The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1907-01-25
Caln1age
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt TalmaGe, d. ID.


prophet. and shows that when our owl
hearts are out Of tune with God ant
nature life is full of discord and dis
satisfaction. The text is Jonah iv,
"Doest thou we'll to be angry?"
Sometimes l am inclined to thinl
that Jonah is the most famous char
acter of the Bible next to Jesus Christ
There are many people who know
nothing about Abraham or Samuel o.
David or Isaiah who know all abou
the wonderful story of Jonah and the
whale. That one incident in his ca
reer has made him the most famous
of the prophets. His fame is due MOI
so much to the disciples of Christ as tt
the enemies of Jesus. No sooner does
a man brought up in a Christian home
begin to listen to the enemies of the
Bible and get ready to cut adrift from
all past Christian associations than he
hunts up the book of Jonah and sets
out to prove that the Bible is a pack
of absurdties by holding up the story
of this recreant prophet to ridicule.
1t is very easy to ridicule this story.
Very shallow men devoid of logic or
the power of analysis can do that. 1t
serves as a handle of attack on the
Bible, which can be used by any man
who hates the Bible for it's uncompro-
missing attitude against sin and dis
likes it for demanding of every man
repentance and faith. Perhaps if Jo-
nah had told the people of Nineveh
what had happened to him they would
have laughed at that instead of put
ting on sackcloth. Do not let us be led
aside into such fooliShness or in any
way to lay stress on this incident. Per
haps if we knew more about the story
and the man who wrote it and Jonah
himself we might find that there was
no difficulty at all in it. 1t is waste
of time to dwell upon it when the
moral of what the writer wants to
teach is so obvious-that when God
calls a man to a work it is useless to
evade the duty, and if he does try to
evade it he will be brought back to it
by some means, ordinary or eXtraor-
binary.
Having spoken these few words in
the way Of introduction, l want to
dwell Oh one of the most remarkable
characteristics of that obstinate and
hayward prophets mind. After Jonah
had gone to Nineveh and told the peo-
pie of Nineveh that unless they re-
pented and turned from their sins they
would all be destroyed the Ninevites
ed. Then God, mercifClly noting that
repentance, said that he would not de-
stroy them. Then Jonah petulantly
few off into a violent rage. There"
he said, my work Of prophecy is all
gone for naught! Thou, o God, hast
made a laughingstock of me- l told
the Ninevites they would perish in for
ty days. Now thou sayest they can
live. Who will listen to my warnings
in futureY So angry Jonah goes off
upon the hillside overlooking the city
of Nineveh and there sulks and sulks
and pouts and pouts. He said: 81 knew
it. l knew God would not destroy
them. And now my business of proph-
esying is ruined forever. No one will
believe me-" Then God speaks to Jo-
nah the words of my text, "Doest thou
well to be angry?" So l ask you today
the same words, "Doest thou well to
be angry?"
Remarkable Question.
Now, why did God say unto Jonah,
"Doest thou well to be angryP oh"
you answer, that is very simple. You
have not quoted the whole of the pas
sage. The Bible says, 'Doest thou well
to be angry for the gourdP While
Jonah was upon that hillside overlook
ing the city he sat under the shadow
of broad leaf that spread itself out
as an umbrella over his head. This
leaf had mushroom growth. 1t grew
up in night. 1t grew so rapidly that
you could almost see it grow if you
watched it. But, like all quick grow
Ing fungi, it withered away even more
quickly than it grew. While the proph-
ct sat upon the hillside this leafy
suddenly shrank and fell. !
Then the hot Assyrian sun beat down
upon his unprotected head, and he was
overcome by the heat. He had a sun
stroke. He tainted dead away. When
he came to, he was mad. He prac-
tically said, % God, l feel so miser-
able / wish were dead And l do
not blame him. With pNshed lips and |
overheated brow and excruciating
pains chasing themselves up and down
his anatomy he might better be dead. |
There is no sun hotter on earth than |
the Assyrian sun. The old site of Nine |
veh lies today in the midst of desert. |
Jonah was simply physically sick from |
the heat, and that, of course, made |
him mentally and spiritually sick al
So"
Oh, no, my brother, you are wrong. |
Jonah was not angry so much with the |
folding up of that great leaf which |
protected him as an umbrella as he |
was angry with himself. The gourd
was a mere incident. God told him to .
20 to Nineveh. He would not go to
Nineveh. Then, like every man who
loes wrong, he got angry and out of
sorts with his higher and better nature.
And when he got angry with himself
he got angry with all his surround
ngs. And when finally he had TO go
10 Nineveh under compulson. as a
;lave is driven to his task. he grum-
bled all the way there. He grumbleL
while he delivered his prophecy. He
yrumbled at the outcome of his proph
ecy. He grumbled when he sat upon
The hillside overlooking the city. He
yrumbled when the gourd was takeh
lway He would have grumbled if the
eafy sunshade had remained open, just
Is he grumbled when it withered away
N other words. Jonah was grumbling