at this shrine, neither Jews nor Christians being allowed access to it" (Through Asiatic Turkey, vol. ii: 57). Layard says: A village has risen round the mosque containing the tomb. The rest of the mound is occupied by a burying-ground, thickly set with Mussulman grave-stones. True believers from the surrounding country bring their dead to this sacred spot, and to disturb a grave on Nebbi Yunus would cause a tumult which might lead to no agreeable results. The pretended tomb itself is in a dark inner room. None but Mussulmans should be admitted within the holy precincts, but I have more than once visited the shrine, with the sanction of my good friend, Mullah Sultan, a guardian of the mosque. A square plaster or wooden sarcophagus, entirely concealed by a green cloth embroidered with sentences from the Koran, stands in the center of an apartment spread with a common European carpet. A few ostrich eggs and colored tassels, such as 1 are seen in similar Mohammedan buildings, hang from the ceiling. A small grated window looks into the hall, where the true believers assemble for prayer. A staircase leads into the holy chamber. It is needless to repeat that the tradition which places the tomb on this spot is a mere fable" (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 596). III. WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR BELIEVING THAT THE STORY IS NOT TRUE? 1. THE NUMBER AND CHARACTER OF ITS MIRACLES. THE present age is sceptical of anything which it cannot understand, which has the stamp of the superhuman, or sounds in the least like ancient mythology. It is not surprising, then, that men have begun to doubt the truth of the story of Jonah, for hardly a bit of literature exists in any language which presents a greater display of miracles or more closely resembles true mythology. Moreover, the miracles, occurring in rapid succession, are unlike most others recorded in the Old and New Testaments. They were unnecessary and of trifling importance. No one was benefited by them. Even if Jonah was swallowed by the fish to make of him a better prophet, as has been suggested, the miracle was wrought in vain. The New Testament miracles, almost without exception, accomplished some good. The blind saw, and the lame walked; but in Jonah we find no such works. Each is needless-uncalled for, related only to add interest to the story. Below is a list of the miracles mentioned in the forty prose verses of the short book: 1. Chapter i. 2. 66 66 66 66 66 I-"The word of the Lord came unto 4-"The Lord sent out a great wind 7-"The lot fell upon Jonah." i. 13 i. 15 The sea grew more and more tem- i. 14-The sudden conversion of the sailors. i. ii. 66 ii. iii. 17-"Jonah was in the belly of the fish 10-"The Lord spake unto the fish, and 1-"The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time." iii. 5-The sudden conversion of the people of Nineveh. It will be claimed that some of the passages in this list do not record miracles, as, for instance, "God said to Jonah," or "God prepared a worm." Whether or not they would be classed as miracles by Biblical students, yet for God to talk with a man, or to bid a worm to smite a gourd, can hardly be called an every-day occurThe author of the story plainly intended the reader to believe that a superhuman power guided every action recorded in the book. rence. Do these eighteen unnecessary, purposeless miracles appeal to the reader's intelligence as reasonable? Can we imagine God, to whom we assign every attribute of grandeur, truth and purity, as mingling with events of such little importance and so commonplace? In ancient |