and obedience Certainly Rom. 15.4 as all Scripture is written for our instruction so this concerning Jonah His example gives us fair warning not to leave known duties whatever carnal reasonings may suggest for the neglect of them Not to sleep or rest secure after any sin committed lest a storm from God fall upon us and endanger our comfort in God if not our salvation Not to be eager for the destruction of any though bad enough and they deserve to be destroyed Not to favour that cholerick disposition which we know to rest in some of our breasts but be very watchful and mortifie this corruption more and more Nor to mutter against any of Gods dealings either with our selves or others how crosse soever they seem to be On the other side Jonah's example warns us to shame our selves for errors we have made as he here doth in writing these things of himself To submit patiently as he doth to those fatherly chastisements which it pleaseth God to afflict us withall To retain faith in God even in the depth of our afflictions as doth he To vent our faith and faithful desires by hearty and earnest prayers and that without ceasing as did he till he was delivered To gather holy vows and purposes that upon recovery out of any evils we will by the assistance of grace shew our selves really thankful for mercies received And after all our foolish strivings with his sad dispensations 1 Sam. 3.18 we will resolve all into the good pleasure of our God It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good in his eyes Then out of the example of the Ninevites all should learn to believe the threats of God and be humbled and crave the peace with God and walk with him ever afterward more obediently and carefully Rab. in Seder Olam Theodorer alii Where mark those words ever afterward and beware of relapses or returning to folly Histories tell us how forty yeares after this sparing of Nineve yet the people falling back to their old sins again were fearfully destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and their City utterly overthrown according to the Prophesie of Nahum who arose after our Jonah Beware Christians by their example Be not as the Dog that returns to his vomit or as the Sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire The first estate of Apostates was bad enough but their last estate is worse by far The Lord uphold us in these sifting and shaking times wherein many have turned aside after Satan that we may hold on constantly in the way of faith and obedience not warping aside to the right hand or the left no nor abating a whit of our first love through heavinesse of flesh or deadnesse of spirit or any incumbrances of the world With which prayer I rest in present Thine in our Lord Jesus Christ WILLIAM JEMMAT THE PROPHESIE OF JONAH JOnah in Hebrew signifies a Dove Hieron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. 1.10 and the Lord send upon us the good Spirit which descended on Christ as a Dove that we may rightly and fruitfully treat of this Prophesie which was written as all other Scripture for our Instruction and consolation Of Jonah we read in two other Scriptures 2 King 14.25 Mat. 12.39 40. Gath-Hepher was the place of his Birth and one of the Cities that fell to the lot of Zebulon and was so called to distingush it from Gath Rimmon and Gath of the Philistines Note Malice blinds Where note the falseness of the blind and malicious Pharisee who said Out of Galilee ariseth no Prophet Joh. 7.52 Yes Jonah the Prophet who was of Gath-Hepher which was in the Province of Galilee Malice doth many times blâ—nd the eyes even of understanding men as the Pharisees generally were Beware of malice as thou wouldest not be mis-led into damning Errors fatally and finally Jonah prophesied in the Reign of Jeroboam the second or of Joash his Father it may be of both Princes that came of Jehu who rooted out the Family of Ahab the Idolaters but not the Idolatry for which cause Israel came into great affliction which was very bitter 2 King 14.26 27. There was not any shut up nor any left nor any Helper for Israel Note Idolatry ruines Idolatry ever brings mischief to a State or Family sooner or later see Chap. 10.31 32 33. Beware of Idolatry and Idolaters they are people of Gods Wrath and Curse what trials ye may have ye do not know Remember and keep your selves from idols 1 Joh. 5.21 and from idolaters Now mark two things of Jonah our Dove 1. To afflicted Israel he comes with an Olive-branch of of Peace and Comfort that the waste shall be restored which had been taken away ibid. according to the word of the Lord God of Israel Note Some favour to the worst Use which he spakes by the hand of his servant Jonah God for a while is very gracious and in temporals doth much for a wicked people it may be by wicked instruments as Jeroboam was Admire the passages of his providence and look from men to God who works for the