danger whereinto he was brought the fishes belly the belly of hell the deep the midst of the seas bottoms of mountains weeds floods and billows 2. By the anguish or straights arising out of the danger I cryed to the Lord I said I am cast out of thy sight my soul fainted within me 3 By the hope he nourished all the while I will look again toward thy holy Temple I remembred the Lord and my prayer came in unto theâ— into thine holy Temple 4. By the good speed he found at last The Lord spoke unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land We must begin with Jonahs prayer and the Audience he found with God ver 1.2 In the first Chapter ver 9. he professed to fear the Lord the God of heaven which made the sea and the dry land and now to the same God as the only true God he addresseth his prayer not to Neptune as Heathens were wont to pray nor yet to true Saints who had traded much in waters as Noah was saved in the general flood of waters or Moses who was drawn out of the waters while an infant and led Israel through the red sea and through Jordan or Elias who parted the waters this way and that way whereby one would think they should have compassion on them that are in danger by water according to the carnal reason of Idolaters in other things No Jonah prayes only to the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land God alone is an All-sufficient God and he alone ought to be called upon Prayer is one part of divine worship whereof it is said Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him alone shalt thou serve Mat. 4.10 And it stands with reason we must pray to none but one in whom we believe but we believe in God only therefore to God only must we pray Rom. 10.14 how shall they call on him in whom they believe not Use Mark this against the Papists and maintain the truth against them Note Pray earnestly Jonah prayed and cryed to the Lord This crying notes his fervency in prayer and it is twice set down I cryed I cryed to the same purpose Christians ought to be both frequent and fervent in prayer Rom. 12.11 12. fervent in spirit serving the Lord and continuing instant in prayer If one prayer will not fetch a mercy try what another will do and let the second be more earnest then the former and the third more earnest then that Paul besought the Lord thrice and obtained grace sufficient Jonah at last got out of the Whales belly Use It is not every sluggish and short-breathed prayer that will obtain a mercy Therefore continue instant in prayer Col. 4.2 But I aim at another point from the consideration of Jonahs prayer as being now in a distressed condition No doubt but in all this time three days and three nights he prayed often and earnestly for the pardon of his great sin for deliverance out of the Whales belly and for the employment he had refused of going and preaching to Nineve Oh that God would trust and enable him to do that seruice he would do it with all his heart if he might be put upon it again Let the point be this Doctr. In distress pray Gods children in their greatest and deepest afflictions should keep their hearts in a praying frame to obtain grace and mercy to help in time of need we read a prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. Psal 102 1. and 130.1 Out of the depths have I cryed unto thee O Lord. For reasons thus 1. There is a Commandment to Reason 1 call upon God in the day of trouble Psal 50.15 Not only in prosperity but adversity not only if it be likely we shall get out of trouble but against all likelihood not only if means be present but if no means appear likely to be had 2. There cannot be such a case of sin unworthiness Reason 2 and misery but the mediation of Christ can help at a dead lift Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will do it for you The Father can deny nothing to the Son nor to such as plead in his Sons merits 3. The spirit of grace and supplication is given them Reason 3 on purpose that they should alway pray Luke 18.1 Rom. 8.26 and not wax weary he helps their infirmities not knowing what to pray as they ought the bears up their spirit to hope to the end he raiseth sighs and groans which cannot be uttered 4. No affliction whatsoever can break asunder the Reason 4 tie between God and a Believer Jonah at this time wanted neither sin nor sorrow nor fear nor care what would become of him yet mark the word of appropriation he prayed to the â—ord his God 5. The covenant and promises are made so as to serve our turn in the worst condition that is either of sin or sorrow Of sins he hath said I will blot out thine iniquities I will scatter them as a mist I will forgive their sin and remember it no more Of sorrow he hath said I will be with thee in six troubles and in seven I will be with thee when thou passest through the fire and through the water and in a word I will not leave thee nor forsake thee 6. The greater a trouble or danger is the more we need to flee to God and keep close to him and hide with him as he that is cast upon a rock at sea the more the waves beat upon him the more careful he is to keep to his rock see Psal 61.1 2 3. so we We are weak but he is a strong God we are helpless but he is a friend good enough Use 1 A fault to faint in prayer All to reprove our foolishness who in great afflictions suffer our selves to be so afraid with amazements that we neglect the duty of prayer The heart is even bound up and so straightned with fear care and sorrow that we cannot lift up a prayer to the God of our life and mercy yet Jonah prayed out of the Whales belly and amidst all those incumbrances Moses cryed to the Lord at the red sea when the people so murmured and were discontented Daniel prayed in the den of Lions where every moment he was ready to be devoured David prayed in caves woods mountains in all his flight before Saul and Absalom He longed to come to the Temple and pray but could pray out of a Temple as well as in it and Jonah here in great distresse looked toward the Temple v. 4. no whit like those who can never pray but when they stumble into a Church or when they are in some hope to receive what they crave Ob. Oh but my case is higher then worldly afflictions I have many and great sins upon me and much guiltiness which puts me out of heart Sol. Answ
