The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-05-12
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED,
."JoNAH'S SEA EXPERIENCES"

The Rev. DR.. John L. Mackay Shows
How human Effort and Human in'
fuence wither Quickly Under Sarcasm
Jonah Has Suffered in This Way.
GLENs FALLS, \. y The Rev. DIR.
John r. Mackay, pastor OF the FIRST fres-
byterian Church mere, preached sunday
Sea Experience; The text was FROM
Jonah liz. DR.. Mackay said:
One of the surest ways to ruin any cause
is to be ao.e successfully to heap rldicuie
upon it. Make it ridiculous and you nave
ruined it. As soo3 :s 1t becomes the butt
of common talk and the standing joke Tor
the funny column OF the newspaper ITS
so soon as an individual becomes the centre
of a community's jokes and sneers his In
huence is gone. Human effort and lnt1u-
ence wither more quickly under sarcasm
and ridica.e than in any other way. In
this way many good cause ard many Il
good person has suffered at the hands o.
persons who have never seriously tired to
understand tine cause OF the person. In
this way many great human nearS. has
been placed upon its Calvary and made to
b.eed and suffer the keeness agony. In TINS
is going through it's Gethsemane or Is be-
ing nailed to its cross on this very Sabbath
day.
This is how believe tic work and life
of Jonah have suffered. Unthinkingly, I'M
feelingly, sarcastically. people have asso-
ciated Jonah with whale, and joke be-
ing the easiest and cheapest way of show
ing wisdom they have exhausted ell their
wisdom there.
We cannot keep too often reminding
ourselves that we shall continue to miss
the true meaning of the Bible and most OF
its great teaching unless We remember that
every incident mentioned in the Old Tes-
lament gives not only the story o. some
person, with all the local ccloring sur
rounding him as man and al individual,
but also and more important, that there is
a great world truth to be revealed, and
this individual, with his local co!oring, has
been chosen as the medium through which
to reveal and teach that truth. And,
therefore, the great Bible difficulties, with
80 many. have arisen because they have
been satisfied to centre all their thought
and interest on the individual and his To-
cal details, and in this way have missed
the great trath intended to be taught-a
truth 50 great that were it grasped 1t
would then become key by which to
open up and understand the incident It.
se.f.
This is how Jonah has suffered at our
hands. And our task is now in a few
words to take another look at Jonah-to
try and see him in the light of the great
truth intended to be taught and see If
thereby We can the better understand the
story itself
Bsthiak yourselves back into the earlier
stages and gradual growth OF the human
race. To them as to us there came prob
lens to be solved. We have the benefit Of
their efforts and can profit by them in our
problems. But the further back We go the
less and less did they have to help them
solre their problems. Yet they felt the full
force of each one and mad to make an ef-
fort of some sort to solve it. The problem
was not always the same. Sometimes IT
was social, sometimes it was physical;
sometimes it was national, sometimes it
was intellectual sometimes it was moral.
If it took a religious phase it was either
national or moral or intellectual. Men felt
the presence OF God impinging upon them.
They have forced themselves to formulate
certain conceptions about Him. Then they
found that certain of their experiences did
not agree with these conceptions Of God.
And there their difficulties arose. This is
the meaning of the book OF Jonah. Who
ever wrote the book felt the difficulty OF
great intellectual and national problem.
This led him to take the story Of the Pro
phet Jonah. that, having thrown it into
parabolic form. he might the better
through it explain to the peop.e what he
thought was Gods own. solution Of this
particular problem.
What. then, was that difficulty, that
problem? The people of Israel believed
that the love and sympathy of God were
confined to themselves. His care, His IA
vor. His blessings were fo- them and them
a.one. God was their God and all the rest
of the word was outside. There was but
orc human family that had divine re.a-
tionship, and that vas Jewish. Quite true,
there were other nations, and they had to
live, bat they had to live without God. He
did not belong to them. they had no cain
upon Him That was the rea. t-aoitiona.
Jewish feeling.
But few people we're growing up who
had newer ard truer conception Of God.
end a broader outlook upon man. One "f
them fe.t he would Ike to relieve this mar
row, limited, wrong conception OF Coo.
This led him to write the book, and in
deing so he took Jonah as the representa-.
tive of the old narrow Jewish idea. and
ened. and thus Taught the broad, full love
of God for all men-taueht net only the
c.emency OF God. but also that He loves al
men, There. then, is the national prob
lerr. to teach that God is God OF ali men
and loves them; and the intellectual prob
;em, to teach the Jewish people and all
other people that God is everywhere. Let
US .e.. thea. how tais double sided prob
lem was solved and satisfactorily Illus
trated in Jenah's experiences--that God is
everywaer-~ and that God loves all men.
Jonah did aet believe this. God was not
everywhere as Jehovah. This Jonah had
been taught and this he believed. This was
the very atmosphere in whic. he lived and
,seved ard had his being. This was his
baeyhosd's lispiag. his boyhood's teaching
and his nsnhesd's patriotism. But one
day there broke into his mird new
thesshs: "Why should not God care for
tbs neeple in that other city just as we'll
ns He does for the people in this city?
Why should Jerusalem be any more ia
yered than Eineveh? TIE people are not
Jews. but why should God not care for
ther, just as we'll as il they were Jews?
Why should there rot be, brotherhood of
mankind stronger than All the limits of
national and family prejudice? Why note
That thought eamc to Jonah like voice
which seemed to cay to him. Then, Jonah,