John Trapp on Joel 3:10

Verſe 10. Beat your plowſhares into ſwords] Come with the beſt preparation you can make, that ye may ſeeme (as they ſay of a travelling Turk) to be ſo many walking armouries.Voyage into Levant.

let the weak ſay I am ſtrong] Come forth full and whole, yong and old, weak and ſtrong, all that are able to bear armes, without excuſe. It is an ancient cuſtome in Scotland, in caſes of importance, to command the fire-croſſe to be carried, that is, two fire-brands ſet in faſhion of a croſſe, and pitched upon the point of a ſpeare,Life of Ed[illegible: 1 letter]. 6. p. 20. and proclamation is thereupon made that all men above 16 yeares of age, and under 60 ſhall come into the field to oppoſe the enemy. Thoſe were deſperate boyes in Kets conſpiracie, that at the battel nere Norwich pulled the arrowes out of their own fleſh,Ibid. 75. and delivered them to be ſhot againe by the archers on their ſide: and thoſe other wounded and weakned, no leſs deſperately reſolved, who being diſabled almoſt to hold up their weapons,Ibid. 72. would ſtrive what they could to ſtrike their enemies: others being thruſt thorough the body with a ſpeare, would run themſelves further on, to reach thoſe that wounded them deadly. The enemies of the truth will make hard ſhift but they will bear armes againſt Chriſt: and, though feeble,Scito quia ab aſcenſore ſun d[illegible: 1 letter]mone perurgetur Sern. yet will ſay I am ſtrong, a Satana impulſi & armati, ſaith Mercer here, as being pricked on, armed and agitated by the devill, that old manſlayer: according to that of Bernard, Seeſt thou thy perſccutor outragious, marvel not: but know, that the devil rides him, makes him run.