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Expositions and Essays.

THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS.

THESE words are familiar to every reader of the Gospels, as forming.part of our Lord's reply to the Scribes and Pharisees, who sought of him a sign from heaven. But the exact point of his teaching in using the words, and their bearing upon the request made to him, is not so easily discernible. First, it may be observed that the request was not in itself an unreasonable one. To ask a sign or token whereby the commission of one who professes to teach authoritative truth may be accredited, is at all times lawful; it may even spring from laudable motives. But the motive of these men in asking a sign from Jesus is obvious, from the fact that three evangelists record that they did so in order to "tempt" him, that is, to "entrap" him; and as Luke says, "Seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him." That they should ask for a sign of Christ's Messiahship and divine authority, after all the marvellous and merciful miracles he had wrought in all parts of their land, as proofs of his divine Sonship and mission, manifested a degree of obdurate unbelief and opposition to his claims, which of itself showed the presumptuous naturé of their request; even if they had not further proved it by giving vent to the hor rible charge of his miracles being wrought by Satanic aid and influence. It is worthy of remark, that in more than one place the sign they sought is said to be" from heaven.” They saw Christ's wonderful works on earth, but professed to require something besides, something from above, some visible token from the opening heavens, to confirm their faith in his claims. To this presumptuous demand our Lord at once replies, by declaring that no other sign should be given to them but that which he here calls "the sign of the Prophet Jonas." He then recapitulates the facts of Jonah's miraculous entombment, and declares that it was parallel to his own burial in the earth, between his death and resurrection.

Now most writers have supposed that our Lord intends to call attention to his own resurrection from the dead as the sign to be given to the Jews that he was really the Messiah, and that he calls this the sign of the Prophet Jonas, because Jonah's miraculous deliverance from the fish's belly was a sign to the Ninevités of his being a divinely-commissioned prophet, to preach repentance to that people. Certainly the resurrection of Christ from the dead is the great miracle of the New Testament, by which he was "declared to be the Son of God, with power ;" and in this respect, is a sign to all unbelievers, both Jews and Gentiles, to the end of time. But in the passage under consideration, our Lord makes no reference either to Jonah's deliverance from the fish's belly, or to his own rising from the grave. He speaks solely of the fact of Jonah's remaining a certain period in the fish's belly, and his own future entombment in the earth for the same space of time. If he had here spoken of his resurrection as a sign, it would not have been a rebuke but a concession to these unbelieving Jews, tacitly implying that they were right in seeking a further miraculous and visible proof of his Messiahship. But it is evident that he intended to

denounce their presumption, and not to excuse or humour it; and this, we take it, is the key to his remarkable reference to the Prophet Jonah and to himself.

The men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, not because of his deliverance from the fish's belly, but because his preaching and teaching carried its own conviction with it, viewed in the light of their own consciousness, of the evil of their ways, and the Divine displeasure against them. So our Lord would have these Jews turn from their hypocritical pretence of asking for a sign to consider their own evil ways as a nation. His preaching and teaching respecting God's law and their sin, were sufficiently plain; they needed no sign from heaven to attest it. Their own scriptures, if read aright, would ratify his claims, and expose their presumptuous folly; and therefore instead of giving them a sign from above, he rather directs their attention to the earth beneath, to the humiliation he must undergo, rather than to any heavenly glory that should rest upon his head. He was to be to them while upon earth, not the glorious earthly king, with the opening heavens attesting his royalty, which they delighted to imagine as their Messiah, but a despised and rejected man, and even to die as other men, and be buried in the earth. This was all the sign they should have; and singularly enough, this was a sign, which if they could have read their own Prophet Isaiah aright, would have proved to them beyond a doubt, that he was indeed the Messiah he claimed to be. It is true that our Lord did have on more than one occasion, a "sign from neaven" that he was the Christ; but this was given, not to unbelieving Jews, but to his believing disciples, who were enjoined not to disclose it till he was risen from the dead.

