John Trapp on Jonah 3:8

Verſe 8. But let man and beaſt be covered with ſack-loth] Let all beſt meanes be uſed for the humbling of the heart: without which, what is an humbling day but a religious incongruity (ſaith One) and a very high provocation: like Zimri's act when all the Congregation were weeping before the doore of the Tabernacle? The beaſts covered with ſack-cloth were as an houſe hangd with blacks, to move men to mourne the more. Chryſoſtome telles us of a cuſtome in his time, (and it is ſtill in uſe amongſt us) that when great men were buried, their horſes followed the hearſe cloathed in black; as ſeeming to mourne for their maſters. The courſeſt weeds are fitteſt for faſting-dayes: to ſhew that but for ſhame, we would have none, as having forfeited all: and that we look upon our better apparell, but as finer covers of the fouleſt ſhame.

and cry mightily unto God] Cry with a courage; Let the beaſts roare luſtily and rend the clouds as it were with their clamours: want of food will make them do ſo. And as God can ſo ſpeak, as that the bruit beaſts ſhall underſtand him, Ioel. 2.11. Am. 5.8. and 9.4. Iohn. 2. ult. ſo can they, after a ſort, ſo ſpeak or moane,Gnorebh. that he can underſtand them Ioel. 1.20. Hoſ. 2.21. Pſ. 147.9. he heareth the young ravens that cry unto him, though but with a hoarſe and harſh note: whence alſo they have their name in Hebrew. Much more will He heare men that cry unto him, if they cry mightily with intention of ſpirit, and extention or rather contention of ſpeech: if they ſet up their note, as the noiſe of many waters Rev. 19.6. if they thunder and threaten heaven, as Nazianzen ſaith his ſiſter Gorgonia did:Preces fundi. mus, coelum tundimus, miſericordiam extorquemus. Tert. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Jam. 5.16. if they bounce hard at heaven gates, and reſolve to wring mercy from God by an holy violence, as Tertullian ſaith the good people of his time did. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much: but then it muſt be the working, ſtirring, labourfull prayer, as the word ſignifieth; that ſtrives and ſtruggles, and ſtraines every veine in the heart (as Elias ſeemed to do by that poſture in prayer of putting his head betwixt his leggs 1 King. 18.42.) that ſets awork all the faculties of the ſoule, and all the graces of the ſpirit: that ſtirrs up duſt as Jacob did: maketh a man ſweat, as our Saviour; who being in an agonie prayed the more earneſtly Luk. 22.44. not without ſtrong crying and teares, and was heard in that he feared Heb. 5.7. For ſuch a prayer when a man cryes to God [non-Latin text not transcribed] mightily or with all his ſtrength, [non-Latin text not transcribed] it availeth much, it can do any thing; as Paul uſing the ſame words ſaith, I can do all things through Chriſt who ſtreng theneth me Philip. 4.13.

Yea let them turn every one from his evill way &c.] For elſe Prayer profits not, Humiliation is to no purpoſe without Reformation; Repentance for ſin, without repentance from ſin: [non-Latin text not transcribed]. there muſt be fruits meet for repentance, anſwerable to amendment of life, tantamount as repentance, and that weigh juſt as much as it: for, Optima & aptiſſima poenitentia eſt nova vita, ſaith Luther, the beſt and trueſt repentance is a new life: and if gods people will humble themſelves, and pray and ſeek his face, and withall turn from their evill wayes, then he will do much for them 2 Chron. 7.14.

and from the violence that is in their hands] Heb. In the hollow of their hands, where it lay hid as it were, but not from God, who here bids them turn from their wrong-dealing and rapacity. This was their ſpeciall ſin, (ut in magnis imperijs & emporiis magnae ſunt rapinae) therefore are they charged to relinquiſh it. It is a ſpeech, ſaith Mercer, like to that of our Saviour, Go tell my Diſciples and Peter &c. Tell them all, but be ſure you tell Peter. So here: turn from all your evill wayes: but eſpecially from the violence that is in your hands. See Eſ. 59.6. Ezech. 23.27. Pſal. 7.4. The Hebrewes underſtand this text of reſtitution to be made of evillgotten goods, or wrongfully deteined from the right owners. This ſay they, muſt be done: or the party can be no more renewed by repentance, then a man could be legally purified by the waſhing of water, when he continued to hold in his hand an unclean thing. That of Auſtin is well known, The ſin is not remitted, till that which hath bin ill-gotten from another be reſtored. And that of Father Latimer, Non remittitur peccatum niſi reſtituatur ablatum. Aug. Reſtore, or elſe you will cough in hell, and the Devils will laugh at you. Gravell in the kidneys will not grate ſo upon you, as a little guiltineſſe in this kind will do upon your conſciences. The ſame Latimer tells us in a ſermon of his afore K. Edw: 6. that the firſt day that he preached about Reſtitution, there came one and gave him twenty pounds to reſtore: the next time another, and brought him in thirty pounds: another time another gave him two hundred pounds ten ſhillings. The Law for reſtitution ſee Num. 5.6, 7. the party muſt not only confeſſe but reſtore, or he is not a true convert. And this will well appeare when death comes to draw the curtaine, and looke in upon a man. Hence our Henry the 7. in his laſt will and teſtament, after the diſpoſition of his ſoul and body,Speed 995. Turk. hiſt. fol. 767. he willed reſtitution ſhould be made of all ſuch monies as had unjuſtly been levied by his officers. And the like we read of Selymus the grand Signiour in the Turkiſh hiſtory.