outwardly, in body and soul. God wants the entire person. He has an aversion to shilly-shallying and hypocritical people.
1–2. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord, etc.
THIS is, I think, a queer and odd saint who is angry because of God's mercy for sinners, begrudging them all benefits and wishing them every evil. This militates against the nature of love, which does everything good and wishes everything good even to enemies. It is still more amazing to find this attitude in Jonah after he had experienced the great sternness of the divine will in the ocean and in the whale. He does not even change when God punishes him for this unreasonable anger. And yet he has enough faith at the same time to ask God to let him die; he does not care to live any longer. He could not have prayed thus if he had not trusted God implicitly. What comment are we to add here? How can such faith and such evil exist side by side? Here questions are pertinent. Here you might benefit by them. We cannot deny that Jonah is angry without cause and that he is indeed doing wrong. This is evidenced by the fact that God punishes him for this with words and with deed, and that He chides him with the token of the wild plant.
But at the same time we must concede that he remained in the faith and was acceptable to God, since He conversed so affably with Jonah and granted him a token, acting like a man who chats and deals in a friendly way with his fellowman.
Even if one could close an eye to this misdemeanor, it is inexcusable that he, as it were, tries to justify and defend his first disobedience and his flight because of which God had punished him so severely. He attributes the fault to God's mercy, saying: "I pray Thee, Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to fly to Tarshish, etc." Is that not like saying: "Did I not do the right thing when I fled and refused to come here? If anyone is to blame, is it not You with Your kindness?"
What is Jonah attempting to do? Is he not defying God? Is he not tempting God anew to cast him into a thousand oceans and whales because of his murmuring against God and his trying to justify himself? If Saul or someone else were to do that, what do you suppose would happen to them? If works would count with God, or if they were the atoning agency before God, Jonah would needs be hurled into the abyss of hell here as in his anger he is stiff-necked in his rage against faith and love. He brings charge against God's goodness and begrudges his fellowman mercy and everything good. Are these good works? If they are not vices, I ask you to define the term. I should be at a loss to know how to answer.
We must note first of all how wondrous God is in His saints,1 lest we be tempted to judge and condemn them thoughtlessly because of any of their actions. This work here may be evil—as indeed it is.
But for all of that, I must not despise and reject the person. For if we regard Jonah in this act, we must agree that his actions are surely wrong; for God Himself punishes him. And yet he is God's dear child. He chats so uninhibitedly with God as though he were not in the least afraid of Him—as indeed he is not; he confides in Him as in a father. Second, we learn that God permits His children to blunder and err greatly and grossly. We see in the gospels that Christ does likewise with His apostles. This redounds to the consolation of all believers who sin and stray occasionally. Third, we observe how very kindly, paternally, and amiably God deals with those who place their trust in Him in times of need. The Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb. 12:11) tells us how gracious God is to us after first whipping and flogging us, which punishment "yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." For here we perceive that this cannot harm us nor be imputed to us as sin, though, in fact, it is sin and culpable. But it is the daily sin of a child that the heavenly Father willingly bears in His mercy. However, God does not treat the ungodly in that manner. Nor would such treatment befit their character; for they grow inordinately insolent and ungovernable when they sense that God is gracious and inclined to spare them.
They demean themselves as though God should be expected to endure and tolerate their ungodly conduct.
However, it is not at all surprising that Jonah is loath to see God's grace extended also to the heathen.
For judge for yourself and consider that the Jews always believed that Israel alone was God's people, as I have said before, and that all the Gentiles were under God's wrath. Thus Ps. 79:6 exclaims: "Pour out Thy anger on the nations that do not know Thee and on the kingdoms that do not call on Thy name."
Consequently, they insisted that no man would partake of God's grace before he adopted the laws of Moses and became a Jew. The apostles and the other early Christians conceived of this matter in the same way. Luke writes in Acts 82 that they went about preaching the Word to none but the Jews, and he writes in Acts 10 and 11 that the Jews were displeased with Peter because he had preached to the Gentiles. And it
- 40 is nothing short of a miracle that Jonah was not persecuted and killed by the Jews because he had preached in Nineveh and had called it a city of God. The mere thought that Jonah should praise the people of Nineveh as being people of God, without having and without observing the laws of Moses, was intolerable to the Jews. And I ask you, what judgment can all they expect today who teach that there are Christians and that there may well be Christians who do not have and do not observe the ordinances of the pope and the customs and precepts of the Roman church? They must, of course, be accounted heretics, yes, heretics, and are fit to be burned at the stake.
