The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-04-29
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

pcTlenCe III us uIleHpt W iuu u"uy
from the Divine commission to the
Ninevites. We are nearing Jana, the
port from which he sailed. then called
Joppa. Some, intent on disproving as
much as possible Of the Bible. have
attempted to make light Of Jonah's ex-
periences. claiming that there was no
fish In the world of such capacity as
could swallow man entirely. We
are to remember, however, that the
Scriptures do not say that II was an
ordinary whale that swallowed Jonah,
but rather they specifically declare
that God specially prepared" great
fish for the OCCASION Nor Is this all.
We have our Lords own testimony to
the truthfulness of the matter. and
whoever denies either his truthfulness
or his intelligence Is thereby denying
also his Messlahship and repudiating
him as Savior, because neither
falsitier nor dupe could possibly be
recognized as the great Redeemer and
Savior. the Sent Of God. the Messiah.
Additionally our Lord informs us that
the Jonah incident was in the nature Of
a type. especially designed Of God to
foreshadow the fact that Jesus himself
would be dead for parts Of three days
and arise from the dead on the third
day, even as Jonah was buried alive
for parts of three days and on the
third day the great fish vomited him
upon dry land. There Is nothing diff.
cult about the narrative to one who
has proper faith in God. To those who
have not faith, nothing connected with
Divine revelation Is reasonable, com
mendable or satisfactory. Let us
maintain our stand with those who
hold fast to, and hold forth for others.
the Word Of Life.
The Belly Of He'll Described.
But what have 1.-The belly Of hell"
and the poor soul crying from it to do
with the story of Jonah? And how
does the story associate itself with our
journey today over the Mediterranean
in the belly of hell and whose cry unto
the Lord from there constitutes our
text When boy | heard this text,
and my imagination conjured up what
hell would be like. and especially what
the belly Of hell. or what | supposed
the middle part of 1t. would be like.
had the opportunity Of looking into
blast furnaces through what is called
the glory-hole or peep-hole. There
noted that the center of the fire was
at white heat. tried to imagine peo-
middle or belly Of hell. could not
imagine how they could survive such
IN experience single moment. let
alone Tor all eternity. | sought theo-
logical expositions Of the matter and
learned that some theologians Of the
hoary past. admitting the destructive
effect Of fire. claimed that God would
specially vitalize all the poor creatures
consigned to this torment, so that they
would never die, but would keep Oh
suffering forever and forever and for
other theologians explained that those
consigned to such a fiery ordeal would
gradually become adapted to it and
assume an asbestos-like shell which
would measurably protect them from
the fire. But these theologians wen
ON to explain that. wishing them t
suffer horrible fortunes, God would
scale off the asbestos shell, causing
them to suffer still more excruciatingly
every time the operation was perform
ed. AS a child tried to imagine tina
this was the just desert of sinners
and that the Heavenly Father wal
really kind and loving-that he did no
give them worse. though | could no
think Of anything worse that the!
could suffer
When | was a child. spake as {
child but when l became a man,
put away childish things" Il CORN
thians Xiii, III. | asked for the proc
that anybody could endure such SUI
feiings and yet live. asked for thu
proof that our God Is as unsympatheti'
as any devil could be. My mind rejected
as irrational the whole proposition.
said: The Goo whom shall worship
must be n greater being than myself
greater than any human being, not onl.
in power to execute his will. but also II
wisdom to make wise arrangement
for his creatures. and also perfect II
justice to do to them as he would hav
them do to him. If he were the crea
ture and they the God. He must ais
be perfect in love, the noblest featur
OF any character. | said to myself
Such must be the God who was tn
Creator Of our race, for he has pre-
duced In humanity certain degrees o
these various qualities and he coul'
not give TO man what he does not him
self possess, nor can We suppose tina
ne would create man with more jus
tice, wisdom, love and power than b
himself possesses. To that great Go
bowed my heart and mind and ever
power that ! possess. To him / sti
bow, and give thanks that by his graC
l have come TO see his character. h
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