one day prove a consuming fire who though he hath brought up thy life from corporal corruption yet not from eternal But come we now to the illustration from the contrary Idolaters miss of mercy because they seek not the true God They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy Jehovah brought up Jonahs life from corruption Jehovah heard his prayer and delivered him of Jehovah is salvation the true God did all but the idol-gods can do none of these things they are vanities and teachers of lies Hab. 2 18. and will deceive all those that trust in them and call upon them But I comprehend under the name of lying vanities Lying vanities what 1. The idols of the Gentiles which the Mariners prayed unto every one to his god Had not Jonahs God delivered them they had been all drowed in the sea none could save as the God of Jonah and of the Hebrews who is also the God of us Christians 2. Those carnal reasonings wherewith Jonah was swayed to leave Nineve and flee to Tarsus whereof he tells us in chap. 4 2. and now he recants all professing to adhere to the true God only Such carnal reasonings we all have and are to exalt high thoughts against the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 Religion with many is measured by meer policy credit multitude thriving in the world and the like lying vanities all of them as to the soul and in Gods matters Yet farther all superstitions are lying vanities that is humane inventions put for Gods worship Psal 40.4 They turn aside to lyes And all Astrological predictions in Moon-prophets who tell of lucky and unlucky dayes Jer. 10.2 And all forms of Religion in hypocrites they compass God about with lyes Hos 11.12 And all good things of this life in worldlings who pursue them immoderately and inordinately Vanity of vanities all is vanity Eccl. 1.2 And all lusts in profane persons called deceitful lusts Eph. 4.22 and we read of deceivablness of unrighteousness in them that perish 2 Thes 2.10 Now accordingly as these vanities are observed more or less what the observing of them so mercy is forsaken Profane and impenitent persons observe these lying vanities totally and finally and so they altogether lose the mercy of God having their portion in this life Psal 17.14 but godly Christians who observe them but a little and only for a while do miss of some mercy they might enjoy as we see in this terrible balk which Jonah made Why their own mercy But why is it called their own mercy Answ Because it belonged to them it was tendered to them they might have had it they should have taken it and not let it go for the best advantage in the world So the Jews are called the children of the Kingdom Mat. 8.12 that is those that belonged primarily to the Church and favour of God But see the like opposition in Luke 16.10 11 12. The words are a doctrine They that observe lying vanities Doctr. Reas forsake their own mercy The reason is mercy is basely undervalued and vanities preferred before it Though it be a precious mercy a soul saving Mercy undeserved free rich the fountain of all good in earth and heaven though it be renewed in a costly way of Christs bloud which is more then the creation of man and the world though it be published and offered in the ministery Take it it is your own be reconciled to God and all shall do well though God be very patient after many of your refusals yet still vanities shall be observed and pursued as the chief good A just forfeit the Lord will not endure the disparagement of his mercy Luke â—4 21 the King was angry when the Guests would not come to his Supper saying Not one of them that were bidden shall taste of my Supper Use 1 Terror to sâ—nd Professors Which may serve for great terror to many Oh that they might be convinced of their great folly and humbled and work wisely hereafter for the welfare of their poor soul 1. Here is extream folly shewed thus Mercy is magnified in general but forsaken when it comes to particulars in the practice and when the main stroke is to be struck it is left as no good bargain as if the salvation of a soul were not indeed a thing to be stood upon never is it weighed well till the day of judgment when it will be too late Christ and his salvation are liked well and presumed on but lost for trifles and lost with a kind of wilfulness it is not said here that they lose mercy but forsake it 2. These vanities will one day be seen to be altogether unprofitable that they cannot profit nor deliver because they are vain 1 Sam. 12 21. Vain to have had pleasure in this life or scraped wealth together or climbed up to honors or to have so drudged about the world as if Religion were no calling for a Christian Then they will say What hath pride profited us or any of the other when the soul is lost and the shame and misery comes Rom. 6.21 Rev. 6 16. they will call the mountains to fall upon them and the hills to cover them Oh hide us from the presence of the Lamb. 3. What a confounding lye will it appear when these vanities appear in their own colours when the man finds himself disappointed of his hopes and mercy lost too no full contentment by his lusts and pleasures when most fully enjoyed no solidity in all his cavils and carnal reasonings mercy pleaded to the losing of mercy as here by Jonah At that day mercy will be found to be the portion of good souls only who love and fear God and at that day it will appear to have been limited wiâ—h certain conditions which at present are overlooked and altogether neglected These conditions for receiving mercy were delivered warily by good Preachers though others could daube and skin them over And they were told what a mortal variance there is between mercy and these lying vanities but would not lay it to heart Oh that now men and women were ashamed as one day they must be now it would be to some purpose they might be converted and saved as the Prophesie went of Converts in the latter days Ezek. 16.63 they shall be ashamed of their doings but in that great day it will be too late it should have been done before-hand Use 2 Christians be exhorted to be tender and chary of the mercy of God toward you Work wisely to find mercy one day and do not exchange it for vanities Ye see it may be forgone and forsaken and the way how it comes about beware of lying vanities no wise man will let go his Land for points and counters and consider withall 1. This mercy is such a thing as the worst among us Mot. 1 do seem to crave and magnifie Oh they hope God will be merciful to them and if
