A Complete History and Mystery of the Old and New Testament

Jonah CHAP. I.

REmark the First; Junius, Piscator and Grotius affirm unanimously, That the same Jonah whom God sent to Nineveh, Jon. 1.1, 2. was he that is mentioned, 2 Kings 14.25. though Masius and Menochius say otherwise; but seeing in both places this Prophet is called [The Son of Amittai,] which, Hebr. signifies, Truth or Veracity (denoting, saith D'Dieu, that he was a veracious and truth-telling Prophet) 'tis therefore the concurrent Opinion of learned Authors, that both were one and the same Prophet: Mr. Lively relateth, that this Jonah was the first of all the Prophets whose Prophecies are Recorded, and is named next to the Prophet Elisha, 2 Kings 13.14, 20. and 14.25. Jonah lived before the Battle of Joash King of Israel with the Syrians, about the end of Elisha 's Life; and he prophesied among the Ten Tribes (say Pareus. Cluverius, &c.) concerning the Prosperity of Jeroboam the Second, who was more prosperous than pious, and when he had spent much time with small success among the irreclaimable Israelites (whose Sermons to them are not come to us upon Record, saith Calvin ) then did God send him to the Gentiles, saith Mercerus, that they might provoke them to Repentance, or at least leave them inexcusable; therefore 'tis said [God also sent him to Nineveh,] Jon. 1.1, 2.

Remark the Second; Though Jehoaaz in his Trouble besought the Lord, 2 Kings 13.3, 4, 5, 6, 7. and the Lord heard him out of his matchless Mercy, and made use of Jeroboam the Second to be Israel 's Savior (though a sorry sinner) from the savage Syrians, and sent Jonah to foretell his Victories over their Oppressors, because God had not still writ Lo-ammi upon them, 2 Kings 14.25, 26, 27, &c. Yet, because the House of Israel made a misimprovement of this Divine Mercy, therefore God sent Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, &c. to foretell their Calamity and Captivity, yea of Judah as well as of Israel: Dr. Lightfoot excellently observeth, that when Joel and the other Prophets had shown the Rejection and Ruin of all the Twelve Tribes, and when Obadiah had foretold the Desolation of Esau, the next Kinsman to Jacob's Seed, then God saw it seasonable to send out Jonah to fetch in the Gentiles, &c.

Remark the Third; Jonah at the first declined his divine Embassage unto that great City Nineveh, Jon. 1.3. Rabbi Kimchi saith, his Reason for his refusal was, because he murmured, that Mercy and Peace should be carried away from the Jews, and now be preached by him (a Jew ) to the Gentiles, upon condition of their Repentance. He was loath to leave his own People whom he loved, and would not have them cast off by the coming in of the Gentiles; he thought (saith Calvin ) it would be acting contrary to God's Covenant to reject Israel, &c. and the like mistake made Peter (called also Simon Bar-Jonah, John 1.42.) with his name-sake Jonah, who accounted the Gentiles as common and unclean. He narrow'd the Beams of divine Grace likewise, Acts 10.11, 12, 15. until better informed by Christ, and then he acknowledged his Error, ver. 34, 35. both those two Jonahs might have learnt the Mystery of Naaman 's carrying Jewish Earth into Syria, 2 Kings 5.17. which signified some favor was to be transported from the Jews to the Gentiles, &c.

Remark the Fourth; Jonah 's Sin of Disobedience to God's Call and Command, ver. 2, 3. N. B. This whole History is a marvelous dispute betwixt passionate, peevish Jonah, and the patient and omnipotent Jehovah; a sorry Creature with the most sovereign Creator, in both Jonah 's Messages, &c. to Nineveh, &c. God gave him his first Commission to go preach at Nineveh, the Metropolis of the Assyrian Monarchy, and very Antient, Gen. 10.11. and exceeding Ample as well as Antient, containing 50 Miles in compass, saith Diodorus Siculus, and was a City of three days journey in Jonah's days, Jon 3.3. and besides this vast compass of Ground, it had the like stately Walls about it, the height whereof was an 100 Foot, and their breadth so spacious, as capable to receive three Carts to pass together in a breast or row, and these Walls were adorned with fifteen hundred Towers, says Munster. This famous Fabric (the then none-such in the World) was so frightful to Jonah 's timorous Temper, that he durst not face it, especially with so dismal a Message of proclaiming its utter Ruin in a little time: Hereupon Jonah flees, &c. acting contrary to blessed Paul, who consulted not with Flesh and Blood, Gal. 1.16. nor daring to be disobedient to the heavenly Vision, Acts 26.19. but Jonah plays the runaway from the Presence of the Lord, that is, from the special and spiritual Presence of God, wherein he had hitherto stood and ministered; for from God's general Presence Jonah knew he could not flee, Psalm 139.7, 8. Acts 17.27. Some run before they be sent, as uncalled Preachers, contrary to Rom. 10.14, 15. but Jonah, though he runs not before sent, yet when sent, he runs not the right way, for fear of the Ninevites, for love to his Israelites; and he conceited his Task was to no purpose in preaching to Pagans, seeing he prevailed so little at home with his own People, &c. therefore fled he to Tarshish, making more haste than good speed from Joppa thither. N. B. When once got out of God's way, we may turn we know not whither, and return we know not when: He led himself into Tentation, but God left him not in it, but led him out of it. He was happy that no evil happened to him, Prov. 12.21.

Remark the Fifth; God punishes this runaway Jonah, ver. 4. so far evil did happen to him, that the Ship wherein he imbarked himself was stopped by a Storm, which the Lord sent out of his Treasures, Psalm 135.7. and out of his Fist, Prov. 30.4. The Disciples met with a Tempest when they went in the way Christ compelled them to go, Matth. 14.24, 25, &c. Luke 8.23, &c. but this Storm meets Jonah when out of God's way; and for his running from God, this Runagate is at last cast into the Sea.

The Lord was the Author of this Punishment, wherein he used three Instruments; 1. A great Wind, which God holdeth in his fist, Prov. 30.4. weighs Winds in his hand, Job 28.25. and sends them out as his Posts, appointing them their Motions and Messages, making them sometimes Messengers of mercy, as Gen. 8.1. Exod. 14.21. Numb. 11.13. and at other times Executioners of his Justice, hurting Men's Houses, Persons, Corn and Cattle, &c. as Exod. 10.13. Job 1.29. yea hurrying and hurling the wicked out of their Houses into Hell at last, Job 27.21, &c.

The Second Instrument was the deep Sea, which is a restless, rolling, a tumbling, troublesome thing of itself in its own Ebbings and flowings; 'tis never still, though' sometimes it may seem so; how much more when it is tossed to and fro with a mighty Tempest, as here, ver. 4. a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Luke 8.23. a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Matth. 14.24. an Euroclydon, Acts 27.14. that beats upon all the Points of the Compass; an Hurricane, which Pliny calls Navigantium pestem, the Mariners misery; such boisterous and Blustering Winds must needs make the Sea beyond measure troublesome, Psalm 107.23, 24, 25. &c. Isa. 57.20. 1 Kings 22.48. and this no • doubt was no ordinary Tempest (saith Calvin ) that so frighted the Mariners (stout Fellows accustomed to Storms, &c. ) insomuch as they look upon themselves as lost; they reckon the Ship must be broken, &c.

The Third Instrument was the Seamen, or Mariners, which brings in

Remark the Sixth; Those fearless Men now fear Shipwrak, ver. 5. Death, the King of Terrors, Job 18.14. is a terror to Kings, and to those bold, daring, hardy Men, making them desire to escape the danger.

Mark 1st, They prayed to their Pagan God's; they had several Deities according to their several Countries; and though Seamen for the most part savor small of Sanctity, yet this was a lesson of Dame Nature's teaching, namely, that, 1. there is a God, 2. this God must be called upon, and, 3. especially in Distress, Psalm 107.27, 28. such Fools as say in their Hearts there is no God, Psalm 14.1. in a Calm, will cry to God for help in a Storm.