good of his Chosen as in the ten Tribes there were some true worshippers and for their sake some deliverance was granted 2. To Nineve he is sent with the mournful Voice of a Dove proclaiming their destruction Yet forty dayes and Nineve shall be destroyed but with an intent in the Master that sent him to spare the City upon their Repentance and Amendment The Lord in wrath remembers mercy Note In wrath mercy and sometimes blusters our judgments that sinners may bethink themselves and repent and be saved Mark his divers dispensations and attend the main which is that his patience and goodness should lead you to repentance Rom. 2.4 Two Notes more 1. Out of this Book of Jonah two things may be noted by the exposition of our Saviour himself 1. That Jonah was a Type of Christ in respect of his Death and Resurrection as Jonah was three days and three nights in the Whales belly and then came to land again so Christ was held in Death for a while and the third day rose again 2. That the people of Nineve are set for an example of Repentance to you of after-ages which if it follow not ye shall be the more deeply and severely damned and why for a greater then Jonah is here Allegorical sense of Scripture we shall ever admit where warranted by some glimpse of Scripture as there are many such to be found through the whole body of it Ribera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 4.24 The Jesuite needed not to have quarrelled about such sense of Scriptures but under pretence of Allegories we must not run out into Fooleries as are many of their Allegories much less into Errors as some of them are Nor doth the similitude of things among themselves warrant us to take every Doctrine which the Fathers collected but only where the Antecedents
they made vows A carnal Christian is full of good words during his sickness or other danger but the true Christian is for â—after-times Esa 42. hears for the time to come prayes partakes of a Sacrament all to become better and to live afterward more carefully and profitably Hear ye that begin to mind Religion Use and see that ye profit in these particulars and in all other The course of Gods Children is as the course of our Children to grow strong by little and little And as a man after a great fit of sickness desires daily to pick up his crumbs more and more so must thou upon this recovery out of the estate of sin and wrath Mind and grow Let us not perish for this mans life and lay not upon us innocent blood Even rude and barbarous people have abhorred murther as a grievous sin as these Infidels Note Murder a hainous sin in the eye of heathens and those Barbarians in Act. 28.4 6. And some for expiation of their murthers have in the guiltiness of their consciences put themselves voluntarily into banishment or other sorrows as it were so many pennances Use 1 The more shame to this cruel and bloody age wherein we live which sets nothing by the life of a man yea of many men it may be many hundreds and thousands of men slain in battel possibly in meer malice or corrupt affection possibly for Pay only so much a week to kill men No matter whether it be innocent blood or no no deprecation of the wrath of God We beseech thee we beseech thee No making account that they may perish for those mens lives As if the Law were not made for murtherers or as if murderers should ever inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Tim. 1.9 Rev. 21.8 contrary to the express words of Scripture Use 2 Take heed Christians both of the sin and of those corrupt affections which lead to the sin Remember the Commandment Thou shalt not kill Remember the argument used in the Image of God created he man Remember the threat He that takes the sword shall perish by the sword Remember the expiation of blood in the time of the Law and the Cities of refuge and how no price might be taken to save the life of a murtherer Numb 35.31 And those heathens confess they need Gods mercy for casting Jonah into the sea though a guilty person both by his own confession and by the judgement of God who discovered him by lot But how then do the Mariners talk of innocent blood Answ It was innocent as to them or for any quarrel they had to him but in respect of God he was not innocent Jonah had confessed his guiltiness and desired them to cast him into the sea whence that clause in the Verse For thou O Lord hast done as it pleaseth thee Note God alone or ders the death of evil doers None but the will of God can justifie the putting of any to death He is the Soveraign Lord of life and death and provoked by the sins of his people so as sometimes he calls for their blood to make some part of satisfaction And this he doth by the Magistrates into whose hand he hath committed the sword of justice and he must not bear the sword in vain and He that sheds mans blood by man shall his blood be shed In vain therefore do some talk Use that no man ought to be put to death for any cause whatsoever A very foolery so to extoll mercy as to take away justice Solomon pronounceth them equally abominable to God who acquit the wicked and condemn the righteous We know the example of Saul who lost his Kingdom because he spared the King of the Amalekites and of Ahab whose life must go for Benhadads life because he let go a man worthy to die Wholsome severity is as necessary as mercy and kindness that offendors be punished according to the nature of their wickedness Ver. 15. