The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-04-24
MEN,S MEETING 1T THE GRAND Talk on "Jonah' by Rev. Alexander F'
 IrviL.e, Yesterday Afternoon.

Irvine, Yesterday Afternoon.
 Rev. Alexander r. Irvine gave the fol lowing talk on Jonah at the men's meeting held under the auspices of the
 Y. M. c. A. at the Grand Opera house
 yesterday afternoon:
 The Divine intent in the book named
 after Jonah ben-Amittai is: "To holc
 as it were the mirror up to nature.
 We have here a biographical sketch
 which fits to a nicety every Jonah from
 Nineveh to New Haven.
 There are metaphors clear as crystal;
 polished points that dart with fatal di-
 rectness to the unprotected parts Of ar
 mored sin; there are symbols of life and
 death and hope and flashing foregleams
 of immortality. Here we have paint
 ed prefiguration of the Messiah. faint
 adumbrations of such men as Berthelle1
 of Geneva, Savanrola of Florence and of all men who at expense of life ana | luxury have become the prophets of a civic renaissance or incarnations of the civic conscience.
 Here we see God with the turbulent deep in the hollow of His land; we see Him breeding over a city steeped in i sin; we see Him take frail worm of the dust and with it thrash mountain. Here is the simple story of self-wiled 1 vascillating weak -kneed messenger being supplied with moral fibre, his tongue loosened and touched with fire and by a power of which he is the trustee turn | city back to God. The book is picture gallery of the human heart into which we can all enter with ease and find our portraits painted by the hand of an in- spired Artist. In such a gallery ques- | tions of date authorship, and literary detail are as insignificant as the light of tallow dip in the glare of the noon- day sun. Let us select few of these pictures. I. The appointment of a preaching plenipotentiary to the city of Nineveh.
 God gives him a direct appointment to Nineveh and forthwith he takes a single trip ticket to a destination which he foolishly thinks is outside of the jur- isdiction of Jehovah This is the DOT trait of coward. Some of us preach CTS recognize this picture. The 'call'' was to city where the denominations were not fighting for footing It was "wide open" and sin was fragrant, open and above board. It was hard place to send the Rev. Jonah ben-Amittai, D. D.
 With him it was not question of salary, he just merely lacked moral tissue and as soon as he got on board he hid himself. Then the storm dis turbs the face of the waters-the little ship is tossed like a chip on the bosom of the turbulent deep. Over the bows the waves break into tempestuous fury the timbers creak; the sails and oars are useless.
 The cause is found in hiding from God. When mans face Is toward God the sea of life is calm-there are occa- sional ruffles, but they do not affect the progress of the ship. From the mo- ment this man turned his back on God his course was downWard-down to Jappa down to Tarshish, down to the hold, down to the water, down to the chamber of death. He repents and changes his course, then it is up, up out of the water, up to duty up to Nineveh, up to God.
 IT. The ship and the crew. The de- tails of this picture are well worth care
 
 the storm. The mighty forces of life. love and money are unavailing in the midst of the furious tempest. All inter- ests are identical here and one part af- fleets the whole. We are all in the ship of state; we are passing through some terrible storms-our interests are one whether black, white or yellow, of any political stripe whatsoever, we are brothers. That man who hides himself on election day and by so doing puts Tammany in power is a Jonah and coward. Yet withal we are as indul- gent as the heather sailors were to Jonah. We bend to the oars with all our might. we fight for municipal pur- ity and take the abuse while the social parasite laughs and takes it easy.
 III. The great fish. This Is not Bill linsgate story. It is somewhat tiring to hear so much about the fish and so little | about the struggles of a human soul or the struggles of a nation, both of which | the book is intended to portray. Our | Lord quotes from the story and men, ! tions the fish, but there is no more ne- cessity to believe in real whale than [ believe that when Christ spoke in
  periences or facts of history. If it helps any one to believe 1t was real whale why believe it with all your heart, but lon't pull anyones wool who sees in it a parable!
 It isn't whale story! It's the story of your mistaken, straying, sinful life. It tells how the way of the transgressor becomes hard and how God receives the nan who truly repents and turns back. This fish's belly is the state of the stunted soul, the home of spiritual apathy-the fishy, slimy surroundings of he self-wlled backslider who refuses to obey God There are more whales of this description in New Haven than there is II the Atlantic ocean, There's quite )ag full of them here in the Grand Opera house, and God is calling you to one Nineveh of duty. He has q great for you, but you prefer to rawl through life as stowaway with 'our nose in the scupper holes of real fife
 l must hurry on. NiupV61 rppeOtp1