It seems plausible to assume that this was the true reason why Jonah was so unwilling to go to Nineveh, why he grumbled because the city was not destroyed, and why he preferred death to the spectacle of seeing people in receipt of God's grace and of being regarded as people of God without adoption of the laws of Moses and the customs of the Jews. What else was that than infamy for the people of Israel, implying that their laws were useless and unnecessary, since a man could well be saved without them? Would it not be reasonable for them to say, as the men do in the gospel (Matt. 20:12): "Why are we slaving and drudging if these last arrivals work but an hour and receive the same compensation as we who have borne the heat and toil of the day?" Should that not cause eyes to go green with jealousy? Should they not be regarded as better than the others? Should they not receive more? Thus it also happens here that the people of Nineveh obtain mercy without the Law and the Prophets, and the Jews, despite their great labors, receive no more than they; yes, in the end the Jews forfeit grace completely. Their grumbling and their jealousy demand something better than the Gospel. They begrudge the Gentiles the privilege of becoming Christians. It is the expectation that he should convey these benefits to the people of Nineveh that irks Jonah so. To think that he should be the first to make Judaism contemptible and superfluous!
How could he, under those circumstances, remain in his country? It was not without cause that he fled and refused to preach. For to be a Jew and yet to proclaim that Judaism was unnecessary and that God's grace was available without it is the same as to depreciate and disparage his fellow countrymen and to exalt the Gentiles. That was the experience of Paul, as we find recorded by Luke in the Book of Acts (13:45 ff.).
In order to dispel Jonah's scruples and also to supply him with an answer to give to his angry fellow Jews, God toys with him and gives him a sign, just as He did to Peter in Acts 10:11 ff., when Peter labored under a similar illusion as Jonah here. God showed him a vision from heaven, a linen cloth containing all kinds of animals, and told him that everything was pure, although he saw nothing but heathen without the laws of Moses, etc. Thus God also gives Jonah a sign here. He causes a wild plant to grow that provides
Jonah with a delightful arbor. And now while he is enjoying this shelter, the Lord creates a worm early in the morning before Jonah is aware of it. This worm "attacked the plant, so that it withered," and that deprived Jonah of his great joy. Furthermore, God let the sun burn down on his uncovered head. This vexed Jonah again and added indignation to indignation. Everything goes contrary to his wishes. And in order to forestall further disappointment, Jonah again asks God to let him die. And now God appears and silences him. Like the householder in the Gospel, He announces that He can do as He wants (Matt. 20:15).
He also shows that Jonah is annoyed without cause. "Behold," He says, "you are angry because an insignificant plant withered and did not continue to flourish. Of how much less value is such a shrub than a person, to say nothing of such a city? Should you who wish to see the wild plant preserved not also wish and rejoice to see the city saved?" What could Jonah say to refute this? He had to remain mute, vanquished in his own judgment, to which he had nicely been misled on the spot concerning the plant. So human ingenuity is a lost cause before God.
The teachers of old have tested their learning on the plant called יקקִ in Hebrew, which is here given as יֹוןקי ָקִ, that is, a small יקקִ. The earliest scholars called it a pumpkin. Then Jerome came along and translated it with the word hedera, that is, "ivy." He declared that this plant was not found in Latin lands, but in Syria; that it is a plant that grows very fast and affords shelter and dense shade very quickly; that it has leaves like that of the grapevine. Perhaps this prompted the fathers to think it was a pumpkin vine. We are of the opinion that it was the plant that natural scientists call vitis alba in Latin. In German this is known as the Wildrübe ("wild rape"). Our pastor, Mr. Johann Pommer,3 reports that it is called "holy root" among his fellow Pomeranians and that it grows profusely enough to cover a house. In that respect it resembles the nightshade. Jerome can hardly be correct with his assertion that this plant was an ivy, as he himself says, since the ivy is not supported by a stem, as יֹוןקי ָקִ is, but clings to walls and trees.4 It seems
- 41 probable that those who called this a pumpkin plant came much closer to the mark, although Jerome makes sport of them and dubs these men pumpkin heads.
