Jonah 1:5

Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that [were] in the ship into the sea, to lighten [it] of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

Ver. 5. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god] Forced by the present necessity, first these stout fellows were surprised with fear; neither could they look pale death in the face with blood in their cheeks. Death is the "king of terrors," Job 18:14, Nature's slaughter man, God's curse, and helps purveyor. Next they "cried every man to his god." This was a lesson of Mother Nature's teaching, sc. that there is a God, and that this God is to be called upon, and especially in distress. Those fools of the people that said there was no God could not (when hardly bestead) but look up to heaven and cry out for help. All "people will walk every one in the name of his god," Micah 4:5. These mariners or saltmen המלחים (so called, either because they dealt in that commodity, or else because they rowed in the salt sea) had their several gods, according to their several countries, and these they now called upon, whom, till now, perhaps they little enough cared for; seamen are not overly pious for the most part. And yet of the Turkish mariners I have read, that every morning they salute the sun with their general shouts, and a priest saying a kind of Litany, every prayer ending with Macree Kichoon, that is, be angels present: the people answer in the manner of a shout Homin, that is, Amen. But it is remarkable that these in the text, though they cried every man to his god, yet, lest they might all mistake the true God, they awaken Jonah to call upon his God. This uncertainty, attending idolatry, caused the heathens to close their petitions with that general Diique Deaeque omnes (Serv. in Georg. lib. 1). But thirdly, as they cried to their gods, so (according to that rule, Ora et labora),

They cast forth the wares that were in the ship] Not doubting to sacrifice their goods to the service of their lives. "Skin for skin, and all that a man hath," &c.: so Acts 27:18,19; Acts 27:38. Let us lose anything for eternal life, Luke 16:8; Luke 9:25 Matthew 18:8; suffer any hardship for heaven: we cannot buy it too dear. A stone will fall down to come to its own place, though it break itself in pieces by the way; so we, that we may get to our centre, which is upward.

But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship] Into the bottom of it: hither he had betaken himself before the storm; not considering that God had long hands to pull him out of his lurking holes, and bring him to judgment.

And he lay, and was fast asleep] It is likely that he had not slept many nights before (through care, fear, and grief, those three vultures that had been gnawing upon his inwards), and therefore now sleeps the more soundly. Or rather it was carnal security, his heart being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, Hebrews 3:13. He had hardened his heart against God's fear, and wilfully withdrawn from his obedience; hence this spiritual lethargy, this deep sleep in sin, not unlike that of the smith's dog, whom neither the hammers above him nor the sparks of fire falling round about him can awaken: though the waterpot and spear be taken from the bolster, the secure person stirs not; though the house be on fire over his ears he starts not. Their senselessness God will cure in his Jonahs by sharp afflictions. Cold diseases must have hot and sharp remedies. The lethargy is best cured by a burning ague. God will let his presumptuous people see what it is to make wounds in their consciences, to try the preciousness of his balm: such may go mourning to their graves. And though with much ado they get assurance of pardon, yet their consciences will be still trembling, as David's, Psalms 51:1,19, till God speaks farther peace, even as the water of the sea after a storm is not presently still, but moves and trembles a good while after the storm is over.