Before the crew commenced casting lots to find out Jonah, they had cast
lots of their wares overboard, so that when the lot fell on Jonah it was
much lighter than it would have been had the lot fallen upon him during
his sleep. Still, if not stunned by the lot which fell upon him, he
stood convicted as the cause of the tempest:—and the crew “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. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto
him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the
presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then said they unto him,
What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the
sea wrought, and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and
cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you; for I
know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless the
men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not; for the sea
wrought, and was tempestuous against them. 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.” No pen
can improve this story; it is so simple, so natural, so child-like.
Every one has heard of casting oil on troubled waters. It stands to
reason that a fat prophet would produce the same effect. What a striking
illustration of the power of faith it will be when bishops leave their
own sees in order to be in readiness to calm an ocean storm. Or if not a
bishop, at least a curate; and even a lean curate; for with sea air, a
ravenous appetite, and a White Star Line cabin bill of fare of
breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea, and supper, fatness would soon be arrived
at. In the interests of science I should like to see an episcopal
prophet occasionally thrown overboard during a storm. The experiment
must in any case be advantageous to humanity; should the tempest be
stilled, then the ocean would be indeed the broad way, not leading to
destruction; should the storm not be conquered, there would even then be
promotion in the Church, and happiness to many at the mere cost of one
bishop. “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.”
Jesus says the fish was a whale. A whale would have needed preparation,
and the statement has an air of vraisemblance. The fish did swallow
Jonah. “Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
Poor Jonah! and poor fish! Poor Jonah, for it can scarcely be pleasant,
even if you escape suffocation, to be in a fish’s belly with too much to
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