Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-06-26
AT THE CHURCHES.

auu JHeIe WAS street IiSaS4l"6 - - A'
R.v. Carroll NJ. Davis ofiCia.ed at the Riv-
erside School-houss:at 8 P NJ. Otherwise the
regular services in all the churches were held
as usual.
At the First Baptist Church, Rev. DIR.
Frost, PASTOR the evening service consisted
of a Bible reading, with Lessons in
the Life Of Jonah" as the sabjsct-matter,
! A brief sketch Of the main points is pre-
seated The book of Jonah was taken up snd
the reading. The reading was hrst
of the word of the Lord coming to Jonah
commanding him to go to Nineyeh and cry
against it because of its wickedness. Jonah,
! however, "rose up to fee unto Tarshish from
the presence of the Lord. and went down to
Joppa and be found ship going to Iarsh-
ish, - and in that he went from the presence
of the Lord. This act is typical OF men OF
this day who fee from the face OF duty.
But the Lord sent out a great wind unto
the sea, and there was a mighty tempest.
The Lord sent the wind. For His purposes
to work out His great ends, He sent the wind.
Throughout the history Of the matter the
Lord was manifest in it, and in it His wisdom
was seen. The mariners were afraid, and
cried every man unto his God" Jonah was
asked to call upon his God, and then the
mariners cast their lots to know "tor whence
came this evil that is upon us, and
the lot fell upon Jonah. Then Jonah
confessed that ne was Hebrew
and that he feared the Lord, the God OF
heaven, which hath made the sea and the
dry land" At his own request Jonah was
cast into the sea thst it might be calm. Com
menting upon these events and drawing lea
sons therefrom the speaker came to the
seventeenth verse Now the Lord had pre-
pared great fish to swallow up Jonah. Aud
Jonah wss in the belly of the FISH three days
and three nights" What laughter and
sneers this record has evoked. This was in
the waters OF the Mediterranean sea, and au'
thorities are numerous that in these waters
have dwelt sea monsters, q species OF the
| white shark, sufficiently large to swallow
human being. In the stomschs Of some have
been found as large an object IS a horse even
But Jonah by Gods power lived
three days in the whale. God pre-
pared the monster, we ore told.
| Throughout God was manifest constantly.
How analogous was tire dwelling Of the
prophet in the monster with the great event
in the life of our Savior. He declared that
| He should descend inte the earth and be there
three days. As the pillows were over Jonah,
as he was buried in the depths of the sea, so
Christ was in the bowels of the earth, the
heart of the earth, and He went into the
place Of departed spirits. "Then Jonah
praved unto the Lord his God out of the fshs
belly" Now this WAS wonderful prayer, a
remarkable petition. He said II cried by
reason Of mine atIl 'ction unto the Lord and
He heard me-" The Lord heard him Bis
prayer reached the God he had offended.
And the Lord spake unto the fish and it
yomited out Jonah upon the dry land" Then
God commanded him to go to Ninsveh
land preach unto it the preaching that
l bid thee" Preach the preaching
hidden. Oh, how difficult to preach
as God bids; how easy to preach as
men would have us, to suit men ; but it re-
quires moral courage to preach Gods word.
Spurgeon, the great preacher, told the young
men of his congregation he was not afraid to
speak Gods truth he had not in all these
years seen the man or the occasion before
which he feared to utter Gods word az given
him. He was uninhuenced by fatterY or
fear, by appeals or applause. For himself
the speaker liked to hear men speak out
their honest convictions and although they
might not be agreeable to him, he admired
tie courage that gives expression to honest
conviction. Sometimes great trials are needed
to bring men 10 the performance Of duty
Just as in the case OF Jonah So Jonah went
unto Nineyeh, an exceeding great city,
and cried and said, Yet forty days,
anu uneven SuAll US we
do not know tina. he preached anything else
it was powerful sermon; oh, what per-
suasiye one. Here was one man in heather
city, city Of idolaters, city of a half mill
ion souls, perhaps more /; yet by one sentence
he produced marvellous effect, and the
King and the people were on their faces be-
fore the Almighty. God gave the power to
the word Jonah uttered. Perhaps, too. the
NineTises had heard of Jonah's remarkable
trial-his wonderful preservation for three
days in the whales belly. That Jonah was
swallowed by the monster was to them no
miracle-the miracle was in his preservation.
