The history of Jonah, for children and youth

Front matter

QassJ- ^

Book -<T S'o

CHILDREN AND YOUTH ;

Preface

It is the design of the author, in this book, to make the history of Jonah the ground-work of a series of illustrations and practical remarks, growing out of the incidents which it records. In doing this, the explanation of not a few difficult topics in the religious instruction of children and youth, is attempted, by ih^t slow and patient analysis so necessary in communicating truth to their minds. Among these topics are,^ — the omniscience of God, — prophecy, — sacrifices, — objections to the Bible, — miracles, — limits of human reason, — God's repenting, and being angry, and others of a similar nature.

In addition to this, the author has endeavored to render the difficult parts of this portion of scripture intelligible to the youthful mind, and, throughout the whole, to interweave with the narrative such ^practical views of duty as will

4 PREFACE.

tend, under the blessing of God, to promote early and active piety in the youthful heart.

He has aimed to call into exercise the reflect^ ing and reasoning powers of the young reader, in a style of as great plainness and simplicity as the nature of the subject would permit.

Are not some such books needed in the department of religious education? — Entertainment is important, and even fiction, to some extent, allowable, in order to interest youth, and induce habits of attention in reading. But books of this description already abound. Whether one of a more serious cast, having, indeed, much that is interesting in its narrative, but demanding, also, a good share of sober and close thinking, will be appreciated by the religious public, — it is for that public to decide.

In conclusion, the author begs leave to suggest, whether, in such Sunday Schools, as would admit of the arrangement, the chapters might not be read in succession, as lectures on this portion of the sacred scriptures, so aptly styled by the excellent commentator, Henry, milk for babes.

THE

HISTORY OF JONAH.

Chapter I

Omniscience of God. Meaning of the word prO' phet. Schools of the prophets among the Jews.

Almost every child has heard about Jonah, and the great fish that swallowed him up; — which we read of in the Bible.

I am going to write the history of Jonah, and I shall try to do it in such a way, that my young readers may understand it, and learn something good from it.

All the histories in the Bible were written to teach us good things; and to show us how we must love and obey God, that we may go to heaven when we die ; and be happy there forever.

It was God who told good men, how to write 1 the Bible. We should remember this, when we hear, or read, the histories in the Bible. We should be very attentive to what God teaches us. We should think about it often, and not forget it. We should pray to God, to help us to understand it, and to get good from it, that we may love and obey Him more than we ever yet have done.

Will you try to feel, and to do so, my dear ehildren, while I tell you the history of Jonah?

But before I begin, I must explain the meaning of one word to you, which perhaps, you do not exactly understand ; and you will soon see the reason of my doing this. This word is the word, prophet.

You have been taught, that God knows everything. We know many things that have happened ] but God knows all things that have ever happened, among all the men who have lived, and in all parts of the world. He knows everything that every man, woman and child, has thought, felt, said and done. He knows all things that now are happening, and all things that all the people in the world, are now thinking, feeling, saying and doing. God, also knows all things that ivill ever happen, and all things that all the people who live now, or who are to live thousands of years to come, will think, feel, say, and do.

HISTORY OF JONAH. II

We do not know this. We think, indeed, that some things will happen again, because they have so ofien happened before. We expect that the sun will rise tomorrow, just as it has done for years and years that are past. We expect that after the ^^ummer and autumn are gone, the winter will come again, because it has been so for a long, long time. But about a great many things, we cannot tell, or even guess, how, or when, they will happen ; or whether they will happen at all.

But God never has to expect, or guess, what will happen. He knows, certainly and exactly, everything that is to happen, to-morrow; or the day after, or the next week ; or the next month, or year; or thousands and millions of years to come. He knows just as well what is t/et to happen, as what has already happened.

All this, that I have told you about the knowledge of God, can be put into one word, — Omniscience. Instead of saying, God knows all things that have been, that now are, or that will ever be, it means exactly the same thing, to say, that God is omniscient.

