John Trapp on Joel 2:3

Verſe 3. A fire devoureth before them, and behinde them a flame burneth,] Such waſte theſe vermine ſhall make: like as it is ſaid of the great Turk, that where-ever he ſets his foot, there never growes graſſe again; he doth ſo eat up the countreys where he comes with his huge armies. And the late Lord Brook, Pag. 47. in his diſcourſe of Epiſcopacy noteth, that that unhappy proverbe amongſt us was not for nought, The Biſhops foot hath troden here. In Biſcay, a Province of Spain, they admit no Biſhops to come amongſt them: and when Ferdinand the Catholike K. came in progreſſe hither, accompanied amongſt others by the Biſhop of Pampelune, Heyl. Geog. pag. 55. the people aroſe in armes, drove back the Biſhop, and gathering all the duſt, on the which they thought he had troden, flung it into the Sea. What fires they kindled here in Queen Maries dayes, devouring ſix or ſeven hundred at leaſt of Gods faithfull witneſſes in five yeers ſpace: And what work they made in our remembrance thorowout the three Kingdoms, to the imbroyling of all, and their own utter ruine, I need not relate. That renowned Authour afore-cited, had told them time enought,L. Brooks diſcourſe of Epiſcop. 39. (but that they were deſtined to deſtruction) that if they forbare to touch the ſupreme Authority of the Land, which they affected, it was but as once Mercury ſpared Jupiters thunderbolts, which he durſt not ſteal, leſt they ſhould roar too loud, or, at leaſt, burn his fingers.

The land is as the garden of Eden,] i. e. of all kinde of pleaſures and delights.Eden inde, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. See Gen. 2.8. and 13.10. Strabo ſpeaks ſpitefully of the land of Canaan, as if it were a dry, ſtony, and barren countrey, not worth the ſeeking after. Rabſhaketh ſhews more ingenuity then this, Strabus & pravus Strabo (as one therefore calleth him) 2 King. 18.32. Tacitus commends it for a fertile ſoil: ſo doth Pliny: but above all, the holy Scripture ſetteth it forth to be Sumen totius orbis, Heidfeld. a land flowing with milk and honey, &c. Exod. 3.15. Deut. 32.13.

and behind them a deſolate wilderneſſe.] Not ſuch a wilderneſſe as yeelded paſtures, and habitations for ſhepherds, chap. 1.19, 20. but utterly deſolate, and therefore unhabitable, as under the Torrid Zone. No place can be ſo pleaſant, but ſinne can lay it waſte. A fruitfull land turneth the Lord into barrenneſſe, for the wickedneſſe of them that dwell therein. Pſal. 107.34. There is no foot-ſtep left at this day of that gallant Garden, planted by God himſelf: or if any, cecidit roſa, ſit ſpina; the place remains in the upper part of Chaldea, but not the pleaſantneſſe of the place. The like we may ſay of Sodom, of Jeruſalem, of Greece, of Aſia the leſſe, of Germany, Ireland, &c. England hath hitherto ſubſiſted meerly by a miracle of Gods mercy, and by a prop of his extraordinary patience: The Lord continue it to the glory of his Name, and the good of his poor people. Fiat, fiat.