Well, this question is not so vital, and we need not squabble so vehemently about the words, so long as we are sure about the facts. Although the plant in question may grow fast by nature, nevertheless, it is true that God prepared it here in the course of one night in a miraculous manner. And this He did for Jonah's sake. Jonah sat in the plant's shade for a long time, perhaps until the 40 days had elapsed; for the text says that Jonah went out of the city when he saw the people converted. He sat clown and waited to see whether the city would be destroyed. It already irritated him to see the people repent, and now he undoubtedly feared that the city would not perish. Thus after the expiration of the 40 days, when he noticed that the fixed time had passed, he became angry because nothing would come of his sermon. Then he murmured against God, and he had to learn a lesson. Now he had to return home, shamed and humbled; however, with great awe and with increased understanding.
From all of this we learn that God is a helper of all men, not only of the Jews. Thus St. Paul says in 1 Tim. 2:4: "God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." We learn that we are heathen who have come into God's grace in the last hour without having toiled and with no promise of God's grace such as was given the Jews. God grant that we might show our gratitude and avail ourselves of this as these people of Nineveh did, lest we also finally perish more miserably by reason of our ingratitude, as the people of Nineveh did later on. The stow of Jonah has been transmitted to us because
God wants to show us His miracles, namely, that God's Word bears fruit mainly where this is least expected and, conversely, produces least where most is expected. Here we find the heathen of Nineveh coming to faith, though they had not heard the Word of God before; and we find that the Jews, who heard the Word of God daily, abandon their faith. From this we must learn, on the one hand, not to despair of anyone and, on the other, not to place undue confidence in anyone.
Jonah relates here that Nineveh had a population of more than 120,000 people. On the basis of this remark we can judge the approximate size of the city. Since he speaks of 120,000 plus inhabitants, he informs us that the city did not have a population of 130,000; otherwise he very likely would have spoken of more than 130,000 or 140,000 or 200,000. A city of 200,000 is not unusually large, especially if it is advantageously situated and if it is a prosperous city, such as the royal city of Nineveh was, the capital of the Assyrian empire. Someone might interpret the words "who do not know their right hand from their left" as pertaining to the children and the fools of the city and thereby imply that the adult population ran far higher. However, I do not share that opinion, but I believe that Jonah means to say that all the people in the city did not know the difference between left and right, that is, as we commonly say, they were not conversant with divine matters. Unlike the Jews, they had no law of Moses and no prophets that could have taught them how to conduct themselves before God both in spiritual and in physical matters, both externally and internally. For the words "the right hand" might refer to the spiritual and the words "the left hand" to the physical realm, the one to internal, the other to external matters. We must serve God with body and soul. Let that suffice on this subject. Now we must also consider the spiritual meanings of this book; they are three in number.
In the Hebrew tongue Jonah means "dove." In the New Testament the dove is a symbol for the Holy Spirit, as we see in Luke 3:22 and John 1:32, especially of the revealed Holy Spirit, who is bestowed for the proclamation of Christ in all the world through the Gospel. Thus Jonah with his name is a prototype of the Holy Spirit and of His office, namely, of the Gospel. Thus all apostles and pastors must also be Jonahs in possession of the dove, that is, of the Holy Spirit, teaching and doing nothing impulsively and without the Spirit. Christ Himself enjoins His disciples in Matt. 10:16 to be "innocent as doves and wise as serpents," that is, to preach the Word of God in its simplicity and purity, without any addition, as the Spirit provides it, and not to deal deceitfully with anyone, neither in works nor in doctrine. In Hebrew the word
"Nineveh" means "pretty," or "beautiful," as a neat, well-planned city is beautiful. That typifies the world, which lives and has its being beautifully and attractively in its wealth, pleasures, wisdom, strength, holiness, and honor; but below the surface is sheer abomination and sin before God. But the fact that Nineveh hears the Word of God, accepts it, fasts, puts on sackcloth, and sits down in the ashes signifies that God's Word brings fruit, transforms everything, and prompts the city to regard its holiness, power, riches, pleasures, honor, and goods as sin, weakness, poverty, repugnance, shame, and loss and to despise
- 42 it all. That is the proper way of sitting in the ashes, of wearing sackcloth, and of fasting. Then even the beasts, that is, their bodies,5 must fast and wear sackcloth, that is, they must mortify their flesh and chastise themselves.