Mark 2dly, They unburden the Ship of her Cargo or Lading to lighten her; that she might the better ride out the Storm: Skin for Skin, and all a Man hath will he give for his life, Job 2.4. there the old Lyar spake a great Truth. These Heathens handed over board their Goods for the saving of their Lives. N. B. Oh that we could lose anything for eternal Life, and let all go, but not our Blessing Christ go, as Jacob, Gen. 32 20.

Mark 3dly, The Ship-Master rouzeth up Jonah (who was gone down into the sides of the Ship, and was there fallen fast asleep) that in case they had all mistaken the true God, Jonah is awakened to call upon his God: Alas, such a sad uncertainty attendeth Pagan Idolatry, that it caused the Pagans generally to close up their Prayers (such as they were) with that general Clause [Dii, Deaeque omnes] ye God's and Godesses all, because they were ignorant who was the true Jehovah. Their own Dunghil-Deities could do nothing for them when cried unto in this dismal Distress; they had mouths and spake not, &c. Psal. 115.4. but Jehovah hath help for such as hope in him, ver. 9. therefore they call Jonah to cry to Jehovah, ver. 6. for none like him, Jer. 10.6. Deut. 32.31. even in the Judgment of Enemies, &c.

Remark the Seventh; When the Mariners saw their first Means ineffectual, that neither their own God's would do anything for them at their Prayers, nor Jonah 's God at his (for his Sin was too strong for his Prayer, Psalm 66.18. John 9.31.) they resolve to try another Trick for saving their lives, namely, casting of Lots, ver. 7. perceiving some extraordinary Cause there was of this extraordinary Danger, and so they put the Matter into God's hands, who disposeth of Lots, Prov. 16.33. when rightly in a way of trusting, not rashly in a way of tempting God, they are undertaken. Calvin noteth here, These Seamen seemed in their own sight to be no Sinners, or at least their sins were light sins, and no way deserving such heavy Judgments, therefore they inquire after the cause thereof, as if themselves had all been innocent, and though these poor Pagans did superstitiously cast Lots, but not without a cogent Cause and Necessity (saith Mercerus ) yet the Lord▪ ordered the Lot to fall upon Jonah (who was the best Man, and the only Saint in the Ship) as the principal cause, and chief procurer of their present desperate danger.

Remark the Eight; The Mariners judicial process against Jonah, when his secret sin was by the All-seeing God discovered, in ordering the Lot to fall upon him, ver. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Mark 1st, They interrogate him, 1. concerning his sin, when thus signally singled out by the Lord the disposer of Lots (saith Mercerus ) as if themselves, had been Innocent: Jonah confessed not▪ his sin until forced; Sin had gagg'd him, and Satan had muzzl'd his Mouth from that spiritual Vomit of making a free Confession unurg'd. N. B. That old Man-slayer well knows, that there is no way to purge the Soul of Sin but upward, therefore holds he our lips close, and makes us hide our Sin as Adam, &c. Job 31.33. until God, being put to his proof, doth press it out of us, Jer. 2.35.

Mark 2dly, They ask him, 2. His Occupation, taking it for granted, that every Man must maintain himself by some honest Employ: Tarnovius tells us here, that those Seamen suspected Jonah's sin was that he was some Idle Fellow following no lawful Calling, or that he was some fraudulent Cheat, or some filthy Extortioner, therefore they asked him how he lived (saith Grotius ) and whether he labored the thing that was good, Eph. 4.28. God will avenge, 1 Thes. 4.6. upon such disorderly Doers.

Mark 3dly, They inquire, 3. If he were not of some accursed Country (saith Mercerus ) and one of the People of God's wrath, as the Jews are at this day: And Tarnovius adds, That they were afraid he had committed some heinous Crime, for which he fled his Country; yet the hardened Villain could sleep soundly, when the Ship was ready to sink, ver. 6. The Philosopher said in the like Case, [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ;] Are we all in danger of Death, and dost thou play the Fool? This he said to one that was trifling (as was Jonah sleeping ) as if making light of Shipwrack, &c.

Mark 4thly, Jonah 's answer, ver. 9. wherein now his hard Heart was broken, and his muzzl'd Mouth was unmuzzel'd, and now he not only confesseth his sin (saith Calvin ) but aggravateth it, saying [I am not only an Hebrew of the Hebrews (and so a Member of God's Church and a true Believer, as Heber, Gen. 10.21. and Abraham, Gen. 14.13. were) but also I am a Prophet in God's Church, a Doctor in Israel, yet have I done perversely, and dealt perfidiously with the great Jehovah, who made this troublesome Sea (that now troubleth you so sore) and the dry Land likewise which you would so gladly recover; and as he created them by his power, so he governs them by his providence, and will unmake all again, rather than his should want help in due season, &c. ] Thus like a Prisoner upon the Rack, he not only tells all with Aggravations, but also thrusts himself into the hand of Justice, yet not without Hope of Mercy.

Mark 5thly, When Jonah had told them, not that he was of Judah, for that was false (saith Tarnovius ) nor of Israel, lest they should think him a Worshipper of Jeroboam 's Calves, but an Hebrew, taught from a Child to know the true God, yet had now basely Disobliged him, relating his Message to Nineveh, and his Miscarriage in turning his back, &c. to them; they were sore afraid, ver. 10. being conscious to themselves of their greater sins than this of Jonah, and preceiving (saith Calvin ) that Jonah's God was a just Judge, so severely pursuing him with a Storm for his Disobedience; how much more might the same God punish them for their greater Rebellions, as Idolatry, &c. Yet whatever they thought concerning themselves and their sins against God (saith Daneus ) they say, [Why hast thou done this?] as if he had been the only Misdoer among them all, &c.

Mark 6thly, The Sentence passed upon Jonah; wherein, 1. They make Jonah to be his own Judge, saying, What shall we do unto thee? ] ver. 11. meaning (saith Mercerus ) thou art a Prophet of the Lord, and knowest best how he may be pacified, seeing also thou art the Party whom he pursueth: They feared to execute Jonah, looking now upon him as a Saint of God and as a Prophet, and so durst not offend Jonah's God: And in this great grief they appeal to him, that they might not perish with him: Hereupon, 2. Jonah denounceth his own Doom against himself, [ Cast me forth into the Sea, &c.] ver. 12. wherein we have, as before, his real Repentance, so here his famous Faith triumphing over Death, offering himself to it with great Courage; and his illustrious Love likewise in choosing rather to die as a piacular person, than to cause so many Men die for his Crime.

N. B. 1. Man is called, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a Life-loving Animal: David asks, [ What man is he that desireth life, and loveth long days? &c. ] Psalm 34.12. and Austin answers, There is no Man but would be Master of such a Felicity: Therefore Jonah did not rashly offer himself to Death, his natural Reason would oppose it; but he did it by a supernatural Revelation, as a Prophet, whereby he prophesy'd of the Calm that would ensue when the raging Sea had got its prey. He only did freely submit to the mind of God, that had marked him out by the Lot to Punishment.

N. B. 2. Jonah was a Type of Christ in this (saith Mercerus ) that Christ offered himself to Death, without which the Tempest upon the World could never have been becalm'd and quieted; and who without Murmuring took the Sins of the World upon himself, as Jonah did of the Ships-Crew here; and in that much more, of his being in the Whale's Belly three days and nights, as will appear afterwards in its proper place.

Remark the Ninth; The Execution of that Sentence which Judge Jonah (being 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , self condemned, Tit. 3.11.) denounced against himself.

