The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1897-03-18
JONAH'S WHALE SHARK
REV. THOMAS A. HoYT GIVES A
NEW VERSION OF THE DIS
PUTED MIRACLE.
Is Supported by History.

Ph2LGGetpns0 heOOT0.
Incidental to the discussion over the
Biblical story OF Jonah and the whale
in which theologians all over the coun-
try are now engaged Rev. Thomas A.
Hoyt advanced a new theory to his
congregation in Chambers Presbyterian
Church recently.
He held the narrative as worthy Of
the fullest credence, and entirely with
in the range of physical possibility.
Preaching from the seventeenth verse
of the Book of Jonah. "The Lord had
prepared great fish to swallow up
Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly OF
: the fish three days and three nights, y
DR.. Hoyt said:
"This is the point of infidel attack.
The story is declared to be improbable
impossible, absurd. For one thing 1t
is alleged that whales throat is too
narrow to swallow man. We might
rest in the truth that nothing is I'M
possible with God; that he could
create whale big enough for his pur-
pose, or enlarge its throat. But the
fish is not called whale, except in our
version of the words of Christ. In the
text it is called "a great fish, and in
Matthew xii, 40. the word 'cetos' is
used, which in the margin of the re-
vlsed version, is translated sea monster,
and which refers to the genus and not
to the species of certain large fish found
in the Mediterranean Sea. It includes
a species of white shark, which is capa-
BILE OF swallowing not merely man,
but even horse.
SOME SHARKS OF HISTORY.
"a natural historian of repute relates
that in 1853 in stormy weather sailor
fell overheard from a frigate in the
Mediterranean. A shark was close by,
which, as he was swimming and crying
for help, took him in its wide throat,
so that he forthwith disappeared. The
captain had gun which stood on the
deck discharged at the fish, which
struck it so that it cast out the sailor
from Its mouth, who was taken up
alive. The fish was harpooned, taken
upon the frigate and dried. It was 20
feet long, nine feet across the fins and
weighed nearly 1000 pounds. This is
not the only account of the size of this
fish. Another distinguished naturalist
states the white shark is found OF the
size of 10000 pounds, and horses have
been found whole in its stomach" A
writer of the sixteenth century on the
fish of Marseiles says: "They OF Nice
attested to me that they had taken a
fish of this sort approaching to 1000
pounds weight in whose body they had
found man whole
"Such facts and many others which
might be abduced ought to shame those
who speak of the miracle of Jonah's
preservation through the fish as thing
less credible than any other of Gods
:. - cnlous dolngs. There is no greater
Sc qn ni2f4pl1csdlozl- ---es-a--~ - orao.;o.
or less to Omnipotence. The ~oiea.4oa
of the universe, the whole stellar sys-
tenn, or fly. are alike to Him, simple
acts of His divine will. What to men
seem the greatest miracles, or the least,
are alike to Him !; the mere 'let it be-
of His all-holy Will acting in different
way for one and the same end the in
structlon of the intelligent creatures
which He has made.
Each and all subserve in their sew
eral places and occasions the same end
of the manifold wisdom of God. Each
and all of these, which to us seem in
terruptions of His ordinary workings
in nature, were from the beginning, be-
fore He had created anything, as much
a part of His divine purpose as the
creation OF the universe. They are not
disturbances of His laws. Night does
not disturb day, which it closes, nor
day, night. No more does any work
which God, before the creation of the
world, wllled to do, interfere with any
other of His workings. His workings
in nature and His workings above ma
ture form one harmonious whole. Each
is a part of His ways; each is essential
to the manifestation of God to us.
sUBsTANT1ATED BY HIGH AUTHORITY.
"Our Lord Himself further attested
that this miracle of Jonah was an i'm
age of His own entombment and re-
surrection. He declares this to be 'the
sign of the Prophet Jonah For, al
Jonah was three days and three nights
in the body of the fish, so shall the
Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth Who
will dare to expunge these words o
Jesus from the sacred record? Will.
they remain, and remain they mus
forever as the oracle OF truth, the mir
acle of Jonah and the fish is indlssolu
bly, united in the faith of Christian
with the death and resurrection OF tn,