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thought, but he preached plain, straight truth without compromise or conces sion.— Torrey. Forty days. God’s pro bation number. See the other forties of Scripture.— J. C. S. Shall he over thrown. Let us learn that there is an element of warning in God’s most mer ciful message. Plain warnings of com -' ing evil may be spoken in love as truly as the most soothing words.-—Maclaren. That minister who can preach a sermon without addressing sinners does not know how to preach.— Speer. , v. 5. People believed. Get on fire from on high and the people will come to see you burn.—Wesley. We have long held up Peter as the fearless evan gelist, but the Pentecost of Acts fades into insignificance before that of Jonah 3 when 600,000 were brought to sack cloth and ashes in a single day in con sequence of the preaching of one man. — Riley. Jesus held up the men of Nineveh to shame the consciences of the Jews. One purpose of this book was to show the Jews that the despised hea then were more susceptible to the voice of God than they were.— Sel. v. 7. Man nor beast. The brute creatures share in the evil effects of man’s sin; so they are here, according to Eastern custom, made to share in man’s outward indications of humilia- tion.fef-Fausset. v. 8. Let them turn. True repentance is to cease from sin.—Ambrose. It is something more than mere remorse. It comprehends a change of nature befit ting heaven.—Wallace. Late repent ance is seldom true, but true repentance is never too late.^Venning. v. 10. God repented. As God is un changeable in character, He may change His conduct toward men as they change from the attitude that is hateful to Him to that which is acceptable to Him. What was really a change in them and in God’s corresponding dealing, is in condescension to human conceptions, represented as a change in God (cf. Ex. 32:14), who in His essential righteous ness and mercy changes not (Num. 23: 19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Mai. 3:6; Jas. 1:17). — Jamieson. All God’s promises and threatenings are conditional. G o d threatens precisely in order that He may not have to perform His threaten ings. He changes His dealings with us according to our relation to Him.—Mac laren.
(6) We need more “ go” In the giv ing of the Gospel. (7) The cry of Jonah wrought con viction; the cry of the people brought compassion. (8) A suit of sackcloth and ashes would be becoming to most of us. (9) A pathetic picture: A city under the curse of a common guilt; a regenerated, resurrected man; a God- given word of warning; a convicted city; a suspended sentence. y. 1. Word came. God does not al ways give a second chance when we refuse the first ' (Npm. 14:40-45).— Torrey. Jonah had to be shut up be fore he would COMMENTS FROM show up. Three MANY SOURCES days in a dun- Keith Li. Brooks geon would be a wholesome dose for many a shirking saint.—Horton. Man’s indisposition to preach does not rid him of the obligation.— Riley. The punishment of dumb lips iis often dumb ness.—Maclaren. v. 2. Preach. Lit. “ to cry aloud.” Languid whispers will not awake sleep ers— not with bated breath as if a- shamed of it, nor with hesitation as if not quite sure of it, nor with coldness as if it were of little urgency. It is God’s Word to be pealed -into man’s ears.— Scrip. Expos. That I hid thee. The preacher must be conscious that he is doing God’s work and that it is God’s message he bears to man.— Stalk er. His message was not to be one of gentleness. He was not to speak soft ly to them with soothing phrases. Nine veh was a hot-bed of iniquity and to such places God’s message is one of dynamite. — Stillion. What actually brings men to Christ is not our own words but some word of God in the midst of our words.—Speer. v. 3. Jonah went. Jonah was the fittest instrument for proclaiming judg ment and yet hope of mercy on repent ance, being himself a living exemplifica tion of both.— J. F. & B. v. 4. Jonah cried. To some it would have seemed better if Jonah had given a few preliminary discussions on the agreement between his message and certain scientific a n d philosophical
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