Mark 1. Its Antecedents, which are Two; First, Their fear of executing the Innocent, made the Mariners row hard, ver. 13. to save Jonah's life if possible. N.B. The Trinity consulted to make Man in God's Image, Gen. 1.26. therefore Magistrates may not rashly mar it, but rather maintain it; if it may stand with Justice, they must show Mercy, as the Mariners did here; however they should sweat to save their Souls. Man is like a Glass, once broken, cannot be made up again: Secondly, When they saw all their cordial Compassion, and utmost Endeavors (as the Sept. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , signifies) with all their might to bring the Ship to shore for saving Jonah, but could not, striving only against the Stream, and the irresistible Will of God (Voluntas Dei est necessitas Rei) Then they betake themselves to Praying, when Rowing could not prevail: Ora, labora, is the Rule. And, 1. the Object of their Prayer was not Aeolus or Neptune (those Pagan God's of Wind and Sea ) but Jehovah, whom they name thrice, ver. 14. Thus much they had learned from Jonah to invocate the true Jehovah, and not their false God's as they did, ver. 5. before this. 2. The subject of their Prayer was deprecating, both that they might not perish for Jonah 's sake, and also that innocent Blood might not be imputed to them, for he had done them no harm. 3. Their Submission in it, was an acquiescing in God's good pleasure, saying [Our Rowing in vain against a tempestuous Sea (that still continues so) is God's revealing his Will; 'tis thy Will and Law, that thou hast appointed him to be executed, though' full sore against our Wills, &c.]

Mark 2. Its Concomitants, ver. 15. where, 1. They took up Jonah, not against his will, for his own Sentence against himself had given his Consent to it, so that he in a sort offered his Carcass unto condign Punishment: Herein Jonah 's Charity is very exemplary, who yielded to perish alone, rather than to have others perish with him and for him. 2. [They cast him into the Sea;] this was their last Refuge, being forced to do it in their utmost Extremity: The Mariners had tried all means to save him. Now they saw 'twas God's Will ( which no man can resist, Rom. 9.19.) that they must either drown and destroy him, or be drowned and destroyed with him, then they cast him over-board.

N. B. 1. Thus dealeth God with his Servant Jonah, formerly faithful and able in his Office, and therefore sent to Nineveh; All his foregoing Acts of Obedience could not preponderate this one Act of his Disobedience, in refusing to go thither when God commanded him.

N. B. 2. Our good Deeds are so far from outweighing our bad Deeds, that a lesser fault laying unrepented of, may do us more mischief than all our well-doing can possibly claw off, as may easily be instanced in Moses, Miriam, David, &c. yet all this proceeds from displeased love of God.

Mark 3dly, The Consequents thereof, which are twofold; First, Respecting the Mariners, who were not only delivered from the danger of the Tempest, the Sea ceased from its raging when it got its prey, ver. 15. Nec maris Ira manet, Ovid. Metamorph. as Gen. 8.1. but also they were converted from their Idolatry to Worship Jehovah, ver. 16. when they saw the Winds and Waves obeyed him, as Matth. 8.23. Here God extorted from them, (saith Calvin ) a plain Confession; they had a natural fear before ver. 10 but now they feared Jehovah with a Religious fear; Demonstrated, 1. By their offering Sacrifices to the true God, especially themselves as a spiritual Sacrifice, Rom. 12.1. saith Mercerus, and they resolved to cover God's Altar in the Temple upon their safe Arrival, saith the Chaldee Paraphrast. And 2. By their Vowing that the Lord should be their God, as Jacob (the Father of Vows ) had done before them, Gen. 28.21. they vowed (saith Vatablus ) that they would go to Jerusalem when landed, and there Sacrifice to Jonah 's Jehovah, and join themselves to the Lord's People. Secondly, Respecting Jonah himself, ver. 17. as God brought good out of evil to the Mariners, as above; so he prepared a Fish to secure Jonah from being drowned in the Sea: Some say this Fish was a Shark, &c. but Christ himself calls it a Whale. Matth. 12.40. which is a great Fish indeed; though Pagan Authors transfer this Story of Jonah to Hercules, whom they mightily magnify in all his Matters (saith Grotius ) and whom they also feign to have leaped into a Whale's Mouth armed, and stuck fast there three Days, and then crept out only losing the Hair of his Head, by the heat of the Fish, as Scholiastes relates to Lycophron, who affirms, This was Triton 's Dog, the Pagans stealing this Story from the Hebrews for the Greeks.

N B. 1. This great Fish was not at this Time created by God, but only prepared by his Providence for this very purpose to be present for saving Jonah; for all Creatures in Sea and on Land are the Lord's Servants, Psalm 119.91. and must serve their Creator, when he commands them to save his Servants, as this Whale did Jonah.

N.B. 2. Whether this Whale were Male or Female, because called both Dag and Dagah here, and Chap. 2.2. is uncertain; however this is certain, that this Fish ship'd Jonah, when cast out of the Ship, and kept him unchewed or unchoaked for three Days, and on the third Day vomited him up to Shore, as the Grave did Christ, being no longer able to contain him, Matth. 12.40. Acts 2.24.

N.B. 3. Mercerus makes this Matter, not only a miraculous specimen of God's Power and Providence, who will change the course of Nature rather than suffer his Servant to perish here; but also specifies many Miracles in it, as 1. That the Concoctive Faculty of the Fish's Maw was so long restrained from consuming Jonah. 2. That he in so close a Prison, could breath and live so long there without either Air or Light. 3. That he was not choked with the intolerable stench of so loathsome a Jakes. And 4. That he enjoyed his Reason there as well as Life, and made such an excellent Prayer there, as in the next Chapter.

Jonah CHAP. II.

THIS Chapter contains Jonah 's Doxology for his Deliverance.

Remark the First, As his Sinning is specified together with his Suffering, in Chap. 1. so here is his Sorrowing after a godly so • t, 2 Cor. 7.9, 10. and his gratulatory Song (as Tremellius calls it) for his miraculous Deliverance from a double Danger of Death: For the Whale was as probable means of his Destruction in devouring him, as was the Sea for drowning him: No doubt but Jonah prayed, both while he was in the tossed Ship, and when they were casting him into the Sea, as well as while he felt himself sinking into the Belly of the Fish, where he seemed to be buried alive; but when he perceived that his God was present with him, to preserve him alive in the Whale's Bowels, he principally designeth here to show forth his gratitude to God, giving him High Praises for the return of his humble Prayers, ver. 2, 6, 7. for so the Word [Vajith-palel] sometimes signifies Praising 1 Sam. 2.1. as well as Praying, and his Words which he here uttereth, being wholly Eucharistical, do intimate (saith Piscator ) that he thus cried, after the Fish had spewed him out, ver. 10. or at least He then did better Methodize his confused Conceptions (he had) while in the Whale's Belly.

Remark the Second, The strange Strife and Conflict of Flesh and Spirit in Jonah 's Oration, here; 1. The Flesh in him prompted him, and made him prone to Despair, saying [I am cast out of thy sight] ver. 4. [ nigrashti, Hebr.] imports it, which Word in the Latin Language, signifies [Thou hast set a black Brand upon me.] Such a Temptation had brought David into the like Disputes of Despair (saith Mercerus ) Psalm 31.22. and in a Desertion deplores, that the Flouds of God's displeasure covered him, Psalm 42.7. as Jonah did here, ver. 3. and not much unlike Cain 's Complaint, Gen. 4.13, 14. But 2. The Spirit in him takes him up as one Dead, and revives him to speak [yet will I look again toward thine Holy Temple] ver. 4. Words of strong Considence, saith Mercerus, checking himself for his Doubting and Despondency, as David did chide David three times over, Psal. 42.5, 11. and 43.5. Here Hagar (his Carnal Sense ) is cast out of doors, and Sarah (his Spiritual Faith ) is set up alone,; though' the Lead sank down the Net, yet the Cork kept it above the Water; though' his Soul fainted within him, ver. 7. yet looks he again to the Temple, either that at Jerusalem, a Type of Christ, for whose sake Jonah 's prayer was heard, or Heaven itself, the Habitation of God's Holiness; So high his prayer ascended, as Acts 10.4. Tho' he poured it forth out of the Belly of H • ll, ver. 2. yet procured it an Answer from Heaven.

