The Commoner
MARCH, 1922
9
tho acceptance of the miracle wrought for
iSn rpscue of Jonah.
1 pfiiah'8 prayer test with the priests of Baal,
r instance, and Elisha's raising from the dead of
tn son of the Shunammito woman both of
ISpqp are greater illustrations of the power of
find manifested through His prophets. , The
cpnding of tho ravens to feed Elijah and the
iipaling of Naaman, captain of tho hosts of
Syria, cf his leprosy were as clearly miraculous.
THE TROUBLE WITH THE CRITICS
The trouble with those who reject the mira
rlGS is that they have adopted an hypothesis
that precludes the miraculous. If is not, there
fore question of proof with them, but what
they regard as a matter of principle.,
They profess to believe that miracles belittle
the Almighty, and yet every one who has been
born again knows of a miracle more mysterious
than any recorded in Holy Writ.- Some have
characterized a miracle-working Jehovah as a
"carpenter God," repairing the world from time
to time by special acts of power. The theistic
evolutionists picture God as having devised a
plan by which the world unfolds according to a
fixed law, each new development being the re
sult of resident forces. But, however critics
may differ in the treatment of other miracles
they unite in ridiculing the 1)ook of Jonah.
One of tho most prominent of living higher
critics has recently spoken lightly of the Bible
account of the fish swallowing Jonah and then
vomiting him up, and this, too, in spite of
the fact that Christ uses the miracle of Jonah
to illustrate His own burial of three days in the
tomb. It require? some presumption on the part
of a higher critic to set himself up as an au
thority on religion superior to the Saviour Him
self, but some of them do not hesitate to do this.
SPIRITUAL DYSPEPTICS ,
The title "higher critic" is not a happy de
scription of those to whom it is Usually applied.
In matters of religion they might better be
called "dyspeptics." . The Bible does not agree
with them; they do not have the spiritual fluids
in sufficient quantity to digest the miracle and
the supernatural. .
The higher critic above referred to who ridi
cules the account of Jonah, has, no difficulty in
endorsing the weird and fantastic explanations
which spring from the imagination of Darwin
ists. In a recent book hq'says:
"Man has grown up in this universe gradu
ally developing his powers and functions as re
sponses to his environment. If he has eyes, so
the biologists assure us, it is because light waves
played upon the skin and eyes came out in an
swer; if he has ears, it is because the air wayes
were there first, and the ears came out to hear.
"Man never yet, according to the evolution
ist, has developed any power save as a reality
called it into being. There would be no fins
if there wore no water, .no wings if there were
no air, no. legs if there were no land."
He can believe that the eye, the most won
derful of man's organs, could be brought into
existence by light waves beating on the skin,
and that the ear could be developed by sound
waves (without designing to explain why the
light waves do not continue to bring out eyes
and the sound waves to develop ears), but he
cannot believe that the Creator of all things
could send a particular fish to a particular place
for a particular purpose. Darwinism seems to
close the heart to spiritual truth and open the
mind to the wildest guesses advanced in the
name of science.
PRAYER THAT AVAILS
Those who reject the first and second chapters
of Jonah will hardly be interested in the third
with which the text for our Talk begins, but
those who accept the Bible as true will see how
a repentant man obeyed a second call and went
to deliver God's message to Nineveh.
Nineveh was an exceeding great city and
Jonah spoke with such earnestness that ho con
verted the whole population. They proclaimed
a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest
to the least.
Even the king harkened to the message, laid
aside his royal robe, covered himself with sack
cloth, the coarse garment that indicated repent
ance, and sa,t in ashes. He issued a proclama
tion commanding that neither man nor beast
should taste food or water.
It was a real revival, a sincere turning from
sin and an appeal for mercy. They did not
jnow whether God would repent and turn away
"om His fierce anger, but they felt that they
must either touch the heart of the Almighty
or Perish.
