100. Prayer Of The Mariners In The Storm.

Prayer Of The Mariners In The Storm. The Mariners’ Prayer as recorded.—Jonah 1:14. The Answer.—Jonah 1:15-17. The whole of the narrative of the ancient prophet Jonah is full of interest, and suggestive of salutary reflection; the prayers are peculiarly so. In his character of a prophet he had received directions from God to go to Nineveh, a city full of idolatry and wickedness, to announce its ruin. Jonah, fearful of rebuke and insult, and, perhaps, of death, resolved to disobey the command of God, and embarked in a ship bound for Tarshish. But there was an eye that “never slumbers or sleeps,” and that eye saw his transgression.

He “that bringeth the wind out of his treasures,” that holdeth the waters in the hollow of his hand, is Lord of the elements, and caused them to do his pleasure. The sky, so serene when the prophet embarked, is suddenly overcast, and the storm rages about the frail vessel “like a giant in his fury.” The crew of this bark were idolaters, each man apparently having a different deity, for it is said in a former verse, “The mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his god. They had probably been idolaters from childhood, and in this moment of peril, each called upon the being he had been taught to worship. Their case is desperate, and they seek Jonah, who, like too many inactive Christians, lay quietly sleeping. From the shipmaster he receives a rebuke for his apathy in this time of danger, and it must have been most cutting and severe to a servant of Jehovah, that an idolater should rouse and urge him to duty. Jonah, conscious of his guilt, and aware that the storm is the wrath of an angry God, confesses his nation, his profession, and his sin. In vain do the hardy crew, overcome no doubt by Jonah’s words, use every exertion to reach the shore. It is at this moment that the mariners’ prayer ascends to the God of Jonah. While the waves are beating and dashing angrily around them, they cast the prophet, according to his own request, into the sea, and the waves are calm, the waters cease their raging. The mariners perceiving the power of the Almighty, cast aside their gods, and worship the God of heaven and earth.