I have quoted this last passage at length for the reason that those who advocate that no more revelation is to be given, and that class, as we have seen, includes all Christendom, represent that the messenger here referred to is no other than John the Baptist, and that this prophecy was fulfilled when that personage went throughout Judea crying repentance, proclaiming the coming of the Messiah, and the near approach of the kingdom of heaven. It is with no desire to lessen the importance of John's mission on that occasion that I respectfully dissent from the conclusions of the learned Christian scholars on that subject. And by way of justification for that dissent I submit the following reflections. I. Following the work of this messenger of which the prophet Malachi speaks, the Lord is to come suddenly to his temple. Did that come to pass when John the Baptist some nineteen centuries ago prepared the way for the coming of the Son of God, by crying repentance? I think it questionable if the Lord so much as recognized the temple at Jerusalem in those days, corrupted as it was by a fallen priesthood, as his house. When connected with the reflections to follow, I am sure the reader will conclude that this prophecy must relate to some other temple than that old and corrupted one at Jerusalem, and to some other appearing than any which occurred at that temple during the former career of Jesus on earth. II. "But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth?" From this it seems that it will be difficult to abide the day of his coming, and to stand when he appeareth in fulfillment of this prophecy of Malachi's. Was it so when Jesus came in the meridian of time to make his great atonement for man? Let the life of Jesus answer. Passing by the days of his childhood and youth, we may see him emerge from the obscurity of his uneventful life at Nazareth in the full bloom of perfected manhood. He applies to John for baptism, that he might fulfill all righteousness; and as from the watery grave he is brought forth, lo! a voice from heaven proclaims him the Son of God. From that time he becomes a teacher of men. On the peaceful hills, and in the quiet hamlets of Galilee, or along the pleasant shores of the lake of that name, men heard his gracious words, and admired while they marveled at the wisdom of one untaught in schools and unlearned in man's petty wisdom. The synagogues of the Jews also resounded with his doctrines, and the tones of his voice so mild among the pastoral people of Galilee, swelled into mighty notes of denunciation, when he approached the centers of population where wickedness more abounded. His arraignment of the priests, his denunciation of the national hypocrisy, his condemnation of the false traditions which were making of no effect the law of God--all this delivered in the tone of undoubted authority, brought upon him the wrath of a corrupt priesthood, which conspired to kill him.