Thte is the praye .that avails; It expresses
ffiJV110 power of God an faith in Ills lov
makes11?? no.n1 ,B, thkInd oC repentance Sit
SemhrP ile r G0d, t0 blot out sln 1
remember It no more against the transgressor.
THE MOST WICKED CAN REPENT
And the people prevailed with God Tho
Heavenly Father saw that they turned away
?v?im the.,rweVL1 Way; "and God repented o?tne
nanfrnVSt?" Ho would d0 unt0 them;
The experience of Ninoveh presents an im
pressive lesson. It was a wicked city and its
wickedness threatened its destruction. But the
most wicked can repent. They can turn from
their sins and bo forgiven. The wages of sin is
death, but salavation is possible when the con
ditions are complied with.
God would not that any should perish and is
quick to forgive. Ho is more willing to give
, good gifs unto His children even than earthly
parents, and tho greatest of all gifts is forgive
ness. The story of the Prodigal Son emphasizes tho
continuing love of the Heavenly Father. It
only waits- an opportunity for expression, and
repentance is the key that unlocks the reservoir
of divine love. If a parent's heart can bo
touched by a child's repentance, why uot the
heart of the Heavenly Father?
We have m the story of Jonah three fhstunces
of repentance the repentance of Jonah when
he was punished for evading tho call cf tho
Lord; the repentance of a wicked city when it
listened to the message of tho prophet of Je
hovah, and the repentance of God Himself when
a city sincerely repents and the people turn
from their wicked ways.
And the closing chapter of Jonah's biography
tells how the prophet was provoked at the sav
ing of Nineveh!
Having threatened tho city with destruction,
he sulks and complains when the Lord heard tho
prayer of the people and withheld the impend
ing destruction.
GOD'S USE OF OUR WEAKNESSES
t H.e was rebuked by a simple lesson, but wo
are not informed whether he was as open to sug
gestion as the people of Nineveh.
As he sat on the east side of the city, till
he might see what would become of it, tho
Lord made a gourd to spring up quickly from
the ground and cast its shadow over his head.
"And Jonah was glad for the gourd.
But the next day God smote the gourd, so
that it withered. And Jonah was angry for the
gourd.
"Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on
the gourd, for which thou hast not laboured.
. . . And should I not spare Nineveh, that great
city, wherein are more than six score thousand
persons that cannot discern between their right
hand and their left hand?'r
The narrative begins with Jonah's covardice
and ends with this account of his petulance
but between these two lamentable failures ho
manifests courage and spiritual power. This
combination of strength and weakness is not
without its lesson to us.
God uses the material at hand; He does not
call all in youth as He called Samuel, and all
are not uniformly useful. He can make use of
all degrees of strength and can even use our
weaknesses as a warning to others.
Jonah teaches us important lessons by the
weaknesses that cany him down into the valley
of despondency as well as by tho virtues that
shine forth when ho was at his best.
THE GOD OF EASE
By WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN
BIBLE TEXT LESSON FOR MARCH 12
(Amos vi:l-8)
Woe to them that are at case in Zion and to
them that are secure In the mountain of Samaria,
thS notable men of the chief of tho nations, to
whom the house of Israel come!
Pams yo unto Calneth and see; and from thence
w J wnmnth the creat: then ffo down to Gath
B? ytht0PhnTst!ne&? are .they better than these
WnBdSmSorlSttefr border greater than your
b0ToCrthat put far away the evil day, and cause
thl4 unonbe'SfTvVand stretch them
That He uP?",rDe"ueheS and eat tho lambs out
ofTho WkBMd CtheCSveasn out of the midst of
the stall; t the sound 0f the viol;
thaWnve'nf for themselves instruments of music,
like David: . bowls, and anoint themselves
wSr&F,a.'VutWffie? are not erleved tor
:hSSrtre?2ve'o7tanha?
Jehovah, tho God of hosts: I abhor the &xcollncy
qf'-Jnaob. and hato his palnqos; therefore will I
dalivor Up the city with all that Js therein.
. Oh, ye who pass your lives in case, tako hood,
before It Is too late, of tho warning to tho chil
dren of Israel by tho prophot Amos.