Remark the Third; Jonah's great Gratitude to God his Deliverer, for his so gracious Deliverance, when the Lord made the Fish ship him safe to shore, ver. 8, 9, 10. (1.) Acknowledging that sinners refuse their own felicity, sinning against their own Souls, Numb. 16. v. 38. Hab. 2.10. He speaks his own woeful experience, but God will bring them to Judgment, Eccles. 11.9. (2.) He promiseth Sacrifices of Praise, and Vows to pay them to the God of his Salvation; not only his general as an Israelite, but his particular Vows made in his Distress, as Gen. 28.20. and 1 Sam. 1.11. and Psal 132.1, 2, &c. 'Twas a good Rule Pliny gave [Be sure to be the same when well, that you vowed to be when sick.] And (3.) He preacheth the praise of God's mighty Power in opening the mouth of Leviathan, &c. which no man can do, Job 41.14. and so God can open the mouth of the grave, Heb. 11.35. therefore it may not be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead, Acts 26.8. As Jonah is out of the Whale's belly vomited up unto dry Land, Death swallowed up Christ, and was swallowed up in Victory thereby, Hos. 13.14. 1 Cor. 15.54. Rev. 20.13.

Jonah CHAP. III.

THIS Chapter consists of two parts; (1.) Jonah's New and Second Embassage from God to Nineveh; And (2.) The Effects of his Embassage. First, His Embassage.

Remark the First; God casts not Jonah away as a broken Vessel (saith Calvin ) or as unsavory Salt, for his late Sin; but receives him upon his Return by Repentance; and now being penitent, God looks on him as innocent, and restores him to his former Office, and sends him the second time to Nineveh, ver. 1, 2. which was the Head City of the Gentiles, to signify (saith Mercerus ) that the Gentiles should be called, and to shame the Israelites, who had so many Prophets, yet repented not; whereas those poor Pagans did really repent and reform, having but one Prophet to Preach to them. N.B. This may confute that Natural Novatianism in timorous Consciences, who doubt of pardon for Apostasy: See Jer. 3.22. Hos. 14.4. 1 Tim. 1.13, &c.

Remark the Second; Jonah's Obedience to God's second Call, ver. 3, 4. who had been disobedient to God's first Call, as before; but now (saith Calvin ) he had learnt a better Lesson in God's School of Affliction: He went not home first to bid his Friends farewell, as Luke 9.61. nor did he go another way, to Tarshish, as before. The burnt Child dreads the fire; he had enough of being a Runagate, a Rebel, &c. He had learnt obedience by the things he had suffered, Heb. 5.8. Now he immediately riseth up and goes whither God sent him, at God's Call and Command: He goes to Nineveh, though' there he was but a mean Man, a mere Stranger unknown, and (for anything he knew) unregarded, especially with such an unpleasing Errand, as might have cost him his Life from some fierce and furious fellows in the City; yet feareth he nothing now but Disobedience, well knowing (saith Calvin ) his God who called him, could easily deliver him from being devoured by Land, as well as by Sea: The spirit of fear was gone, and the spirit of power and courage was come, 2 Tim. c. 1. v. 7.

Remark the Third; Jonah walks boldly one day's Journey (saith Grotius ) into Nineveh, which was Gedolah Leelohim, Hebr. an exceeding great City, or a City of God for its greatness, according to the Hebrew expression; as High Hills are called Hills of God, Psa 36.6. Mighty Mountains; so lofty Cedars be called often, the Cedars of God, &c. Jonah walked his first day's Journey in this great City, not like a Traveler with speedy dispatch, but like a Preacher with due pauses, crying Boanerges-like [Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed] as Sodom was (saith Mercerus ) because She and her Sisters, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Zoar, could not afford ten righteous Persons in them all, Gen. 18.32. 'It is well supposed (saith Kimchi ) that Jonah added, rebus sic stantibus, If ye remain in your sins, like Sodom; If ye repent not, as Luke 13.3, 5. & Rev. 2.5. And Jeremy lays down that Rule, Jer. 18.8. Conditions and Exceptions are to be understood, though' no more be expressed than is here; for to run up and down the City, crying only these few words, was to act the part of a Mad-man, more than of a grave Prophet of the Lord▪ God threatens (saith Ambrose ) that he may not strike, as appeared by the Event here, says D. Dieu, &c.

The second Part is the fruit and effect of Jonah's Preaching there. This is twofold. First, Respecting Men, the Citizens. And secondly, Respecting God.

Remark the First, upon the Men; the Ninevites were converted, ver. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Behold the mighty power of God's holy Word from the mouth of one only Preacher, who had not another to second him. Christ sent out his ten Disciples by two and two to Preach, &c. Luke 10.1. Here the Weapons of one single Jonah's Warfare were mighty through God for pulling down the strong Holds of the Devil, 2 Cor. 10.4. Tho' these Ninevites were a People rich, great, prosperous, proud, princely, (being the most Capital City of the greatest Empire then in the World ) and profane above measure; so that Satan sat in his Throne there, as Rev. 2.13. swaying his Sceptre over them as his Slaves, &c. yet at the Preaching of this Jonah behold the Devil falls down like Lightning from his Heaven of those men's hearts, Luke 10.18. The sounding of this single Ram's Horn, made the Walls of Wickedness in Nineveh fall flat to the ground, as Jericho 's did, Josh. 6.13, 20.

Remark the Second; The first Grace that did demonstrate the Truth of their Conversion, was Faith, the Foundation of all other Graces, 2 Pet. 1.5. They believed God, ver. 5. and his Threatenings Preached to them by Jonah, being conscious to themselves (saith Grotius ) of many grievous Crimes. 'It is a wonder they did believe a Stranger so soon; but Mercerus affirmeth, that they were moved by the Miracle of Jonah's Deliverance, &c. which he related to them at large, and the fame thereof had spread abroad Luke 11.30. so was an awakening Sign to them. But the Rabbins report farther, that the Mariners also (who had been Eye-Witnesses of the Miracle ) went to Nineveh, and confirmed his Relation of what had befallen him at Sea, and so by consequence confirmed his doleful Doctrine and Sentence against Nineveh. N.B. Credat Judeus Apella, says Horace, Let the circumcised Jew believe it, we may not be wise above what is written. However▪ Jonah was the True Arion, whom the Poets feign to have been a Minstrel cast into the Sea by the Mariners, and saved by a Dolphin, &c. This Pagan King's hearing of Jonah 's marvelous Deliverance, ver. 6. induced him to believe his Sermon: But above all (saith Mercerus ) Divine Inspiration within moved Nineveh to believe.

Remark the Third; The fruits of their Faith were, Repentance from Sin, and Reformation of Life, &c. ver. 7, 8, 9. all testified by external exercises of Fasting and Sackcloth, &c. by the Decree of the King and his Nobles, who all unanimously consented to so pious and penitent a practice; and all the People universally submitted to the Decree, which extended to the very Beasts also, for increasing their Humiliation by the Lowings and Bellowings of those Brute Creatures, to humble their hearts more heavily. Thus Houses at Funerals are hanged round with Black (with us) to make Men mourn the more; and when Great Men be buried, their Horses do follow the Hearse clothed in Black, as seeming to mourn for their Masters, saith Tarnovius out of Chrysostom. Beasts be made to mourn here in Sackcloth (saith Calvin ) that the Men by this Spectacle might be made Mourners, and moved thereby to a deeper Dolour, and to behold therein, as in a Looking-Glass, what themselves deserved; as Cattle were killed under the Law, that Men might therein see a lively representation of their own just Damnation; so Beasts were drowned in the Deluge with Men, as they were first made for Man, so they suffer with Man, &c.

Remark the Fourth; Those penitent Ninevites join Invocation of God to their Humiliation before him; yea, and Reformation of Manners, ver. 8, 9. They cried mightily to the Lord during those forty days; not only the Men, but even the Beasts too cried to God (saith Calvin ) by way of Implication, as Psal. 147.9. when pinched with Famine (saith Lyra; ) The Men cried mightily with Intention of Mind, as well as Extention of Mouth, praying the more earnestly, as Luke 22.44. and bouncing hard at Heaven-Gates, as if resolved to wring Mercy from God with an holy Violence, as Matth. 11.12. N.B. This may serve to shame our cold, careless, and indifferent Devotion: Nor rested they here, but looked upon Prayer as to small purpose, when Supplication is not seconded with Reformation; hereupon they renounce with loathing, as well as leaving, their old Darling sins; they restore all rapaciously gotten goods, without which God would not remit them: [Non remittitur Peccatum, nisi restituatur Ablatum] saith Augustine on Numb. 5.6, 7. N.B. Here was Repentance from Sin, as well as Repentance for Sin.

