The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-05-12

ent as much on sea as upon land-on an
ocean greyhound as on q Tarshisl mer.
chantman And Jonah learned II. And
Jonah accepted it. At once he admitted;
"I have done wrong, cast me into the sea.
And the storm ceased. The lesson had
been learned, and through Jonah the
Israelites learned that God is everywhere.
and no man can get away from Him. Ihat
fish should pick him up and cast him
ashore is mere incident OF the parable.
It Is simply that part OF the story which
teaches that if a man repents God will re-
ceive him and care for him and give him
another chance. 1t is the divine exposl-
ton of mans "other chance"-a chance to
redeem his past and go forward to do
Gods wil-go forward to accomplish the
particular form of service for which his
life has been endowed and prepared.
To have learned that God Is everywhere
was also to learn that since God il God
there can be no limit to His divine love
that God has love and blessing for all peo-
ple 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 tinge
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
higher purpose. All Christian sorrow. as
we'll as all Christian experiences are but
different methods OF God's; own through
which He gives higher and fuller reveia-
tions OF His love and blessing, and devel-
ops His people to better fitness for service.
And this is what Jonah learned. and hav-
ing learned it he went at once 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 tier awful lives OF
selfshness and sin destruction must come
to them "a 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
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 parallels
OF illustrations of the love OF God
and of what God expects from those VINO
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 it too many
blessings This he regarded as very pain;
ful reflection upon Jewish traditions, and
this he resented. At the close OF a 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 leaved gourd;
whose refreshing shade. as the sun moved
around, kent 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 pitied the gourd
thus destroyed so soon. But as he cooled !
off ard his reason and his heart again as
serted themselves. that voice seemed again
to speak within him, Jonah. what fool !
ish unreasonable creature You are! Here
YOU pity this gourd, and yet YOU find fault |
with and upbraid God because fle has
shown His pitying love and blessing to- |
ward these people OF Nineveh-are not sim |
full. sorrowing human beings of more value
than q gourd?" That was enough for .lo- !
nah. He was satisfied God did care for
the people 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 God
missionary service as well as worship that
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 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 |
he,p the people of our NineveE. who ls
going to do it? Like Jonah, we spend |
enough upon ourselves; we do not deny |
ourselves single thing we set our hearts |
upon-socal parties, theatres, entertain |
ment. home comforts, bodily comforts, ira. !
vel BY land and sea. And these have all |
their own Dlace-but we must not forget |
the people in Ninevei. 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 busi.
ness. Much better respond to the Lord
gladly. True we do not say with Jonah |
that God Is not everywhere, OF tndt MS
love is not ior every creature-that Is the |
very essence OF our creed, but We may say |
with Jonah. Let some one else help Nine
veh. don't want to do it; if Nineveh |
can't take care OF itself and some one must !
help them. let some one else do So. This |
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
help at this particular time and We will do
it! My answer is, this home mission offer
ing ia our Nlneveh. 49,,
WHY should we? Because it is Godhke. |
God Himself is our supreme example. Be
cause it is good for us to give-we feel our
brotherhood letter 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 prlnci-
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 20 know the same
God we know and to speak to Him as con, I
fidently as we do and call Him Father.
When these people come together on Sun
4 70 ho onIo tn with |