That Jonah is sent from the land of the Jews into a foreign country symbolizes that the Spirit and God's Word were to be taken from the Jewish people and bestowed on the Gentiles. Thus Christ says in Matt. 21:43: "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it, etc." Jonah's flight and the perils he encountered on the sea represent the cross and the persecution which the Gospel will experience in the world. It appears as though the Christian ministry were taking to flight, perishing, and vanishing from the scene. It seems so frail over against the fury of the world, since the persons administering the office are fugitives, that is, feeble and insignificant people. The ocean is the world, vast and mighty with its raging billows. The whale is gruesome and terrifying with its jaws and teeth. This animal represents the prince and god of the world, the devil, who ruthlessly murders and kills through his princes and great lords, etc. But despite all of these, Jonah is preserved mightily by God's power, and his message cannot be frustrated either by his own flight or by the ocean's fury, but it makes its way and penetrates into Nineveh. Thus, though pastors may be weak and the world powerful, God's Word, the holy Gospel, is still mightier, and no obstacles can impede its progress. And even if all pastors were to be devoured, the Gospel will make its way into the world all the better and transform the world. It is consoling for us to observe that this was the experience of the apostles. And we, too, must not be terrified by ocean and whale, convinced that our Word or Gospel is mightier than all else.
The second interpretation pertains to spiritual persecution. We perceive how a sinner fares when he dies spiritually and then lives again, that is, when he is justified and his sins are remitted. This is the way that happens. Sin represents the first step in the process. We all fell into sin by reason of Adam's disobedience. This sin we have increased and aggravated by our own disobedience. Thus we have fled from God's countenance, inasmuch as we do not do the will of God, especially when we commit that nice sin, hypocrisy and false worship of God, defection from the true Word of God. This is for us the disobedience and the flight of Jonah from the face of God. For since we are in sin, we do not behold God but are far removed from Him, like the prodigal son in the Gospel (Luke 15:11 ff.). The fact that Jonah runs away to sea, with no particular destination in mind, denotes that the sinner fleeing from God follows no definite goal but wanders and strays, prompted by flesh and the world, wherever the devil leads and urges him to go. Nor does he care whither he goes, except that he does not wish to remain in the country and live in obedience to God. He wants to lead his life according to his own discretion.
Jonah comes to Joppa, where he finds a ship going to sea, pays his fare, enters, lies down, falls asleep, and sails along aimlessly. The name Joppa means "pretty" or "fine." That points to the ungodly multitude, who lead a glittering life, marked by disobedience to God. This city is well adapted to disobedience, selfwill, and self-chosen righteousness. In Joppa the prophet finds a ship, that is, a good means and a doctrine to chart his course, as for example, the law of God as conceived by human delusion. Then there are mariners, that is, teachers of such law and of their own works, who lead man, who knows where, out upon the vast sea. And there we find no firm and established conscience before God, but one that is tossed about by the billows of the sea, etc. Jonah pays his fare to these mariners; for these teachers are belly-servers who teach and administer their office as mercenaries. People are very willing to give them money and make them rich because of their works—just as God gave the country of Canaan to the children of Israel.
But people give the apostles and evangelists nothing; no, they rather take from them what little they have.
Now Jonah enters the ship, delivers himself into the hands of the mariners, lies down below in the ship and snores, that is, he is secure, thinks that he is taken care of now, and in that opinion he sails along. So all the work-righteous do. In their delusion they, as it were, lie down far below and sleep and are unaware what evil they are doing. Solomon declares in Eccl. 5:1: "To draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil." Lo, that is what one may aptly call "going down to Joppa and into the inner part of the ship." That is, indeed, traveling from the eminence of Jerusalem and from the obedience to God down into the pit of disobedience and self-will.