Remark the Fifth; All this they did, not without hope of Mercy, ver. 9. [Mi Jodeang Jashub] Hebr. Who can tell if God will turn, &c? This is the speech of one that doubteth, but despaireth not, saith Calvin. 'Twas not their Diffidence, but the Difficulty of finding Mercy. Their Faith struggled with their Unbelief, saith Tarnovius. Jonah was peremptory in his Prephecy of Nineveh's Destruction by such a day, therefore had they good cause to doubt, if not of the pardon of their sins, yet of saving their City. Mercerus saith, All their hope was, it was not God's Absolute Decree, but only a Conditional Threatning, if they repented not of their Sins, which if they could, God would repent of his Sentence, and be reconciled to them, though he cannot repent as Man, Numb. 23.19.

Remark the last, Relateth the Effect of their Repentance upon God, ver. 10. God saw, not their Sackcloth. &c. without (saith Calvin ) but their Works within, with the Fruits of their Faith (which Men could not see) in a serious and sincere Repentance (as Mercerus and many good Authors charitably style it). That it was real Repentance, two Reasons are rendered for it. 1. God approved of it here, and remitted their Ruin. And 2. Christ approved of it after, Matth. 12.41. but others are of another Opinion, saying their Repentance was but feigned and forced like that of Pharaoh, Ahab, &c. arguing, 1. God approved of Ahab 's Humiliation though but External. 2. This led them not into a milder Carriage to the Captive Jews, &c. 3. Nor did it last long, for about forty Years after, Nahum denounces Nineveh 's utter Destruction: However, the merciful God gave them now a Reprieve, and Repented to Ruin them at this Time, which was only Mutatio Rei, non Dei, effectus non affectus, facti non consilii, (saith Tarnovius. ) N.B. God granted to Nineveh, that they might be reduced to Repentance, what Abraham denied to Dives, requesting one raised from the Dead to reclaim his five profane Brethren, Luke 16.27, 28, 29, 30. for here Jonah is raised out of the Belly of Hell, Jonah 2.2. and sent to preach Repentance to this sinful City, upon which they reformed their Evil Manners, &c.

Jonah CHAP. IV.

THIS Chapter relateth a marvelous Trial at Law (as it were) betwixt Jonah the Plaintiff, and Jehovah the Defendant.

Remark the First, Upon the Plaintiff, in the first part of the Trial. Though Jehovah was well pleased, as above, yet Jonah was ill displeased, ver. 1, 2, 3, 5. David had once been Displeased with an Act of God's Severity against Uzzah, 2 Sam. 6.8. because the General Joy of that Day was dashed and damped with such a sad and sudden Disaster. Therefore David gives a good Caution [ Cease from Anger, and fret not thyself in any wise to do Evil, &c.] Psalm 37.1, 7▪ 8. but Jonah did here far worse than David, who in a pet and pang of preposterous Passion, was deeply discontented with an Act of God's Lenity and tender Compassion to the Penitent Ninevites. God bids [Be angry, but Sin not] Eph. 4.26. This is the easiest Charge under the hardest Condition and Terms that can be, 'tis assuredly a difficult Task to kindle and keep quick (saith one ) this Fire of Anger without any Smoak of Sin: Therefore the Greeks give this good Rule [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] in Anger, either say nothing, or say that which is better than nothing, lest thou Sin, &c.

Remark the Second, Jonah expresseth his Anger in a Speech, called a Prayer, ver. 2. with such a turbulent and tumultuating Mind (saith Tarnovius ) that it seems rather a Brawl than a Prayer. Calvin saith, N.B. That his Pious Principle put him upon Praying down his own present Passions, knowing himself to be naturally Hot and Hasty, and feeling himself feeble in giving place to Passion, Eph. 4.27. He though to cure it by Praying, but the Flesh of his treacherous Heart prevailed against the Spirit in him under Divine Desertion, so that whereas he should have wrastl'd with God, as Jacob did, Gen. 32.24, 26. behold, Jonah downright wrangl'd with God, and justified himself for his declining the employ, as foreseeing the Issue [Therefore I fled before to Tarshish] so soon forgetting how he had so sorely smarted for his flight, yet God had so graciously granted him Deliverance, &c.

Remark the Third, Jonah doth not only justify himself, but he accuseth God of too much Mercy to the Damage of his Truth, and the Danger of his Honor, yea, and to the Disparagement of his Prophet, all which he thought would be prejudiced by the many Misconstructions the Adversary will make upon the sparing of Nineveh, which God foretold by him, should be destroyed: Thus Jonah quarrel'd with that great Attribute of God's Mercy, the chiefest flower in God's glorious Crown, Exod 34.6, 7. and even with that goodness of God, which had so lately preserved himself from perishing in the Sea, and whereby he still subsisted; thus is he doing enough to undo himself forever, had not God's Mercy triumphed over his Justice, James 2.13.

Remark the Fourth; The Epilogue of Jonah 's pitiful, peevish Prayer, ver. 3. Take my Soul out of my Body, Hebr. [Kack na eth naphshi mimeni] whence Grotius gathers this good Argument, plainly proving from hence, that the Soul is a distinct Substance from the Body, and perishes not with it: [ 'It is better for me to Dye (saith he) than to Live ] namely, in Disgrace of being a false Prophet, never more to be believed: Jerome doth excuse Jonah herein; As if he were more Zealous for God's Glory, and the Weal of the Jews (whom he conceived would be Damag'd by the Conversion of the Gentiles ) than for his own personal Reputation: But others do better observe, that this preposterous Prayer was a zeal without Knowledge, and that he added one Sin to another therein: For 1. He puts a Fallacy upon God (called non causa pro causâ ) alleging, that God's being too merciful was the cause of his former flight from his Message to Nineveh, whereas other truer Causes are forementioned. 2. He ought to have been thankful to God for making his single Ministry so marvelously successful, as to bring so great a City to Repentance. 3. He should have rejoiced at this increase of God's Church, by those many Myriads of new Penitents. And 4. He should have prayed for establishing this great Work of God, Psalm 90.17. whereas more like a Mastiff in a Chafe he barks at his own Master, reproaches God's present Fact of Folly, envies the Ninevites Penitency and Mercy, and instead of Praying, he is upbraiding God for that which is his greatest Glory, Exod. 33.18, 19. and falling foul upon God for lending Life to him, which is the chiefest of God's temporal Gifts. Yea and wishing God would kill him with his own Hands (saith Vatablus ) merely because he thought (forsooth) that his Credit was now Crack'd, and he should henceforward be looked upon as a Lyar, seeing he had foretold what came not to pass. N.B. Thus the best of Men are but Men at the best, when God leaves them to themselves: God's best Children, though engrafted into the true Vine, yet carry they about them some relish of the old Stock still, as Jonah did here of a Cholerick Constitution, soon kindled.

Remark the First, Upon the Defendant, the second Part of the Trial: Jehovah reproves Jonah, first by Words, ver. 4, 9. at the first time, ver. 4. A man may well wonder how God could forbear from killing Jonah (according to his own desperate desire, ver. 3.) for such an unsufferable affront from a poor Potsherd, that durst contend with his Maker, and a worthless Worm upbraiding the most Wise his Creator with Folly, Isa. 45.9. This is a plain Pattern of the upshot of Carnal Wisdom in Man: God had like to have killed Moses for a far lesser fault, Exod. 4.24. When he met him in the Inn, &c. yet behold here God meets Jonah not so much with a sharp cutting rebuke, Tit. 1.13. but rather with a Mild, Cool, and Gentle Expostulation [Dost thou do well to be angry?] N.B. Would to God we could suppress our impetuous Passions by asking our Hearts this same Question, Whether our Indignation be rightly regulated for Principle, Object, Measure and End; and not justify it when immoderate, as Jonah doth here: And the second Time, when Jonah committed the same fault again, being angry for the withering of his Gourd, ver. 9. N.B. Jonah signifies a Dove, yet had he more of the Wasp than of the Dove in him, as appears by his double Anger, and both irrational, Chap. 4.1, and 9. Plenus fuit effraenatis motibus, as passionate a Man of a good Man, as we have hardly heard of, so that some suppose him the Mad Fellow mentioned, 2 Kings 9.11. yet was he a Servant of the Lord, 2 Kings 14.25. and a Type of Christ, Matth. 12.40. and saved Nineveh by one Sermon. 'It is a wonder Jehovah proceeded not against Jonah for the same second fault, from Words to Blows: No 'tis only Words still, and those Gentle ones as the former: Though before he had said nothing when reproved for his rash Anger, ver. 4. yet now runs he Riot in his Reply against God, that it was a just anger in Jonah, even unto Death; notwithstanding, the Reason of it was the loss of a thing of nothing, or but a sorry something at the best: Now might the Lord have roar'd upon Jonah, when he added greater Sins to lesser, and thought he had good Reason to be madly unreasonable, as well as presumptuously Irreligious. God might now have said, as he did to the muttering Mutineers in the Wilderness [As truly as I live, as ye have desired Death, so will I do to you] Numb. 14.28. so Jehovah might have judged Jonah out of his own Mouth, and said [ Thou shalt surely Die, Jonah]; but Fury was not in God, Isa. 27.4. as it was in Jonah: He is God and not Man, Hos. 11.8, 9. God graciously considered Jonah 's Frailty, and gently convinceth him of his Folly, by comparing the silly Gourd to that Capital City, &c.

Remark the Second; Jehovah the Defendant reproves Jonah by an external Sign, as well as by express Speech (as above) ver. 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11.

Mark 1. The occasion of it was, Jonah changed the place of his abode, He went out of the City, ver. 5. retiring remote from it (saith Tarnovius ) that he might not perish with it which he expected, for he thought haply, that the Citizens were only Sermonsick, which would not last long, &c.

Mark 2. He made a Booth on the East-side of the City, 'twas a sorry structure of Boughs (saith Grotius ) only for a Shade, saith Mercerus, expecting there, though not the Subversion of the City, yet some Plague to fall upon it, saith Calvin, for he did not think his Prediction would altogether be frustrate, saith Menochius.

Mark 3. The end of his sitting down in this slender Hutt was, where he might see some Event of his Prophecy from this place of a plain prospect, saith Grotius, and yet not suffer with them, being quite out of the City's Precincts, saith Tarnovius. N.B. 1. Jonah did well and wisely in withdrawing himself out of Nineveh, as Lot did out of Sodom; and Isa. 48.20. and 52.11. 2 Cor. 6.17, 18. Rev. 18.4. Thus the Church of Jerusalem packed away to Pella before its Destruction, saith Eusebius: But he did foolishly and uncharitably in wishing and waiting for the Ruin of penitent Nineveh. N.B. 2. Ministers may learn from this sorry Seat of this great Prophet: of God, not to seek great things for themselves in this lower World, Jer. 45.5. but to be content with the meanest conditions that the most wise God carves out for us by his wisdom and providence; for our heavenly Father knows what is better for us than we for ourselves, Matth. 6.26, 32. When we cannot bring up our Means to our Minds, we must bring down our Minds to our Means, being assured of better Mansions, John 14.2, 3. 2 Cor. 5.1. Heb. 11.10, 13.

Remark the Third, upon the Defendant, is the external Sign applied by Discourse, &c. which Rhetoricians call a Chreia.

Mark 1. About the end of the forty days, when the boughs of Jonah's Booth were withered (saith Rabbi Kimchi ) God caused a Gourd by a Miracle to spring up (without seed, and so suddenly) and to become a covering Shade unto him, when all the other Leaves were gone, ver. 6.

Mark 2. I find the Critics have various Conceptions concerning this Gourd, what Plant it was? Some say it was an Ivy-Bush, Others, that we call the White Vine, of a great growth in a little time; Others, the Plant called Palma Christi, or Pentadactylon, because it resembleth a Man's Hand with five fingers; but whatever it was, Jonah was glad of it, ver. 6. because it refreshed him, hiding him from heat, being more tender skinn'd by his late laying so long in the Whale's Belly.

Mark 3. God prepared a Worm to gnaw the Gourd at the Root, and to rob it of its moisture sticked out of the Earth, saith Grotius, &c. so that it soon withered away, ver. 7. N.B. Thus God sported with Jonah (saith Mercer. ) Tho' God told him of his fault, yet made he him glad again with this Gourd, and then sends a Worm to blast it, as he oft doth earthly Blessings to his Saints, &c.

Mark 4. God also sends a Wind, ver. 8. Here Nature, Fate or Fortune are not said to do anything, but all is ascribed to God in preparing both the Gourd, the Worm, and the Wind; yea, such a Wind as did not cool, but rather quicken the heat of the Sun upon Jonah's head, saith Junius, &c.

Mark 5. Tho' Jonah's head had naturally as many Coverings as had the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, both without and within, Exod. 26. yet the Sun did beat so violently (because God would have it so) upon Jonah's head, that he was tortured so with Head-ach, as he wished to die.

Remark the Fourth; The Conclusion of this Contest 'twixt Plaintiff and Defendant.

Mark 1. God heard what Jonah spake in his heart, when the fainting of his body did so discompose his mind, as to desire Death, ver. 8. as if better than Life. Not so (saith God) ver. 9. unless you were in a better mind. God asked him before whether he did well to be angry that Nineveh was spared? ver. 4. but here, ver. 9. 'twas that his Gourd was not spared.

Mark 2. Tho' Jonah kept silent (which was the best) at the first Question, ver. 4. yet now lays he the Reins upon the Neck of his unruly Passions, and lets fly in a fearful out-burst, ver. 9. N.B. Hence Calvin observeth, what furious Beasts are our unruly Passions, when not Reined in, that this Prophet shames not to speak thus saucily to God's face; therefore should we resist this sire at its first rising up. 'It is a Rule in Physic

[Principiis obsta, & venienti occurrito works.] meet a Disease in its first coming.

Mark 3. God replies, v. 10, 11. without Rage or Roaring upon him with a drawn Sword, as Job 15.26. but spake mildly to him for convincing him of his folly, both in his words and wishes, using an Argument drawn from the lesser to the greater (saith Calvin ) and confuting his Confidence by an undeniable and most confounding comparison.

Remark the Fifth; The Artificial Application of this Rhetorical Comparison, carried on in six several parts, to the Confutation of Jonah's Anger at God's Compassion to Nineveh.

Mark 1. Jonah and Jehovah are compared together. God asserts his Sovereignty as the great Creator over all his Creatures: Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is thy Eye evil because I am good? Matth. 20.15. Wouldst thou that art but Dust and Ashes, have all done at thy will; and not I, who am God, at mine?

Mark 2. In comparing the Gourd to Nineveh, God saith to Jonah [Thou takest delight in the shadow of a perishing Plant, and should not I be well pleased with this People, whose ••• itency is my pleasure and joy?

Mark 3. Thou hast pity on this sorry Shrub, which I caused to spring up for thy use, and should not I have pity upon so many penitent persons, seeing not only all Plants, but the very Heavens and Earth were Created for Man's sake?

Mark 4. Thou hast Compassion upon this mean Mushrome, none of thine neither, for thou didst not plant it, nor watered it, and how canst thou so passionately love what thou never labored for? ( all men naturally love their own labors, especially Parents and Poets, saith Aristotle ) but this was lent thee of the Lord; and thou mayest say, [Alas Master, is was but borrowed] 2 Kings 6.5. whereas Nineveh hath been the work of my Providence, (though' without Tool or Toil, Isa. 40.28.) to advance it to this vastness of extent, wealth, and numberless Inhabitants, so as to make it the most Imperial City in the World, &c. And should I not much more show compassion upon it? saith Mercerus.

Mark 5. Thou art sorry for the perishing of this sorry Plant, which was the Son of a Night, Hebr. cito oriens & cito moriens, not without a Miracle; subito crevit, & subito decrevit; repent prolatus, & repent sublatus, saith Tarnovius; it was quickly come, and as quickly gone, of a small value and continuance, a fit Emblem of Earthly Happiness, Psal. 39.5. and should not I spare Nineveh, whose greatness hath been the growth of many Ages, and is of ten thousand times more worth than thy Gourd? Men be better than Mushromes.

Mark 6. Thou canst pity one single pitiful Plant, the loss of which redounds only to thyself, &c. and should not I (who am all bowels, a sin-pardoning God, Neh. 9.31. none like me for that, Mich. 7.18. 2 Cor. 1.4. and 7.6. and so transcendently gracious, Exod. 22.27. that thou hast upbraided me with it ( ver. 2. here) be much more affected with the fall of penitent Nineveh, wherein beside Millions of Men, Women and Cattle, (which have born their part, so far as they could, in the common Mourning, Chap. 3.7, 8.) there be twelve Myriads of Innocent Infants that cannot discern, &c. living a sensitive life only? and not yet grown up to Ratiocination.

Remark the Sixth; Jonah is now sad and silenced, as Job was, saying, [Once have I spoken, but I will not answer, yea twice, but I will proceed no farther,] Job 40.5. And though' we hear no more of Jonah, yet undoubtedly he repented of his rash Reflections upon God, as Job did, whereof this is a good sign that he so studiously and distinctly Recordeth in his Prophecy all along, both his own Personal Passions, and God's Tender Compassions, that he might the more admire Divine Lenity, notwithstanding his Human Frailty. His Recording all those passages of his Passion, and closing up his Book with Silence, is a shaming himself to all the World, and a doing Penance in public, as David did in his Penitential Psalms, as it were in a sheet of shame, &c.

NAHUM.

THIS Prophet Nahum gives a Narrative of the fatal and final fall of Nineveh after the History of Jonah.

Remark the First; His Name Nachum, Hebr. signifies a Comforter, for so he was in sundry places of his Prophecy (as chap. 1. ver. 7, 12, 13, 15, &c.) to God's Church, prophesying that God would be good to her, a Sanctuary in Affliction, Deliverance from her old Assyrian Adversary, would give liberty to exercise their Religion, both ordinary and extraordinary, and freedom from all fear of any farther Persecution from that Monarchy of Assyria, that Empress of the East for a long time, Nineveh being the Imperial Seat of the first of the four Empires, which she also held longest of any, even above thirteen hundred years, and therefore is called an old Fish-pool of stagnating and standing Water, Chap. 2.8. God's emptying of which was much ease to Israel. This is the purport of this Prophecy of Nahum, that Nineveh was now fully Ripe for its full Ruin, and God was just now going to scour that filthy Pond of Sin, and to do to her as she had done to his Church.

Remark the Second; Tho' Nineveh had before Repented at the Preaching of Jonah, as above, and therefore the Lord had likewise Repented of his Displeasure against that City, and suspended his Judgments he had threatened by Jonah to inflict upon those notorious sinners at the end of forty Days: Yet after this Respit and Divine Remission, both that City, and the whole Assyrian Empire (whereof Nineveh was the Head) returned to a filthy Commission of their former sins, aggravating and increasing them with a Renewed Persecution of the Church of God. Tho' the Unclean Spirit seemed to be cast out of the City by Jonah's single Sermon; yet he returned soon after with seven worse, and so their last State was worse than the former, Matth. 12.45. The Bile of this People (being but half healed) breaks out again afterwards (as appeareth by this Prophecy ) and proved to be the Plague of Leprosy, Lev. 13.18, 19, 20. so shut them out from receiving anymore Mercy. Those Apostates were turned aside to their crooked paths, therefore the Lord will lead them forth with the workers of Iniquity, Psal. 125.5. and God stirs up Nahum to tell them so; not only telling them of their sins, but also foretelling them of their punishments; upon this account Nahum 's Prophecy is called the Burden of Nineveh, chap. 1. ver. 1. writ in a Book, sent to Nineveh; but Nahum himself went not to Nineveh, as Jonah had done; for now they were more sealed down in their Impenitency; And this same Reason is rendered by some Rabbins, N.B. why that Threatning Letter which Elijah wrote before his Translation, and left to be sent unto Jehoram King of Judah, 2 Chron. 21.12. by Elisha or some other Prophets who durst not show themselves in Jehoram 's presence because of his horrid Insolency, and hardened Impenitency.

Remark the Third; Nineveh's Preservation by their Repentance at Jonah's Preaching, proved but a Reservation for utter Destruction, according to Nahum's Prophecy. As Jonah had denounced Nineveh 's Destruction to be but forty days off in case they had not Repented; which was the Condition of their Declared Doom at that time; So Nahum now is raised up of God to denounce his last and Irrevocable Decree for destroying them by the Chaldeans, &c. and that about forty years or less after Jonah; and then was Nineveh destroyed indeed under that effeminate Emperor Sardanapalus (saith Dr. Lightfoot ) so famous, or rather infamous in Heathen Histories.

Remark the Fourth; Nahum is generally believed to have lived and prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, and was one of those Prophets, who were commanded to be Comforters of Jerusalem against its Affrightments from Assyria, Isa. 40.1. And he plainly telleth what Evil Counsel Sennacherib conceived against the Lord, and foretelleth Sennacherib's Death in his Idol. Temple by his own Sons, as well as the prodigious Slaughter of his numerous Army by the stroke of an Angel, Nah. 1.11, to 15. wherein is intimated, (1.) His Pestilent Counsel he gave to Jerusalem, that they should cast off God, as unable to deliver them out of his hands, 2 Kings 18.19, &c. 2 Chron. 32.15, &c. Isa. 36.15, to 20. (2.) Tho' Sennacherib's Army was well disciplined, and likewise many for number, ver. 12. yet God by his Angel will cut, or shear them, Hebr. with as much ease as Men shear a Sheep, mow down a Meadow, or shave off the feeble Hair with a sharp Razour; alluding to that phrase of Isaiah (with whom he was Contemporary) Isa. 7.10. 3. The breaking of the Assyrian Yoke, v. 13. no more Tribute to be paid by Hezekiah as had been in Ahaz 's Time, &c. 4. The failure of Sennacherib's Sons, ver. 14. He rebelled against his Father in Heaven, and his Sons rebelled against him their Father on Earth, and slew him in his Idol-Worship. This fact God is said to command, because he would have destroyed the true Worship of God; He lost his two Sons by whom he lost his Life; and though' his Third Son succeeded him, yet soon after he lost his Life and Kingdom by the Chaldees; so all the Royal Race of Assyria was Routed out.

Remark the Fifth; Nahum's Graphical Description of Nineveh's Doleful Destruction for the Church's Comfort.

Mark 1. The Chief Efficient Cause of that Capital City's Ruin, together with the whole Assyrian Empire, (as Brand Mullerus maketh the Analysis ) was the everlasting glorious and omnipotent God taking Vengeance of his Enemies, and gave out the Commandment, that this dashing work should be done, and that sinful City and Empire be undone, chap. 1.14. and 2.13. and 3.5, 6. where the Lord of Hosts (Commander in Chief of all his Creatures, both his higher and lower Forces ) is said to come against his Adversaries, and commands them to be destroyed. The great God need say no more, for what he saith shall be done, as in the Creation of the World. Hence Jeremy prayed [Lord, be not thou my Adversary, then shall I the better bear what will beside befall me from Men] Jer. 17.17. God's Administration is most paternal for pitying his Friends, but most powerful to punish his Foes.

