avoid having any thing to do with this wicked way of drawing lots.

After the mariners in the ship had cast the lots, the lot fell upon Jonah. He must have thought before, that he was the person who had particularly called down the displeasure of God, and that it was on his account that the storm was threatening them with instant destruction. It would have been well if he had confessed this. But he did not. He endeavoured to conceal his guilt, till at length the lot falling upon him, he must have begun to feel not a little agitated.

Still, he did not tell them of his disobedience to the command of God, and why he had embarked in their ship to go to Tarshish.

CHAPTER V.

Jonah tells who he is, and why he wished to go to Tarshish. Sin will, sooner or later, be detected. The mariners are in great alarm. Jonah tells them to cast him into the sea. They at length do it. Jonah's feelings. Children may die unexpectedly. Are we prepared to die?

THE mariners finding that the lot had fallen upon Jonah, were anxious to know if he, indeed, was the cause of their calamity; and as he did not appear to be ready to give any explanation of the matter, they asked him a number of questions "Tell us." said they, "we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation? And whence

comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou?"

Although they began to suspect that there was something wrong about Jonah, yet they treated him kindly. They wished to give him a fair opportunity of letting them know who he was, and what was his business. They thought that, by knowing this, and also the character of his countrymen, they might, perhaps, be the better able to judge concerning him, whether he was an honest man, or one guilty of some great crime, and was endeavoring to escape from punishment.

Jonah replied, "I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land." He also told them how God had commanded him to go to Nineveh, and cry against it; and confessed, at last, his disobedience and guilt, in endeavoring to flee away from the performance of his duty.

By this time he began to have some true sorrow for his conduct; and he must have felt deeply humbled and ashamed thus to acknowledge his wickedness before these poor, ignorant idolaters. For, though belonging to the nation of the Hebrews, whom God had chosen to be his peculiar people, and whom he had taught to understand his true character, and how they must love and obey him, Jonah had acted as if he had known as little about the true God as the mariners themselves did. He had great light and knowledge, and yet he sinned against this light and knowledge. He was a pro

phet too, as he told them, and this 'occupation was of the most important and honorable kind;-he was chosen by God himself to preach to his countrymen, and sometimes he foretold future events. And yet, how little he had acted like the prophet of the Lord! God had directed him to perform a great and difficult duty, but he had shrunk from it in a very cowardly way, and foolishly thought that he could get rid of it, by escaping from his own country, and fleeing beyond the call of God, to a distant land.

And so it is, that, sooner or later, those who disobey the commands of God and commit sin, will be discovered, and their wickedness brought to light. This very often happens, as in the case of Jonah, in this world, and if not, it surely will in the next. For we are told in the Bible, that "God shall bring every work into judgment; with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." And our Savior says, to show how particular this account will be-"Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.'

11

When Jonah had told the mariners who he was, and why he had embarked on board their ship to go to Tarshish, they were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, "Why hast thou done this?" They knew something, probably, of the Hebrews, and what a great and powerful people they were. They

might have heard that this people worshipped a different God from the gods of other nations, and that their God had done great wonders, in enabling them to conquer the inhabitants of Canaan, and to take possession of their country. And when they found that Jonah was one of this people, and that his God, as he told them, had made the sea and the dry land, they began to feel in awe of this great God. They saw, as they supposed, the anger of this God shown toward Jonah for his disobedience, in the dreadful storm which was still raging in all its fury around them. If this God was the creator of the sea and land, he must be a powerful God indeed; and what might they not, themselves, have to fear from his displeasure? For they knew they had been wicked very often; and if God followed one of his own people, and even his own prophet, with such terrible marks of his indignation against sin, what might they not have to fear from the same indignation? One offence of Jonah, in endeavoring merely to escape from the performance of a duty which he considered very dangerous, had drawn down upon him the anger of God. How much reason, then, had they to dread his anger, when they considered the number of their own past offences! For though they had not known the true God, they might have known him, if they had in good earnest sought to do it. Besides, they had always known many things which they ought to have done, and which they did not do, and many things which they ought not to have done, and

which they did do. They felt guilty. They trembled, and were afraid lest the God of Jonah-the God who made the sea and dry land-the God of truth and justice, might destroy them.

They said to Jonah, "Why hast thou done this?" “If thou dost, indeed, believe in the true God, and art one of his favored people, and one of his own prophets too, how hast thou dared to disobey him? What a foolish and wicked man thou art, to bring thyself and us into this great distress and danger! If we had known all this, and why thou wast so anxious to go to Tarshish, we would not have taken thee on board our ship, and then we should have escaped this dreadful storm."

While they were thus speaking, the sea grew still more tempestuous. The wind blew more furiously; the waves beat more terribly against them, and often dashed quite over the ship, threatening to overwhelm them at once, and bury them in the deep. What could they do? They stood in some awe of Jonah, for he had told them, that he was a prophet of the true God. Although they knew that God was very angry with him, yet they did not dare to do him any harm. They wished to know what he thought ought to be done; thinking, perhaps, that God would direct Jonah what to do, and that, if so, he would fear again to be disobedient to God.

"What shall we do unto thee," said they, "that the sea may be calm unto us?" They might have thought of throwing him overboard; and their