unities of service, slothfully or faintheartedly neglected, are
often withdrawn. We can fancy how Jonah, brought back to the better mind
which breathes in his psalm, longed to be honoured by the trust of
preaching once more, and how rapturously his spirit would address itself
to the task. Duties once unwelcome become sweet when we have passed
through the experience of the misery that comes from neglecting them. It
is God's mercy that gives us the opportunity of effacing past
disobedience by new alacrity.

The second charge is possibly distinguishable from the first as being
less precise. It may be that the exact nature of 'the preaching that I
bid thee' was not told Jonah till he had to open his mouth in Nineveh;
but, more probably, the second charge was identical with the first.

The word rendered 'preach' is instructive. It means 'to cry' and
suggests the manner befitting those who bear God's message. They should
sound it out loudly, plainly, urgently, with earnestness and marks of
emotion in their voice. Languid whispers will not wake sleepers. Unless
the messenger is manifestly in earnest, the message will fall flat. Not
with bated breath, as if ashamed of it; nor with hesitation, as if not
quite sure of it; nor with coldness, as if it were of little
urgency,--is God's Word to be pealed in men's ears. The preacher is a
crier. The substance of his message, too, is set forth. 'The preaching
which I bid thee'--not his own imaginations, nor any fine things of his
own spinning. Suppose Jonah had entertained the Ninevites with
dissertations on the evidences of his prophetic authority, or submitted
for their consideration a few thoughts tending to show the agreement of
his message with their current opinions in religion, or an argument for
the existence of a retributive Governor of the world, he would not have
shaken the city. The less the Prophet shows himself, the stronger his
influence. The more simply he repeats the stern, plain, short message,
the more likely it is to impress. God's Word, faithfully set forth, will
prove itself. The preacher or teacher of this day has substantially the
same charge as Jonah had; and the more he suppresses himself, and
becomes but a voice through which God speaks, the better for himself,
his hearers, and his work.

Nineveh, that great aggregate of cities, was full, as Eastern cities
are, of open spaces, and might well be a three days' journey in
circumference. What a task for that sol