angry. To be angry, because God was good, and the penitent Ninevites were to be saved from destruction; what a selfish hard-hearted man it showed him to be! To be angry, because it seemed to him that some dishonor might happen to himself or to the Jewish nation; what a proud spirit he hadwhat a want of confidence in the wisdom and power of God! as if God would not take care of his own honor, and do all things in the best manner.

Doest thou well to be angry? When you feel angry, ask yourself this same question. Stop a little, and think what it is that causes your anger. Why do you feel angry ? Against whom do you feel angry? Can you give any good reason for being angry ? In almost every case you will find that, like Jonah, you have no good reason for indulging such a temper, and that you are acting, as he did, very foolishly and wickedly. You wonder probably that he could dare to feel and to speak as he did. Others who are looking on when you are angry, wonder in the same way at your feelings and conduct. Remember what the Bible says, "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."

Remember, too, that there never can be the least shame or disgrace in doing what God commands us to do, even if things do not turn out as we could wish. And if they should turn out, so as greatly to disappoint and perplex us-to cause us even much

trouble and sorrow-still, if we have been faithful in doing our duty, we ought not to complain. God overrules all things. He will bring good out of evil. Although it may so happen, that, while we have gone forward and acted in disobedience to his commands, our fellow men may think there is some occasion for ridiculing or despising us-let us feel that their treatment ought to give us no uneasiness, if we have but secured the approbation and favor of God. In a little while both they and we must appear before God, to be judged by him for all that we have done in this world. Then it will be seen that it was the greatest honor to be employed in any way in the service of God; and that theirs is the shame and disgrace, who have dared to ridicule those who are thus employed.

Had Jonah thought of these things, and felt, as he ought to do, a cheerful acquiescence in all that God did, he would have remained a little longer contented and happy in the city of Nineveh. By remaining there, he would have been of great service to the inhabitants. He could have taught them a great deal about the true God, and their duty toward him and toward their fellow-men. He might have led not a few of them to become thoroughly changed in their conduct; desirous of forsaking all kinds of wickedness, and of rendering a cheerful obedience to the commands of God.

But Jonah thought and felt very differently. The gentle reproof which he received from God did not seem to produce its proper effect upon him. He still

was disappointed. His pride was not subdued. He could not overcome his shame and mortification at finding that the threatenings which he had denounced were not to be executed. He could not remain any longer in the city.

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So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city."

He was hardly willing, after all, to give up the

idea that a great judgment would come upon Nineveh. They might fall back again into their wickedness, and God still punish them with the entire destruction of their city. Or, if this did not happen, some other kind of evil might overtake them. At

and

any rate, he thought he would wait, and see, know exactly how God would treat those against whom he had been ordered to denounce so terrible

a calamity.

The booth or covering under which Jonah sat was probably a small kind of house, made of the branches and leaves of trees. In that warm climate, he thought this might, perhaps, shelter him. But to make it more comfortable, and at the same time to teach him a useful lesson, "God prepared a gourd, and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief."

The learned men who have endeavored to discover, if possible, what kind of plant this gourd was, are still in doubt with regard to it. We must not think that it was much like what we call by that name in this country. It was probably more like a small tree, with a slender trunk, thick branches, and broad leaves. Such trees are found in that part of the world where Nineveh was situated, and grow up very rapidly, in a short time. But God prepared this particular gourd on purpose to shelter Jonah, and to refresh him, that he might not sink under the effects of his grief. Its sudden growth was a miracle, as you remember the preparation of the great fish was, to swallow up Jonah, when he was cast, by the mariners, into the sea. Jonah saw a great deal to convince him of the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God; and at this very time, while he was murmuring, and complaining, and giving way to sin

ful anger, he was still, as you see, treated by God with great compassion and kindness. The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Jonah exceedingly glad of the gourd. But God destroys it by a worm. Jonah suffers greatly from the heat. He wishes to die. We should be patient under afflictions. God expostulates with Jonah. His wicked reply. Good men liable to sin.

It seems that "Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd." It was a great refreshment to him. He delighted in its shelter, and, for a moment, nearly forgot the cause of his disappointment and vexation. The truth is, he thought almost wholly about himself; about his character, and what his fellow-men would think and say of him; about his personal comfort, and how he might be pleasantly seated under the booth, and overshadowed by the thick-leaved gourd, until he should witness the fate of Nineveh. He thought, just then, not at all of the duty of submission to the will of God; of confidence in his wisdom and goodness; and in what way he might best serve God and do good to his fellow-men.

Unhappy, sinful Jonah! sitting there solitary; rejoicing exceedingly in the addition to his bodily comfort from the springing up of a single plant, and yet taking no delight in the surprising reforma