Mexico Missouri message., 1908-11-19

and prophesied In
the days Of Jeroboam II.
ca Every other explanation IL
founded upon unbelief, and is an at.
tempt to eliminate Almighty God by
getting rid OF the miraculous. The
pagans we're the first to ridicule this
story OF Jonah and the fish. and some
unbelleving Christians have echoed
their gibes.
(5) Our Lord Jesus Christ calls the
experience OF Jonah n sign or miracle
He said. "As Jonah was sign unto
the Ninevites so shall also the Son OF
Man be to this generation" Jonah in
his deliverance and preaching was
miracle to the Ninevites. as Jesus was
TO the people among whom he lived,
and one was as real as the other.
Jesus Spoke Of Jonah.
90 Jesus refers to the work OF
Jonah as historic. The men Of Nine
veh," He said shall rise up In the
Judgment with this generation and
shall condemn II, for they iepented at
the preaching Of Jonah" The great
event OF the. book, which is the great,
est miracle in Il, the repentance OF the
pagan city at the preaching Of Jonah,
Is declared by our Lord to have been q
fact. and he warns the people OF HE
generation against the Judgment to
come, when these penitent NineVites
shall rise up to condemn them.
"a II takes less eredullty TO believe
in the miracles Of the book than in
the explanations which unbelievers
give in order to get rid Of the miTacu.
lous. When one has accepted the
creed Of Capt. Phillips, spoken on
board the Texas In the harbor Of San
tIago, II believe in the Father Al
mighty" no difficulties will stagger
his faith, and II he does not believe in
the Father Almighty no explanation
will satisfy his unbelief.
Extent Of Gods Power.
The Bible declares that "the Lord
had prepared a great FISH to swallow
up Jonah" There is nothing said OF
the method by which God prepared the
fish. He could have made the fish OF
zach peculiar structure that Jonah
| might have been accommodated on the
inside with ample room and Sufficient
air, so that the miracle would have
been needed only In the construction
| of the fish; all the rest would have
been natural. Omnipotence might have
given Jonah q stateroom and all the
| conyeniences OF ocean travel. Men
with modern scientific knowledge
make such fish out of iron, put human
1 L.. n
bottom OF the sea. where they can re
main for quite a while and come again
to the surface without injury. What
man has almost done with mechanical
appliances surely our Creator God
could do through vital forces. Science
Is In danger of claiming all the
miracles, and scientific men who boast
of the wonders in the progress OF
modern civilization should not sneeI
at the workings of the God whose laws
they must obey In order to produce
any result.
II Almighty God had needed a fish
big enough to swallow not only Jonah
but the crew and the ship on which he
was sailing he was equal tc the emer-
gency Of making such a fish and pre-
serving both ship and crew under the
water for three days. Is II too much
to say that such Gcd. IL he wished
to do II, could make an animal large
enough to swallow the globe and fly
through space with Il? We are pur'
posely extravagant in language In or
der that you may exalt the omnipotent
God. Let puny man stand dumb be
fore him. Let human weakness NOT
presume to measure his power nor
human wisdom to compass his knowl
edge.
Folly Of Some Christians.
We expect atheists and intidels 70
deny this story, for the one does NOT
believe In God at all and the other
does not believe the Bible. But for
the Christian 10 say that his God could
not perform such q miracle after be
has read the first chapter Of Genesis
and the continuous records Of bis
wonder working IL q Elarlng incon
slstency. For him 70 say that God
would not work such . miracle Is Ger
talnly 10 be wise beyond what Is writ
ten. And 10 deny the fact because
We cannot understand how It wa
done IL 20 deny more than half the
facts OF the natural world which Va
daily accept. though they are shroud
| cd Ia mystery jpat as great.