He was a herdsman of Tokoa, a vlllago of
Judoa, a few miles south of Bothlohorn; llko
Elisha, ho came from tho common people. Tho
former was at his plow when ho was called to
proclaim Jehovah's truth; tho call camo to Amos
as he was tending his flocks.
Amos' message wan not to a particular trans
gressor, like tho message that Elijah carried to
Ahab, tho wicked king of Israel; or did b, like
Elisha, cxerclso miraculous power for tho bene
fit of individuals. His was a proclamation to a
people, an indictment against a nation especial
ly against those in a position of leadership.
Ho startled tho worshippers of tho god of easo
ono of the earliest falso gods. Altars wero set
up before this god In tho vory beginning of hu
man history and over since multitudes have been
his willing worshippers. If any ono thinks that
tho first commandment was intended only for
tho Children of Israel, ho has read history in
vain.
LOVE OP BODY VS. LOVE OP GOD
Tho gods of wood and stono wore not tho
only menace to tho morals of tho children of
Israel. To them, as to all others, camo tho temp
tations to give undue attention to tho body, and
from that day down to this millions havo put
love of the body above tho lovo to God and caro
for tho body abovearo for tho soul. A largo
part of our money our timo and our thought
is expended on comforts for tho body often
an extravagantly largo part and yet most of
our temptations come through it and much of
our sufferings. Christ warned against giving
excossivo attention to tho body.
Where tho means have been sufficient to per
mit idleness and mere physical enjoyment, lives
havo not only been made worthless, but thoy
havo been ruined by adoration of tho god of
ease. His worshippors eat, not because food is.
necessary to tho body but because thoy enjoy
eating; they sleep, not because the body needs
leep but because they like it.
They eat and eat and cat; thoy sleep and
sleep and sleep; and then thoy rise up and eat
and eat again. They spend on food that which
is needed for nobler purposes; thoy walbte Jn
idleness precious moments freighted witU infi
nite possibilities of service. They know noth
ing higher than the flesh and its pleasures: thoy '
live as the brute lives and die without having
obtained even a glimpse of tho larger rewards.
A COMMON SOURCE OP SIN
Amos bursts in upon a people given up to
self-indulgence and, smiting with prophetic
words, seeks to save them from the penalty that
transgressions brings upon tho guilty. It Is a
very complete Indictment: "Woo to them that
are at ease in Zion, and to them that are se
cure in tho mountain of Samaria, the nolablo
men of tho chief of tho nations."
Easo is sometimes the result of demoraliza
tionidleness following vices but it Is more
often a cause. Carl Hilty, a Swiss writer, has
declared that happiness Ic possible only when
ono is busy. He says the body must toil, 'the
mind must be occupied, and the heart must be
satisfied.
Virtue, too, is inconsistent with idleness. It
is hardly possible for one to remain virtuous
if he has nothing to do. Tho fact that he is
willing to do nothing is proof of moral weak
ness, and where his idleness is not the fruit of
a perverted heart it soon destroys the morals.
Amos singles out tho notable men first
"chief of the nations." They havo no more
right to be at easo than tho unidentified
members of the mass, and their responsibility
is even greater. As their example has influence,
they not only harm society by withholding ser
vice, but they offend on a larger scale by lead
ing others astray.
They also are the greatest losers. Many are
so occupied with the necessities of life that
they, have little time for altruistic labors; they
mus't feed and clothe themselves and take caro
of those immediately dependent upon them. If
ono by Inheritance, by good fortune, or by his
own ability has leisure timo, he Is able to de
vote that time to altruistic service and there
fore taste tho greater joys that flow from tho
satisfaction of spiritual impulses.
THE TEMPTATION TO LIVE LUXURIOUSLY
Amos brings a very specific indictment
against tho guilty "that lie upon neds" of
Ivory, and stretch themselves upon tifeir
couches." They yield to the temptation fo.live
luxuriously. Money that might' be spent, for
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