he should not be merciful at last they were in a sad case Oh mercy is all in all what should a sinner do without mercy it is our life it is our salvation it is our all The more shame if poor creatures let it go so slightly as 't is to be feared many do Mot. 2 2. Consider the qualities of this mercy It is infinite it is tender it is free it is rich and abundant and every way worth the keeping The mercy of the most loving man or woman is cruelty in comparison Gods mercy is the only saving way to raise up sinners Luke 1.77 78 He gives knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins through his tender mercy or the bowels of his mercy Now who of us would lose a dear friend for a few pins or points Beware of this extream foolery Mot. 3 3. Mercy cost the Lord dear before he could make it your mercy or you could call it your own mercy Though it be free in respect of his love so ordering a way of reconciliation yet it is not free in respect of Christ and his sufferings It cost him great drops of bloud scourges fears sorrows manifold indignities he found it no easie matter to procure mercy for sinners And should it now be prodigally squandred away and all for trifles what maâ—e a great purchase by expending a great summe of money and idly forfeit it again Mot. 4 4 What a terror one day will it be to have it as your own mercy and let it go to have it merited offered sealed applyed rejoyced in yet lost when all is done Heb. 6.5 to taste of the powers of the world to come and yet fall away and lose all for a little ease or wealth or other vanity what Boy hath a bird in his hand and lets him fly away in hope to catch him again Oh who can pity or help that soul which thrusts away his own mercy 5. Worldly comforts are not our own in comparison Mot. 5 nor worthy to be owned they are but clouts and accidentals to speak off they are easily and quickly put off forfeited lost consumed remembred with bitterness when they are gone Riches take them wings and fly toward heaven Prov. 23.5 Pleasures many time end in pain Honors go out with a snuff And at best these things give not contentment as they promised There is a lye in my right hand saith the Idolater Esa 44.20 in my eye sath the wanton in my heart saith the covetous in my course of life saith the profane or the hypocrite 6. If good things be such lying vanities what shall we Mot. 6 say of lusts of will-worships star-gazings and the like how will these lye and deceive and do a mischief what will be the end of gross and staring sins in many shall they find mercy at the hands of God it is impossible God reserves mercy for them that make a better use of it for vessels of mercy in this life vessels of his praise and by grace fitted for glory Lastly for carnal reasonings let all godly men take Mot. 7 heed by Jonahs example who was almost drowned in Gods mercy when it was perverted to declining of duty Ye see how he fared beware of halting a little or for a while Ver. 9.10 I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving I will pay that that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land Of sacrificing to the Lord we spake on chap. 1.16 as also of making vows And on v. 17. we spake of the powerful and present providence of God how it reacheth to all the creatures even the fishes of the sea Therefore the less is to be spoken now Note Difference of godly and ungodly But for farther edification note thus There is much difference between the purposes of the godly and the wicked in regard of afflictions 1. The wicked purpose well while under the rod and in great danger the godly when they have now escaped viz. Jonah was now got out of shipwrack and saith he will sacrifice and pay vows but of the Mariners we hear no more A man hereby may guess something of the frame of his heart 2. The wicked make vows but the godly say they will pay their vows In case of revenge perhaps or of some wickedness a wicked man will do it because he hath vowed it as he saith but in case of religiousness he will take more leisure and think of it ten times or an hundred times before he will do it once There is another tryal of your hearts I will sacrifice with the voice of thanksgiving So David sometimes I will offer unto thâ—e bullocks and lambâ— and tell of all thy wondrous works Come children I will tell you what he hath done for my soul I will not hide his righteousness and his doings from the great Congregation I will praise the Lord among the faithful and in the assembly Note â—se expressions of thankfulness A godly man ought to be thankful for mercies and to use expressions of his thankfulness Indeed the marrow of thankfulness lies in the heart and they are hypocrites who are all in good words but where the heart is right and inditing a good matter the tongue may well be allowed to be the pen of a ready writer yea must interpret the mind in way of thankfulness Of this see something in Psal 37.30 31. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgement The law of his God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide Eph. 4 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers Col. 4.6 Let your speech be alwayes with grace seasoned with salt that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man Which serves to reprove the barrenness of good speech that appears in some of the godly Use Reproof thankful for â—he mercies of God prize them meditate on them magnifie the love from which they come and mean to follow on in a way of real thankfulness according to their calling but fail in this that they utter not the voice of thanksgiving when and where it concerns them sometime to testifie their gratitude or speak to the edification of others Mat. 12.35 A fault and should be mended A good man out of the treasure of his heart should bring forth good things not only actions but speeches How else shall the lips of the righteous feed many or how shall Idolaters be confronted profane persons brow-beaten or religious friends edified excited unto the like thankfulness provoked to be active as well as our selves but a meer dulness must lie upon our spirits to be very little serviceable in our generation or in the place of our abode I confess there is too much tattle
