x Ye mighty ones, ye Men of War, Executioners of Divine Ven- geance, » Begin to reap, cut down Sinners ripe for Judgment, let Tiglath Pileſer and his Souldiers cut down Syria and its King Rezir, 2 Kings 15. for their Violence againſt my People. Let Cyaxares and his Armies begin to cut down 4jj1i4 with Nineveh and its King, for their Sins are ripe to Judgment. Let Nebuchadnezzar put in the Sic- kle and cut down Moab, Ammon, Mount Setr, Egypr, Tyre, Zidon and the Philiſtines ; after this let Cyrus reap down the ripened Babylonians, and Alexander with his mighty ones reap down Medes and Perſkans,and? let divided Grecian Captains cut down one another, till the Romans cut: them down. And when this is done, God will have mighty ones {till to cut down his Enemies Perſecutors of his Church, when the Harveſt is fully ripe, and till the final and univerſal Judgment wherein alt Gods Enemies ſhall for ever be defiroyed. # The Sins of thoſe ſeve- ral Nations are fully ripe. 4 In another Metaphor the Prophet de- clares the cutting off the Churches Enemies. b As the Grape-gather- er cuts off the Buncizes, and hrings them into the Preſs till it be full, and then they are trod ; {o here the Enemies of God's People ripe in Sin, and brought together to be puniſh'd, are to be troden in the Wine-Preſs of God's Diſpleaſure. c A mighty Execution is made, and the Blood of flaughter'd Men runs as Wine preſs'd out in greater a- bundance than the Fats can hold from the Preſs; verified in the Slaugh- ter made at the Overthrow of the Kingdoms here intended. d The Vi- olence, and all manner of Sins of theſe Kingdoms is grown exceeding great,
f: for the day of the LORD g & near þ in the valley of a jon; or
deciſion, 8,
e Whether Predifion or Exclamation with Wonder; *tis doubled ta intimate the mighty numerous Armies contending one againſt ano- ther, and threſhing each other, overthrowing numberleſs Men be- tween the Conquered and Conqueror ; ſo each Kingdom was over- thrown ſucceſſively. The Afyrian overthrown by Arbaces and Pul-belg. chus, conſpiring againſt Sardanapalus, where the Multitudes were ſo great, that the Blood of the Slain is by Diodorus Siculus reported to have colour*'d the Water of a River, and the Number of the Conſpi- rators Army before Nizeveh is faid to be four hundred thoufand. Af- ter this we meet Sexacheri5*s mighty Hoſts againſt E; ypt and the Phi- liſtines, to neither of which could he march but either through part of Fudea, or very near to it; and after this he hath 185 Thouſand flain in one Night before Jeruſalem, betide Nechs's Army marching toward Carchemiſh, and Nebuchadnezzar's Army in purſuit of the routed Egypri- an ; and the Armies of Alexarder 'M. and atter theſe the Armies of the Seleuct4 and the Lagi/z. f Where God having by wiſe Providence gather*d them, did by juft Determination of the Viftory decide their Quarrels, and by the Conqueror puniſh*d the Conquered for their Sins againſt God and his People. g The Day of Vengeance and righteous Recompences upon Enemies. + If it begin in the Puniſhment of Nine- veb and the 4fjyrian Kingdom, by the cutting off Senacherib's Army,
+ amſtrong h,
ke. © Here is a Prediftion of War, and ſuch as ſhould continue, with ſome Intermiſſions, through many Years, as on the contrary when words are to be beaten ir.to Plow-ſhares, and Spears into Pruning- 7 hooks; it was a Prediction of Peace, J/a. 2. 4. lay aſide your Husban- - dry in ploughing and ſowing: f And let Gardiners, Vine-drefſers, | and Planters, think of getting Spears inftead of Pruning-hooks. g | Either of Body, through Sickneſs or Natural Weaknels, or elſe weak of Mind, fearful and cowardly. þ Put on Strength and Valour,
4
| SCAT than he hath, let none be abſent from this War. |
[ !1 Aſſemble your ſelves h, and come all z ye heathen, and gather your ſelves together round k about : thi-
ther 1 || cauſe thy mighty ones to come down #2, O
! ORD 7.
, b The War proclaimed, ver. 9g. Proviſion made, ver. 10. now ha- to the general Rendezvouz, embody your ſelves as you march,
moſt Latitude, but all that are here concerned. & All round about **and Jeruſalem, the Church and Heritage of God. m Direct and
"lp there; let all thy mighty ones, whether Enemies of thy Church
W
n, 6 id Meges puniſhed Sabylon, Alexander punithed the Perfians, and the di- [5 «cd Captains Succefſors plagued one another wichWars within ighr,
a "umlelf and God's People,intimating that all theſe mighty ones are un- be ToolsConduttand he is in the midſt of them to fave his ownPeople. 07 7
7 '2 1ct the heathen p be wakened 9, and come upr to
Vol. IT,
Julea, the Natioas near about this Valley of Vition. / Toward Fu- his People t, and the ſtrengrh u of the children of Ifrael . * Hag, 2.
lead them by thy Provi ey may pitch their Teats, or en- | midft of his Church. Stn nye > oonactgget Gere Mi ; ( Mer of War, and commands them fo march out agaiait his and his Shoe | aihered againſt it, or Friends of thy Church, and gathered for its | Church-s Enemies, he will ftrike the Enemy with Affoniſhment and. as cence, let them all here encamp z or all thoſe mighty Warriours | Fear, as the roaring of the Lion doth aſtoniſh the weaker Beaſts of , /* »
ich thou wilt make uſe of ſucceſively to puniſh the proud Oppret- | the Forreſt, Fear ſhail ſurpriſe them whenGod ſhall tpeak againtt them. NS of thy Church ; ſo the Cha/deans puniſld Aſſyria, Perſians and | # The Place where Godc' oolcth to dwell, Emblem of his Church, and M c " of the Kingdom of Chiift. m In Wrath and Tndignation againft rhoie he will aettroy, becauſe they have deſtroyed his Church. 7 Typical, ſo (%>"Twere of Feruſalem and Judab). n With wiich the Prophet comtorts | Gol roar'd and uttered his Voice againtt Sera:herih 2 Myſtical, ſo he of hath often already, and till will tartaer difcover his Diſpleaſtre a- gain his Enemies; and he will, as one who dwells in a | lace for the Defcnce of it, rebuke and cl eck thoſe who afult ir ; fo Gcd dwells in
*twas in Foel's time not above ſixty four Years, ſuppoſing Foel prophe- fied in Feroboam the ſecond's time, and probably not quite twenty Years to this Day of the Lord, if Foe! propheſied this in X#ezetiab's time, or after the captivating of the ten Tribes by Shalmaneſer, which was An. M. 3283. and Senacherib's Overthrow was 3294, eleven Years after the Deportation. As the DD. Archbiſhop Uſher in his Annals.
15 The Sun and the Moon ſhall be darkned, and ths