The morning times., 1897-02-22
JONAH STORY REVIEWED
DIR. Townsend Argued That the
Biblical Account Is True.
HE DIFFERS FROM DIR. ABBOTT
The Scriptures Teach the Doctrine
of Divine Interposition-The His
tory of the Incident as Well
Authenticated as the Story of
Any Other Miracle.

DR. Luther t Townsend, who occupied
the pUlpit last evening at the Metropolitan
NJ. E Church, delivered an elaborate dis
course upon the Biblical story of Jonah
and the Whale taking the ground that
she history Of that miraculous event must
De accepted as true, and arguing that
the apparently incredible portions of 1T
may be as easily accounted for as any
other of the ScriptUral miracles.
Or. Townsend's sermon was intended to
be a controversion of the position recently
taken by Dir. Lyman bbott, of Plymouth
Chucn. Brooklyn, whose utterances
upon the subject have been the theme
OF wide discussion. The speaker was
introduced 10y Dr. Hugh Johnston, pastor
Of the church, with the comment that mas
much as the ScuptUral information upon
the occurrence had teen subjected TO the
"higher criticism by an eminent divine,
the congregation would doubtless listen
with interest TO a further discussion 10y
one who mas given to the subject a great
deal OF thoughtful study.
In entering upon his discussion. Dr Town
send said the world is breathing in an
atmosphere Of skeptiCiSm, and that among
the modern Skeptics there are these who
believe only 50 much OF the Scriptures as
pleases them. This spirit of criticism has
invaded the churches, he said, and some
who are eminent in the ranks cf Christian
teachers profess to regard the stories OF
Jonah. the alleged presence Of the He
brews in the fiery furnace, the passing
or the children II Israel through the Red
sea. as fables. proper only to be told for
the amusement of children, and the his
tOrical accounts Of them are treated as
the pICkwiCk og the Hgclcw papers Of
the Bible
The views Of dissent by q divine who
recently questioned the correctness Of the
story OF Jonah were SO presented as To
excite an outburst OF laughter. said DR..
Townsend, but il had been stated later
that this result was not intended
But why n0t?'' inquired Dr. Town.
send why should not people laugh?
Impostors should be exposed If the
story hc fiction, if the denUnciation he
such as to expose the ridiculous phases
OF the narrative, the outburst of laughter
needs no apology
The speaker then said that the Biblical
history should be subjected 30 the same
Just criticism as Is accorded 10 any other
subject, whether Of science or history.
The supernatural in the Bible has pro-
vokcd tie criticism Of Payne, IngersoH
ana others, but even Ingersolls diSbe-
lief is quite oyershad dowed 10y the educated,
genial, Intellectual successor to Mr. Beech
er in New York There are those who
believe the account as il stands, literally;
others W ho are not quite clear, and others
who accept it as they do the parallels.
Scientific methods in research elm
mate the less important events and group
the more important under two headings
the credible and the incredible This
he proposed to do in discussing the Jonah
narrative. The credible features noted
were that Jonah lived about 500 years
before Christ; that he was a Hebrew;
that Nineveh existed, and that Jonah had
a message to deliver to the people Of
Nineveh; that he ran away from duty,
took passage in a ship, and that storm
arose Also, that here was fear of
death among the scamen- All these and
other incidents in the narrative were
without the elements of doubt.
That Jonah was swallowed by whale
aud that he retained consciousness for
three days, were the things clasScd as in-
c-raihle. Without the interpostion OF
God. Dr. Townsend said. this might be
das>ed as unreasonable but observe, he
added that the scriptures say. God pre-
pared a great fish to swallow Jonah.
Those who say they do not believe this
story must logically disbelicve other aC-
counts of divine mterpoNiJion. They
must also deny the truth Of Christ's ref
ercnce to Jonah, for he distinctly accepted
the account. as a reference to the New
Testament will verify.
The objection urged that n whale can
not swallow man without mutilatmg
the body should not weigh. The animal
which swallowed Jonah is referred to as
a great fish, and sea monster las
been found with the unmutIlated body of
an Indian elephant in its stomach. and
another With man full grown and in
fun dress. Jonah could not have re-
tained CONSCIOUSNESS except for the in
terposition of Gods power, nor conlI
other miraculous events have tranSpired
without the same interposition.
Christ said, AS Jonah was three days
anu llllet nights III lhS bSllS oi tiC Nndle.
So the Son OF Man shall be three days and
three nights in the body OF the earth,' ="
continued DR.. Townsend. IF God could
make Adam, he could save Jonah. He did
make Adam. and He did save Jonah. The
story of Jonah is accepted as the prophetic
sign Of Chrst's resurrection, and pro-
phetic sign also that God will save u.s.
The speaker quoted DR.. Tyndale ar
guing against the theory of spontaneous
generation, and said that science was
pointing her infleXible index finger to a
time when this earth was nothing but fiery
vapor, while the Scriptures teach the doc
trine Of divine interposition and ultimate
resurrection OF body and soul