The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-08
JONAH AND HIS WHALE.
Elder Phelps Says 1t Was an Actual
Fish,


Elder II. f. Phelps spoke on Gun
BELIEF at the Wacouta street chapel
last evening. He said:
THE time was when unbelief was
mostly confined to those outside the
prOfessed church-tO men Of the In
gersOll stripe. But times have changed,
and now men may belong to the church
and be leaders Of the people, and pre-
sent their atheistic theories from the
sacred desk and call it the higher
criticism.
Some men refuse to accept the Bible
as the infallible word of the infallible
God, the author Of that word, because
they cannot understand all Of it, And
so they set themselves as infallibly
above that word, and reject it. Why,
that book is an unfolding of some Of
the thoughts of God; and so we read:
My ways are not your ways, nor my
thoughts your thoughts: for as the
heavens are high above the earth, so
are my ways above your ways, and
my thoughts above your thoughts
There is. therefore, an infinity in the
Bible, and there are principles pre-
scented in it that will be studied in the
eternal ages. Then let no man refuse
tO believe it because there are some
things in it that he does not under
stand Rather let him become a dis
ciple in the school Of Christ and thus
learn the Masters will.
Others refuse to believe the Bible
because they Vainly imagine some Of
the miracles were never performed
while others will not go quite so far in
their unbelief, but will set aside some
Of the miracles, like JOnah's whale, for
example. What a faculty some men
have for attacking the Veracity of dead
men, men who cannot answer for them
selves. For many years, some have
taken great delight in disputing with
and criticising Moses; and now, Jonah
comes in for his share, and that from
some who claim to be engaged in the
same kind of work as he--the minis
try. But the influence Of Moses and
Jonah will live on through all eternity,
while the influence of all unbelievers
will be of short duration.
Now concerning Jonah and the
whale. the record says: Now the Lord
had prepared a great fish to swallow
up Jonah Yes, prepared for the occa-
sion, a great fish. And there are
greater miracles performed today than
the preparing of the fish. 1t is one Of
GODS great miracles, performed every
season in the year since the first week
Of time, the world oVer-that grain
grows prepared for the use of man,
and grass and herbs prepared for the
use of beasts. We call it nature; but
it is a miracle of Gods power The
revolutions Of the earth. producing
day and night and the seasons, are at
tributed to the work of nature. But
this is also a miracle of Gods power in
nature. And He who is the author Of
nature and natures laws is above ma
ture, and can suspend those laws at
will.
The very existence of man is mir
acle of Gods power. much greater
than that of Jonah's whale. Is it In
man to explain any of these miracles?
By means Of the brain man sees. The
brain looks out through the windows
By the peculiar arrangement of the
brain man thinks and reasons. But is
there man on earth that can explain
these miracles? Is there one that
apart from Gods power, can tell why
or how? In our waking hours we can
breathe or suspend breathing at will
But how is it that when we are locked
in the embrace Of sleep the lungs go on
acting and we go on breathing? God
prepared these organs to do their al
lotted work, and the power of God is
in man to keep these organs at work.
These. and thousands Of others, are
miracles of Gods power. But science,
so called has covered them from our
sight under the word nature But
God is in nature, and everywhere ma
ture performs the will Of its divine au-
thor. In the case Of Jonah, the Lord
prepared the fish and that fish was ODE
dent both in hiding Jonah for thres
days and in ejecting him upon dry
land. In the case of man. he was TO
glorify his Maker; but he refuses and
has gone off into StOlid unbeIief"