If we have read this passage aright, it shows us that the principle of Jonah's case and that of our Lord, when upon earth, was the same. Both, as has been well said, bore in ther own persons marks of humiliation, while executing a divine commission. Jonah was a man just escaped from a position to which God had consigned him, as a chastisement for his sin, and yet he is honoured to be the bearer of Heaven's special message to a guilty people. Christ was not, we well know, made a man of sorrows for his own sins, but for the sins of his people; but his external aspect was that of one "smitten of God and afflicted," as the prophet Isaiah declares, and adds (what immediately bears upon, and confirms our interpretation of the passage) "He was despised," —that is, by the Jewish nation," and we esteemed him not."

Thus far it might seem that we have been dealing with the Jews of our Lord's day, and that their conduct has no bearing upon men in our own times. But the words of Christ to the Jews were very searching and far-reaching; and, if we mistake not, this very rebuke, addressed to the Pharisees, has a very important bearing upon men generally, and even upon the professed people of God. We can but indicate one or two illustrations of our meaning, and must then conclude.

The sin of the Scribes and Pharisees, when traced to its root, was but the natural offspring of a carnal heart,—a spirit which sets itself in opposition to the revealed will of God, and tries to cover that opposition by objections derived from the alleged insufficiency of evidence, with which the revelation is accompanied. Under other forms this sin is constantly repeating itself. Thus the gospel itself, which is its own witness, and when faithfully preached, "commends itself to every man's eonscience," (if not to his heart)" in the sight of God," is often opposed, or ignored and neglected

on the ground that it is not received by philosophers and learned men generally, or that it is preached by ignorant and narrow-minded men; or that it is chiefly the poor and uneducated who believe its doctrines; or that it is out of harmony with the advanced knowledge of modern times; or that only a comparatively small portion of the human race have ever even heard of it. As if the first thing claiming attention were not the message itself, but the circumstances attending its promul gation!—as if they to whom the gospel comes,—who are by that very fact declared to be morally incapacitated to judge aright concerning God and his ways, were able to decide justly as to the mode in which should be revealed, the messengers by whom it should be proclaimed ! Or, as if all these objections were not foreseen when the gospel was sent into the world, and even foretold by its Author and his inspired apostles! Thus the sin of the Pharisees in demanding a sign, is repeated in every age, and there is still no sign given to it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas. The gospel is still like its divine Author,—“ despised and rejected of men.”

Nor is the church of God free from the same sin. How often is a certain doctrine objected to on the ground that it is not revealed in the terms, or with the clearness that are supposed to be necessary to entitle it to reception and belief; or an ordinance of the gospel,—particularly that of baptism,—is frequently objected to, as not being universally binding on believers, or on the ground that any mode, and administered at any age, is equally valid; or that its counterfeit-infant sprinkling, is so widely prevalent in the Christian world; or abstinence from some particular indulgence or amusement; and, on the other hand, attention to some enjoined but unpalatable duty, how often are these objected to because not revealed with that force and clearness which the objector professes to think indispensable. In each and every such case we are entitled to urge that there is light enough for guidance to to every sincere seeker for light in the Word of God, though not to prevent every excuse which a caviling and unwilling heart may suggest. The words of our Lord to the Pharisees are of universal application,—" If any man is willing to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God."

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"Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."-Eph. iv. 3.

preserve "the unity of the Spirit" it is necessary to cherish all the principles, supporters, preservers, and friends of unity: thereby unity shall be maintained and improved. Especially labour that yourselves and others may abound with these eminent cementing and uniting graces, viz.:

1st. With solid and practical know

ledge of Jesus Christ, and of the great mystery of sinners' salvation by Him. This "knowledge of the Son of God," as Paul notes, (Eph. iv. 13-15) hath an uniting property in it, and tends to the saint's highest perfection; and when the saints thus become men in understanding, they shall not be any more like "children, tossed to and fro with every wind of