the sides of the ship. In this situation he was when the shipmaster came to him, and administered the re- proof which we have just heard.
Let us consider this reproof, I. As addressed to Jonah —
The occasion of the reproof you have already heard in few words. But there are two things which call for more particular attention ; namely,
1. The state of Jonah at that time — [How can we account for his being so supine in the midst of such imminent danger? One would have supposed that he, a prophet of the Lord, would have improved that occasion for the benefit of the mariners, (as the Apostle Paul did afterwards, in similar circumstances,) and that he would have employed himself in directing the poor ignorant heathens to Jehovah, as the true and only source of all good : or if, from the low state of his piety at that time, we might conceive him to be indisposed for such an holy exercise ; and that, when in an act of rebellion himself, he would be ill fitted for the office of calling others to repentance ; we should at least expect him to be alarmed with a sense of his own guilt, and to be deprecating the Divine dis- pleasure on his own soul. Yet, behold! of all the ship's company, he alone is unconcerned; and makes that, which was to all others a season of terror and dismay, an occasion for laying himself down quietly to sleep. That Peter was sleeping quietly on the night preceding his expected martyrdom , we do not wonder ; because he was suffering for righteousness' sake, and knew that death would be to him the gate of heaven. But we wonder that Jonah was able to close his eyes in sleep, when death was apparently so near at hand ; and he must know, that, if he died, he would be cut off in the very act of wilful transgression. But his insensibility at that time shews us, in a very striking manner, the true effect of sin ; which hardens the heart, and stupefies the con- science; brutalizes the soul, and renders it indifferent to all that concerns its eternal welfare. St. Paul tells us this; "Take heed," says he, " lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sina." He speaks also of our "conscience being seared by it, as with a hot iron ;" and of our being made " past feeling." Thus it was with Jonah at this time : and all who are acquainted with their own hearts, will see that this stupidity of his was the proper effect of his wilful transgres- sion. Repentance takes away the heart of stone, and substi- tutes a heart of flesh: and sin, in proportion as it is indulged, re-converts the heart of flesh to stone.]
a Heb. iii. 13.