The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-04-22
PEOPLES
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL,
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

I'VE are not 1ar from tue pldCe "he'S
poor Jonah long ago had his sad ex-
perience in his attempt TO run away
from the Divine commission TO the
Ninevites. We are nearing Jaffa. tie
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 it 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 Messiahship and repudiating
him as Savior. because neither
falsifier nor dupe could possibly be
recognized as the great ReGeemer 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
aud 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
mendabe 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 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
Deep; Jonah was the man who was
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 it. would be like.
had the opportunity OF looking into
blast furnaces through what is called
the glory-hole or peep-hole. There l
noted that the center of the fire was
at white heat. l tried to imagine peo-
pie in such condition in the very
middle or belly Of hell. could not
an experience single moment. let
alone for 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 on
suffering forever and forever and for
ever. unreliable tortures. found that
other theologians explained that those
consigned to such a fiery ordeal would
gradually become adapted to 1t and
assume an asbestos-like shell which
would measurably protect them from
the fire. But these theologians went
on to explain that, wishing them to
suffer horrible tortures. God would
scale off the asbestos shell. causing
them to suffer still more excruciatingly
every time the operation was perform
ed As child tried to imagine that
this was the just desert of sinners.
and that the Heavenly Father was
give them worse, though | could not
think of anything worse that they
could suffer.
When l was a child, spake as
child; but when / became a man.
put away childish things" q Corin-
thians xiii, III. 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. Ny 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 wise arrangement
for his creatures. and also perfect in
justice to do to 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.
Such must be the God who was the
Creator of our race. for he has pro-
duced In humanity certain degrees Of
these various qualities and he could
not give to man what he does not him.
self possess. nor can we suppose that
he would create man with more JUS
tice. wisdom. love and power than he
himself possesses TO that great God
/ bowed my heart and mind and every
power that I possess. To him / still
bow. and give thanks that by his grace
have come to see his character, his
Plan and his Word more clearly than
In the past. / thank him that now I