broken and a contrite heart is the sacrifices of God Psal 51.17 And then on the other side where the heart is contrite the life will conform there will be a turning of every one from his evil way as also the working of righteousness At Nineve a man now might have seen one making restitution of his ill-gotten goods another giving satisfaction for the wrong he had done a third paying his debts a fourth exhorting his Children and Servants all confessing their sins bewailing them and turning over a new leaf So with us where any are truly penitent we shall quickly see a great reformation Use Encouragement to repent But Gods notice taking may be a notable encouragement to all both to repent and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance It encourageth a good servant to do duty when the Master takes notice of his dutifulness Be therefore and do as God may note thee for good so fast and so pray and so give alms as the great and good God may like and approve no matter though men see not so long as God sees and no matter if they scorn when they see The approbation of God alone is far to be preferred before all suffrage of men whosoever they be The Apostles in all the course of their ministery approved themselves to God and then esteemed all to be well and they said 2 Cor. 6 4.10 18. Rom. 2.29 Not he that commendeth himself is approved but whom the Lord commendeth And he is the true Jew or Christian whose praise is not of men but of God And such a one will say as David in doing duty I will be more vile in the eye of the world and however it go 2 Sam. 6.22 Esa 49.5 yet in the eye of my God I shall be glorious And certainly the true and lasting honor is that which comes from above There be many hinderances of a true and effectual repentance many Objections against it and many Delusions about it Objections against repenting 1. When a man is of the mind to repent and turn from his evil wayes he meets with many Objections which may delay the matter if not quite hinder him as for example the sourness of the thing the contrary course of the world the subtilties of Satan the pleasures or profits that are to be had by sin the jeers of idle companions or counsels carnal reasonings and the like Against all which a man should arm himself with these considerations My God oftentimes calls me to repentance I have done enough and enough to repent most earnestly I am in great danger unless I repent to the purpose and on the other side if I repent truly and effectually God will take notice of me for good as here to the Ninevites On therefore I will go breaking through all objections and difficulties The Lord hold thee in that good resolution It is the ready way to life and salvation 2. For Delusions Mistakes about it many a man mistakes the business of repentance thinking he hath repented when it is no such matter and so that God is reconciled to him when indeed he is not as for example Those that deceive themselves with a few sighs or tears as did Ahab Those that lift up their voice on high and hang the head like a Bulrush for a day as in Esay And they that say they are sorrowful but it appears not afterward who all should remember Judas and other hypocrites and the morning dew which is soon dryed up and honoring God with the lips when the heart is far from him and the fruits or works meet for repentance And they should remember how a naturall man would be willing to flee from the wrath to come though he never take a thorow course thereunto Self-love can do it that the worst that is would be loth to go to hell when he dyes and desire to go to heaven And they should remember what work is laid out for the truly-penitent 2 Cor. 7.11 Carefulness Zeal and the rest With those notes of turning rightly from the evil way every evil way the beloved evil way and that constantly Ye must no more return to folly Psal 85.8 Jer. 4 1. And to turn so far as to get unto God and walk with him in holiness Consider and be not loth to repent nor yet mistaken Mot. Know this is the only comfortable change for a poor sinner not God is changed when he is said to repent but the sinner is changed When God doth his great works of Creation and of Miracles he sets forth his own glory but when he works upon the creatures he works for their commodity as here for the benefit of Nineve which was sorely threatned And the change was in the Ninevites not God either essence or purpose Try it after them who will he shall find that without the great change of conversion there is no good to be done with the great God of heaven And upon such a change God will turn frowns into smiles and threats into promises yea most gracious performances as here He repented of the evâ—l and did it not Doctr. 2 God merciful to the penitent God pardons penitent sinners and turns away their deserved punishment For pardon see Psal 32 5. David was humbled and confessed his transgressions and the Lord forgave him the iniquity of his sin And see Esa 55.6 7. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him a â—â—le he is near Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon So he did to the Ninevites Jonah Manasseh the Prodigal other great offenders For punishment distinguish 1. There is an eternal punishment due for sin according to the infinite Majesty of God who is offended everlasting punishment Mat. 3.12.25.46 unquenchable fire the 〈…〉 goes not out Of this the Lord alway dischargeth the penitent He shall not dye namely for ever not the second death â—e dyes naturally but lives eternally 2. There is a temporal punishment suppose by Famine Sword Pestilence and other calamities Many and great and sore evils the Lord denounceth against sinners to affright them and bring them out of their evil wayes to hide pride from them Job 33.28 and deliver their soul from going into the oil And if they be reduced God may be pleased to release them of the evil threatned as these Ninevites But this is not certain nor always comes to pass God◠〈◊〉 Children in the temporal part are sometimes grievously afflicted they so far provoke him by securely and unthankfulness that they cannot be excused Jonah for three days and three nights must needs lodge in the belly of the Whale Jer. 46.28 I will make a full end of all the Nations â—â—â—ther I have driven thee but I will not make a full and of thee but correct