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the Sea and the Sea ceased from her raging We have here Parts 1. the execution of Gods sentence against Jonah he was cast into the sea 2. the consequent of it the sea ceased from raging A plain demonstration of the case That the Lord in wrath remembers mercy and yet strange withall wrath to his servant mercy to the heathen In some case the wicked may fare better then the godly innocent heathens fare better then faulty Jonah For the former of these though the mariners were very loth to cast Jonah into the sea yet now that they see â—he will of God expresly revealed for it they do it though sore against their wills Mâ—morandum for many reasons they were unwilling to cast Jonah into the sea He had not wronged them in the least he had paid the Fare and committed himself to their Custody and trust ought not to be deceived he had professed his faith in the true God and such ougbt not to be violated he had confessed his fault and was sorry for it and what would they have more he submitted to the punishment which was to be inflicted though to the losse of his life He prophesied that upon his punishment all should do well the tempest should cease and so it did Yet fain would they save him if they could possibly Sulcarunt they made furrows in the Sea and rowed hard to bring the ship to dry land But now when they consider on the other side that God hath plainly designed him to drowning in the Sea thou O Lord hast done as it pleased thee they give over their former deliberation and propension to mercy and do what the Lord leads them to do teaching this Note Do Gods will though against reason When we are sure of the will of God for a matter we must lay aside all self-thoughts and motions and set to do what God will have us to do So Abraham went to offer up his son Isaac so Christ offered himself Not my will but thy will be done so the Martyrs left all and endured those torments in the cause of God joyfully suffered the spoyling of their goods accepted not deliverance Father and all must be forsaken or we are not fit for Christ An offendor must be forgiven though it go quite against the hair Difficult duties must be done and costly and dangerous Reas The reason is God is the soveraigne Lord of all flesh us and others and his wil is much superior to all the will of men whosoever they be and he hath more reason for his matters then we are aware as appears in the sequel of Jonahs history And whereas we think our selves very mercifull and pitifull in some cases Gods mercy is the truest mercy when all is done as that which comprehends the soul as well as the body and the publick good as well as a private interest not only Jonah but Nineve and all Jsrael beside Fearfully then do those offend who
who strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel Christians bring your anger to these rules Use or know ye do not well to be angry I confess it is hard to do but say withall it may be done therefore Watch Pray strive against all excess and irregularity in your anger And the better to express it suppress all the causes of disorderly anger as Pride Envy Self love Covetousness Curiosity Credulity and all the bellows that use to blow up anger into a flame and combustion Stop the cause and the effect will cease For Motives consider how the Lord here chides Jonah for his excess Doest thou well to be angry consider how it is forbidden in Scripture Eph. 5.31 Put away all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger The same again Col. 3.8 Consider how much sin this anger breedeth Jam. 1.20 It works not the righteousness of God Consider the danger that comes of unadvised anger Mat. 5.22 a man shall be culpable of judgment Consider thy own infirmities and how thy self would not be handled angrily Consider the Lord here useth Jonah withall the gentleness and moderation that can be and we ought to be followers of God as dear Children Eph. 5.1 Note For the latter note the wonderful strength of corruption though it be in part subdued by grace Though Jonah was a good man and but now reproved of God for his anger yet still he goes on in his way-wardness and nothing will content him but to see the ruine of Nineve Horrible stubbornness which even makes him worthy to perish instead of the City Use Hear ye that have the truth of grace and bend all your forces to the mortifying