The greater part of the writings of the prophets contain little history; but this book is an exception. It is a history of a prophecy against a city which at that time was the metropolis of the world. It affords a singular example of the influence which the true religion, as presented among the Israelites, had upon the surrounding nations. When we read of the idolatrous Gentiles, we are apt to think they were altogether sunk in ignorance, and without any means of knowing better except what were afforded by the light of nature. But in those early times God had a people, as he has now, who were witnesses for him, and whose testimony left a strong impression on the minds of mankind about them. If Jonah, when overtaken by the tempest, had been a heathen, and had committed a crime, the mariners might have been alarmed, concluding, from their general notions of an unseen providence, that vengeance had overtaken him; but when they were told that he was a Hebrew,—and feared Jehovah, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land, but had fled from his presence,—then they were “exceedingly afraid.” They had heard, no doubt, of this God of gods, who was worshipped by the Hebrews, and trembled at his judgments. So when Jonah entered into Nineveh, and threatened its overthrow, if he had been a heathen soothsayer, his message might have influenced a few; but government would doubtless have apprehended him, and either have punished him as a disturber of the public peace, or confined him as a madman; but finding him to be a prophet sent by Jehovah, the God of Israel, whose judgments upon Egypt and other nations had rung through the world, they were struck with amazement. The king rises from his throne, lays aside his robe, covers himself with sackcloth, sits in ashes, and causes a fast to be proclaimed, accompanied with an admonition for every one to turn from his evil way, saying, “Who can tell if God will repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” Great is the force of truth and true religion upon the conscience!

But let us observe more particlurly the history of Jonah, in which we see an affecting example of human depravity, and of the mystery of Providence. God commands him to go and prophesy against Nineveh, a great city, north of Judea. He dislikes the errand; and, in downright rebellion, takes a ship for Tarshish, a sea-port of the Mediterranean, in nearly a southern direction. But whither can he flee from God’s presence? Though suffered to take his course for a while, he is soon pursued. A tempest overtakes him. One would have thought his restless mind must have anticipated it, and been the first to interpret it; but, instead of this, all parties are alarmed before him;—he is asleep at the bottom of the ship. A guilty mind cannot be always on the rack of reflection; yet its repose is not peace, but the stupidity of horror and wretchedness. The rebuke of the ship-master seems scarcely to have awakened him. At length, however, the lot of God falls upon his guilty head; and now we have to witness a most humiliating sight—a prophet of the most high God arraigned at the bar of a company of heathen sailors! We should have said, Let it not be known unto the heathen!—He, if he could have prayed at all, would have said, Make me not a reproach to the foolish.—But God says, It shall be known. He knows how to vindicate the honour of his name, without having recourse to the little arts of concealment of which creatures commonly avail themselves. The whole must come out—his country, his religion, his character, his sin! And do the heathens reproach him? If they had, we could not have wondered; but it operates in a different way. God knows how to soften the hearts of men by that which we might expect would harden them; and things which appear to us injurious to his cause shall tend to establish it. They inquire of him what they shall do; and he pronounces his own doom. Humanity, notwithstanding, and the fear perhaps of incurring the displeasure of his God, struggle hard for his deliverance; but struggle in vain. He must be cast away, or they must all perish. No time is to be lost; they must come to a decision. Lifting up their eyes to heaven, they appeal to God for the painful necessity under which they acted; and then, taking up the unhappy man, they cast him into the sea! Reader, had you and I been spectators of this affecting scene, and in possession of our present views, we should probably have not only dropped a tear over the watery tomb of the prophet, but have exclaimed, “How unsearchable are God’s judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Viewing the effect of all upon the mariners, we should have seen men, who till now were strangers to Jehovah, calling upon his name; we should have seen, perhaps, the hopeful conversion of some, and rejoiced in the “sacrifices and vows” which on this mysterious occasion were offered: but, what would have been a damp to our pleasure, we should have seen Jonah himself committed to the deep, prayerless, and, to all appearance, without a ray of hope! But “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” When the closing waves had parted him from human observation, Divine Providence still follows him. He is swallowed by a “great fish,” probably a shark.* In this perilous situation his life and consciousness are preserved; and here he is brought to his right mind. Hence he who could not offer one petition while in the presence of the mariners “prays unto Jehovah his God.” What were his prayers, and the workings of his mind, he recorded after his deliverance. A part of this record is contained in the sentence on which this address is founded: “Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.” It describes the crisis of his distress the moment he was sunk to the greatest despondency, bordering on utter despair; out of which he is recovered by the hope of Divine mercy.

“I said, I am cast out of thy sight.” Did he mean that he was now beyond the reach of God’s omniscience? No; though mortal eyes could follow him no further, he was well aware of his being naked to the eyes of Him with whom he had to do. His meaning was, I suppose, that he was cast out of God’s favour; alluding to the practice of princes and great men, who admit their friends into their presence, but banish those who have offended them out of their sight. Thus the Divinely favoured Land of Promise is described as that on which “the eyes of the Lord were set, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year;” and thus the children of Israel, when they had for a long time offended God, are said to be removed by captivity out of his sight. Now Jonah had been favoured of God in several ways: As an Israelite, he had long enjoyed the means of grace, of which those of other nations had been destitute; but now he is deprived of them. No more shall I peruse the lively oracles of Jehovah! No more frequent his temple, in company with his people! No more join in the melody of Zion! Far from the holy abodes of hope and peace, I die alone! No fellow servant of God to attend me in my last hours! no eye to pity me, nor hand to help me! I die an outcast, an outcast of the heathen!—He had also been highly honoured in being a prophet. The Lord had employed him as an ambassador extraordinary; but having offended him, he appears now to be cast off. God, as if he should say, will employ me no more. In this shameful and painful manner ends my stewardship.—Finally, As a religious man, he had enjoyed communion with God, and cherished hopes of everlasting life; but now what can he think of himself, and of his prospects for eternity? If by this language he meant that all was over with him, for this world and that to come, it is no more than might be expected. Sin must needs cloud our evidences for heaven, and render our state doubtful. “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercies.”

Fuller, A. G. (1988). “Hope in the Last Extremity,” Sermon LIV. The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller: Memoirs, Sermons, Etc. (J. Belcher, Ed.; Vol. 1, pp. 455–457). Sprinkle Publications.