Sun-shine which faints him up and makes him even weary of his life So with us Note Loss of good smart of evil God sometimes not only takes away our natural comfort and worldly accommodations but sends upon us smart and grievous afflictions droughts scorching weather distempers in the Air thereby distempers in the body fiery and acute Diseases as Agues Fevers Inflammations Leprosie Calenture c. which are one of the threats for disobedience Deut. 28.21 Or if it be not so bad yet the hot season shall make us faint and weary of our lives as here Jonah But why did not Jonah return into Nineve and get Quest 1 shelter there or remove into some Village near hand where he might be protected from this hot weather Answ 1. Because he was of a stout and sturdy spirit Answ and would not seem in the least to be beholden to the Ninevites or any of their Neighbours 2. Because he expected every day the ruine of Nineve which he would be glad to see with all his heart for his Credit fake which he took to be much engaged in the business And what should he do in a ruinous house which was likely in short time to come tumbling upon his head Quest 2 Another question may be why the Lord doth thus follow him with more and greater afflictions Answ Answ Because he had a mind to break and subdue this sturdy humor in Jonah which the meer loss of the gourd could not do as ver 9. he was angry for the gourd and fears not to tell God that he doth well to be angry even unto death So there needs a farther and stronger Purge to carry away this extreamly peccant humor as with us also whom lighter afflictions do little prevail withall Uses 1 Take we hence these instructions 1. To justifie God in all his sharp dealings with us when not only he takes away our Children Wealth Corn Cattel comforts of this life but sends Famine Sword Pestilence new Diseases Pox Agues other evils Say Psal 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works We are apt to sit in judgment upon his doings and charge him foolishly as too severe but should rather clear him and lay the blame where it ought to be laid Psal 51.4 That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest Uses 2 2. To lay all the blame of our sufferings upon our selves as Pharaoh at last was taught to do The Lord is righteous but I and my people have sinned And when we finde our selves apt to mutter against God for feverity we should take our selves in the manner and say Why do we complain when the cause is in our selves Wherefore doth a living man complain Lam. 3.39 40. a man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. And if we had our due we should be utterly consumed yea cast into hell long before this time as in the same place It is the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not 3. To mortifie those wretched corruptions which God Uses 3 would have to be weakned as here this stoutness of Jonah and to break off those sins which most agree with our crooked nature and odd occasions of offending A sharp winter useth to kill the weeds and vermine and cherish the Corn that is bidden So let it be with our failings in one kind or other Jonah fainted and wished in himself to dye He that will wish himself dead so often as he hath sore occasion shall have more occasions then one so to wish Note Idle wishes Jonah had prayed this before ver 3. I beseech thee take away my life from me And now seeing God pleased not thus to gratifie him he falls to wishing which is a lighter kind of desire And whereas at first he only thus wished in himself afterward he uttered his mind saying It is better for me to dye then to live as ver 3. So David in Psal 39.3 My heart was not within me while I was musing the fire burned then spake I with my tongue Take heed Christians Use and smother these hot and unquiet affections at the first arising mark them consure them suppress them use means to subdue and vanquish them as for instance Get abundance of faith and patience which may keep you from this fainting and wishing so did the Apostles and Martyrs and other holy men in great and lingring afflictions 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction which is but for a woman worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal And consider it is not a manly thing to desire death so often as strong afflictions shall urge and we saw on ver 3. how we may desire death and how not Whether it be better to dye then to live But let us a little examine the truth of this saying of Jonah It is better for me to dye then to live Is it indeed better to dye then to live Answ 1. Within the limits formerly mentioned it is better namely when God calls us away or the like Eccl. 7.1 The day of death is better the day of ones birth 2. Without such cautions it is not better and mark it is neither better for godly men nor for others 1. Godly men may do much good in the Church while they live which if they were dead they could not do as for example while Paul continued among his Converts he abode with them for their furtherance and joy of faith Phil. 1.25 and this consideration put him into a straight Phil 1.23 whither he should be dissolved which was far better for him in his own particular or live yet longer A godly Minister while alive may be a means of converting confirming or recovering many So a godly parent or master Yea in respect of a mans own self he may get the more hold of Gods love and do more good to put upon his accounts in that day and see his charge of Children well bred up and entred into the world with counsel to them where they erre or to neighbours between whom peace is to be made and divers good offices 2. Wicked men of all other should not desire to dye whatever their suffering be in the world because their peace is not yet made with God they are not yet in Christ they have not yet repented nor ordered their way so as to be fit to dye And if they dye before they he fit they have infinitely worse sufferings remaining for them It is for such to fear death and get it put off as long
