Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-01-24
Caln1aSe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, d. D.

hearts are out of tune with God and
nature life is full Of discord and dis.
satisfaction. The text Is Jonah iv, o,
"Doest thou well to be angry?"
Sometimes l nm inclined to think
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 or
David or Isaiah who know all about
the wonderful story of Jonah and the
whale. That one incident In his ca
of the prophets. His fame is due not
90 much to the disciples Of Christ as to
the enemies of Jesus. No sooner does
a man brought up in Christian home
begin to listen to the enemies of the
Bible and get ready TO cut adrft 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 absurdities by holding up the story
of this recreant prophet to rldlcule.
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 q 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 OH sackcloth. DO not let us be led
aside into such foolishness or IN any
way TO lay stress on this incident. Per
haps il 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, It is 4 waste
of time to dwell upon it when the
moral of what the writer wants to
teach Is So obvious-that when God
calls man to q work it is useless to
evade the dTty, 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, | want TO
dwell on 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-
to1 nd ttirpai thnir sine thpy
would all be destroyed the Ninevites
put on sackcloth and ashes and repent
ed. Then God. Incredibly 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 nauRht. Thou, . God, hast
made a laughingstock Of me. l told
The Niuevites they would perish in for
ty days. Now thou sayest they can
live. Who viii listen to my warnings
in future?' SO angry Jonah goes off
upon the hillside overlooking the city
of Nlneveh and there sulks and sulks
and pouts and pouts. He said: 81 knew
it. | 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
we'll to be ancry? So ask you today
the same words, "Doest thou well 10
be angry"
A Remarkable Question.
Now, why did God say unto Jonah,
"DoeSt thou we'll to be angry oh
you answer, that is very simple. You
have not quoted the whole of the pas
sage. The Bible says. 'DocSt thou we'll
to be angry for The GDUrd" 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 a 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
umbrella suddenly sMank and fell
Then the hot Assyr.nn 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-
tcally said, % God, | feel so miser-
able l wish / were dead And l do
not blame him. With parched lips and
overheated brow and excrucinting
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 mere incident God told him &c
go to Nineveh. lie would not go &c
Niueveh. Then, like every man who
does 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
ings. And when finally he had to &C
to Nineveh under compulsion, as O
slave Is driven to his task, he grum
"a 4. L.,