John Trapp on Jonah 3:5

Verſ. 5. So the people of Niniveh beleeved God] See the mighty power of Gods holy word. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of ſtrong holds, 2 Cor. 10.4. to the laying flat thoſe wals of Iericho, making the devil fall as lightning from the heaven of mens hearts, Luk. 10.18. Theſe Ninivites though rich, great, peaceable, proſperous, profane above meaſure, (as great cities uſe to be) &c. yet, at the preaching of Ionah they believed God, and repented of their evil wayes: whether truly and ſeriouſly I have not to ſay. There is an hiſtorical faith, an aſſent to the truth of what God ſpeaketh, and trembling thereat, Jam. 2.19. there is alſo a natural and moral repentance wrought by natural conſcience: ſuch as was that of Pharaohs, Saul, Ahab, Alexander the Great; when, having killed Clitus, he was troubled in conſcience, and ſent to all kind of Philoſophers (as it were to ſo many Miniſters) to know what he might do, to appeaſe his conſcience, and ſatisfie for his ſinne. There are very good Authours that hold this converſion of the Ninivites to have been ſound and ſerious (and for this they alledge that of our Saviour, Mat. 12.41.) flowing from a lively faith in God, which is the root of all the reſt of the graces, the very womb wherein they are received; the fountain alſo and foundation of all good works, as the Apoſtle Peter hinteth when he ſaith, 2 Pet. 1.5. adde to your faith vertue, which is nothing elſe but faith exerciſed.

and proclaimed a faſt, and put on ſackcloth] Theſe were the fruits of their faith, and, though but bodily exerciſe[illegible: 1 letter] and external performances, yet they might ſerve both to evidence,Jejunium & ſaccus armae poenit entiae. Hieron. and to increaſe their inward humiliation. True it is, that hypocrites and heathens may do all this and more, as Ahab, thoſe Pſa. 78.34, 36. and Iſa. 58.3. The Romanes in a ſtrait ad Deos populum & vota convertunt, commanded the whole people with their wives and little ones to pray and pacify the gods, to fill all the temples,Liv. l. 3. and the women to ſweep and rub the pavements thereof with the haires of their heads &c.

from the greateſt &c.] See the Note on Ioel. 2.16.