But no! some men can sleep on the crater of a volcano whilst it is upheaving with the burning fires beneath; others are as impenetrable as icebergs, whom nothing can melt, such is the stolid indifference, the fatal unconcern, with which sin encrusts the soul. The captain came at length to Jonah to arouse him, and being doubtless a Phoenician he was able to make himself understood, as that language is very similar to the Hebrew.

"What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not."

They knew that their only hope of safety was from above; and as they had prayed in vain to their gods, the captain thought as a last resort Jonah should pray to his.

They had concluded that the present storm, so unexpected and so unusually awful, was a judgment from heaven pursuing some one on board; and the men said to one another, "Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us."

It was not an uncommon practice in olden times thus to resort to casting lots in order to discover the will of God: and in certain cases, when it was resorted to in humble faith, and for no unworthy end, God was pleased thus to make known His will. There doubtless were occasions when the "lot was cast into the lap," and when "the whole disposing thereof" was "of the Lord.' But now we have His written word for our counsel and guide, which is so plain that a wayfaring man, though a fool, cannot err therein."

:

They cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah, who at once felt the justice of the issue.

The sailors, instead of immediately easing the ship of the cause of their troubles, manifested a kindly interest in him. "Tell us, we pray thee," said they, "for whose cause this evil is come upon us? What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? where is thy country? and of what people art thou?" Then Jonah replied, “I am a * Prov. xvi. 33.

CHAPTER III.

JONAH AT NINE VEH.

WHATEVER Jonah's first sensations were on being thus swallowed alive, he retained consciousness; and what was of far greater im

portance, a proper sense of his own sin was realized, and with it sorrow and contrition.

He imagined, perhaps, that the fish had been divinely sent to rescue him from a watery grave; and he felt that even now God would be gracious unto him. As no season is inopportune for prayer, so no place can be unsuitable; Jonah, therefore, during the three days and three nights he was inside. the fish, prayed earnestly to God when he was there in his sorest affliction, and in his deepest depth of despair he cried unto the Lord, and He heard him.

There is no depth in this life too deep, or too terrible for the Lord to deliver us from, if our penitence be sincere, and our cry be in faith. From the depths of the sea, from the inside of the fish, God heard Jonah's prayers, and answered them as surely as though they had been offered up in the sanctuary.

The Lord, whose servant it was, spoke unto the fish, and the fish cast out Jonah on dry iand.

We are always curious to record our ex

perience in new, or untried, or unusual circumstances; and so Jonah has told us what he felt, and what he prayed, during these days and nights of his remarkable confinement.

He says, "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of the grave, cried I, and Thou heardest my voice. For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about; all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever; yet hast Thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving;