f Forthwith prepare thy ſelf,and get all in readineſs, and with hear- ty Reſolution {et upon the Work. g So ſoon as thou art ready, ſet forward on thy Journey, make not any delay. h The Chief City, or Metrop2lis of the £ſſyrian Kingdom, built by Aſhur, Gen, 10. 11, if this Verſe he not better tranſlatea thus, Ze (i.e. Nimrod) went out into Aſſyria, and builded Niveveh; fo Nimrod, the Founder, and firſt Builder. # It may be eaſily conjeAured a great City, which was ſituate on ſuch a Rirer as Tigris is, had contintted fo many hundred Years, from 1719 of the World, in which *twas' built, unto 3124 ; about which time Fonab was ſent to preach againſt it « during which long growth it may be conceived as great as *tis ordinarily deſcribed, 150 Furlongs in Length;that is eighteen Miles,and three quarters of a Mile of our Eng- liſh Meaſure, and eleven Miles and one quarter of the ſame Meaſure in Breadth, & Earneftly, and publickly, preach againſt the Sins, and denounce the ſudden Ruine of that City unleſs they repent : So cry that all may hear, or at leaft all may come to the Knowledge of what is threatned. 7 Their many and great <ins, as *tis ſaid of Cain's Sin when he had ſain Abel Gen. 4. 19. and Sodom's Sins, Ger, 18. 20, 21, and the Sins of Oppreſſors, Fames 5. 4. cry aloud, the Cry enters Heaven; and Juſtice muſt no lenger defer z yet I will give them Warning : Fc:th, go thou, and tell rhem plainly,their great Sins ſhall be greatly puniſhed.
3 But m1: Jonah roſe vpn to flee o unto Tarſhiſh p from
the preſence of the LORD q, and went down to * Jop- par; and he found a ſhip going s to Tarſhiſhr - ſo he paid the fare « thereof, and went down into it x to go with them y unto Tarſhiſh, from the preſence of the LORD =.
m A; d Heh. n He was commanded to ariſe, ver. 2. fo here Fonah did, but *twas to run from his Buſineis, not to do it z *twas a rifing a- gainft God, o Whatever was the Cauſe which moved Jonah to do this, It is ſtrange that he ſhould fall into a fixed Opinion,that he ntght,and a fixed Reſolution that he would, thus fly from his God, and from his Duty. p To Sea, as ſome, but this ſeemeth too rambling a Humour ; to C#7cia ſay others, and particularly to Tar/us,no mean City of C717cia, Hs 21. 39. others ſay *twas Tunis or Carthage in Africa, to which Jo- nah minded to fly ; either of theſe carry ſuch Probavility with them, that we will not determine for our Reader. q I cannot ſuppoſe Jo- ah dreamt of flying from the Omnipreſence of God ; he knew how David deſcribed this, Pſal. 139. 7,89, 10, 11. and natural Reaſon told him he could never fly from this : But this Preſence of God is to be in- terpreted of the Place where God ulually had ſhewed himſelf preſent by revealing his Word and Will to his Prophets, who are Servants to the Lord, and as ſuch did ftand before the Lord ready to receive his Command: Now this Command to Jonah being diſpleating to him, and yet whilſt he was in his own Country, the Vally of Viton, he is fill put upon the Work ; now he reſolves to ſhitt off the Work by ſhifting Place : perhaps he might think God would not put him gpon ir, when he was gotten into a ſtrange and remote Couutry, where were no Prophets, nor prophetick Impulles. » A well known Haven on the Medzterrane, now called Jaffa, antiently Japho, Jof. 19. 46. s Bound for, and ready to ſet fail for the Placehe deligned, # Car- thape or Tunis, or Tarſus in Cilicia, u Forthwith agreed with the Ma- ſter of the Ship, and tho unuſual, paid preſently, ſtaid not till he come to the Port deligned. x Immediately went a Ship-beard, and in a melancholy diſcompoled Humour, gets into a Cabin, or under Deck,
»y Waiting the time when they ſhould go, that he might be ſure to go with them. 2 Vd. Jet. q. :
4 © But the LORD a + ſent out ba great wind c into the ſea d, and there was a mighty tempeſt in the ſea c, fo
that the ſhip -| was like to be broken f.
2 The Almighty and Eternal God, from whoſe Work Jonah flieth. 6 God keepeth the Winds as in Store-houſes, or Treaſuries, and now brings one forth to fetch back a Fugitive, and obſtinate Reiuſer of his Command. c The Greatnels of it, with the Suddenneſs of its riling, and Manner of its working, undeniably ſhew'd that *twas ſupernatural,
and from God, diſpleaſed with all, or with ſome one or ocher my
them. 4 The Winds did not blow aloft over the Sea and Ship, hy+ as if they had intermixt with the very Waters of the Sea z and like an unheard of Hurricane, ſhaked the very Keel ot the Ship, . e Tha: part of the Sea where Fonab's Ship was ; this Meſſenger ſoon finds out Fonah, and ſpeaks in moſt dreadful Manner to all in the Ship, who aj ſaw and ownedit to be from Heaven, the Finger of God. f The M1.
ter, and Mariners thought they, Ship, and Goods, and all ſhould he loſt : The Z#ebr.exprefleth it as if the Ship had ſenſe of God's Anger
as if the Ship could think, and did think of its own Weakneſs, and God's mighty Hand.
. 5 Theng the mariners þ were afraid ?, and cried k eyery man 1 unto his god mm, and * caſt forth the wares that were +1, in the ſhip #, into the ſea, to lighten it of them 9. but 2. Jonah p was gone down into the {ides of the ſhip q, and he