their amenability to the tribunal of an Omniscient and Almighty Ruler. There is too little of this frank and fearless treatment of social corruption; the pulpit is to blamo for this; and it is to be desired that Christian preachers should hear the Word of the Lord bidding them go and "cry against" the wickedness of great cities, and warn the citizens of the ruin they are bringing upon themselves. And above all is it important that the wicked should be summoned to repentance, and that the penitent should be directed to that Saviour who is the assurance of Divine p_ity, and the channel of Divine forgiveness, to all who come to him with contrite sorrow and with lowly faith. Ver. 3.-Fleeing from the Lord. There is something wonderfully simple in this language, and something wonderfully childish and naive in the action here described. Yet when Jonah, who should have gone eastward, turned his face towards the west, when he went down to the port of Joppa and took ship for Tarshish, though he was acting in a way sinful in itself and most disastrous for him, he was teaching for all time and for all readers of Scriptnre a lesson of human infirmity which is to us chiefly precious as preparing the way for a lesson of human repentance and of Divine Corgi veness and acceptance. I. THE MOTIVE WHICH LEADS MEN TO WISH TO FLEE FROll THE PREBE~0E OF THE LORD IS BAD. There are various impulses which may tend to drive men away from the all-searching eye of the Supreme. Some, like Jonah,. may wish to avoid a service to which they cherish repugnance, for which, perhaps, they feel personally disqualified. Others may wish to hide their sins from One who, they know well, must regard them with displeasure. Jn any case, though the degree of culpability may vary, the motive is unworthy. 'Ihe child should hide nothing from the Father; the Christian should never ask-Where shall I hide from thy presence? but should rather rejoice in thP nearness, the interest, the favour, of his Maker and Saviour. II. THE METHOD WHICH MEN ADOPT IN ORDER TO FLEE FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE Lonn IB ABSURD. Change of place cannot take us out of the territory of the Ornni- pre~ent King. Jacob found that when at Bethel; the Lord was in that place, though he knew it not. Jonah learned that God's hand held in- its hollow the raging sea; the same hand that fashioned the dry land from which he fled. It is now more common for those who would flee from God to betake themselves to the society of the profane, the licentious, the ungodly; thus they seek at least to banish the thought of God, if they cannot escape from his all-regarding eye. Ill. THE llIPOSSIBU.ITY OF FLEEING FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD 18 OBVIOUS. That is to say, obvious to all who reflect upon the nature and the attributes of the Eternal. And it is well that all who are tempted to wish . that relations between themselves and their Creator were suspended should reflect upon this impossibility. In God we live and move and have our being. We may forget him, but he does not overlook us. We may be out of harmony with his highest purposes, but we cannot cease even for one moment to be subjects of his kingdom, whether contented or discontented, loyal or rebellious. IV. 'l'HE CONSEQUENCES OF ENDEAVOURING TO FLEE FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD ARE AFFLICTING. In his favour is life. It is well to walk in the light of the Lord. They who depart from God forsake their true happiness. The presence of the Lord of all is necessary in order to strength and success in our work. A messenger from God above all men needs the consciousness of the Divine favonr ; for him to- flee from God is to sacrifice his life, to throw up his vocation, and, except God have ~ercy upon him, to destroy his spiritual prospects. V. GoD'B FORBEARANCE AND COMPASSION MAY BRING BACK THOSE WHO TBY TO FLEE FROM HIM. The narrative tells not only how Jonah fled, but how God followed him; how God did indeed chasten his servant, bnt did not forsake him; how Providence overruled his sinful conduct and secured his spiritual good. We need not despond, even if we have, as 1t were, turned our back upon God. "He restoreth our soul." He eo reveals his grace that, instead of fleeing from his presence, we come to find in that presence fulness of joy.
Ver. 4.-Nature and God. There ls a Hebrew directness and energy in this language describing the storm which overtook the unfaithfol prophet. Some would 8 THE BOOK OF JON AH. [on. I. 1-17.
he satisfied to s11.y that we have here simply a poetico-theological expression descriptive of n natural phenomenon. But surely the Hebrew idiom here employed is the vehicle of a great truth. The Lord does send the wind and raise the tempest; and the Lord alflo calm6 the waters and stills the storm. I. THE ATHEISTIC VIEW IS THAT NATURE IS A REALITY AND GoD A FIOTION. Many scientific, and non-scientific, readers too will say-The storm did arise, but this was in accordance with natural laws, and there is no room and no need for the hypothesis of a Deity. Facts are facts, and regularities and uniformities are undeniable; but wit.h explanations, with personal agencies, we have nothing at all to do. II. THE PAGAN VIEW IS THAT NATURE IS THE OUTWARD EXPRESSION OF THE PRESENCE AND ACTIVITIES OF INNUMERABLE DEITIES. According to the heathen, the sea and the land, the woods and the fountains, had their several deities, whose actions accounted for all changes. In the tempest, Jonah's fellow-voyagers cried every man unto his god. The mood of the deity might vary, his purpose might change. III. 'I'HE SUPERSTITIOUS VIEW IS THAT NATURE IS GENERALLY INDEPENDENT OF GOD, BUT IS BOMETillES VISITED DY A DIVINE INTERFERENCE. When all things proceed in an even course, it is supposed that there is no need to presume a Divine presence. But when anything happens which is unusual, this is taken to be an evidence of the interposition of a superior Power. The calm is Nature's work, the storm is God's. A capricious, arbitrary Providence is the superstitious man's deity. IV. THE RATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS VIEW SEES Gon IN AND BEHIND NATURE IN ALL EEB ORANGES. God is the Author of Nature's laws. "The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land." Divine purpost>, intelligence, wisdom, benevo- lence, are to the thoughtful and pious mind manifest in all the scenes and operations which Nature presents to ns. We need not be pantheists, and identify God and Nature, in order to see and to glorify God in all his works.