Mark 2. The Meritorious procuring Cause of this Divine Displeasure, was their manifold sins; as, beside their Persecution of God's Church, chap. 1.9, 11. they added Fraud, Rapine and Robbery, hence compared to a Lion's Den, and the feeding-place of young Lions, chap. 2.11, 12. greedy Lions they were that could never have enough, Isa. 56.11, 12. not enough to satiate them, but enough to sink them, and Woe is denounced by Nahum against Nineveh for being a bloody City, and all full of lies, chap. 3.1. Her violence filled her so with fraudulency and falsehood (which seldom are seen asunder; the Fox 's Skin Eeking out the Lion 's Hide) that there was no Truth in her private Contracts, and no Trust in her public Transactions, &c. There were Whoredom, Witchcraft, and all kind of wickedness with a witness found in her, chap. 3, 4. and though' she seemed to repent of her Luxury, Cruelty, &c. at the Preaching of Jonah, yet now is she become as bad again, and worse than ever. N.B. Let Paris and Rome, yea London remember what was the Ruin of Nineveh.

Mark 3. The less Principal or Instrumental Cause of Nineveh 's Destruction, for her Inhumanity against Men, and her Idolatry against God, were the Chaldeans, &c. who are described by their Arms, Apparel, Launces, Chariots and Horses, Chap. 2.1, 2, 3, 4. and 3.2. These the Lord of Hosts armed to dash her in pieces, and to burn that Rod wherewith he had scourged his own Church and Children, though the Assyrians knew not so much, Isa. 10.12, 13, &c. which Place explaineth, Nah. 2.2. God now (having no more use of the Rod of his Anger, the Assyrians to chastise Israel for their Sins, wherein they exceeded their Commission in Cruelty, Zach. 1.15.) sends the Maul of the whole Earth, Jer 50.23. the Chaldeans, to break Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire in pieces, as the great Hammer breaks the bardest Stones. N.B. Thus Cities, Countries, Kingdoms and Empires have their Times and their Turns, their Rise, Reign and Ruin: All this here was done by the great God, and ought not to be ascribed to Blind Fate or Fortune, or any Necessity of Nature, as Pagan Politicians do dotingly Dream, &c.

Remark the Sixth, The Divine Decree for Nineveh 's Destruction was inevitable, it could neither be averted nor avoided, the Assyrians were altogether unable to save themselves either in City or Country, with all that Power whereby they had conquered all Nations.

Mark 1. This old, great, and strong City, because Bloody, &c. was run down by an over-running Flood, Chap. 1.8. as effectually and universally as the old wicked World was by the General Deluge, for the stoutest of their Champions stumbled, Chap. 2.5. and none of their men of Might could find their Hands, as Psalm 76.5, 6. because God struck them with a Terror upon the first coming of the Chaldees. So that when Asa • haddon (called Sardanapalus by Pagan Writers) King of Nineveh commanded his Captains, now or never to play the Men, seeing the Empire was at Stake; N.B. Yet so fearful and faint-hearted were they, as to flee away without looking back, Chap. 2.8. Their Hearts sank into their Heels, and they had more Mind to save themselves by a Cowardly Flight, than by a Couragious Fight. Yea their Martial Men in the midst of the City (where they should show their Valour most, as Cocks on their own Dunghil ) became Crest-fallen, and weak as Women, Chap. 3.13.

Mark 2. The Execution of the Divine Decree, 1. In cutting off the King, and all the Royal Race, Chap. 1.14. his Posterity perished, which cannot but be grievous to proud Princes and Persons, who Promise themselves a kind of Immortality by their Posterity on Earth, Psalm 49.11. 2. In Captivating the Queen, Chap. 2.7. Huzzah with her Straglio of Women, or Maids of Honor, fall into the Hands of rude Soldiers, who hurried them away into a far Country sore against their Wills, which made them go Moaning and Groaning all along for the greatness of their Griefs. 3. In that Plenty of Plunder both Gold, Silver, and pleasant Furniture, the Chaldeans took in the City, when God gave them the Word of Command to fall on, Chap. 2.9, 10. where we have a most elegant Agnomination, [Bukah, Umbukah, Umbyllakah, Hebr.] far above the reach of our English Translation for elegancy, rendering it only [empty, and void, and wast] for the Destruction of it. 4. In the slaughter of all sorts of Persons, Princes and Peasants, Gentle and Simple, Chap. 3.3. The heaviness of Dead Carkases, Hebr. intimates, they lay so Thick, that the Earth seemed to groan under the heavy burden of them.

Mark 3. The Event and upshot of this Execution: The nakedness of Nineveh, God shown to all Nations, Chap. 3.5, 6, 7. So that all Spectators abhor'd her, and cast their scorn and contempt upon her, yea cast abominable filth (as Piss-pots, Rotten-eggs, and Dirt is cast upon carted Whores ) so that she stank above ground like loathsome Carrion: The same dismal Fate that befell populous No (now called Alexandria or Scanderoon ) shall befall thee Nineveh, saith Nahum, Chap. 3.8, 9, 10, 11, 12. all that look upon thee shall loath thee, and all that have been oppressed by thee shall insult over thee, and rejoice at thy Ruin, ver. 19. they shall take up this Taunting Proverb against thee, saying, How is the Golden City ceased? &c. Isa. 14.4, 5, 6, 7. which most men looked upon as impossible, and never looked to have seen such a Day, but her wickedness was the cause of all this wretchedness: God make it a warning to all great Cities, &c.

THE fifth and sixth Prophets (saith Dr. Lightfoot ) were both Joel and Obadiah, that Prophesy'd at the same time, the former against Jacob, and the latter against Esau: Thus God raised up a Generation of Prophets, far more than in former Ages at one time, and those continued in a Succession until the Captivity, leaving their Prophecies in Writing behind them, that nothing might be wanting on God's part to prevent their ruin.

The Second Part of 2 Kings Chapter 15th. concerns Jotham the Son of Uzziah, ver. 32, to ver. 38. whose History takes up the whole twenty seventh Chapter of the second of Chronicles.

Remark First, Concerning Jotham, he like a right-dutiful Son, did not thrust out his Father from his Title to the Throne, but ruled all under Uzziah, while he lived a Leper, as a Deputy only, and as a Substitute under him: This humble dutifulness of the Son, was doubtless some Comfort to the Disconsolate and Diseased Father. Uzziah Reigned still to make up his Reign of fifty two Years, though he was a Leper, his Leprosy in the Forehead (where it was most conspicuous) did not wholly remove his Crown from his Head: So (as hath been noted before.) N.B. If once we be of the Royal Generation, 1 Pet. 2.9. Our Leprosies of Sin may Deform us, but they shall not Dethrone us, we are kept in Christ, Jude v. 1. by the Power of God to Salvation, 1 Pet. 1.5.

Remark the Second, This King Jotham did that which was Right in the sight of God, 2 Kings 15.34. and 2 Chron. 27.2. that is, both for Matter, Manner, Motive and End: For nothing is Recorded of him, that renders him so much as any suspected Hypocrite, much less an open Apostate, as Joash, Amaziah and Uzziah stand branded upon Scripture Record: Josephus accounts this Jotham a Just, Pious and a public-spirited Prince, and one that wanted no Virtue; and Lavater saith the same [Probe & pie Regnavit]; some suppose his Mother promoted his Piety, being the Daughter of Zadok a Godly Priest, v. 33.2 King 15. N.B. For, in those times, as Priests married Kings Daughters, 2 Chron. 22.11. So Kings might marry Priests Daughters, which was more blest than the Daughters of Foreigners, as is done by Princes in our Days, &c.

Remark the Third, Though it be said of him [He did according to all that his Father Uzziah had done] ver. 34. yet this is restrained in 2 Chron. 27.2. (saith Piscator ) only to that which his Father did right, for ver. 2. excepts the encroaching of the Priests-Office by his Father, the Son durst not enter into the Temple for any such end, though no doubt, He entered daily thither to serve God: N.B. And therefore the Hebrews say, he was without blame, not having his Name for naught, seeing Jotham in