He was to thsm as one raised from the dead.
He came to them with the credentials and
authority Of God, and his miraculous pressr-
vstion was to them evidence thereof. He
came from the midst OF the sea and all its
storms and waves, and with the awfulness of
the Almighty oYershadowing him, and it is no
wonder the people went to their knees
They put on sackcloth and ashes. $50 the
people of Nineveh believed God, and pro-
claimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from
the greatest of them even to the least" And
word came to the King and he laid off his
robe and put on sackcloth and sat on ashes
Chapter ill.,, 10y. He sent out a preclama-
ton: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor
flock, taste anything let them not feed nor
drink water But let man and beast be COW
cred with sackcloth, etc. Even the beasts it
would seem were forced to wear the insignia
of contrition and humility. Yea, let them
turn everyone from his evil way, and from
the violence that is in their hands. Who can
tell if God will turn and repent, and turn
away from his fierce anger, that we perish
not? God did repent we are told. Now this
is apparently singular sentence-that God.
the same yesterday, to-day and to morrow,
should repent him of his intention. But il
was not a repentance in the sense of sorrow,
but Withholding of his judgment. He had
threatened the Ninevites for their evil ways
with punishment, but when they repented
and were contri5e, in mercy He withheld his
arm and suspended his Judgment, and thus
made manifest again that He is the same
yesterday, to-day and tomorrow. To US
under violations of his law He is still the
God of mercy, and will suspend his Judgment
if we repent and turn to Him. But Jonah
was displeased that his prophecy was not
fulfilled, and we are told that he was very
angry, or, as it is in the original, hot" He
prayed to the Lord WAS not this my say
ing when 1 was yet in my country.
Therefore 1 fed before thee unto Tarshish
God, and merciful, slow to anger"
Oh what a comfort we take, when we cannot
have things cur own way, in crying out, 81
told you So" This was the case with Jonah
in his chagrin. "Then said the Lord: Doest
thou well to be angry" Thus rebuked
Jonah. who couldn't bear defeat, who had
small care for thoss whom he had been taught
to regard as heathens, went outside the city,
probably to wait the forty days, and made
booth and sat down under it. And then the
Lord prepared gourd and made it come
up over Jonah, that it might be shadow
over his head, to deliver him from his grief.
SO Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd"
He was glad. not grateful A thief may be
glad of the success of villany, but not CRATE.
full A great many fail to consider the differ
ence between gladness and 9ratefuness But
God prepared worm. God still manifest
through all He prepared a great wind,
and the sea monster, and the gourd
and now a worm, This gourd was
a species Of palm of rapid growth, known to
that climate, easily harmed and easily de-
stroyed And the worm sfnote the gourd and
it withered. Then GJd prepared a vehe-
ment east wind and the sun beat upon the
head of Jonah that he fsinsed, and wished in
himself to die, and seid, it is better for me to
die than to live." Jonah's troubles multi.
piled. Just as they always do when we flee
from duty. land God said to Jonah, doest
thou well to be angry for the gourd ?. And
he said, l do well to be angry, even unto
death" Jonah was still rebellious. Then
SAID the LOTC GnOu uaS6 udu vi Ine
gourd for which thou hast not labored,
neither madest it grow (which came up in
night and persisted in a night; and should l
not spare Nineveh. that great city, wherein
ara more than six score thousand persons that
cannot discern between their right hand and
their left hand? ?" So this chapter, closing the
book of Jonah. teaches us of the goodness
and long-suffering mercy and forgiveness of
God. Teaches us to do our duty without
fear, trusting Him, to do His bidding. 1t
teaches us that if man will but repent and
turn to God, though long a sinner and an
offender against Him, God will repent Him
of His anger and extend the loving hand of
mercy. Let us not run from God. nor flee
from duty; let us do his bidding, fearing no
face of clay, not doubling His word preach
the word He gives us to preach, and without
fear, resting always and implicitly upon His
promises.