The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-01-22

Oldest c: cities. linked with sacred truth
And classic 1abe from thy earliest dawn
BY Maine The Beautiful
IA Other words, Jonah was Gods sol
der doing barrack duty. His barracks
were in one OF tie most delightful sea
port towns of the world. But after he
had stayed there awhile lnd made his
circle OF friends aud was just begin
ming 90 enins himself the word Of the
Cord came To him ami said, oArise, g.
70 Sinevci. that great city0 aud cyy
against ita Cor their wickedn"ss is come
no before me" In other words God
said unto his prophet soldier: 'Gird Oh
thy armor, mighty prophet. Go forth
to battia Draw the sword OF faith and
strike af my enemies. Go into the eita-
uI of sin called Sineveh. the great
eapit;t1 OF Che north
Now. what happeneds Jonah began
10 make EXCUSES. j think l hear him
say: "Iord ftod, why dost thou com
mana me TO 20 to Nineveh? Dost thou
want - kill me? Dost thou want to
destroy me: Nineveh is at least 7D0
miles to the northeast OF Joppa. In
order to travel toward it i will have to
cross the deserts and be attacked by
the wild beasts and he hunted by the
Bedouin robbers, who are more merci-
less and ferocious than wild beasts.
Besides, Lord, | must go alone. Will
certainly die IL l have to go" Then
Jonah, in his own mind. began 10 con
jure up difficulties. He piled them up
and up until at last he said: Il will
not 90. No I won't God has 10 right
to ask me to make this sacrifice"
Then, as he makes this sinful resolve
he looks ont Of his window, and he
sees ii ship at anchor. u was taking
on its last bale Of cargo. 1t was just
ready to sail for Tarshish. That was
the ancient name for the modern c0un
try OF Spain. And so he got into q
rowboat and pushed ont to the ship
and set sail for the west instead Of set
ting out to travel over the Assyrian
deserts to the northern capital Of Nine
veh And, my brother, you know rs
well as ! know that the reason most
of us flee our Ninevehs is because we
are not willing to make the sacrifices
God wants us to make.
why He RebelIed.
But / cannot close this sermon with
out noticing another fact. Jonah was
angry because God repented of the
evil that re had said he would do unto
the Ninevites and lie did not. Why?
Because these Nineyites were gentiles
| and not Jews. In the sight Of Jonal.
| they belonged to the barbarians. He
| would not have cared SO much il they
| had been Hebrews. as he was He
brew But they belonged TO Il class
| outside Of his own nationalitya And
| from time lmmemorial the Hebrews
| always looked upon their God rs theii
| own God exclusively. Thus. by 80
| ceptng this repentance of the Nine
| vites. God WAS practically saying: 10
nah l am God to the Hebrew. 10
| nah, | am Il God to the Egyptian. 10
nah am Il God to the white and t.
the black and to the yellow skinned
and to the Malay. I am God to all PEG
| pies. Of all classes. Come unto me. al
We that labor and are heavy laden. an(
| will give you rest" And | see Jonaf
sitting upon that hillside. hear hin
say with angry lip: Nay. Lord. nay
! If thou art t.. be God to the Hebrew
tlen be God to the Hebrew race
alone"
Are we not all Jonahs? Do We no
want to hem in the work Of Jesus t.
our own social and national cliques
Do not some of us say: What II
the good of sending missionaries t,
| China? Let China keep Oh wOrshipini
its idols if it wishes. We are not re
sponsible for what China does" D.
we want our Christ to be the Christ O
the harlot and the laborer and th
black man: Are we trying with a
intense yearning desire to bring all sc
cial classes into our churches and hav
the poor and the unfortunate worshi
Christ by our side in our own churc
pews?
| Nineveh's Fate.
As come to the end Of this sermo
want to lead you for moment with
In the mighty walls Of this great cap
tal of the north. l want you to Sc
the mighty rivers that flow through i
want you to see its dams and sluice
and great canals. | want you to sc
its castles and walls and palaces an
temples Sineveh was not a village
Nineveh was the mightiest capital o
the east at ooeered an area Of owe
400 square miles. @ want you to Sc
the princes and princesses and noble
and common people now jostling eae
other. u want you g. hear the song
Of praises as they sing them to til
great 0nod who has forgiven them the
sins. Then q walG to tell you that tn
mighty people and this mighty cit.
after they Bad heard the warning ca
Of Jbnah and repented Of their sins. fe
again into sin. Their last sins wei
worse than their former sins. Two eel
turtles latex0 In 625 b. g., God wipe
out that city on account of those sill
from the face of the earth aud 50 obi
Grated it that for over a thousand yea
no one knew where this mighty capit
; of the east had stood 1t disappears