that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph."

66

The prophet Joel wrote chiefly against Judah; he warned the people of danger, saying, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain : let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh." He also called the priests to repentance, let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?" He spoke also of the descent of the Spirit upon all people, and said, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered."

remnant-the comparative few who, holy mountain-Jerusalem. should escape captivity.

Joseph-the powerful tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, are often put for the ten tribes. p. 92. tribes.

day of the Lord-day of retribution. heritage the people whom God had

chosen.

descent of the Spirit-Acts ii.

THE FRAILTY OF MAN'S GOODNESS.

"YOUR GOODNESS IS AS A MORNING CLOUD, AND AS THE EARLY

Such the transient influence now

Of too many a fervent vow;
Such in spirit and in span,
Goodness deem'd innate in man.

Like a morning cloud it flies,
Like the early dew drop-dries,
Brief as bright, and frail as brief,
Like the changing Cistus leaf.

Clouds which bear the welcome shower

Wait not on man's fancied power;

Dews that nourish where they fall

Come not when he deigns to call.

Morning clouds though bright their dyes,
Fade before our thirsty eyes;

Dews which early pass away

Leave our hearts to drought a prey.

Give us darker clouds, whose gloom
Bears rich blessings in its womb;
Heavier dews which fall at eve,
Whence Thy seed may life receive.

BARTON.

102. JONAH'S MISSION TO NINEVEH.

Book of Jonah.

JONAH, the prophet, was commanded to go to Nineveh to cry against it, for the wickedness of the inhabitants. Instead of doing so, he rose up to flee unto ·Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord; he went down to Joppa, where he found a ship going to Tarshish, and he went in it. But the Lord sent a great storm, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. The mariners being afraid, cried every man to his god; but Jonah was in the ship asleep. The shipmaster awoke him, and told him to call upon his God. Then they cast lots, that they might know who had caused the evil to come on them. And the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, "Tell us, 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?" And he said unto them, "I am an Hebrew ; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land." And when he told them that he had fled from the presence of the Lord they were exceedingly afraid, and said, "Why hast thou done this?" They then asked what they should do that the sea might

NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS.

Nineveh-the metropolis of Assyria; it was founded by Asshur, and situated on the river Tigris. Nahum and Zephaniah prophesied its utter ruin a hundred years later, and their predictions were fulfilled. Recently the remains of Nineveh have been discovered by Mr. Layard, and many of the sculptures and other antiquities have been placed in the British Museum.

Tarshish -Tartessus, in Spain, was probably the place to which the ship was bound; some say Carthage. Joppa-also called Japho, and Jaffa, now the chief sea-port and harbour of the Israelites; it was about thirty-two miles north-west of Jerusalem, and was situated in the territory of Dan. sea-the Mediterranean Sea.

god-p. 246. gods of the hills; the mariners were idolaters probably Phoenicians. p. 206. they went.

in the ship-" he went down into the sides of the ship," showing that the ships were provided with berths much like those of the present day.

cast lots-a very ancient mode of decision in doubtful cases; the act was generally performed with deep solemnity, and with the belief that the Disposer of all human events would "give a perfect lot," or, lead to a right decision; p. 89. discovery.

who had caused-according to the notion
of ancient mariners, that unseasonal
storms were caused by the indigna-
tion of the gods against some guilty
person in the ship. This view is illus-
trated by Mr. Roberts' Oriental
Illustrations,' p. 513.

afraid-of the power and holy indigna-
tion of the God of Israel.
Why, &c.-

ters.

-a severe rebuke from idola

be calm and Jonah told them to cast him into the sea, and it would be calm. Before the mariners would consent to do this they rowed hard to bring the ship to land, but they could not. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, "We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee." So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made 'vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord out of the belly of the fish, and the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Jonah then obeyed the word of the Lord, and went to Nineveh, which was an 'exceeding great city. As he walked through the city, he cried and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Then the king arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes, and he proclaimed

NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS.

told them-by this we learn that Jonah was a good though a weak man; it shows how a good man will act when detected in a false position; namely by confessing the truth, and casting himself upon God. Comp. 1 Chron. xxi. 8-13.

cried unto-they prayed unto Jehovah the Lord of heaven and earth; thus God overruled Jonah's perversity to their conversion.

innocent blood-though they believed they were about to act according to God's will, they shuddered lest they should be in error.

Then-they had now the fullest evidence of the truth of Jonah's assertion of the almighty power of the Only True God-the disposer of all things in earth, sea, and sky; every doubt being removed they now worship and sacrifice unto Him alone.

vou's-self-dedicatory resolutions to worship God and renounce idols

a great fish-an entire human body has been occasionally found in the stomach of a shark.

three-probably one entire day and

night, a portion of the day when he he was cast into the sea, and a portion of the day of his deliverance. prayed-Jonah's prayer is rather a thanksgiving for his deliverance. exceeding great-it was three days' journey, or a circuit of about 60 miles. shall be subject to a respite, or a reversal of the Lord's decree if the inhabitants repented; though this was not a part of Jonah's commission. sackcloth-sacks are usually made of haircloth in the East, such coarse cloth was considered a penitential dress.

a fast, and commanded the people to cry mightily unto God, and turn from their evil ways. And when God saw their repentance, he spared them and would not overthrow the city.

When Jonah saw that his prophecy was not fulfilled he became very angry, and wished to die, lest the people should think he was a false prophet. He made himself a booth on the east of the city, to see what would become of the city. He also wished to die, because a gourd which God had made to grow up, and shade him from the heat of the sun, was suddenly withered; a worm which God prepared having smitten it. God showed him that he ought not to be angry, for as Jonah had pitied the gourd for which he had not laboured, nor made it to grow, so should God spare Nineveh, containing six-scorethousand persons that could not discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle.

USELESS FLIGHT.

"BUT JONAH ROSE UP TO FLEE... FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD."

And couldst thou fancy, then,
Tarshish beyond the ken

Of Him whose presence fills unbounded space?
Who from the heavens on high,

With sleepless searching eye,

Even the depths of hell itself can trace?
Weak though the thought might be,
There are who censure thee.

Who would no less God's holy presence shun;
Weakness surpassing thine,

Whose mission, though divine,

Might hope to win belief from few or none.

Such, when they feel within
His power convict of Sin,

Turn from the witness for His righteous will ;
In earth's delusive joys,

In business, strife, and noise,

Striving to drown the voice they cannot still.

As well to Tarshish flee

As hope to 'scape, from Thee,

God omnipresent, and omnipotent!

Closing with coward fear

That inward eye and ear,

Whose powers for nobler purposes were lent.

BARTON.

EXTENT OF NINEVEH.

"The dimensions of an eastern city do not bear the same proportion to its population, as those of an European city; a place as extensive as London, or Paris, might not contain one third of the number of inhabitants of either. The custom, prevalent from the earliest period in the East of secluding women in apartments removed from those of the men, renders a separate house for each family almost indispensable. Moreover gardens and arable land were enclosed by the city walls. According to Diodorus and Quintus Curtius, there was space enough within the precincts of Babylon to cultivate corn for the sustenance of the whole population, in case of siege, besides gardens, and orchards. From the expression of Jonah that there was much cattle within the walls, it may be inferred that there was also pasture for them. Many cities of the East, such as Damascus and Ispahan, are thus built; the amount of their population being greatly disproportionate to the site they occupy, if computed according to the rules applied to European cities. It is most probable that Nineveh and Babylon resembled them in this respect."-Layard's Nineveh and its Remains.