Thirdly, though God is greater than our consciences, and knoweth all things, yet may we observe in the behaviour of Jonah, that conscience, too, hath its power and authority, and terrors derived from God; with which it will surround the sinner in the day of trouble, and will then seize, and arraign, and condemn him; forcing him to confess and acknowledge his guilt, like a criminal examined by the torture of the rack. Though Jonah, for a while, could find some expedient to suppress the remonstrances of conscience, and could sleep securely; yet, when he was once awakened in earnest; when he saw the sea troubled, and the ship mount up to heaven, and go down again to the depths, and the mariners reeling to and fro, and at their wits' end,-what then was his case, when all this rage and strife of the elements appeared to him but as a small thing, compared with the tumult of his own troubled, and dark, and tempestuous thoughts? Most earnestly, we may be sure, he then wished, as every sinner will sometimes wish, that he had obeyed God, rather than his own perverse will, and rebellious passions. Light and easy did the burthen then appear, which God would have laid upon him, when weighed against the burthen of his guilt, and the terrors of a condemn

ing conscience; by which he was constrained to acknowledge and declare his crime before the men of the ship, utter strangers to his person, and nothing suspecting what he had done; nay, further, to advise them, against their inclination, to make a sacrifice of him to save themselves: "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." With such mighty force will conscience recover its spring, and fly back on him, who for a while had vainly bent it aside.

.

And yet, in the next place, we may remark, and a matter of great importance it is to consider, that these terrors of conscience, and faintings of soul (as Jonah expresses it), if they seize the sinner in due time, are most blessed and desirable. For the most unhappy of all conditions is, security in sin, without any feeling or apprehensions of danger from it.

But an humble and contrite heart, confessing its unworthiness, bewailing its sins, travailing and heavy laden with the burthen of them, fully sensible of its own inability to rid itself of this burthen, and that nothing can do this for it, but the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, and the gracious influence of his Holy Spirit, from which "all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just

I

works do proceed;" a soul thus humble, and contrite, and self-abased, is in the fit, and only fit disposition, to return to God: such a soul is not far from salvation.

And, if we have resisted the more silent and gentle operations of Providence, leading us to repentance, happy it is for us, though we should be awakened, like Jonah, to a sense of our danger, in storms and tempests; happy, if outward or inward afflictions can prove a means of humbling us before God, and of our turning to Him, in sincerity and truth. Gracious was the Almighty, in this dispensation to Jonah: a successful voyage might have hardened him in sin; his perils and troubles brought him to repentance: humbled and condemning himself to die, he was pardoned and saved. He lived to record, in his prophecy, the wonderful mercy of God to returning sinners; to himself, and the people of Nineveh.

I shall make but one observation more, on the history of Jonah; with which I shall conclude this discourse. The Almighty, who bringeth good out of evil, and makes even the sins of men conduce to the purposes of his glory, ordained that Jonah should set forth a type or sign of the burial and resurrection of Christ. "For, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the

whale's belly, so," as Christ had prophesied of himself, "was the Son of Man three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." But, although we have no authority of Holy Scripture for any other comparison between them, yet, as every thing deserves our attention that may turn our meditations to the love of Christ dying for us, we may, innocently at least, carry on the resemblance a little further; and find in Jonah a type, not only of the burial and resurrection of Christ, but also of the sacrifice of his death. Nor, need it seem strange, in this case, any more than the other, to find a likeness between the holy and spotless Lamb of God, and a sinful man; for many who had committed grievous sins, such as David and Solomon, have yet, in some respects, been appointed types and figures of Christ. Now the life of Jonah was given and accepted of God, for the lives of them that were embarked with him in the same vessel : for as soon as he was cast out, the storm ceased, in which the ship was sinking, and there was a great calm and as he suffered in this manner with his own consent and choice, so also Christ gave himself a ransom for many, by a free and voluntary offering of his precious blood. The sentence passed on the sons of fallen Adam was reversed; and there was peace on earth, and

good will towards men. Jonah, indeed, was cast forth with his own sins upon his head, as this embarking in the ship was an act of rebellion against God: in this point there is no likeness, but the greatest possible difference, between them. When Jonah was sent to the Ninevites, he fled from the presence of God: not so the blessed Jesus, when he was sent to call sinners to repentance. He came down from heaven, in obedience to his heavenly Father, and out of pure love to man. Through the same obedience and love, he embarked himself with us, if I may so say, in one common nature, and became liable to all the dangers and miseries to which we are exposed, sin only excepted. In this nature, he worked out our salvation; and died for us, the innocent for the guilty, the King of glory for his rebellious subjects, and sinful creatures. Now, were we asked, if indeed we love so gracious and adorable a Redeemer, we should be ashamed not to profess, with Saint Peter, that we love him. But why then are we not ashamed to want that proof of loving him, which he requires ? “ If ye love me, keep my commandments." O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare, not only with their lips, but in their lives declare, the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!