for staying him in his bloudy intentions against Nabal and his family 1 Sam. 25 32. Ver. 10.11 Then said the Lord Thou hast had pity on the gourd for the which thou hast not laboured neither madest it grow which came up in a night and perished in a night And should not I spare Nineve that great City wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much cattel Drift of the words In this Conclusion of the Book the Lord applies the former Simile shewing that not the gourd was intended in the erecting or withering of it but something else So in other temporals We live in the world we eat and drink and sleep and do business but must so order our matters as we may finally attain the life eternal And in spirituals so much good Preaching is not intended meerly for hearing of Sermons Rom. 10.17 but by hearing to get faith and to walk with God in an holy obedience the receiveing of Sacraments is not meerly for the refreshment of the body but that the soul may be strengthned in faith comfort of the holy Ghost and way of obedience Remember and aim aright and put not asunder what God would have joyned together But mark the inference which the Lord makes Argument how he draws an Argument from the less to the greater If Jonah may be pitiful why not the God of heaven and if the gourd may be spared why not Nineve much more God is infinitely greater then Jonah and Nineve is almost infinitely better then a gourd Therefore all the reason in the world requires that Nineve be spared seeing God pleased to have it so say Jonah is it not reason And this convinceth him that he hath no more to object we shall not hear one reply more he yields to the equity of sparing Nineve It were good that all sinners would thus be silenced Note Yield to holy convictions and yield to the convictions of the Ministery as the man that was convinced in Preaching and fell down on his face saying God in you of a truth 1 Cor. 14.24 25. Augustine faith It is good for a man to be overcome by the truth for if he be unwilling it will overcome him howsoever Whatever defences a wicked man makes for his sins hereafter he shall be non-plused and have nothing to say for himself as the Guest who had not on a Wedding Garment questioned stood silent and could make no defence Mat. 22.11 He was speechless or he was choaked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so out of the sinners own mouth he shall one day be condemned Beware and yield to a convincing Ministery Use both as concerning some act of sin and concerning the estate of sin Say it is a sin when the word saith it is a sin whether Drunkenness or the like therefore to be repented and forsaken and peace to be made with God Say it is a sinful and damnable estate when Conscience so Items thee in hearing a good Sermon therefore give all diligence to make it a good estate as the Client that fears a flaw in his Title or the Patient that doubts his Disease may prove mortal to make sure work in soul matters is far better then either of these Parable what it is Still mark what kind of Doctrine the Lord useth to make Jonah come to himself namely a parable so Nathan by a parable brought David to a sight of his sins and to repentance and it was ordinary with our Saviour by earthly things to instruct about heavenly Without a parable he spake nothing Mat. 13.35 I will open my mouth in a parable A familiar kind of teaching whereby a man of Art and Wisdom convinceth the judgement and Conscience of his Hearers concerning heavenly matters by occasion of earthly And it is well if men of Art and Wisdom do come down sometimes from lofty Themes to treat with plain people in a plain and familiar manner Some cases have shewed that this course hath taken when grave and weighty Discourses hath prevailed little as being much transcendent to vulgar capacities University-men grew not profitable Preachers till they learned to Lispe and Halt with plain people And some have adventured to say Efope that the man in his Fables shewed as much wisdom as any of the Philosophers I am sure God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise 1 Cor. 1.27 Use Then embrace and improve this plain teaching by similitudes Despise it not because it is plain but make much of it because it is profitable It profited Jonah and so let it profit thee And beware lest if thou profit not it rise up in judgment to condemn thee the more heavily Judg 9. Jotham by a parable reproached the Sichemites with their ingratitude and treachery Christ the Jews with their unfruitfulness and unthankfulness by a Vineyard let out to Husbandmem Which to this day affordeth instruction to barren Christians lest at the last they be deprived of the Gospel For farther observations gather up these gleanings Note 1 1. That the Lord saith the gourd for the which thou hast not laboured Many of us enjoy mercies and comforts We enjoy mercies for which we laboured not for which we never laboured houses which we never built wells which we never digged friends which we never deserved it may be never thought on them Heirs have lands they never purchased All live of the field though they never plowed Children feed and are cloathed though they take no care nor pains for their living and all of us live at Gods finding though we deserve nothing but rather the contrary Man lives not by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God and Mans life consisteth hot in the abundance of the things he possesseth Whereby see the free and undeserved goodnesse of God Use 1 who is a great House-keeper and gives us all things liberally to enjoy many without our labour some without our thinking all without our deserving His providence waketh while we sleep and worketh for us while we take our leisure In the night-time he caused the gourd to spring up for Joaah he cast a Kingdome upon Saul while he sought Asses and upon David while he kept Sheep Every morning Israel gathered bread in their Tents which the dew of the night had baked Who of us but can say we have received mercies which we little thought on we had mean beginnings and sorry proceedings and yet we are increased into two Bands Then for gracious Christians how hath God prevented them with his graces not willing yea resisting Eph. 2.12 aliens to the commonwealth of Israel enemies in their minds rebels to all spirituall good yet called and brought home justified and sanctified and in a fair way to be glorified God is greater then they and so they were overcome God be thanked that ye were the
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
