The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-02-22
LATEST FAIR HAVEN NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM BOTH
SIDES THE RIVER.

Supernatural in the Bible-George WASH
ington Reception.
Rev. Nathan G. Cheney preached on
Jonah and the Whale in the East
Pearl street Methodist church last
evening. A part of his discourse was
as follows
This part of Scripture has become
for the time being the point of injurious
statements made sometimes by lay
men and sometimes even by ministers
averse to the supernatural.
THE real difficulty in the story of
Jonah lies not in his final visit to Nine
veh, his preaching there, nor even his
disappointment and displeasure, nor the
way in which he was reproved. There
is plenty of matter for useful reflection
in the latter part of this history of
Jonah. But no one finds fault with
his final obedience, his preaching in
Ninevsh nor even with his disappoint-
ment and displeasure at the unexpect-
ed result Of his prophecy. But for pur-
poses of criticism that part of Jonah's
record is seized on that tells his eX-
rerience with the great fish,
But what is the alleged difficulty at
this point? 1t is all perfectly natural
that man should be called of God to
to go out as a preacher. The special
duty that his preaching should be in
Nineveh I do not remember to have
ever heard criticised. His refusal to
obey is, alas, like the denial made by
many a one, of us when duty has been
made plain to us. In fact there is
nothing alleged as reason for cayil
against Jonah's story until we come to
the whale But here is no real rea-
son for difficulty. 1t is not needful to
call the great fish that swallowed
Jonah a whale 1t may have been,
and probably was shark. But what
ever species of sea monster it was,
there Is nothing repulsive to our I'M
Outstanding or to the facts Of nature
that a man should be swallowed. There
is nothing supernatural In all this. But
as has been again and again made
clear the real miracle lies in the survi-
val of Jonah when In the belly of the
monster.
"One has sneered that Jonah should
compose a poem under such a condi-
ton. But If Jonah could compose a
would and did greatly inspire him. He
was alive and well-why not compose
a poem? This, the precise point, that
Jonah was miraculously preserved af-
ter the fish had swallowed him. This
is supernatural. All the rest Is easy
and natural This Is the tombstone.
Do you reject the supernatural? If not,
never again sneer at the veritable his
tory of Jonah The use of 1t made by
our Lord gives 1t dignity and command
ing Importance 1t really teaches the
great idea of conscious existence in and
after DEATH 1t points to the resurrec-
ton of our Lord and involves your own
hopes in the future. 1t should be re-
ceived with reverence and studied with
faith
"a fiippant retailing of the ideas of
an infidel in holding that the book of
Jonah satirizes the character of a
prophet, as the Christian Advocate
suit of respectable thought.
"Let us hold to the Bible as we have
1t, as an inf1allible guide In personal
religion. Even our English transla-
lions are positively infallible as teach
| ing the great truth of the gospel of the
| Son of God 1t is pernicious to teach
anything that may shake the faith of
| the common people in the common Eng
| lish version of the Holy Bible.
at is cheaply superficial to attempt
| to secure notoriety by attacking the
! word of God To reject the supernatur-
al is to deny the richest element of the
| Scriptures-that that makes the Bible
| just what 1t Is, "a lamp to our feet If
you tear out the supernatural you have
rent your Bible hopelessly. Indeed, to
deny the supernatural Is to deny the
best passages of our own personal his
| tory.
| "Whoever has lived to any real pur-
pose will recognize and confess the
| supernatural in his own hear and life,
and will not fear its statement in the
| Bible"
| The reception which is to be given in
| the church parlors of st. James church
| in honor of the birthday of George
| Washington promises to be one of the
| most unique and interesting affairs of
| the season. The arrangements are be-
| ing made by the Young Peoples So
cial chapter of st. James church and
| it is to be held in the church parlors
tomorrow evening, George and Mar
| tina are to be impersonated by two of
| the young people and they will re-
| ceive from 1880 until 8 p. m. At
| o'clock an entertainment will be given
| the prominent features of which will
! be a dialogue entitled "The School
| Committee Of Smartville," by members
| of the chapter. The parlors are to be
| tastefully decorated and the costumes
| of those participating will be In the
style of the Washionton period.
PRESS CLUB CONCERT.