For that period, space for repentance was given; and we may conclude that soul after soul was thus gathered home to its God. The effects which began in the simple preaching of God's truth thus stretched away into eternity; and while that city has been now for more than two thousand years so completely buried, that it has often been sought for but could not be found, the souls which were saved there by the preaching of Jonah have been, for more than two thousand years, safe beneath the shadow, or before the throne, of the everlasting God.

But we can be more specific in describing how these effects were produced, for Jonah tells us here in detail, how the whole city was so deeply stirred. The king and his nobles issued a decree that there should be an universal fast; that every living thing should be turned into an instrument for confessing the sinfulness of man, and averting the displeasure of God. Fasting, sackcloth, prayer, and repentance-these were the means to which the rulers and the people of Nineveh had recourse, that sin might be put away and calamity averted.

Now, out of this passage various suggestions arise. It is recorded, first, that the rulers of this city took measures for promoting religion there. They gave all their influence, at once as king and as nobles, that the message of the prophet might have its full effect. Feeling that the rulers and the ruled were alike concerned in the truth which was preached and the calamity which was threatened, those rulers lent the whole weight of their authority, official as well as personal, to promote the common safety. Had they sat silent and supine upon their thrones or their tribunals when such

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a message was delivered, they would have come under the sweep of the saying, "He that is not for me is against me." Had they refused to use their authority for God, in accordance with his mind, they would have been chargeable, as the servant in the parable was, with hiding their talent in a napkin, or burying it in the earth. But the power which God had given them was used for promoting the purposes of the prophet's message; not for persecuting truth, not for vindicating error, not for coercing conscience, not for opposing the purposes of God, but directly and avowedly to carry out his mind. In common with every responsible being, kings and rulers in their spheres, like the humblest of us all, are bound to promote the purposes of the Eternal, and there can be no escape from that obligation, unless there be some sphere in which he is not to be honoured, or the glory of his kingdom not advanced. In doing this, the Word of God is no doubt the sole and simple rule at once for subjects and for kings; but the welfare of society will be promoted, the church of Christ will prosper and be enlarged, just in proportion as governors and the governed agree to take the Word of God as their sole and sovereign guide to duty in public and in private duty to the nation, duty to the church, and duty to the soul of every man apart.

But there are other points to which we must attend in regard to this wondrous fast. We notice that neither man nor beast was to partake of food during its continuance; and as affecting the brute creation, such a measure has been deemed extravagant or unwise. But I apprehend that, upon reflection, our judgment will be different. For, what have been the effects of man's

sin upon the brute creation? Is it not written, that "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain," because of man's transgression? Is it not a mournful truth, that one universal wail, or one universal bleat, is heard throughout our world, because sin has polluted and defiled it? Is it not certain, that the very earth is cursed for man's sake, so that every thistle might tell that man is a sinner, and every thorn proclaim that our fallen earth is blighted? Now, the case which is mentioned here by Jonah, is only a specific instance of this universal fact. The men of Nineveh were to be stirred to deeper contrition, when they saw and heard the universal misery which sin had spread; and though no penitence was expected from creatures incapable of repenting, their sufferings and pain might help to melt and humble the heart of those who were told that destruction was hovering like a vulture above them, and that in forty days they might perhaps become its victim and its prey. David called on the hills, and the mountains, and the forests to clap their hands, and rejoice with him, for the heart of a man of God can make all nature vocal in the Creator's praise. The king of Nineveh called on the beasts of the field to mourn with him, and the tendency of that was to affect man's heart, or touch his conscience more than might otherwise be done.

But, without dwelling upon this, we observe, next, that to all the other appliances, prayer was to be added. The king commanded the people of Nineveh to "cry mightily to God." No effort of their own could avert the coming wo. He whose prophet they had heard, and whose word they had believed, alone could answer their cry; and

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to him they were, therefore, to appeal. Moreover, it was not the prayer of the hypocrite which could serve their purpose now. They were to pray; but they were to add reformation to prayer, and "turn every one from his evil way." To lift up their hands to God while full of sin, was only to mock the Holy One. They were, therefore, to "loose the bands of wickedness," and "let the prisoner go free;" so that, in the case of Nineveh, as well as in that of David, we learn the true theory of prayer-"If we regard iniquity in our heart, the Lord will not hear us." If we cry for mercy, and yet retain what exposes us to wrath-if we ask forgiveness, while we design to keep the sin, it is obvious to all that our prayers are but forms-our heart is not in them. It is the prayer which comes from repentance, and which leads to it-it is the prayer which is made earnest by the felt burden, and which prompts the wish to be set free-it is that prayer which God will hear and answer, and follow with the tokens of his mercy, as he followed the prayers of the men of Nineveh of old. When we humble ourselves beneath the mighty hand of God, he is sure to lift us up; and. if we would understand why prayer is so often unanswered, the explanation may be that sins are confessed in form, but not forsaken-pardon is sought, but the need of it is not felt, and the soul passes on to its account with the burden still cleaving to it like a portion of itself.

Nor should we allow this strange event in the world's history to pass from before us without remarking, that this wonderful narrative supplies a solid ground for hope regarding the conversion of the heathen to God. They who are best acquainted with the wide-spread heathenism

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of our globe, are the most appalled at the prospect which stretches out so darkly and so far. How can the churches ever accomplish the conversion of those darksouled millions? how surmount those impregnable barriers? how make those deeply degraded masses bow at the name of Jesus? how supplant the grossness of sin by the beauty of holiness? how turn the desert into the garden of the Lord? how reverse the primal wo, and impart the covenant blessing? When we think only of the difficulties, we may do as Peter did, when he looked at the raging sea, and then began to sink, and that is what thousands do, until they are wholly paralysed. But let us look to the case of Nineveh, and the soul may become radiant with hope, amid all that seems unpromising; for, mark the simple process:-the preaching which God commanded, was preached at Nineveh, and, in one sense, a city was born in a day. The set time to favour it had come; and then, the simple proclamation of the Word of God achieved the desired result. Omnipotence was working there, and who can hinder it. It will be the same at last with the world in which we dwell. The churches, like Jonah, may flee from the work, when they contemplate its appalling magnitude and its trying nature. They may forget all God's promises, and dwell only on the difficult or the dark. But let the churches do what Jonah did at last -let them obey God's injunction, let them use the appointed means in the appointed spirit, and in the end the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth. It will happen to the world, as it happened at Nineveh, and Christ shall see of the travail of his soul.

But we should make a more close and personal ap

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