of Lusts more and more Fear by Jonahs example to be obstinate or stiff in any of your resolutions especially when the word gives some inkling to the contrary Natural corruption is a sturdy old man which will hardly be subdued He went out of the City and sate on the East-side of it One would have thought rather he should have stayed in the City to have given them more instructions now that they were upon the point of conversion If he had met with such a crop of Converts in Israel he would have been glad of the occasion and stayed among them with all his heart But thus it is Note Blind passions and Corrupt affections hinder us from doing the good which we might and ought to do Many a man might be very profitable in his place were it not for his carnal conceits and foolish reasonings He hath fair opportunity by the Office he is in or by his relation to beat down sin but build up grace to reform abuses of the Sabbath to do good service in his generation but by his self-conceitedness he sits still and doth no good at all Use Take heed and mortifie the remainders of thy corruption There be Canaanites yet abiding in the land take them in hand and subdue them more and more It was the fault of Israel that they sate still and rooted not out the Remnant of the Nations and therefore they proved pricks in their sides and thorns in their eyes to vex and trouble them from time to time so it is still Christians suffer by their corruptions because they take not pains to root them out And we see the contray how when Paul prayed thrice against the thorne in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.7.9 he found a grace sufficient for him He sate in the shadow of his Booth till he might see what would become of the City Calvin Jonah was too literal a Teacher and did not reach the whole mind of God who however he denounced destruction against Nineve yet still left place for repentance that if they humbled themselves they should be spared which Jonah understood well in preaching to Israel but here in his prejudicate opinions he cannot remember and so is justly kept doubtful of the Event with enduring of scorching heat and the losse of his Gourd Note Our corrupt humors do many times keep us in the dark that we cannot see duty or comfort as we ought and should do Every man is tempted when he is drawn aside with his own lust and enticed Jam 1.14 Use Take heed and subdue these odd humors and pray for the Spirit of truth who will both teach thee all saving truth and bring all to thy remembrance Had Jonah remembred the tenor of his former preaching he had not expected Nineves destruction so pertinaciously Ver. 6.7 And the Lord God prepared a Gourd and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief So Jonah was exceeding glad of the Gourd But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day and it smote the Gourd that it withered Here the Lord seeks to correct Jonahs Errour by a real instruction namely of a gourd which Argument being comfortable to him Jonah would have spared but Nineve was far better then a gourd and therefore the Lord most righteously will have it to be spared The Simile is in five Verses the Application in the last For the former we have 1. Gods providence in ordering of such an help for Jonah against the heat of the Country he prepared a guard 2. Jonahs comforting with such a help he was exceeding glad of the gourd 3. The withering of it which was a great grief to him Of the gourd no such grow in these Northern Countries A gourd what Dioscorides but in the Eastern Countries a gourd is a shrub with broad black and smooth leaves and hath a Pod with seeds which resemble some creature of that Climate Such a shurb the Lord now provides for Jonah that he may be sheltered from the scorching of the Sun But here is something extraordinary in it namely that so tall and useful a creature should start up in a night and that it should grow just to Jonahs Booth and so strengthen the weak shelter he had provided for himself So it is a kind of miracle and miracles have seldom been done for a particular mans use and benefit though a dear Servant and Child of God The greater mercy is this to Jonah Observe here the providence of God reacheth to the Note 1 smallest things that are even to plants and Worms We have seen it formerly in the matter of Tempest Sea and Whale which are eminent works of God and now we see it in a base shrub which God prepares for Jonah and in a silly worm which he prepares to wither the shrub So of little sparrow and hairs of the head Mat. 10.29 30. All are numbred and not one falls to the ground without the will of our heavenly Father who also telleth the number of the Stars And upon Egypt he sent the Flies Lice Frogs Locusts other Plagues and took them away when he pleased Now bless the Lord who humbles himself to behold things Use 1 on earth Psal 147 5. Psal 113.6 We may well admire