CHAPTER XIX.

God's reasons with Jonah to show him his great selfishness and guilt. Those who have a selfish spirit cannot go to heaven. Have we the spirit of Christ?

NOTWITHSTANDING the very wrong feelings that Jonah continued to indulge, and the insulting and wicked reply which he made, God still treated him with great forbearance, and endeavored to reason with him, to show him his folly and his guilt. "Then said the Lord, thou hadst pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night; and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle ?"

Jonah felt much troubled that the gourd was destroyed by the worm. He pitied it—he felt sorry that so beautiful and useful a plant should wither and die. He would have done any thing in his power to preserve it. But what was the gourd, compared with the numerous inhabitants of the city of Nineveh ?

Jonah could feel deeply afflicted at the destruction of a single plant, which he had not taken any care of. And shall not God have mercy upon the very beings that he has formed and preserved ?

Jonah would have the gourd spared, which in a single night sprang up and grew to its full height,

and in another night perished—a short-lived plant, possessing neither thought nor feeling. And shall not God spare the people in the great city of Nineveh? Are they not of infinitely more value than the gourd? They will all live for ever. They have never-dying souls. Shall not God show his mercy toward them, especially as they have humbled themselves before him, and given (many of them at least) marks of sincere repentance? This long-suffering of his may lead still more of them to consider the folly and the guilt of their past lives, and to repent of their wickedness, and love and obey God.

Besides, in the city there are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand. These are young children and infants, who are not old enough yet to understand the difference between right and wrong. For this is what the Jews meant when they spake of a person not being able to discern between his right hand and his left hand. Of such young children and infants there were no fewer than one hundred and twenty thousand.

By thus knowing the number of young children and infants we can form an opinion of the whole population of Nineveh; and it is supposed that the number of inhabitants, of all ages, could not have been less than five hundred thousand. Perhaps it was somewhat more.

Must all these little ones perish, and the innocent cattle too? They, as well as the young children and infants, have had no share in the dreadful wick

edness that has been committed in the city. Shall not all these be spared?

Thus did God reason with Jonah, and endeavor to show him how foolish and wicked he was. He could be very greatly displeased and angry at the loss of the gourd, and yet feel not at all for the harmless animals-for the tender and interesting little children in Nineveh. He could even murmur at the preservation of the city, although there was such an appearance of sincere repentance among the inhabitants, and such an astonishing change in their outward conduct.

Do you think that Jonah acted in a very foolish and wicked manner, and that he had very wrong and sinful feelings? Then, take care that you do not imitate his example.

Has it never happened that you have thought that the good of others would, in some way, make your enjoyment less? Have you not, sometimes, felt so anxious to secure your own happiness that you have cared nothing about theirs? Have you not even been willing that they should suffer, rather than you lose a little of something which you have strongly desired to have; or rather than put yourself to any inconvenience on their account?

This is the same selfish spirit which Jonah had; and it shows, that, if you had been placed in his situation, you would, in all probability, have felt and acted just as he did.

If you have such a spirit now-if any of you have it, and feel no sorrow for indulging it—and do

not endeavor to overcome it-and do not pray to God to deliver you from it; it shows very clearly that you are not prepared to go to heaven. If you should die with such a spirit, you could not go to heaven. For there, all have a very different spirit. They have the same spirit that was in Jesus Christ. You know what this spirit was. He so loved us-he so loved all mankind, that he left the happiness and the glory which he had with God in heaven. He was made like one of us. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was poor, and had no home. He was despised and rejected by his own countrymen, the Jews. He was in such an agony, when thinking of the death which he was soon to suffer for you and for me, that his sweat was like great drops of blood. He was beaten, and reproached, and insulted, and made to wear a painful crown of thorns. He died on the cross, enduring the most dreadful sufferings, both in his body and in his mind.

And all this he did to save you (if you will repent of sin, trust in him, love him, and obey him) from the terrible punishment in the future world, which is due to your sins.

Have you any thing like this spirit of Christ? Have you begun to feel and act a little, as he did? Have you some desire to do what you can to make others good and happy? Do you love to see them good and happy? Especially, are you willing to give up something that you love; to put yourself to some inconvenience; and even to endure some suf

fering, in order that, in this way, you may do good to those around you?

Ask yourself these questions; think seriously of them, and see what the answers will be.

CHAPTER XX.

Jonah probably humbled, and again penitent. Good men always mourn over their sins. The Bible written for our instruction. What use will the reader make of this history of Jonah? Concluding exhortations.

THE Bible does not tell us how Jonah felt after God had reasoned with him about his foolish and wicked anger. It is altogether probable, however, that he saw, once more, how great a sinner he was; and that he again repented, and implored the forgiveness of God. If he did so, he also besought God to give him the Holy Spirit, that he might have right thoughts and feelings, and be kept from sinning in future.

It was thus that David prayed, in the fifty-first Psalm, after he had been guilty of great wickedness. Read this Psalm, and you will see how deeply humble good men feel, if they have forgotten God at any time, and committed sin. They mourn over their sin. They repent of it. They feel how ungrateful they have been to their kind heavenly Father. They beseech him to have mercy upon them, and for Christ's sake to pardon their iniquity. They feel