display; giving them up as acts, and trying to give them up as objects of desire'; seeking to have the heart cleansed as well as the hands; to have the natural love of. them subdued by the thought that they excite against us the fierce wrath of God; and in our ca.e, under the light of the gospel, by all the considerations derived from the cross of Christ, and God's display of love and grace in him. Was the repentance or· Nineveh complete, inward, spiritual? This is not said, nor is it necessary to believe it-. •was. Probably it did not last long. It was repentance, however, according to their light and circumstances-the expression of deep national concern for sins that had come up before God, and against which God had sent his prophet to testify. It was an acknowledgment of the God of Jonah as the God of the whole earth- submission of themselves to Lim-such submission as would have saved Egypt and Pharaoh, had it becu wade, in Moses' time, with a1,;companyiog token~ of sorrow and ~inccrity. Higher: OD. III. 1-10,] TIIE BOOK OF JON ATI. j!j,
quiLlity of repentance is demanded from an indiuidv,al than from a nation; fellowship of reconciled God with the fodividual is much more intimate and spiritual than with the n!Ltion; euch fellowship is impossible, save in case of regenerate hearts; in "repent- ance unto life" there must be genuine hating of what Go<l hates, and loving what he loves. II. THE CHANGE ON THE PART OF Gon. "God repented of the evil, that he had said he would do unto them; and he did it not." It is frequently objected that thi8 implies ficlclcness on the part of God, as if he were mutable-as if he were a son of man that be should repent. But fickleness or mutability implies change of action while circumstances remain the same; immutability demands change of action when circumstances change. Immutability is tested by principles on which one acts rather than on the outward actions one performs; hence there is no fickleness on part of God in opposite actions, as when he placed man in Paradise and afterwards drove him forth. When God said by Jonah," Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed," he meant that Nineveh-Nineveh if it continued the same, black with guilt, impenitent, unre- formed. He did not mean that another Nineveh would be destroyed-Nineveh faating, penitent, transformed. At the end of forty days old Nineveh did not exist; the corrup- •tion that would have-drawn down the Divine judgment was removed-in a sense that old Nineveh was destroyed-it had passed away. Consequently, the denunciation ceased to be applicable ; the doom threatened was not inflicted. This was the whole amount of the change on the part of God. The phrase," God repented,'' is an anthropo- morphism; God acted as man would have done if he had repented-regarded it no- longer as a case for infliction of judgment. God's denunciations of jndgment are directed rather against states of mind and conduct than particular places or com- -munities-implying, usually, a chance of repentance. Jri some cases the time for ,repentance had passed, and denunciation of doom becam.. absolute-as in the case of our Lord weeping over Jerusalem. In rejecting him they had filled up the measure of their iniquities. Their house was left desolate. "We are ever to guard against assign- ing human imperfection to God. But we are equally to guard against assigning to him such a character or .nature as would render living, intelligible, friendly intercourse between hiw and his people impossible. But impossible utterly all such intercourse may be, if I may not speak to God in the same forms and phrases and feelings in which I would offer a request, or et.ate my case to a fellow-man, though of course retaining unreserved submission and unlimited adoration of the Mighty One of Israel. My adoration unbounded; my surrender of myself to God unreservedly ;-these are tributes to the searohless glory of his Godhead which I may not withhold, and yet profess to worship him, Nevertheless, with these I must be allowed, in condescension to my weakness, to ask God to be 'attentive to the voice of my supplications;' to • behold and visit me;' to• stretch out his hand' for my help; to • shine upon me with the light of his countenance;' to •awake;' to 'arise;' to • draw near;' to 'come and dwell with me.' All these expressions and requests are after the manner of men. I must be allowed to spread out my sorrow and my trial before him, precisely as if my design and expectation were to work on his feelings, and move and induce hhn in his pity to deliver me" (Martin). III. NINEVEH IS SPARED, Picture the city as the fortieth day approached; when it. dawned; afterwards, when it passed away and Nineveh rewained. Picture univers:u relief and joy-old and young--coogratulatious-life appearing before them with a. new brightness-the day breaks, and the shadows flee away. Symbol of what may be realized when the anger of God due to sin is averted: '' ln that day thou sha.J.t say, 0 Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me" (Isa. xii. 1). "What, then, must we expect will be the- sweet surprise and transport of the departed sO'Ul on his first entrance into glory; when translated of a sudden from this material world to the world of spirits;· from among men into the immediate presence of• God? 'What wust be his sensations, delight, and astonishment, when first conducted into the prcseuce of the Saviour reigning on the throne of heaven? What will be his feelings wht>n he sees aroun·l the throne II com- pany which no man can number, all arrayed in white robes, and wearing brilliant erowns that never-fade; all in transport of joy, singing of redeeming love, and cele- brating the praises of the Lamb that was slain, and their voices like tue sou!ld of ma.uy -,. '" THE BOOK OF JONAH. [oH. m. 1-10.
wat.ers? V1hPn the ~0ul first joins this company, and reviews the dangers it has e~caped in the worl<l heln"', its love will kindle into a burning flame, and its song will he -€teraal."-W. G. Il.