John Trapp on Jonah 2:3

Verſe 3. For thou hadſt caſt me into the deep] A graphicall deſcription of his wofull condition, which yet he remembreth now as waters that are paſt and is thankfull to his Almighty Deliverer. See the like in David Pſa. 116.3. and learn of theſe and other Saints, to acknowledge the uttermoſt extremity of a calamity, after we are delivered out of it. For hereby thy judgement will be the better inſtructed and the more convinced: thine heart alſo will be the more inlarged to admire, and thy mouth the wider opened to celebrate the power, wiſdome, and mercy of God in thy deliverance. As if this be not done, God will be provoked either to inflict heavier judgements, or elſe to ceaſe to ſmite thee any more with the ſtripes of a father, and to give thee up for a loſt child.

for thou had'ſt caſt me into the deep] Not the mariners, but Thou didſt it: and therefore there was no averting or avoyding it. Thou had'ſt caſt me with a force, as a ſtone out of a ſling, or as that mighty Angel Rev. 18.21. that took up a ſtone like a great milſtone, and caſt it into the ſea, ſaying, Thus with violence &c.

In the middeſt of the ſeas] Heb: in the heart of the ſea's: ſo Mat. 12.40. So ſhall the Son of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth. And Deut. 4.11. we read of the heart of heaven that is, the middle of it, as the heart ſitteth in the middeſt of the body as king of that Iſle of Man. Now if it were ſo grievous to be caſt into the main Sea, what ſhall it be to be hurled into hell, by ſuch an hand, and with ſuch a force into that bottomeleſſe gulf, whence nothing was ever yet boyed up againe?

and the floods compaſſed me about] Aquarum confluges The Sea, whence all floods or rivers iſſue, and whereto they return (Homer calleth the Ocean [non-Latin text not transcribed] a river by the figure Miôſis) Danaeus here noteth that out of that gulf of the Sea, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Iliad. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. which of Plato is called Tartarus, that is, hell, the waters do flow into the veines of the earth (as it is Eccleſ. 1.7.) loſing their ſaltneſſe in the paſſage. Here Jonah cried out as Pſa. 69.1.2. Save me, O God: for the waters are come in unto my ſoule. I fink in deep mire, where there is no ſtanding: I am come into the deep waters, where the floods overflow me. It was onely his faith that held him up by the chin: and, like blown bleathers, bore him aloſt all waters.

all thy billowes and thy waves paſſed over me] All: ſo it ſeemed to Jonah, that God had powred out all his diſpleaſure upon him: but he ſuf[illegible: 1 letter]ereth not his whole wrath to ariſe againſt his people: neither remembreth iniquity for ever. Thy billowes or ſurges, not the ſeas but thine. God ſeemed to fight againſt Jonah with his own hand. David likewiſe in a deſertion complaines that all Gods waves and floods were gone over him Pſ. 42.7. In this caſe (for it may be any ones caſe) let us do as Paul and his company did (in that diſmall tempeſt Act. 27. when they ſaw neither ſun nor ſtar for diverſe dayes and nights together) caſt anchor of hope, even beyond hope: and then wait and wiſh for day. God will appeare at length, and all ſhall clear up: he will deliver our ſoules from the nethermoſt hell.