The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-05-12

him all men had to learn, that God is pres.
ent AS much OH sea as upon iand-on al
ocean greyhound as on a Tarshisi lner--
chantman And Jonah learned it. And
Jonah accepted it. At once he admitted,
Il have done wrong, cast me INTO the sea.
And the storm ceased. The lesson had
been learned, and through Jonah the
Israelitcs learned that God is everywhere.
and no man can get away from Him. mat
a fish should pick him up and cast nun
ashore is a mere incident OF the parable.
1t is simply that part of the story which
teaches that if 4 man repentS God Will re-
ceive him and care for him and give him
another chance 1t is the divine eAposi-
tion of mans :'other chance'-a chance to
redeem his past and go forward to 90
Gods will-co forward to accomplish the
particular form of service for which his
fife has been endowed and prepared.
To have learned that God is everywhere
was also to learn that since God IS God
there can be no limit to Hfs DIVINE love
that God has love and blessing for all peoo-
pie and every person. SO tnat IN Jonah
being cast into the sea. it was not pun
;shment. but one method Of fuller reve-
lation of the care and love of God Ior those
who became willing to obey Him. Our sor-
row is not punishment. but method for
4 higher and fuller revelation OF God; love
and blessing. There is often little tlnge
of atheism in our thought about Christian
trouble or sorrow. 1t does not seem right
to speak of any Christian sorrow as some
thing allowed Of God and overruled to a
higher purpose. All Christian sorrow, as
we'll as all Christian experiences are but
different methods OF Gods own through
which He gives higher and fuller reveal
tions of His love and blessing, and devel-
ops His people to better fitness tor service.
And this is what Jonah learned. and hay
ing learned 1t he went at ouse on to tnat q elsy
of Nineveh and delivered the message God
had given him to deliver. He tells the
Ninevites all he knows about the love OF
God He tells them also all about the pure
and righteous demands of God, and that II
they persist in living tleir awful lives OF
sclfishness and sin destruction must ccme
to them as it must come to all men who
persist in SHINING.
The city did repent and God did bless
the people. And in this way Jonah learned
that the very blessings he had himself re.
ceived and his people ha d received were
not for themselves alone, but also for 9TH
ers-Nineveh and every other Nineveh that
needed the knowledge of the love and
Righteousness of God. 1t IS this that makes
this parable OF Jonah so like the parabies
of Jesus-illustrations of the love OF God
and of what God expects from those who
already have been blessed.
And this second thought was just as Wv
idly taught as the first one. After preach
ing for about FIVE weeks in Nineveh, Jonah
thought God was showing too much favor
to this city. He was granting 1t too many
blessings. This he regarded as very pain,
full reflection upon Jewish traditions, and
this he resented. At the close of days
preaching he went out into the country to
think it all out and have real satisfactory
grumble about it all BY himself. He sat
down near to large, big leayed gourd.
whose refreshing shade, as the sun moved
around, kept its burning rays from harm
ing him. Next morning he went back to
the same place, but the gourd had With
cred during the night. Jonah got angry;
and in his indignation pltied the gourd
off and his reason and his heart again as
serted themselves, that voice scented again
to speak within him, Jonah, what tooi-
ish. unreasonable creature you are! Here
you pity this gourd, and yet you ind tautt
with and upbraid God because He has
shown His pitying love and blessing to-
ward these people of Nineveh.-are Tot SIN
full. sorrowing human beings Of more value
than courd!'' That was enough for Jo-
nah. He was satisfied God did care for
the pecp.e of Nineveh, and that it was
Godlike TO do SO; yea, and what was more
important. that His love and blessing were.
to be made known to them through the
people already blessed. That is the teach
ing of the book of Jonah; that is the les:
son Jonah learned, that he must offer Cod
missionary service as well as worship, tnaI
he must offer God service as well as love,
that to carry the message OF Gods love to
his fellow men Is to worship God.
Do YOU know, think that is what God
still asks? And yet, and yet. l sometimes
think we; rebel against the thought of 1t
Quite as rnucn as Jonah did. That is why
i have been led to bring this study OF Jo-
nah this morning. Ii we are not going to
heip the people OF our NineveE. who IS
going to do it? Like Jonah, we spend
enough upon ourselves; we do not, deny
ourselves sing.e thing we set our hearts
upon--social parties, theatres, entertain
ment, home comforts, bodily comforts, trS,
vel by land and sea. And these have s-l
their own p.ace-olt We must rot forget
the people in Nineveh. In addition to our
own care for ourselves and our W"rShlp'
we have one other esponsibiiity-tke peo-
ne in Nircvch. For them l speak this
morning. We may take to sea as Jonah
cid, but it is not very profitable bus!,
ness. Much better respond to the Lord
gladly. Truc, We do not say with Jonah
that God is not everywhere, or, that His
love is not for every c-eature-that Is the
very essence of our creed, but we MAJ, say
with Jonah, Let some one else hep Nine
veh. / don't want to Go 1t; II NineIeh
can't take care of Itself and some one must
help them, let some orc else do so. Tins
is not what we are going to say to-day.
We are going to say, rather. tell US where
our Nineveh is. tell us how we can best
hep at this particular time and we will do
it! NV answer is, this home mission otier-
ing rs our N,neveh. 49,,
WHY Should we? Because it is God]jke.
God Himself is our supreme example. Be-
cause it is good for US to give-we feel our
brotherhood better and the JOY of giving
becomes ours. Because new American
communities need our help to fill them
with hope. and by church privileges inspire
them with those same God-given princi-
pes and truths that have made New Eng
land and New York, that have made our
selves and given US our prosperous environ
ment. For Gods sake. for our own sake,
for America S sake, this is our opportunity.
We want these people TO know the same
God VIC know and to speak to Him as con.
tidently >as we co and call Him Father.
When these people come together CT Sun
L L l. N $~ h