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OUR TRIALS ARE OUR MERCIES.

took Jonah was really a signal blessing. Let it be supposed that all had been sunshine and serene around the prophet-that he had arrived at Tarshish without a check, and thus succeeded in his attempt to escape from the presence of the Lord. Would that have been a blessing? Would the sunshine and the calm have been tokens of Jehovah's love? When the ship dropped anchor in her haven, and all were safe in the city to which the prophet hied, would these have really been proofs of the lovingkindness of the Lord? On the contrary, you feel that all that would just have been to abandon Jonah to his sin. Success in a sinful course is a curse, and not a blessing; and the darkest frown which could have fallen on the prophet's soul, would have been just to leave him to his own way, to be filled with the fruits of his own devices, and to be caught, at last, in his own pitfall.

And the analogy to this is perfect still. Take the case of any wayward, any sinful man; and can it be regarded as a token of mercy, when that man proceeds without a trial or a check, apparently prospering in all he undertakes, and greeted on every side with the smile of approving hundreds? Is it really a token of Jehovah's favour, when an unconverted man reposes in the lap of peace, undisturbed in heart and in life, so that he glides tranquilly down the stream till destruction suddenly overtakes him? Nay, far rather the storm, and the tempest, and the struggle; far rather the lament-"Out of the depths, like a drowning man, do cry unto thee." When Paul was in peril for fourteen sunless days and starless nights upon the sea of Adria, we know that that disaster was overruled for his good;

I

THE SHIPWRECK EXPLAINED.

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it became the means of winning his way to the hearts of hundreds. And so it ever is with the people of God. Give them their choice of perpetual sunshine without God, or perpetual tempest with him, and they with one voice would say, Let me be made sure that God and God's favour are my portion, and then let the world be wrapt in its winding-sheet of fire, if such be Jehovah's decree. The prosperity of the fool will destroy him; but tribulation brings new proofs of the truth that "God is love." The tempest, then, may bring deliverance and safety; the calm may bring desolation and death in its train.

Or, farther, by an easy inference, we discover here how much damage the presence of a single sinner may inflict upon all beside him. "The ship was like to be broken, because Jonah was in it." Death threatened every seaman there, because there was one on board who was grieving the Spirit, and breaking the commands of Jehovah. And this also exemplifies a general law in the government of the Holy One. All misery, all wretchedness and wo, are to be ascribed to the presence of sin. When was it that trouble became man's birthright, and wretchedness his only sure inheritance? It was when man became a sinner. What was it that turned our earth into one great graveyard, where the human race are busily employed in burying each other? It was the fact, that man did what Jonah in the text was doing-disobeying the commands of his God. And what is it that so often hangs our homes in sackcloth, and makes them the abodes of sorrow? The same answer is to be given-man is a sinner, and therefore man is a sufferer-his mind is

46

SUPERSTITION-AND ITS GROPINGS.

opposed to God's, and he must therefore be subdued. Man would hide himself from God, as Jonah tried to do; but it happens according to the words of Obadiah "Though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." The grand solution of the world's misery is sin, as the sum and the centre of its blessedness is Christ.

But without professing to exhaust this subject, we proceed to another-where we find that "the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship to lighten it.” Now, here again we have as many lessons as clauses -for, in their danger, those hardy men, though accustomed to lead a life which made them familiar with death, betrayed the real weakness of human nature. In the day of prosperity, the sinner is bold, but "the way of transgressors is hard;" and, amid their difficulties, those heathen men appealed each one to his idol for help. At the bidding of a blind superstition, each seaman prayed to his own selected god. He expected help amid the tempest from some creature which his own hands had made, or his own money purchased, or his own fancy depicted.

And is not this just another illustration of what men in every land are doing? When straits press upon them, and danger or death is nigh, they may seem earnest, urgent, devout, but they pray to an unknown god;—it is not to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and when the pressure is withdrawn, the prayer is accordingly at an end. It was fear, and not faith, that made them pray; it was superstition, and not the Spirit of God, that urged them to cry; and, in that case, their goodness was like the morning cloud and the early dew.

MAN'S RELIGION VANISHES AWAY.

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Under the pressure of affliction, or when death seems nigh, men will abandon their sins, and appear devout like weeping penitents; but let the danger pass away, the tears are dried, fear is dismissed, and the weeping penitent is as godless as before. As we advance along the voyage of life, we find not a few who have made shipwreck of their faith. They began their course in a path that was full of promise, and they seemed to prosper like willows by the water-courses. At length, however, a blight came over them-they were found no more among those who walk in the narrow way; and what was the reason?-why was their goodness like the summer brook, which rushes noisily along for a while, and then sinks into the earth? The reason was, that their religion was superstition. It was the result of fear-of mere human feeling-and not of the Spirit's power; and because that was the case, it melted away and was speedily forgotten. Just as these heathen seamen in danger were religious after a sort, man is by nature religious. But the religion of nature cannot guide to God; and until the Spirit of grace become our teacher, the truth is neither known nor felt. The religion which that Spirit plants will grow and spread for ever—religion of every other kind will speedily vanish away.

But, while those idolaters "cried every man to his god," you will notice that they did more. They cast their cargo into the sea that they might lighten the ship- that is, they adopted means to have their prayer answered. It was a matter of life or death with them, and their earnest spirits were ready for every sacrifice. But here they furnish an example which is not always followed. For, when we pray to God on

48 PRAYER WITHOUT MEANS IS SUPERSTITION.

high, is it common for us to adopt the means which God will bless to convey an answer to our prayer? We pray, for example, "Thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven;" but do we strenuously put forth the endeavours which God will bless to promote that end? We pray, "Sanctify us through thy truth, for thy word is truth;" but do we study God's Word, and wait and watch for the coming of the Spirit to make us holy by it? We pray, "Pardon our iniquity, for it is very great;" but do we add watching to prayer? or is not prayer too often made a substitute for watching? In brief, let us learn a lesson from these heathen seamen. They prayed, but they also used means. They cried each man to his idol, but they also cast their cargo into the sea, and we should in spirit or substance do the same. Whatever would impede the answer to our petitions is to be cast away, though precious as the right hand or the right eye; for, while using means without praying to God to bless them, is the spirit of an atheist, praying to God without using means is mere superstition—it is rebuked by the case of the heathen before us.

We pass on, however, to inquire how Jonah was employed amid the tempest which his sin had raised. We have seen how earnest the heathen seamen were, and have read what means they took that life might be saved. How, then, was the prophet engaged? Was he crying to his God? Was he seeking to put away the sin which had placed that reeling ship in jeopardy? Read the clauses which describe him, and see far into the heart of a sinner. Amid the driving rack, and the boiling sea-in that creaking ship, where every spar was strained, and every ton of lading cast into the deep,