John Trapp on Jonah 4:3

Verſe 3. Threfore now, O Lord, take I beſeech thee my life from me,] A pitifull peeviſh prayer, ſuch as was that of Job, and that of Jeremy above noted: to which may be added Sarah's haſty wiſh for God to arbitrate betwixt her and her husband: Moſes his quibling with God, till at length he was angry, Exod. 4.10, 14. Eliah's deſire to die out of diſcontent, &c. What a deal of filth, and of fleſh, clogs and cleaves to our beſt performances? Hence David ſo prayes for his prayers, and Nehemiah for pardon of his reformations. Anger is ever an evil counſellour; but when it creeps into our prayes, it corrupts them worſe then vinegar doth the veſſel wherin it ſtandeth. Submit your ſelves therefore to God (as Ionah ſhould have done) reſiſt this devil (of pride and paſſion) and he will flee from you:Jam. 4.7. as by giving place to impatiency ye give place to the Devil, Eph. 4.26. who elſe (by his vile injections, or at leaſt by his vain impertinencies) will ſo flie-blow and marre our duties that we may well wonder, they are not caſt back as dirt into our faces. Sure it is that if the holy Ghoſt had not his hand in our prayers, there would not be the leaſt goodneſſe in them: no not uprightneſſe and truth, without which Chriſt would never preſent them, or the Father accept them.

for it is better for me to die then to live] ſc. in that diſgrace that I ſhall now undergo of being a falſe prophet, not henceforth to be believed. Lo, this was it that troubled the man ſo much, as it did likewiſe Moſes, Exod. 4.1. They will not believe me; for they will ſay, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. But God ſhould have been truſted by them for that, and his call obeyed howſoever, without conſults or diſputes; careleſſe of their own credit, ſo that God might be exalted. True it is, that a man had better die with honour, then live in diſgrace, truly ſo called. It were better for me to die, 1 Cor. 9.15. ſaith holy Paul, then that any man ſhould make my glorying void. Provident we muſt be (but not over-tender) to preſerve our reputation: learning of the unjuſt ſteward by lawfull (though he did by unlawfull) means to do it: for our Saviour noted this defect in the children of light, that herein they were not oft ſo wiſe as they ſhould be, Luke 16.8. But Ionah was too heady and haſty in this wiſh of his death; becauſe his credit, as he thought, was crackt, and he ſhoulld be lookt upon as a lyar. But was the Euge of a good conſcience nothing to him? was Gods approbation of no value, nor the good eſteem of his faithful people? It was enough for Demetrius, that he had a good report of the truth 3 Iohn. 12. what ever the world held or ſaid of him. What is the honour of the world but a puffe of ſtinking breath? and why ſhould any Jonah be ſo ambitious of it, as that without it he cannot find in his heart to live. Life is better then honour. Joſeph is yet alive, ſaith Jacob. To have heard that Joſeph lived a ſervant would have joyed him,D. Hall. Cont. more then to heare that he died honourably. The greater bleſſing obſcureth the leſs. He is not worthy of honour, that is not thankfull for life. St. Pauls deſire to be diſſolved that he might be with Chriſt, which is farr farr the better Phil. 1.3. was much different from this of Jonah