evil is upon us." This wholly superfluous
procedure may, perhaps, be attributed to their exceptional love of
justice. They wished to make assurance doubly sure before they "went
for" Jonah. And with sweet simplicity they had recourse to the casting
of lots, in which their wills would be inoperative, and the whole
responsibility of deciding be thrown on the gods, who alone possessed
the requisite information.

The lot of course fell upon Jonah. Any other result would have spoiled
the story. "Then," continues our narrative, "said they unto him, Tell
us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us? What is thine
occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what
people art thou? And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew, and I fear the
Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then
were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done
this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord,
because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do
unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought and was
tempestuous. And he said unto them, 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."

We are almost dumb with astonishment before this act of self-sacrifice
on the part of Jonah, for which his previous history left us quite
unprepared. Who would have thought him capable of such disinterested
conduct? His self-abnegation was assuredly heroic, and may even be
called sublime. No doubt the captain and crew of the ship were as much
astonished as we are, and their opinion of Jonah went up several hundred
per cent. They resolved to make a last supreme effort before turning him
into a fish-bait. But all their gallant endeavors were discovered to
be futile and a mere waste of time. So the men, more in sorrow than
in anger, finally took Jonah up and threw him overboard. They had done
their best for him, and now, finding that they could do no more except
at too great a risk, they sadly left him to do the rest for himself.

Immediately, we are told, "the sea ceased from her raging." Jonah
was oil upon the troubled waters. What an invaluable recipe does this
furnish us against the dangers of the deep sea! The surest method of
allaying a storm is to throw a prophet overboard. Every ship should
carry a missionary in case of need. It would, indeed, be