2. The Church-membership of the children of believers may be reasonable and scriptural.

(R. S. Dabney, D. D.)

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KJV: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

WEB: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.