John Trapp on Joel 2:20

Verſe 20. But I will remove farr off from you the Northen army] ſc. of vermine, of thoſe deſtroying creatures that came from to the North. Ab Aquilone nihil boni, was a Proverb amongſt this people. God promiſeth here to free them of that miſchief: and to diſimpeſter the country of thoſe noyſome Inſects. Gratiae privativae plures ſunt quam poſitivae, ſaith Gerſon, Gods privative favours to us are more then his poſitive: hence mans happineſſe is uſually called ſalvation, which properly betokeneth the privative part thereof. Little do we conſider or underſtand from how many deaths and dangers we are dayly and hourly delivered. It is good to keep a catalogue of Gods providences, and to tranſmit them to poſteritie, ſuch as was that of the Gun-powder-plot; and before that, of the Reformation begun by Henry the eight, and carried on by his ſon, to the ridding of the land of thoſe popiſh Locuſts; Which Reformation how imperfect ſoever, to be done by ſo weak and ſimple meanes, yea by caſual and croſs meanes, againſt the force of ſo puiſſant and politick and adverſary, is that miracle, which we are in theſe times to look for. An out-lander ſpeaketh thus of it, Eccleſiae Anglicanae reformationem deſperaſſet aetas praeterita, admiratur praeſens, obſtupeſcet futura. This was the Lords own work;Sculiet. det. 2. d Ep. dedi[illegible: 1 letter]. and it is marvelous in our eyes. Oh that the ſame Lord would be both Author and Fmiſher! and as he hath in good part cut off the names of the idols out of the land, ſo that they ſhall be no more remembred; ſo he would cauſe the Prophets and the unclean ſpirit to paſſe out of the land, that he would ſend all falſe doctrine and hereſy packing to hell from whence they came. Fiat, Fiat.

and will drive him into a land barren and deſolate] Or, dry and forlorn, where he ſhall periſh for want of food. The body of this Army ſhall be driven into the wilderneſſe, the vantagard into the lake of Sodom toward the Eaſt: and the rereward into the Mediterranean Sea, toward the Weſt; for the Weſtern Ocean was hardly known to the Hebrewes: as neither was it to the Romanes, till the dayes of Julius Ceſar.

and his ſtink ſhall come up, and his ill ſavour &c.] ſc. by reaſon of their dead carcaſſes covering the earth, and infecting the ayre. The old Hebrewes underſtood this text concerning the deſtruction of the devill in the dayes of the Meſſias. Oh that God would once deſtroy that firſt-born of the devill, that King of Locuſts, Abaddon, the Pope, and dung his vineyard with the dead carcaſſes of his incurable complices, that their ſtink might aſcend, and their ill ſavour come up into all mens noſtrills. Matthew Paris (an ingenuous Papift) ſpeaking of the court of Rome long ſince, ſaid, Hujus faetor uſque an nubes fumum teterrimum exhalabat, Her filthineſſe hath ſent up a moſt noyſome ſtench to the very clouds of heaven, as Sodoms did. And Theodorcus Vrias (another of her good ſons in Germany) complained Anno 1414. that the Church of Rome was become ex aurea argenteū, ex argentea ferream, ex ferrea terream, ſupereſſe ut in ſtercus abiret, of gold ſilver, of ſilver iron, of iron earth, and that ſhe would next become of earth dung, &c. She is ſo already, and ſtinks alive worſe then any carrion, rotting in its ſlime. Oh that God would once put into the hearts of the kings of the earth to loath her, and burn her, for an old ſtinking baud, as is prophecyed they ſhall, Rev. 17.16.

becauſe he hath done great things.] Heb. he hath magnified to do, he hath made great ſpoil and havock, he hath revelled in the ruines of Gods poor people, and ſo hath haſtened his own deſtruction, and their deliverance. The Saints are many times more beholden to their enemies outrages then to their own deſerts, or duties for deliverance. Some Interpreters, as Caſtalio, Leveley, &c. underſtand the Text, of God: and render it, Quia magniſicè aget, for the Lord ſhall do great things, as it is alſo in the following verſe: there being here the ſame anomaly, or change of perſon, as is Eſay 22.19. And I will drive thee from thy ſtation, from thy ſtate ſhall he pull thee down.