If God is omniscient, and knows everything that is to happen, long before it happens ; — then He can tell any person, if He chooses to do so. what will happen, at any future time. He can cause such a person to hear a voice from the sky, telling him what is to happen. Or He can cause the person to see what is to happen, just as we see things, often in a dream. Or He can cause the person to think what is to happen, and to know certainly, that it will happen. Or He can do all this, in some other watj, which we cannot understand ; just as God does a great many wonderful things, which we cannot un* derstand. For the wisest man does not understand how it is, that God makes the corn grow, out of some few, little kernels that are put into the ground ; or how the Lod that you eat is turned into llesh and blood, and hard bone, and helps you to live, and to grow up, to be men and women.

Now, if God, in some way, should tell, or show a person something which is to happen, and how it is to happen, and when it is to happen ; or cj;use him to think about it, and know about it, certainly, so as not to be mistaken in the least; — that person \vo\x\d foreknoiv the thing which is to happen; or he would have the foreknowledge of it. And, if this person should tell other people, that the thing would certainly happen, in such a way, and at such a time, he would hQ a prophet. He would y^yre^e//, or prophesy, the thing which was to happen. And^ when it did happen, exactly as he had propheeied, the people would say, that he was a true prophet.

There are no such prophets now. God does not think it best, that there should be. But, a great many years ago, there were such prophets among the Jews; and God made known to them things that were to happen which they told the people long before they did happen.

When you grow older, you will understand more about this ; and you will read the prophecies in the Bible, and wonder to see, how exactly the prophets foretold what afterwards came to pass.

The exact coming to pass, or, what means the same thing, the fulfilment, of these prophecies, shows us, that the Bible is true, and that God really told good men how to write it. For, if God had not given them the foreknowledge of what was to happen, how could they have foretold, or prophesied it. The prophecies which they wrote have come to pass ; and, therefore, we know that these prophecies came from God himself; and so, we believe, that the Bible, which contains these prophecies, came from God himself, and that He told good men how to write it.

The prophets among the Jews were, also, 1* teachers of the people, and explained to them what God wished them to be taught about Himself, and what He wished them to believe, and to do. They were like the clergymen, or ministers, who now preach to the people ; only those who preach now, learn from the Bible alone what God wishes them to say to the people ; but the prophets were often taught by God himself what He wished to be told to the Jews. And the Jews were bound to believe and obey the things, told them by the prophets, just as much as if they had heard God himself speaking to them from heaven.

The prophets among the Jews, had great power. The kings often used to ask them what it was best to do, and followed their advice. Nathan the prophet went to king David, and was not afraid to reprove him very severely for his wickedness. They were poor men, and often worked very hard. Their dress was quite plain. Elijah, one of the prophets, was clothed with skins, and wore a leathern girdle round his body. Their food, too, was plain. The presents which the people gave them, were only bread, fruits, and honey. When Elisha, another of the prophets, was about to prepare food for a number of young men whom he taught, and some of whom were to be prophets, — he sent a man out into the field to gather herbs to boil. The man found some gourds, on a wild vine, and brought them, and put them into the pot; and, with some meal a kind of soup was made, of which they all ate. And when Elijah was about to go on a long journey, an angel gave him only bread and water to strengthen him, thus you see, these good men were temperate in all things; and if we act wisely, we shall be temperate also.

Among the Jews, there were schools of the prophets^ where young men were taught about God and his laws. They were also taught to sing psalms, and to play on musical instruments ; for ths prophets sometimes prophesied, playing on harps and other kinds of musical instruments.

The governor and teacher of each of these schools, was an aged and wise prophet, who was called the father, and the young men were called the sons of the prophets; and they lived together in one house, and ate together at the same table.

From among these sons of the prophets, God chose some, after they had been at the schools long enough ; to become prophets themselves ; — to tell the kings and the people what God wished to have them do, and to foretell things that were to come to pass.

Fathers and mothers among the Jews, who loved and obeyed God, were very glad to have their sons go to these schools, where they could receive such excellent instruction and advice from the old prophets. And many of these young men must have felt, that it was good for them to be there.

Think, my dear children, how good God is, in providing schools for you, and especially the Sunday schools ; in which you can be taught about God and His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible ; and what you must believe, and feel, and do, that you may grow up to do good, and be useful in this world, — and to be perfectly good, and happy in heaven forever.