But now God comes along, determined to arouse His disobedient saint and publicly label his holiness as sin. He causes a tempest to arise, that is, He lets people feel His wrath and judgment. Then all self- - 43 chosen holiness sinks into the deep, both teachers and pupils despair; then the works will not stand the test; then the ship threatens to burst asunder and founder. At such a time everyone calls on his own god, that is, he wants to take comfort from his own good conduct. But not one of the idols hears the cry, not one of them renders assistance; for these people are not acquainted with the true God. Now they arouse
Jonah from his sleep, that is, now they become true teachers of the Law, and now the Law performs its proper function. It no longer teaches works, nor does it create a false sense of security of conscience, but now it points to sin and to God's wrath, now it terrifies the conscience. The mariners now cast lots and search out sin. And the lot falls on Jonah. The Law does not cease to search and to torture the conscience until it discovers the sinner and wrests a confession of guilt from him. Thus David says in Ps. 32:3: "When
I declared not my sin, my body wasted away, etc." The casting of lots signifies that sin finds us without fail and that the Law strikes us; not when we expect it, but when we least look for it, the householder appears and finds us. Now Jonah must come out from the inner part of the ship and confess to the Law and acknowledge that he is a sinner. "Otherwise," he says, "the storm will not abate." Although they bend every effort and row strenuously to reach land, it is of no avail; that is, although such a conscience is beaten down, and though it must acknowledge that such a verdict is fair and deserved, it is still reluctant to suffer the sentence of death. Thus Jonah does not jump into the sea voluntarily, but he is hurled into the water.
Finally the mariners bow to the inevitable and cast Jonah into the sea. At the same time, however, they pray God not to take them to account for this. They fear and serve God. This agrees with St. Paul's statement in Rom. 7:12: "The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good," and yet it kills me and renders God angry with me. May that suffice on this subject. The fact that the mariners now fear and serve God signifies that the Law serves God when it really performs its true function; that is, it creates frightened and humble servants of God. Prior to this, however, while it was still at Joppa, it served the belly with deception and misuse of works. It took the fare and made snoring, secure, and workrighteous people. Now the whale, that is, death and hell, appears and devours Jonah. This is the sequence: first the Law, then sin, and finally death. Thus St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:56: "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law," that is, if sin did not nest in the conscience, death would be impotent; it could neither sting nor bite, neither murder nor torture; it would have neither sting nor blade, but it would be dull; it would be nothing. But when sin is present and makes itself felt in the conscience, death is immediately armed with spear and sword and forthwith aspires to murder man. In fact, death does murder man unless help is brought to him. Likewise, if there were no law, that is, if there were no true and properly functioning law, there would also be no sin, that is, one would not perceive sin. Sin would be enfeebled and would not sting as it does where the Jonahs and the work-righteous people are asleep in the ship. And so it is also in nature that where there is no law, there can also be no sin; but as soon as the Law appears, sin also appears on the scene and is felt in the conscience. As gruesome as the whale and its jaws were to Jonah, so terrifying is the threat of death to the sinful, frightened conscience.
Now Jonah dies for three days and nights in the belly of the whale, that is, the sinner lies terrorstricken in the throes of death and wrestles with death until he utterly despairs. Within the span of three days it is easy to determine whether or not a person is dead. And he who lies in the bonds of death for three days is beyond hope. It is not necessary for him to lie thus for fully three days; even if he lies in death throughout a whole night and day, he is done for. Of course, he may lie thus one hour of one day and one hour of the second day following. In spiritual dying three days are but a short span of time, for it happens in a hurry that death and terror drive man to despair.
Then comes the living Word of God, the Gospel of grace, and addresses the fish, that is, it commands death not to touch man. That is where faith sets in, and man is freed both of sin and of death and lives in grace and righteousness with Christ.
