Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1904-05-12
JONAH'S SEA EXPERIENCES
Bright Sunday Sermon By Rev. DR..
John R. Mackey.
How Human Effort and Human Influence Wither
Quickly Under Sarcasm.

John Z. MacKay, pastor of the First Pres
byterian Church here, preached sunday
morning on "The Significance Of Jonah's
Sea Experience" The text was from
Jonah i:l2. DR.. MacKay said.
One of the surest ways to ruin any cause
is to be able, successfully to heap rldlcule
upon it. Make it ridiculous and you have
ruined it. As soon as it becomes the butt
OF common talk and the standing joke for
the funny column of the newspaper ITS
power is gone, its influence sealed. And
SO soon as an individual becomes the centre
of a community's jokes and sneers his in
huence is gone. Human effort and intiu-
ence wither more quickly under sarcasm
and ridicule than in any other way. In
this way many a good cause and many a
good person has suffered at the hands oil
persons who have never seriously tried to
understand the cause or the person. In
this way many a great human heart has
! been placed upon its Calvary and made to
bleed and suffer the keenest agony, In this
way many noble, sincere, sensitive soul
is going through its Gethsemane or ls be-
ing nailed to its cross on this very Sabbath
day.
This is how | believe the work and life
of Jonah have suffered. Unthinkingly, I'm.
feelingly sarcastlcaiy. people have asso'
ciated Jonah with a whale and Joke be-
ing the easiest and cheapest way of show.
ing wisdom they have exhausted all 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 OF some
| person, with all the local coloring sur
rounding him as man and an individual,
! but also and more important, that there IL
q great world truth to be revealed, and
! this individual, with his local co!orng, has
been chosen as the medium through which
| to reveal and teach that truth. And,
therefore, the great Bible difficulties, with
so many, have arisen because they have
| been satisfied to centre all their thought
and interest on the individual and his 10.
cal details, and in this way have missed
the great truth intended to be taught-a
| truth so great that were it graspcd 1t
would then become a key by which to
open up and understand the incident it,
self.
This is how Jonah has suffered at our
hands. And our task is now in few
words to take another look at Jonah-to
try and see him in the hight OF the great
truth intended to be taught and see if
thereby we can the better understand the
story itself.
Bethnk 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 20 the
| less and less did they have to help them
solve their problems. Yet they felt the full
force Of each one and nad to make an et.
fort of some sort to solve it. The problem
was not always the same. Sometimes it
! val Of ,r,np : nh,
sometimes it was national sometimes it
was intellectual. sometimes it was moral.
| II II took a religious phase it was either
national or moral or intellectual. Men felt
the presence of God lmpngng upon them,
They have forced themselves to formulate
certain conceptions about Him. Then they
found that certain Of their experiences did
pot 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 a
great intellectual and national problem.
This led HIM To take the story of the Pro.
rh"t Jonah. that. having thrown it into
polabohc form. he might the better
through it explain to the people what he
thought was Gods own solution of this
particular problem.
What, then. was that difficulty. that
prob'om' The people of Israel believed
wa, w i'Nt qua SNnlP',HN III 'pI WIRE
confined TO themselves His care. HIS ia
N,"r' ms dressings were 10, mem 2nn mem
OF the world was outside. There was Nut
one human family that had divine req
tIonshlp. and that was Jewish. Quite true,
there were other nations, and they had TO
live, but they had to live without God. lie
did not belong to them. they had no cam
nh'n INN; mat was the real tfadlt'chH
"'WlSh ieeIlng'
But a few people were growing ny who
had a newer and trucr conception ot Cod,
and broader outlook upon man. One of
them felt he would like to relieve this mar.
raw. limited, wrong conception OF Gpl,
THIS led HIM ~ write the book. and in
cong 50 he took Jonah as the representa-
tive of the old narrow Jewish idea. and
showed how domains i6ras became broad.
cncd. and thus "a i.ht the bread full love
OF God for all mpn-tnlgh, not only the
c'emcu,y of God. but also that He lives all
men, There, then, is til" national prob
lem to teach that God is God Of all men
and loves them: and the intellectual prom.
lem. to teach the Jewish peopie and nil
other pcop'c that God ls everywhere. Let
ia soc, then, how THIS doub'o sided prob
lem wa, solved and satisfactorily imiI,-
tratod IN ,lonah'S experiences that God is
everywhere aud that Goa loves MI men
Jonah did not belicy" tins God was not
everywhere ~ Jehovah This Jonah had
been taught aud TN, he believed This was
tie very atmosphere in which he lived ard
moved and had his being. This was his
bahyhood's hspng. his hovhood's teaching
and his manhood's PATRIOTISM. But one
day there broke into ms mind a new
thought. "Why should not God care for
the people in that other city lust a. well
.. lie does for the rcone in tins CITY?
WIZ ,hou.d Jerusalem be any more IA
vored than Nlncvch? The pcop|c are not
Jews, but why should God not care for
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