Chapter II

BirtJi^pIace of Jonah. His call to go to Nineveh. Description of the city. Its great tuicJceclness. The danger of children becoming wicked, as the people of Nineveh were.

The reason why I have said so much about the prophets among the Jews, is, that my young readers may understand the better who Jonah was, whose history I am going to tell them. For Jonah was b. prophet , and probably, when a young man, lived, for some time, at one of the schools of the prophets which I have described.

The name of Jonah's father was Amittai. We do not know anything about him, or his family, onJy that they lived at Gath-hepher, a small town in Galilee. Galilee was that part of Palestine in which Jesus Christ lived while he was growing up; and Nazareth, the town where he lived with his mother Mary, and her husband Joseph, was but a few miles from Gath-hepher, the birth-place of Jonah.

You must get some one to show you these places on a map of Palestine, and then you will understand better where they were.

The first place in the Bible in which we read about Jonah, is in the fourteenth chapter of the second book of Kings, at the twenty-fifth verse. There we find, that God had spoken to the Israelites by his prophet Jonah, and told them, that they should drive their enemies back who had taken some of their country from them, and that they should have their own country again, as large as it was before. This prophecy of Jonah was fulfilled by Jeroboam, (the second of that name,) who was king of Israel at the time when Jonah lived. For he drove back the enemies of his people, and took from them the country which they had taken from the Israelites, just as Jonah had foretold. This happened about eight hundred years before Jesus Christ was born. Not far from the same time, God called Jonah, and said to him, * Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it ; for their wickedness is come up before me.' And, now, the history which I am going to tell you, begins.

If you will look at the eleventh verse of the tenth chapter of Genesis, you will see that Nineveh was built by Ashur, one of the sons of Shem. Shem was a son of Noah ; so that it was built (that is, the first houses in it were built,) not many years after the deluge.

It was by the side of a large river, called the

Tigris. — Ask some one to show you this river on the map, and you will see, that it is in Asia, a part of the world which is a great way from America, that part of the world in which you live. It is not known exactly where this great city stood. For it is all destroyed, as it was foretold by one of the prophets, it would be.

Nineveh stood on a large plain, and high walls were built all around it. It was fifty or sixty miles round the city. But the place within the walls, was not all filled up with houses. There was a great deal of room for gardens, and for fields in which many cattle fed. The walls, it is said, were one hundred feet high, and so broad, that three chariots could go along side of each other, on the top of them. And on different parts of the walls were towers, in which soldiers Avere placed to defend the city. The number of these towers is said to have been fifteen hundred, and their height, two hundred feet. Nineveh, then was a very strong, as well as large, city ; and it is thought, that it contained, at least, five hundred thousand people.

The people to whom Nineveh belonged, were called Assyrians^ and their country was called Assyria. It was a great country, and they were very powerful people. They had large armies, and often used to go, and fight other people, many of whom they conquered, and took their country from them, and kept possession of it.

One of their kings, whose name was Ninus, is said to have had a very great army indeed. Perhaps it is not exactly true ; (for those who wrote about what happened a great many, many years ago, sometimes tell things which are not exactly true;) — but it is said, that the army of Ninus contained one million, and seven hundred thousand soldiers, who marched on foot ; and two hundred and ten thousand, who rode on horses ; and ten thousand six hundred chariots, filled with armed men.

Then there was a queen, Semiramis, the wife of Ninus, who, after his death, made Nineveh much more beautiful and splendid. She ordered large lakes to be dug ; and palaces to be built ; and temples, (or churches, in which the false gods were worshipped,) to be erected; and walls to be raised.

It was a long time after this, that Jonah lived ; and it is not known who the king of Nineveh was, when Jonah ^yas sent to preach against that city. But we know, that it was a very wicked king, and that the people were very wicked people.

