that He is sure to forgive and spare them, and so it will seem to them as if I was not God's messenger and prophet." How happy Jonah ought to have been at the thought, that the Ninevites might repent and be saved. But alas! his heart was selfish. He wished to seem very important, and when he saw that his going to Nineveh might exalt God only, and not himself, he would not go, but fled another way. Oh! how very different he was to Jesus. When the Son of God took a body like ours, and was born in a manger, He knew that He would be despised. He knew that people would say, "Is not this the son of a carpenter?" He knew that when they saw Him suffer, they would not love Him, and sympathise with Him, but would say, "God hath forsaken Him, persecute and take Him, for there is none to deliver Him," (Psalm lxxi. 11). He foresaw, that when He was hanging upon the cross, His enemies would mock and taunt Him with the cruel words,-" He

He

saved others-Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him, for He said I am the Son of God," (Matthew xxvii. 42, 43). Yet though He foresaw all this, He never turned back-He was willing to be despised, that He might do His Father's will, and save our souls. did not think of Himself, but of God, the Father, and of us. But Jonah thought of himself. He could not bear the thought of being supposed to be mistaken, and so he fled. But did God let him fly? No. He sent, you know, a great storm, and Jonah was cast into the angry waves by the mariners to still them. And a large fish was sent by God to swallow him up. But after three days, the disobedient prophet was thrown up by the fish on dry land, (ii. 10). What a judgment, and what a preservation!-what must Jonah have thought, when he was in the whale's

belly? Most likely this wish came into his mind, "Oh! that I had gone to Nineveh, when God told me to go." Well, when he was all safe on dry land, did God let him go home? No: He would be obeyed. He said to him, "Arise, go to Nineveh," (iii. 2). And now Jonah went, and preached, as God told him to preach, and the Ninevites did repent. Had Jonah's afflictions quite changed him, so that he was glad when he saw them repent? Alas! no. He was still selfish, still self-important. "It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry,” (iv. 1). Oh! what a bad thing it is to have a selfish, and self-important heart. But God was very patient with Jonah, and spoke kindly to him, and said, "Doest thou well to be angry ?" And in order to comfort Jonah, he made a gourd grow up over his head, to shelter him from the sun, (iv. 6). Then Jonah seemed very happy. He was delighted with the gourd-but this was a selfish joy, and therefore God

would not allow him to enjoy it long. He sent a little worm, which ate the root of the gourd, and it withered away just as the burning sun began to pour down its beams on the prophet's head, and the hot east wind scorched him. Then Jonah was still more angry, and said, "It is better for me to die than to live." My dear young reader, have you ever been angry? What made you angry ? Just think now what it was, that made you angry? One, perhaps, will say, "Some one hurt me." That was very wrong, but I hope you forgave him. Another will say, "Some one took what belonged to me." That was very wrong, but I hope you forgave him. Another will say, "Some one laughed at me." That was very wrong, but I hope you have forgiven him. Another will say, "Some one did not treat me, as I ought to be treated." If so, that was very wrong. But do you know exactly how you ought to be treated? There are some children, who wish to be thought more of

than any one else; they like to be helped first at dinner, and to talk when they please, and to receive great attention, and to be always amused; and when they see others put before them, and meet with more attention than themselves, then, like Jonah, they grow sullen and angry.

A selfish and self-important child is sure to be passionate—and a passionate child is sure to be unhappy. If then, dear reader, you wish to be happy, you must not be passionate, and if you wish not to be passionate, you must be what St. Paul says (Rom. xii. 3), and not "Think of yourself more highly than you ought to think." You must learn "in honour to prefer others," (v. 10); you must seek to be like Jesus, "meek and lowly in heart," (Matthew xi. 29). When some selfish desire comes into your mind, you must pray to God to cast it out, and to "put into your mind good desires;" when you wish to be thought more of, and to be loved more than others, you should not