The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1907-01-25

over a desert Of sand. Jonah was no
angry with the withered leaf He wal
not angry with his own obstinate, sin
full, selfish self. He was out OF tun'
with the divine nature, and therefore
he was out of harmony with everybody
and everything
Out of Harmony.
MY friend, you know exactly what
am driving at. You know when vol
get out of harmony with God every
thing that is about you irritates you
Why, Only last week you had an illus
tration of this fact. The supper was
ended. You were in the midst Of the
children's frolic and fun. No one was
having a happier time than yourself
Suddenly the doorbell rang. An ole
friend came in and said: Harry,
have a fine financial scheme. If yor
will go in with me, we can make $oOOL
apiece" "But, Charlie" you say, lis
that souare?" "Boshr' answers your
friend. Business is not made up OF
Sunday school ideals. If we do not dc
this, some other fellow will" WELL,
you answer, "all right; go ahead. !
will stand by you" Your friend hur'
ries out of the house saying: "All right
Goodby. l must clinch the bargain"
He is gone in a flash. You went back
to the sitting room. Everything was
now different. The frolic was now dis
cordant to your nerves. You took out
your watch and snapped it shut and
said sharply: Children, stop that rack
et 1t is time to go to bed" Your wife
said something, and you answered her
Grossly. All night long you tossed and
tumbled, or when you did sleep it was
troubled sleep.
The next morning when you arose
the sun was shining just as brightly as
ever for others, but not for you. There
was a dense fog around you. The
breakfast left a bad taste in your
mouth. When you got into the car you
grumbled because a fat man had the
impudence to sit down beside you and
did not give you room enough to
stretch out your elbows. When you
entered the store you began to find
fault right and leIt Nothing seemed to
please you. Everything seemed to rub
you the wrong way. ooh" the employ
ees whispered, better look out today.
The wind is from the east. The governor
is on the warpath." And this condition
went on for days. What was the mat
ter with you, my brother? Why was
everything wrong in the home and on
the street car and in the store? Why
were the blue heavens black for you?
Need l tell you why? You know. God
told you to go to Nineveh, and you
went to Tarshish. God showed you a
plain, simple Christian duty, and you
refused to do it.
How to Get Right.
My brother, do you want to see the
sun shine again? Do you want to as
sociate with loving, gentle, kind peo-
pie? Would you have your pathway
strewn with flowers and your heaven
melodious with songs? Then get righl
with God. Get right with your better
and truer self Undo at once the
wrongs you have done your neighbors.
When the Russian engineers were plan
ming the railroad line between ST. Pc
tersburg and Moscow, for personal and
selfish reasons they planned to make
the track bend this way and that.
When they brought their plans TO EN-
peror Nicholas, he looked at them a
moment. Then he laid ruler upon
the map and drew straight line be-
tween the two cities as he answered,
Nil hn
God draws for us a straight line of
duty, and until we are willing to fol
low that straight line of our own ac-
cord we will never be in harmony with
the divine will.
But we must not halt here. Jonah's
anger stands as the symbol Of the
small souled Christian that we see
sometimes on throne or in bishops
chair, who says: IF the world cannot
be saved through me, then | shall GO
all in my power to destroy it. If can
not make all Christians surround my
chancel or study my catechism or lis
ten to my preaching. then l will do ev-
erything in my power to debar them |
from entering any other church or
studying any other catechism or listen
ing to any other preaching. What we |
want in religious work Is great |
church trust. And the man whom we
want at the head of that great church |
trust is man of our own denomina- |
ton or selection. In other words, If l |
and mine are not going to get the |
credit for saving the world, then | and |
mine will do all in our power to keep |
the world from being saved" Is not |
that exactly the position Of Jonah |
when he got angry with God because
God had repented of the evil that he
had said he would do unto the Nine
vites and he did it not?
Jonah DispIeased.
There" l can hear Jonah say, 81
knew it. l knew it. Here was, the
greatest prophet in all the east. The
crowds everywhere ran after me.
Whenever l lifted up my voice l could
see mems cheeks pale and their limbs
tremble. They were afraid to have me
speak one word lest l might hurl a
divine thunderbolt at them. l gloried
in my power. When went to faroff
Nineveh, even there the people had
heard of my fame And when | enter
ed into that city and began to cry,
Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be
destroyed? pandemonium reigned ev-
erywhere. The people got as frighten-
ed as lot Of fawns being chased by
the falcons which are trying to pick
out their eyes. They Immediately fell
down upon their knees and began to
pray. was the biggest man in that
town. What l said was quoted by ev-
cry lip. But now God has gone back
upon that prophecy. The forty. days
hA We nnGSal and nunr.rr IN ic stnnI- |