The Bible does not tell us all the different ways in which the king and people of Nineveh^, were so wicked. But their wickedness must have been very great. One of the other prophets, Nahum, who foretold the entire destruction of Nineveh, speaks of it as a very wicked city. He wrote, indeed, some time after Jonah lived ; but doubtless the kinds of wickedness of which he speaks, had long prevailed there. He calls it a bloody city, which means, that the people often made war upon others without any reason for doing so, and killed a great many. So that it was a city of murderers^ like Cain ; who, you recollect, was the first murderer, and killed his own brother, in great anger. And it is very probable, that they often quarrelled and fought among themselves, and killed each other, and that this was another reason, why Nahum called it, a bloody city.

He says, too, that it was all full of lies. The people did not speak the truth. They told falsehoods to other people who did business with them, and to each other. When they bought and sold things, they deceived and cheated, and tried to buy things for less than they were worth, and to sell them for more than they were worth. They promised to do things and did not keep their promise. They said false things about each other ; and told falsehoods.in a great many 2 different ways. So that it was, also, a city of liars,

Nahum says again that Nineveh was all full of robbery. The people stole from each other. They did this often, in the night ; breaking into each other's houses, and carrying off things by force ; and sometimes killing the people that lived in the house, if they made any resistance. And besides this, the people of Nineveh, would go out of the city, and attack travellers, and rob, and sometimes, murder them ; and their armies would make war on other people, and fight and destroy them, and burn down their towns and cities, on purpose to get their money, and goods, and cattle. So Nineveh was a city of robbers.

It was, also, as the prophet Nahum says, a city, the people of which worshipped idols. An idol, you know is something, usually in the shape of a man or beast, made of gold, or silver, or brass, or wood, or stone, which the people who make it, call a god. There are parts of the world, now, especially in India, were the people have idols ; and build large temples, or churches, for them; and have a great many priests, or ministers, of the idols, to wait upon them. They pretend to give them food to eat; and pray to them, and sing hymns to them;

and draw them about on great wheels, in a kind of wagon called a car. Every year, hundreds and thousands of people come from a great distance, and from a great many, different places, to worship these idols ; and the priests and the people, say and do a sjreat many, very wicked things, which are so wicked that I cannot tell you about them. And many people, while the men are drawing the idols, in the cars, throw themselves down on the ground before the heavy wheels, which soon roll over them, and crush them to death. They are so foolish as to think, that, in this way, they can get all their sins forgiven, and go to heaven.

I do not know, exactly, what kind of idols the people of Nineveh worshipped, nor how they worshipped them. But they did so, in a very foolish and wicked way. They knew better than to do so. For they must have known, that idols cannot see, or hear, or understand, or help any body. And they must have known, too, that idols could not have made the sun, moon, and stars, and the world, and all the people and animals, and things that are in it, but that God must have made them, and that He was the God whom they should worship. And they must have known, that the things which they said and did, while worshipping their idols, were very foolish and wicked.

Besides all this, the people of Nineveh tried to make other people worship their idols, and to come to Nineveh to worship them ; and to bring gold and silver, and goods, and other valuable things, with them, some of which to give to the idols. In this way they led other people to be wicked like themselves, and hoped to make their city great, rich, and powerful. So that Nineveh was « city of idolaters.

No doubt, all that I have mentioned was but a small part of the wickedness of the people of Nineveh. For people who are murderers, and liars, and robbers, and idolaters, we may be sure, will be very, very wicked in a great many other, different ways.

Their wickedness was eo great, that God said, it had come up before Hhn. It hail risen as it were to the heavens, as dark smoke rises from a great fire. It had risen to the place where God is, to his very throne ; and had come before him so that He saw it in all its greatness ; and saw that it was time for Him to punish the people of Nineveh, very severely, if they did not repent.

You read, in the Bible, how often God has punished wicked people, who kept on in their wickedness, and did not repent. He ilestroyed, you remember, all the wicked people who lived in the world, by a deluge ; saving only Noah and his family in the ark. He destroyed the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the people who lived in them, by fire sent down from heave i ; s ving only Lot and his two daughters ; — though Lot's wife \A'ould have been preserved alive, also, if she had not been disobedient to the angel of God.

