Article October 22, 1921 Issue

Jonah and the Still Small Voice

ELIZABETH A. GERHART

Although the book of the prophet Jonah in the Old Testament contains but four short chapters, these are nevertheless of vital importance to the student of Christian Science to-day, unfolding as they do the necessity for spontaneous obedience to divine Principle and pointing out the great lesson that the supposititious beliefs of evil cannot be attached to either persons, places, or things.

We read in the above-mentioned book that "the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." As in the lesson of Jonah, so in our own experience, we find that, trying to run from what we know it is our duty to do, we can never bring about harmony. It gave him a greater amount of work to do and will do the same for us. The voyage of mortal mind's choosing proved to be anything but smooth, for "there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. . . . Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep." Asleep, he was trying to hush the voice of Truth, sleeping, not resting, for there could be no rest for one who knew that his disobedience was involving so many, even the multitudes of Nineveh.

In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, on page 490, we find these words: "Sleep and mesmerism explain the mythical nature of material sense. Sleep shows material sense as either oblivion, nothingness, or an illusion or dream. Under the mesmeric illusion of belief, a man will think that he is freezing when he is warm, and that he is swimming when he is on dry land." Surely, it must have been this illusion of mesmeric sleep that Jonah indulged in, and it is this which every Christian is at times tempted to submit to, especially when it is most necessary for him to be alert. There is, however, no excuse for submitting to error. So it was that Jonah, realizing that he merited the rebukes of the shipmaster, "What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God," and of the mariners, who, while questioning him closely, asked, "Why hast thou done this?" at his own command was cast into the sea.

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