There Jonah learns to sing the song (2:9): "I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to Thee, etc.," and he chides those who rely on vain things and disregard grace. For such people will experience that works and the life of the Law are completely useless and that God's grace alone must avail. In that way people are engendered who are real benefactors of the world; for they can teach, counsel, and govern aright because they derive their knowledge not only from books and words but from the Spirit and their own experience. Whatever they teach cuts through and is effective. This is typified here by Jonah and his
In Matt. 12:39–40 Christ Himself drew an analogy between Himself and Jonah. This is not a complete allegory but just an illustrative comparison. For Christ refers only to Jonah's sojourn in the whale, saying that He Himself will lie in the bowels of the earth as Jonah did in the whale. He calls it "the sign of the prophet Jonah"; that means, it is a sign which bears resemblance to an experience of Jonah. He does not assign a spiritual significance to those three days, as is proper in spiritual interpretations. Therefore this is a comparison rather than an allegory. And no one would be authorized to interpret it as we do if Christ had not done so Himself. Well, there is not much to be said about this, since it is common knowledge throughout the world that Christ died and rose again and that this was the miraculous sign given to the unbelieving Jews, yes, proclaimed to the entire world through the Gospel to inform all how they are redeemed by this same miraculous sign and eminent divine work and that they must adhere to this in true faith. But the whole world takes offense at this sign, particularly the Jews; it is a stumbling block and foolishness to them. However, it will remain intact for all of that. They would prefer to have a different sign, but none will be given them. For as Christ says (Matt. 12:39): "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." More has been said about this elsewhere.
Finally we have the plant and the worm which attacked the former at the dawn of day. This phase of the story pertains not only to Jonah, to his anger and his thoughts described in the text, but it is applicable also to Judaism, which was a real wild plant. The plant, in the first place, has large leaves. That is its best part, as these leaves afforded Jonah welcome shade. It formed a sheltering hut against the sun's heat over his head. Nothing is said about fruit. In fact, the plant bore no fruit. The leaves represent the words and laws of God. St. Paul says in Rom. 3:2: "The Jews are entrusted with the oracles of God." Jonah is seated under these leaves, that is, the prophets and holy fathers dwelt in the midst of Judaism as under a temporal hut and given to external divine worship until the days of Christ. It was an arbor for the summer season or a tabernacle which served but for a time and then ceased to exist. But it bore no fruit, for the Law, devoid of the Spirit, could profit no one of itself, although many holy people dwelt under it in the Spirit.
Therefore Christ cursed the fig tree, which had leaves but no fruit, and it withered (Matt. 21:19). The same fate befell the wild plant in our stow. However, Jonah takes delight in the arbor as he there awaits the devastation of the city of Nineveh. For the Jews gloried in and also boasted of the exclusive possession of God's Word and divine service. They regarded the Gentiles as altogether doomed, just as Jonah does the people of Nineveh here.
And now while the Jews complacently rely on being God's people to the exclusion of all others, and just as Jonah is basking in the enjoyment of this wild plant, God appoints a worm to smite the plant. This signifies that Christ appeared with His Gospel at a time when the Jews vaunted most vaingloriously that they alone Were God's people. He attacked the wild plant, that is, He preached against it and abolished the Law through His Holy Spirit and liberated us all from the Law and its power. Therefore Judaism withered and decayed in all the world, and thus we see it today. Its verdure is gone, it flourishes no longer, nor is there a saint or a prophet sitting in its shade today. Its day is spent. Christ is a worm, as He says in Ps.
22:6: "I am a worm, and no man." He is this by reason of His shameful crucifixion and the shame heaped upon Him. And yet this poor crucified Worm stings such a fine shrub that it withers. With this slight sting, that is, with the despised Gospel, He dashes such a mighty kingdom and people to pieces.
The fact that the worm works this harm not in the evening but early in the morning, at the break of day, signifies that this fall of Judaism occurred at the dawn of the day of grace, of the New Testament, at the time when the era of grace broke upon the world through the Gospel. For He who caused the plant to grow so marvelously also permitted the worm to attack it and make it wither. Similarly, Judaism sprang into being overnight and prospered through many marvelous miracles of God's might; it did not grow by its own power and strength. The history of Moses, of all the kings, etc., demonstrates that adequately. In like manner it also withered and perished by God's will and command when the hour of the Gospel had struck. Jonah is vexed here for two weighty reasons: first, because the plant withered and deprived him of the enjoyment of its shade; second, because Nineveh is not to perish. It seems unfair to him, as it also did to several great saints, that the Jews should be so forsaken and wither and come to an end and that the people of Nineveh, the Gentiles, should accept the Gospel and become God's children. Then the sun beats upon Jonah's head, and a sultry east wind appears, and he becomes faint. The thought of the perdition of