against the first stepe, however secret, that lead from God. Among the thin1;1s that wrongly influenced him to flight we may suppose: 1. The novelty of the work. To be o. prophet too. heathen people, to go to them as God's messenger, was striking into a new line of duty. How different from work in Israel amid familiar surroundings! 2. It was work afar off, involving a long journey of several hundred miles. Those, too, were days of slow travelling, and Jonah loo, perhaps, a poor traveller. 3. The difficulties of the work would only be beginning when Nineveh was reached. That be, a solitary man, a foreigner, should, in that city of insolent pride and pitiless violence, denounce judgment upon it, was indeed a stupendous work-something to do and to shrink from. 4. His little success at home was not encouraging. Jeroboam may have been quickened by his prophecies to military effort and victories, but Jeroboam was still an idolater. And idolaters, as a whole, were bis people. What can Jonah expect, then, in Nineveh? 5. But if the Ninevites repented, then (for they would surely be saved) Jonah would be discredited. "He had foretold doom, and, lo! deliverance." 6. Why should Nineveh, Israel's enemy, be spared? All the small blind patriot in Jonah kindled into revolt against the work to which he was bidden. Let Nineveh perish! And have we no excuses for flight from duty? Such a novel work, or so new to us I So far away from all our experiences! Beset with countless difficulties! Amid dangers, too, perhaps I And little likelihood of success in it I Must the work be done? Then others must do it! Excuses may be many, valid reason• there can be none, for neglecting the duty which God bids us to do. . II. THE ll'AVOURABLE-SEEMING 0HARAOTER OF CIRCUMSTANCES m JoNAH'S FLIGHT. He left Gath-hepher; went down to the coast. No accident stopped him. In Joppa.. no illness delayed him. The sea was peaceful. He found just the ship he wished, and bound whither he desired. There was room for him on board. He had money enough for the passage; "so he paid the fare." He went aboard. What could be better? Not into the book of providence must we look to know the right way from the wrong. In themselves, prosperity is no proof of the Divine favour, nor adversity of the Divine displeasure. W a have a "sure word" to guide us. And bad Jonah tested his conduct by God's word, he would have known, in spite of all that seemed favourable, that he was going "the way of transgressors." Have you success in wrong? It is none the less wrong. Things are not really, permanently favourable if God is unfavourable. Are we right with him? Then all things, storm as well as shine, shall be right with us. "Even the ni,qht shall be light about us." III. JONAH'S SPIRITUAL DEGRADATION IN FLIGHT FROM DUTY. "He went down to Joppa." Literally, down from the mountains of Zebulun, down to Joppa, and,· having secured bis berth, "down into it." Spiritually, how he had been going down I JJown from his moral elevation as a prophet. JJown from the heights of fellowship. JJown from the highlands of peace. JJown from Divine service iu which he bad been as" upon the top of the mountains." JJown, ever less noble, beautiful, Divine! Men may "go up" in society, wealth, loca.l influence, and yet morally be going down. By every act of duty dune we ascend; by each neglected we morally descend. Having the Word of the Lord, may we have bis Spirit too, that daily we may cheerfully respond to the heavenly voice that says, "Come up higher" !-G. T. C.
Vers. 4-6.-Jonah reproved. I. A TEMPESTUOUS PROVIDENCE REPROVED filM. Jonah, aroused, creeps on deck. What a scene met him I The sea in horrible tumult. The fury of the wind. The ship "· •• up and down From the base of the wave to the billow's orown I" The bronzed sailors wondering what would be the end I The storm is reproving him. No miraculous wind, perhaps. Still, God's servant with strong reproof: "Guilty Jonah, awake I arise I return I To thy God; to thy work I Duty may be left; it can never be escaped till done I" Sleep ha~ been a part o~ his flig~t. Now be was a.,~ake. ~ as conscience awake? Gould he thrnk? What did be thmk? Or was he still escapmg from himself in the very tumult of the tempest that came to awake him? To not a few life is like a long slumber. Thought, imagination, love, are asleep; their noble possibilities awake only to the gains and joys of this little spot of earth and fleeting JONAH, D THE BOOK OF JONAH. [oe. 1, 1-17,