The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1899-10-18
AN OLD.TIME MISSIONARY
A Sermon by Rev. j. f. Oates of st.
Augustine.
Text-JOnah iii lilo.

ilHAiPiC UOCo uOC OClIld d
great arena IN which to display
itself. The smallest actions of
ones life may involve the great
est principles. In the school
room, home, the office and the
workshop one may live a truly
heroic life. Jonah, who is here
spoken of as an old-time mission
airy, was not only actuated by
the same motives and principles
of our own day, but as men and
women of our own day in the or
binary walks of life. Thus all the
world is kin, and we can learn
lessons from the life of this an
cient prophet all the better for
remembering this fact.
|. A missionary is a man who
is sent. Jonah was sent twice.
How the message came we are
not told, but it was clear and def
mite in It's character and there
was no way Of evading it ex-
cept by downright disobedlence.
"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great
city, and cry against it. The diff
ficulty each one has to settle for
himself IS, cam | sent:' That
is question some young people
might well ask themselves as re-
CARDS foreign mission work. OF
this, however, there can be no
doubt That everyone who IS called
into the klngdCm is called to SER
vice. There should be no drones
in Gods family. Our own imme-
date circle of relatives and
friends may be our field of labor,
but we are ust as much "sent'
to work for the Master IN some
way or other as was Jonah when
the command came to go to Nine
web. The Christian, who is do
ing nothing for the worlds saliva
ton, who is engaged in nothing
of active service for the better
ment of mankind, is living IN vio-
latlon of the plain demands of
duty.
2. A missionary who has to
contend with the ordinary infirm~
tiles of life. When a man goes
forth into Gods service he does
not leave behind the weaknesses
incidental to human nature. 1t
was no easy task that Jonah was
called upon to perform. The
journey that he would have to
undertake lay through an enc
my's country for the most part.
Nineveh was very large, contain
ing coo, 900 people; it was also
very rich, and the inha btants
were hardened in SIN. They were
further the enemies Of his cOun-
try. Was 1t not like going
unarmed INTO the lions den: fl
he failed to lead them to repent
ance, his life would be forfeit: if
they repented, he would seem like
false prophet. Jonah seems to
have been overwhelmed at the
thought of SO great and hazard
Gus a commission and he fed to
Joppa and there took ship to Tar
shish. He wished to get away
"from the presence of the Lord"
that is, either to renounce Gods
service as a prophet, or to leave
Palestine, where God S special
presence was by all Jews believed
to be. Jonah's is not the only H.
stance in the worlds history Of a
man running away from duty. |
Many turn away from duties that
cannot for a moment be compared |
IN danger and difficulty with that
of preaching to the heather city
of Nneveh. "If thou depart |
from the will of God, thou goest |
down; the more thou advancest |
while turned from God, the deep |
er and deeper thou goest down.
The man who shlrks duty at |
home, in the prayer meeting, or
IN the social circle, very likely
would shlrk duty if called upon to
perform some arduous task for |