thee in measure yet I will not leave thee wholly unpunished Reasons why God so pardons the penitent are plain Reas 1 1. Because he is very merciful and abundantly gracious Exod. 34.7 The Lord the Lord merciful and gracious forgiving iniquity Reas 2 transgression and sin 2. By Jesus Christ a ransome is found for the penitent justice satisfied wrath appeased fauour procured heaven opened 3. Promises are made every-where Reas 3 in Scripture for this kind of sinners and shall be made good to the full 4. The work of repentance which Reas 4 is begun in them is a change wrought by Gods own Spirit and therefore shall be honoured with the best fruits So here is more encouragement to repent Ye see your Use 1 remedy if judgements be to be prevented More encouragement to repent or to be removed be humbled before your God and it may be done Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites namely to repent and be pardoned As he so they and as they so we All is for our instruction that repenting as they did we may escape as they did And let none think to hold God to it that though he repent not yet he shall do well enough Verily verily said our Saviour except ye repent ye shall all perish Luke 13.5 So when a tender heart casteth doubts that his sins shall not be pardoned nor indeed can be set it flie to this remedy Grieve for thy sins and confess them and crave pardon for them in the Name and for the merit of Jesus Christ afterward doubt not but a pardon will be had and in time will be sealed up to thy foul 1 John â— 1. He is our Advocate with the Father and the propitiation for our sins He sits in his Pardon-office in heaven and in time will issue forth a pardon for thee Mark 1.15 Repent and believe the Gospel are the two main graces of the Gospel Use 2 Lastly let God be glorified in this Attribute of turning wrath away from penitent sinnerâ— So doth the Church Mic. 7.18 19. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage the retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea Subjects use to magnifie a loving Prince who remits the penal laws and grants pardon to offenders So doth our God and so ought we to honour him Consider this is his end in granting forgiveness of sins Psal 130.4 That he may be feared And this was the first and chief mercy which David commemorated in his thanksgiving Ps 105.3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities As also Paul Eph. 1.6 7. That we should be to the praise of the glory of his grace CHAP. IV. Ver. 1.2 3. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry And he prayed unto the Lord and said I pray thee O Lord was not this my saying when I was yet in my Country therefore I fled unto Tarshish for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful slow to anger of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil Therefore now O Lord Take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to dye then to live THis Chapter sets forth the Events of Gods sparing of Nineve Summe of the Chapter The Events are of two sorts a froward servant and a gentle Master In Jonah we see the example of a froward and waspish Saint who too much cleaves to his own reason without due respect had to the will of God or to the good of sinners For a good man he is as cholerick a man as lightly we shall read of And we have his fellows if not in goodness yet in testiness and peevishness Take heed and do not imitate 1. We see how ill he takes the sparing of Nineve Parts ver 1. he is displeased and angry 2. We hear him justifying his former flying ver 2. 3. We read a strange prayer he makes ver 3. Take my life from me 4. We may hear more pevishness ver 9. I do well to be angry even unto death For the first of these What is was that displeased Jonah we may not conceive Jonah displeased or angry at the repentance of the Ninevites this being quite contrary to the truth of grace which was in Jonah Grace never opposeth grace in another but first desires it and then rejoyceth in it But it displeased him exceedingly that is that the Lord did not the evil which he said he would do to Nineve And why so because now he should be accounted a false Prophets and God who said Nineve should be overthrown should be blasphemed as variable and not true of his word as not only the heathens round about but even the Israelites themselves would be ready to jeer at his coming home among them A goodly messenger and message and hereafter we will not regard thee a whit It displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry Some say he was offended at the calling of the Gentiles as those in Act. 11. and 22. and that by the spirit of prophesie he foresaw the rejection of the Jews into whose room the Gentiles were to succeed But this is too far fetched nor agrees with the Text and Argument here brought nor with the goodness of an holy heart such as Jonahs was It is best to understand it as before Note The godly have and confess their infirmities And we may observe A godly man hath many and great infirmities but withall confesseth them though to the shame of his own face as doth Jonah here Formerly from the same ground we concluded the Divinity of the Scriptures and now the sincerity of the Saints Paul for them all I do not the good I would and I do the evil I would not O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me Use Remember this ye Saints and enure your selves to the duties of humiliation and mortification and where just occasion is be not ashamed to confess and give glory to God Jâ—s 7 19. Let God be true and every man a lyar To me belongs nothing but shame and confusion of face with a lowly deportment suitable to those humble conceits and speeches you use concerning your selves Lessons to be learned from Jonah Then for mortification learn by these failings of Jonah 1. Not to be wedded to thine own will so as to set it before or above the will of God as did he Self denial is the first lesson that a Christian should take forth and make use of it all along in his course Be not wise in thine own eyes Lean not to thine own understanding Go not by thine own shallow reason but which way the revealed will of God shall lead thee Jonah had Gods mind fully revealed to him in this point
