Evening star., 1915-11-20
The Missionary Conquest.

Jonah entered the city with a mes
sage that burned into the hearts Of
men-forty days and Nineveh would be
destroyed. The strangers sermon.
spoken in a peculiar dialect, startled
the city. The sinner is a spiritual cow
ard. The evildoer is always aware that
some penalty is due him. The plain,
strong speech rang out so clear above
the market place that the city was
aroused to it's doom. Jonah's expert
ence convinced him that GOD would
punish every sinner. His message of
coming doom filled the city with anx-
iety.
The warning of the prophet opened
up to the citizens of the city a vision
of the friendly character of God, who
would warn men of their danger. They
were moved by the warning to repent
and believe In Jehovah as God Through
their repentance and trust they sue
ceeded in averting the threatened judg-
ment. God is no respecter Of persons.
so that every one who repents and
turns to Him in the name OF the Lord
will receive of his unmerited favor.
Genuine repentance continues to secure
grace and pardon today. There is joy
In the presence of the angels over one
sinner that repententh, so that no one
nSe0 1Sar tnat mis- repentance Will go
unnoticed by the Lord.
The success that followed Jonah's
preaching has been repeated in the
labors Of Savenarola in Florence. The
records of modern missionary achieve
ments told in the story Of Patton.
Cough, Moffett and other heralds Of the
cross, whose message God has made to
triumph in every place, has demon
strated that the capacity to receive the
gospel message still remains In the
! heart Of the lowest men of the race.
Jonah's preaching changed the charac-
ter of men. He won notable victory
for the Lord. The phenomena success
brought grief to the petulant prophet.
4 < = y
The Missionary's Disappointments.
Remorse filled the prophets soul. His
! pride made him think that he had
| been discredited. His prejudice against
| Nineveh caused him to be disappointed
| because 1t had not been completely
| destroyed It was difficult for the pro-
vincial Jew to grasp such an idea like
God love for all mankind He showed
| by his sulking that he was a self
| opinionated person. who when he can
not have his own way is apt to sulk
He cried for death when the only death
! he needed was the destruction of his
| own seif1shness. For nearly twenty
| centuries our Lord has been trying to
get His church to carry the gospel to
| every creature, and selfshness that
| fails to understand Gods love has
| hindered the advancement.
The missionary filled with Joy over
| the marvellous adVancements made
| abroad Is crushed by disappointments
because we do not send out the REIN
| forcements Of money and men that his
| success calls for from his denomina
tion. The challenge Of the unfinished
| task calls for US to sacrifice, for the
work must go on Every servant of
| God sooner or latter will come to learn
that disappointments are His appoint
| meHts.
| God drew near and taught Jonah a
| lesson from nature. The gourd tina [
was easily destroyed by the worm, was
worth something to the petulant
prophet He was taught BY it to see
| worth something to the prophets God.
Jehovah revealed to Jonah his error in
| believing him to be a local God. We
must not fall into a similar error and
think that God Is for America alone,
Jesus died for the world and He has
| ordered that His gospel be sent to
every creature.
1t is our duty to carry out His COM
mAnds to preach the gospel through
out the world 1t is just as much our
duty to go now as II was Jonah'a obli-
go to the heather city of Nlneyeh. The
commission stated in our golden text
is individualisttc. and we must ali
heed the Lords command to go ye
therefore and make disciples of all
nations. baptizing. them in the name
the Holy Spirit: teaching them to OBJ.
serve all things Whatsoever ] com.
mandsd you: and 10, ! am with you al.
ways, even unto the end Of the worlds =