The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-05-25
particular form of service for which HE

| particular form OF service IoT WHICH b1s
| life has been endowed and prepared.
| To have learned that God ls everywhere
was also to learn that since God is God
| there can be no limit to His divine love-
| that God has love and blessing for all peo-
| pie and every person. So that IN Jonah
being cast into the sea, it was not pun.
| ishment, but one method of fuller reve-
lation of the care and love of God for those
who became willing to obey Him. Our sor-
row is not punishment, but method tor
a higher and fuller revelation of Gods love
and blessing. There is often little tnge
of atheism in our thought about Christian
trouble or sorrow. 1t does not seem night
to speak of any Christian sorrow as some
thing allowed of God and oveTuled to
| 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 revea'
tions of His love and blessing, and devel-.
ops His people to better fitness for service.
J And this is what Jonah learned, and haV-
ing learned it he went at ONE to that CITY
| 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 tl.eir awful lives OF
selishness and sin destruction must come
| to them as it must come to all men VINO
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 had 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 parabes
| of Jesus-illustration of the love OF God
and of what God expects from those who
already have teen blessed.
| And this second thought was just as wv
| idly taught as the first one: Alter 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 rs very pam,
| 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 a large, big leaved 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
and in his Indignation pitied the gourd
Tins DESTROYED so soon. But as he cooled
off and his reason and his heart again as
serted themselves, that voice seemed again
to speak within him, Jonah, what foot
| ish. unreasonable creature you are! Here
YOU pity this gourd, and yet you find fault
with and upbraid God because He has
shown His pitying love and blessing to-
ward these people of Nineveh-.are not sin
| than a gourd?" That was enough for Jo-
nah. He was satisfied God did care for
the people of Nineveh, and that it was
| Godhke 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 God
missionary service as well as worship, that
| he must offer God service as well as love,
that to carry the message OF God TO
| Lis fellow men is to worship God.
Do you know, think that is what God
still asks? And yet, and yet, | sometimes
| think we rebel against the thought OF 1t
cutie as much as Jonah did. That is why
[ have been led to bring this study of Jo-
! nah this morning. If we are not going to
| help the people of our Nineveh, who ls
going to do it? Like Jonah, we spend
enough upon ourselves; we do not deny
ourselves a single thing We set our hearts
| upon-social parties, theatres, entertain
ment, home comforts, bodily comforts, ira;
| vel by land and sea. And these have all
| their own place-but we must not forget
| the people in Nineveh. In addition to our
own care for ourselves and our worship,
we have one other responsibiity-the peo-
ple in Nineveh. For them speak this
| morning. We may take to sea as Jonah
did, but it is not very profitable 6usl,
ness. Much better respond to the LORD
gladly. True, we do not say with Jonah
that God is not everywhere, or that HIS
love is not for every creature-that IS the
| very essence of our creed, but we may say
with Jonah, Let some one else help Nine
veh, l don't want to do it; if Nlneveh
! can't take care of itself and some one must
help them, let some one else do so. Inns
is not what we are going to say to-aay.
| We are going to say, rather, tell US where
our Nineveh is, tell us how we can best
help at this particular time and we will DO
it, Nv answer is, this home mission oter-
ing is our Nlneveh. ,
Why should we? Because it is Godlse.
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 WIN LnOS6 SdUlS
pies 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 Americas sake, this is our opportunity.
We want these people 70 know the same
God we know and to speak to Him as con,
fdently as we do and call Him Father"
When these people come together on Sun
days we want them to be able to say with
us "Our Father When they gather their
little, white-robed children around them
at the even hour, we want them, children
and parents together, to say Our Father;
When they come to lay any of these little
ones out on the hillside and place upon the
marker the words Our Darling" we want
them also confdingly to say, My Father"
and when they themselves come to the
edge of the deep waters and wonder what
ferryboat is to bear them across their Jor-
dan we want them trustfully, lovingly, to
be able to put their hands outward and up
ward and say, My Father" That is out
Nineveh. Will you help? Help US unto
Him!
Convicted by BIS Own Words.
DR.. Washington GLADDEN. was once dis
cussing Christian evidence with num-