Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1910-04-23

OD the MeUjteIIducdh NNas Rt"'
We are not far from the place ".lert'
poor Jonah long & had his sad eA-
~perience in his attempt 10 run away
from the Divine commission 10 liz
Ninevites. We are nearing Jatfa. thr
port from which he sailed. then caiieG
Joppa. Some, intent on d%isprovfng a.
much as possible of the Bible, have
attempted to make light of Jonah's OK
periences. claiming that there was no
fish in the world of such capacity as
could swallow a man entirely. we
are 10 remember. however. that the
Scriptures do not say that 1t was an
ordinary whale that swallowed Jonah.
but rather they specifically decia.e
that God specially prepared" a great
fish for the occasion. Nor is this all.
We have our Lords own testimony to
the ~truthfulness of the matter. ana
whoever denies either his truthfulress
or his intelligence is thereby denying
also his M~essiahship and repudiatinS
him as a Savior. because neither "a
falsiier nor a 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 70 n 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
bold fast 10. and hold forth for others.
the Word of Life.
The EelIy of He'll Described.
But what have the belly OF hell
and the poor soul crying from it to Dc
with the story of Jonah? And how
does the story associate itself with oul
Journey today over the Mediterranean
Deep? Jonah was the man who was
in the belly of hell and whose cry unto
the Lord from there constitutes ou
text When a boy | heard this text
and my imagination conjured up what
hell would be like, and especially what
the belly of he'll. 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 p%eep-hOle. There
noted that the center of the fire was
at white heat. | tried TO imagine PEG
pie in such a condition in the very
middle or belly of hell. | could not
imagine how they could survive such
an experience a single moment, lei
alone for al eternity. | sought theo
logical expoSitions of the matter and
learned that some t~heologians Of the
hoary past. admitting the destructive
effect OF fire, claimed that God would
specially vitalize all the poor creatures
consigned to this torment, SC that they
would never die, but would keep on
ever, unreliable tortures. / found thai
other t~heologians explained that those
consigned to such a fiery ordeal would
gradually become adapted to it and
assume au asbestos-like shell which
would ~measurably protect them from
the fire. But these theologlans went
On TO explain that. wishing them tC
suffer horrible t%ortures, 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 that
this was the just desert Of sinners
and that the Heavenly Father was
really kind and loving-that he did not
give them worse, though l could not
think of anything worse that they
could suffer.
When l was a child, / spake as a
child; but when l became a man. l
put away childish things q CORN
thians xiii, IL. / asked for the proof
that anybody could endure such suf-
ferings and yet live. | asked for the
proof that our God is as unsympathetic
as any devil could be. My mind rejected
as irrational the whole proposition. ]
said: The God whom / shall worship
must be a greater being than myself
greater than any human being, not only
IN power to execute his will, but also in
wisdom to make a wise arrangement
for his creatures. and also perfect in
justice to do 10 them as he would have
them do to him, if he were the crea.
ture and they the God. He must also
be perfect in love, the noblest feature
Of any character. ! said TO myself