The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-29
BY WIILIAM IT. MIISI

- no SUNDAY ocnOOI Les
son for April 80 is Gods Pity for
the Heathen" Jonah 8: 1-4:11
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
0 ONAH needs to be rescued
from the whale. The popular
AN mind holds nothing concern
ing the great character except
- the belief, or disbelief, that
he was once swallowed bv a whale.
Incidentally, it may be remarked that
the Bible nowhere says that Jonah was
swallowed by a whale; simply because
a whale is the biggest fish within the
knowledge of people generally, this
conclusion has been jumped at. Let
the book be read for itself, in its en-
tirety. Every adult owes it to his in
tellectual equipment to know this
masterpiece of literature at first hand.
Every teacher should make sure that
all his scholars read it for themselves.
The book may be read in less than
ten minutes. Concerning its literary
value. consider what the great novel
list, Charles Reade, has to say: "Jonah
Is the most beautiful story ever writ
ten in 80 small a compass. It is in 48
verses. or 1928 English words. Now
take 1928 words in our current MARIA
Gives; how far do they carry you
why, ten to one, you get to nothing at
all but chatter, chatter. chatter. Even
In those close models. Robinson Cru
soe.' The Vicar of Wakefield Can
dide.' 'Resselas,' 1928 words do not
carry the reader far, yet in the 1928
words of Jonah you have wealth of
Incident, and all the dialogue needed
20 carry on the grand and varied ac-
ton. You also have character, not
stationary, but growing Just as Jonah
grew, and a plot that would bear vol
Tnes, yet worked out without haste or
crudity IN 1928 words"
A Little Geography Lesson.
This dramatic story needs to be
studied In front Of a map. as well as
have a way Of sweeping from place to
place as though the distance were but
q steu. They are history, not travel
records. Nevertheless, they are true
to the geography involved: Thus
Abram goes from Ur of the Chaldees,
through Haran, with as little said
about II as the modern suburbanite
says about his daily Jaunt from home
TO offce. So this brief recital takes
Jonah over a large part OF the then
known world.
benher. in Galilee, Just north of MAJ
areth. he was called to the greatest
CITY OF his time One is tempted to
dwell upon the small places which do
business with the whole world, ike
Oberlin and Holyoke colleges, whose
graduates may be found in mission
work ali over the earth. So the terri
torialry-insignif1cant British Isles have
for nearly a thousand years been the
leading force in the worlds politics
From anywhere one may reach every
where.
of Jerusalem, has a unique place in
the history of missions. 1t was from
there that Jonah, the first foreign mis-
sionary, tried to run away from his
call. 1t was there that Peter the apos-
tie to the Gentiles, had his wonderful
vision. This is the main gateway or
the land that gave the world its good
news. AS I myself, and countless
other travellers have done. Jonah took
a ship at Joppa, en- route from the
northern Syrian ports. He was pound
for the farthest place he could reach
forgetting, in his panic that there Is
no near and far with Jehovah-the
port of Tarshish, in faraway Spain.
All the while he should have been go
ing in the opposite direction, by land
and not by sea, to the Great City on
the bank of the Tigris.
What About That F1sh2
Here we come to the part the fish
plays in the narrative. A great storm
overlook the ship. The sailors in ter
ror, called on their gods. Only Jonah
dared not; he lay in the innermost
hold Of the ship, sleeping the sleep of
numbneEs and nervous exhaustion. His
soul was spent In Its mad hight with
God. The sailors decided to cast lots
to see who had offended the Ruler of
wind and wave. God, who maketh the
wrath of man to praise him, caused
the lot to fall upon Jonah; who there
upon made a clean breast of his whole
story. In this crisis, wearied of a vain
struggle against Jehovah. his nobler
nature asserted itself, and he splendid
" offered himself sacrifice for the
sake Of the ship. This greatest height
IN JonaHTs Life fairly reaches Calvary
After all possible delay,
and with greatest reluctance, the fine
sailors surrendered Jonah to the angry
waves
Now the Creator, whose creative |
work we reverently believe to be never
done, prepared a great fish to swal- |
low Jonah" Here enter the cavilers.
They say that there is no fish big en-
ough to swallow a man. Let them
read the testimony of scientists, or in
Bpect the models in the Beirut mu- I
scum, Of great fish taken from this
game Mediterranean, and learn better. !
One day visited the shrine, which the |
Moslems have kept from remote an
tiquity, that marks the site Of the de-
livery of Jonah on the sands of the |
M Mediterranean, by the great fish. The |
spot Is half way between Beirut and |
Sidon. My companion was Rev. +. e. |