HOMILETICS. Ver, 2.-City preaching. In Palestine there were no great cities. The popnlation was scattered through pastoral regions or gathered in small and unimportant towns. 'fhis fact gave a character to the national life of the Hebrews and to their national religiousness. It was a strange experience for a Jew like Jonah to be brought into contact with city life upon a grand, colossal scale. We modern Englishmen are more familiar with this development of human existence and activity. We need to study the relations of religion to city life, its occupations, temptations, and opportunities. I. THE PREAOHER IN A GREAT OITY NEEDS TO ll.AVE HIS IMAGmATI0N AND HIS HEART FILLED WITH AN IMPRESSION 01!' ITS J,l.AGNITUDE AND IMPORTANCE. In the view of the Almighty all things earthly may well seem diminutive; yet Jehovah is represented as commissioning Jonah to preach unto Nineveh-" that great city." The population, the wealth, the industry, the political importance of a metropolis should be pondered by one who is required to discharge a public ministry among its inhabitants. Thus he will be more likely to rise to the due height of seriousness, of sympathy. He who labours in "an exceeding great city " needs to fill his soul with a conviction of the spiritual necessities and the spiritual possibilities of such a population. lL THE PREAOHER IN A GREAT OITY NEEDS TO FULFIL A MINISTRY OF WITNESS. "Cry unto it the cry." Such is the exact language in which Jehovah commissioned his servant. In the university, the private chapel, the select and cultivated congre- gation, there may be room for argumentative, emotional, poetical, or philosophical preaching. What a great city needs is a voice, a cry, a preaching, in the proper sense of that word. A plain and powerful witness to man's sin and need, to God's grace and power to save, a summons to repentance and Hnrrender,-such is what the population of a great city for the most part needs. III. THE PBEACHEB IN A GREAT OITY NEEDS AN UNlllSTAK.AllLE DIVINE COMMISSION AND MESSAGE. "The preaching that I bid thee,"-such was to be the burden of the prophet's utterances. It is only the Word of the Lord which should be proclaimed by the minister of religion in any position, in all circumstances. But when standing in the midst of a great metropolis, how can a man, justly sensible of his own ignorance and powerlessness, proceed in his ministry, unless he is assured that the Lord has sent him, unless he can commence his testimony with the preface, "Thus sa.ith the Lord"?
Ver. 5.-National repentance. No doubt repentance is on individual exercise of heart; yet when the bulk of a community is pervaded by similar sentiments, it may be a national exercise also. Such seems to have been the case with the population of Nineveh; Jonah's witness was believed by one and by another, until belief became general; and, as penitence, fear, and supplication spread from man to man, the city seemed moved by one common impluse, leading the whole population to the feet of God. I. Suon REPENT.ANOE BEGINS IN FAITH. The inhabitants of the great city credited the message of the Hebrew prophet; that is, they believed that the Supreme Ruler and Judge was displeased with them because of their siufulness; that they were liable to the punishment which the godless, the vicious, the criminal deserve ; and perhaps also that, notwithstanding their dangerous condition, there was some hope for them in the Divine mercy, if they would but turn unto God. Certainly the gospel of Christ does not ask the sinner to yield his belief merely to the tidings of God's justice and holiness; it invites him also to give credence to its offers of salvation. JI. SVOH JIEPEN'l',\NCJ!; M,\NIF~STS ITSJ!:LF IN CONTRITION 4ND lN ALL THE 1,111,lNj 62 'l'HE BOOK OF JON All. [on. m. 1-10.
OF_ S~NCERE RE<1RET AND DISTRESS BEOAUSE Ol" SIN. There is something very Rftectmg in the spectacle of & nation mourning &nd la1nenting because of a great bereavement, when an honoured eovereign, a trusted minister, a mighty warrior, passes away. But the pathoe and the moral significance of that national mourning are far great.er which is prompted by a general consciousn~ss of sin, by a conviction of national wrong-doing, by humiliation before an omniscient and righteous God. 'l'he tokPns of such contrition, as recorded in the text to have been displayed in Nineveh, were appropriate. to that time and community, and accorded with the customs of the Eaet. But whatever be the manifestations of sorrow, the first essential is the.t it be real, as in the sight of the heart-searching God. lII. SUCH REPENTANCE PERVADES THE WHOJ.I; COMMUNITY. In most cities a.re indi\·iduals who sigh and cry for the abominations done by the people. Even a few are as salt to preserve the mass from corruption. For the sake of a very few a city may_ be spa:e~ the d~om de~rved. _B_ut a _nation in mourning for sin is a sight as sublime as 1t 1s affectmg. Nmeveh 1s m this respect an example to other sinful cities, 'l'he king led the ,n,y, and his subjects followed. Even the least, the lowest, joined in the solemn act of penitence. Such repentance is indeed repentance unto life; it oa.nnot be unheeded or unrewarded by Heaven.