God hates wickedness ; He cannot bear to look on it. He is very merciful, it is true, and ■will forgive those who have been wicked, if they will be truly sorry for their sins, and trust in Jesus Christ to save them ; and show, that they really do so, by forsaking their sins, and obeying the commands of God. But the wicked w^ho keep on in their wickedness ; and do not repent and trust in Christ, and who do not love and obey God ; He will punish very severely indeed. For Jesus Christ himself tells us, that such wicked people will be sent, at the day of judgment, into everlasting fire ^ prepared for the devil and his angels.

Think of these things, my dear children. You may not be, and I think you are not, murderers, liars, robbers, and idolaters, as the people of Nineveh were. But are you never somewhat nice them ?

Are you not, sometimes, angry with your Ijrothers and sisters, and with other children,

and strike them, and hurt them ? Suppose you

2# keep on doing so, more and more, till you grow up to be men and women. Is there not great danger that you will become very passionate, and have a very bad temper ; and that some time or other, you may get in such a rage as to kill somebody ?

For the murderer himself will tell you, that when he was a little child, he never thought he should be a murderer. And yet, you see, he has become so because he did not repent of his sinful anger, when he was young, and pray ta God, to enable him to get rid of it. Children who get into a passion, and strike and hurt others, and keep on doing so, are certainly in great danger of becoming murderers, as the people of Nineveh were.

You may not, my dear children, be liars, a&th« people of Nineveh were. But have you never told any falsehoods? have you never deceived any body, and said what was not the exact truth ? Remember, if you keep on doing so, you will grow more and more careless about telling the truth; and will be in great danger of telling falsehoods; and of doing this more and more, and at last, of becoming liars, as the people of Nineveh were.

You have never robbed any body. But have you never taken any thing that was not your own and kept it? Have you never kept any thing that you have found, without trying, or even wishingy to find the owner, and return it to him. People do not become great thieves and robbers, at once. They take little things, at first, which they think are not worth much, and which others will not miss, or even want to use again. And they keep on taking things till they become more and more wicked, and, at last, get to be great thieves, and robbers, as the people of Nineveh were.

Besides, people would not steal anything if they did not first covet it, or wish to have for their own what belongs to another. And this is the reason, why God, in the tenth commandment, says, Thou slialt not covet anything that is thy neighbor^ s ; — thou shalt not wish to take from another what belongs to him, and deprive him of it, and have it for thy own.

My dear children, have you never broken this tenth commandment ? If so, and if you continue to covet things which belong to others, although you may not have yet begun^" to steal anything, is there not great danger of your doing this, and of your becoming thieves, and perhaps robbers, as the people of Nineveh were ?

You do not make any idols to worship. Many of you have never seen an idol. But, although jou do not worship idols, instead of the true God, do you not love many things more than you love God? If so, it is very much the same thing as if you loved and worshipped idols, instead of loving and worshipping the true God.

For why do people make and worship idols ? It is because they do not feel willing to love, and obey, and worship God. They dislike to do this. There is something in the true God which they do not like. They like their idols better. They know, that the true God commands them to be like Himself, and to quit all kinds of wickedness, and to he good, and to do good. They know^ too, that the idol does not command this, and that, while they love, and serve, and worship the idol, or false god, they can keep on in all their wickedness. So they choose to do it.

Now, if you love anything more than you love God, you have your idols, too, my dear children. They may not be idols of wood, or stone, such as the people of Nineveh had ; but they are things which you love so much, that they keep you from loving and obeying God as you ought. And you do indeed break the first commandment, as truly as the people of Nineveh did.

The first commandment is, thou shalt have no other gods before me ; and Jesus Christ has told us, that this means the same thing as to say, thou, shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart,.

and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.

Do you thus love God, my dear children ; or do you love other things a great deal more than you love God ? If you do not love God the most, 1 fear, if you had lived in Nineveh, you would have worshipped their idols, and been idolaters as they were.

Think of these things. Look into your minds and hearts. See if you have right thoughts, and feelings, such as God commands you to have. See if you love Him more than anything else ; see if you say and do what He commands.

If you have not done this; if you have had wrong and wicked thoughts and feelings ; if you have said and done, very often, what you ought not to say and do ; — then God has been very much displeased with you. And He is still displeased with you ; and will continue to be so, if you do njt feel sorry for all your wickedness, and trust in Christ to save you.