Go and preach to Nineve and thereupon should have silenced his own reason utterly 2. Having a desire to advance the glory of God be sure to use right means thereunto not as Jonah who for fear of Gods dishonor refused to do Gods Errand at Nineve It is a goodly and specious colour for actions to talk of the glory of God but if the course be 〈◊〉 a direct and warrantable course in vain shall the glory of God be pretended who will never account himself honoured but in a way of his own Yea it hath been the advancement of many a wickedness to pretend so and so in order to 〈◊〉 and the course of Antichrist to make a noise of acting in order to the Church 3. Be tender of the life of man and of his outward welfare I say not soul but even the body and worldly condition as Jonah was not and we see how he is chid for it And we see how loving the Lord is even in this respect ver 11. Should not I spare Nineve a City so populous Remember the sixt Commandment Thou shalt not kill 1 Thes 4.6 no not in desire Remember those commands Let no man defraud or go beyond his Brother in any matter for the Lord is the avenger of all such And be chary of thy Neighbours Oxe or Asse much more of his life and comfort of his life We are fallen into an hard yea bloudy age wherein the life of man is little regarded nor how well he shall go along in his course Take heed there remains a merciless judgement for them that shew no mercy Jam. 2.13 4. Study the gaining of souls to God and be glad when there is the least hope of grace begun in any Here also was some fault in Jonah certainly he heard how they fasted and prayed and turned from their evil wayes which should have gladded him and made him congratulate their repentance and safety thereupon Remember and do so Luke 15.10 Convert any if thou mayest be so happy and as there is joy in heaven for a sinner that repenteth so let it be on earth It was a wicked humour in the Pharisees that they envyed the conversion of the Publicans Beware thou and be ambitious of the great honor of converting a soul Dan. 12.3 To shine as the Stars for ever and ever For the second particular A marvel it is that Jonah is so stout and sturdy after his great punishment and all those terrors which God sent upon him One would have thought he had had enough of his flying to Tarsus Note But so it is Some godly men have stout and sturdy corruptions sticking by them which may humble them and keep them upon their watch and because they watch not as they ought God sometimes exerciseth them with strong afflictions and sometimes with strong conflicts in sad hours Take heed Use Christian and take thy self in the manner for every unmortifyed lust and every corrupt affection Sturdy humors are sometimes punished with sharp temptations or Visitations of the Almighty But I had rather put this humor of Jonah upon a way of carnal reasoning which too much swayed with him at this time taken from the mercy of God which he thought would never so far proceed as to let Nineve be overthrown though he said it Was not this my saying thou art merciful c Calvin If Jonah had been sent to Nineve with an offer of mercy upon their repentance as to the ten Tribes we may verily think he would rather have offered his service then declined it But now he mutters against God for his meer denunciation of judgment Note Carnal reasonings mischievous as if it could not agree with the nature of so merciful and gracious a Lord God and this mis-leadeth him Carnal reasonings do sometimes lead us from God and duty 1. Totally as in the ungodly eve◠the mercy of God undoeth them as they misuse it it is their bane They know God is gracious and merciful and flow to 〈◊〉 and of great kindnesse therefore live as they list turn grace into wantonness sin more that grace may abound more As men make it mercy is a common pack-horse for horrible wickednesses and final impenitency Why should they trouble themselves about repenting when God is so merciful 2. Partially in the godly as here in Jonah he knew these Attributes and therefore he left Nineve and went to Tarsus It were well if we did not sometimes bear up our selves too much upon the mercy of God and an interest in Christ and certainty of salvation and perseverance in grace We hold these things right in the Doctrine and miserably pervert them in the Use And though we swim not with full Winde and Tyde yet we sail too fast with a side-winde Take head Christians Use Avoid them and down with these carnal reasonings which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God and against the due obedience to Jesus Christ The ministery intends the casting them down and so do you 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Never will Religion thrive where such reasonings prevail As it prevails more with any man so he leaves them off as Gal. 1.16 Paul consulted not with flesh and bloud but fell to his preaching-work Consider there be many of these carnal reasonings taken from the multitude from example profit pleasure credit safety or the like but none more dangerous then this from the mercy of God so long as God is merciful on they go in their sins and fear nothing A miserable case God is gracious that is freely for his own sake to forgive the sins of his people And he is merciful that is will relieve them against all their misery spiritual temporal and eternal And he is 〈◊〉 to anger that is he is loth to empty the Vials of his displeasure upon sinners And of great kindness that is tenderly considers their case and is willing to do them good But should this or any of these be abused to keep from repentance and amendment were not this the ready way to be drowned in a sea of mercy Jonah was almost drowned in such a sea though a godly man yet almost undone by misapplication of the mercy of God But thou O man a secure and hard-hearted wretch wilt be quite drowned one day look to it as well as thou wilt For the third particular It is a strange prayer that Jonah here makes both for the manner and for the matter of it He prayed unto the Lord and said Take my life from me Mark this is spoken in haste being exceedingly displeased and very angry and he speaks it in a muttering and chiding manner expostulating the case even with God himself I pray thee O Lord was not this my saying when I was yet in my Countrey as if he had said I thought what thou wouldest do I had just cause to fly away and never do the Errand at Nineve I said what would come of it A merciful God thou art and