As sinful men, it is a lesson to us all, because it is astory of the sin, hard-heartedness, suddenlyawakened fears, the swift punishment, repentance,prayers, and finally the deliverance and joy of Jonah.As with all sinners among men, the sin of this son ofAmittai was in his wilful disobedience of thecommand of God—never mind now what thatcommand was, or how conveyed—which he found ahard command. But all the things that God wouldhave us do are hard for us to do—remember that—and hence, he oftener commands us thanendeavors to persuade. And if we obey God, we must disobey ourselves; and it is in thisdisobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists.

"With this sin of disobedience in him, Jonah still further flouts at God, by seeking to flee fromHim. He thinks that a ship made by men will carry him into countries where God does not reign,but only the Captains of this earth. He skulks about the wharves of Joppa, and seeks a shipthat's bound for Tarshish. There lurks, perhaps, a hitherto unheeded meaning here. By allaccounts Tarshish could have been no other city than the modern Cadiz. That's the opinion oflearned men. And where is Cadiz, shipmates? Cadiz is in Spain; as far by water, from Joppa, asJonah could possibly have sailed in those ancient days, when the Atlantic was an almostunknown sea. Because Joppa, the modern Jaffa, shipmates, is on the most easterly coast ofthe Mediterranean, the Syrian; and Tarshish or Cadiz more than two thousand miles to thewestward from that, just outside the Straits of Gibraltar. See ye not then, shipmates, thatJonah sought to flee world-wide from God? Miserable man! Oh! most contemptible andworthy of all scorn; with slouched hat and guilty eye, skulking from his God; prowling amongthe shipping like a vile burglar hastening to cross the seas. So disordered, self-condemningis his look, that had there been policemen in those days, Jonah, on the mere suspicion ofsomething wrong, had been arrested ere he touched a deck. How plainly he's a fugitive! nobaggage, not a hat-box, valise, or carpet-bag,—no friends accompany him to the wharf withtheir adieux. At last, after much dodging search, he finds the Tarshish ship receiving the lastitems of her cargo; and as he steps on board to see its Captain in the cabin, all the sailors forthe moment desist from hoisting in the goods, to mark the stranger's evil eye. Jonah sees this;but in vain he tries to look all ease and confidence; in vain essays his wretched smile.