CHAP.!. t 2. c_4 Commentarie upon the 250 ching,buc to be (linkingcages,and dens for filthy birds andbeafis,whol- ly befpotted as the leopards, Ier. i ;. z;. fwini/hmen wallowing in the dirt and mireoffinnefull pleafures, and reuolting from euery good way as dagger to their vomits: for fo the Apoflle rearmed fuck Iewes as reuol- Philip.3.s. ted fromChriflianity to circumcifion, Beware ofdogges. 3. Confider them in refpeét oftheir neighbour , no euili beaft is to cruel! and vene- mous as they: in regard ofthe former the Scriptures afcribe theproperty ofthe deuill himfclfe vnto them, calling them rampingand roaringyonr fuch asDauidand Chrifl himfelfe had to doewithal!, Pfalw.zz.t;. fuck a one was Nero whom Paul had todoe withall: a.Tim.4. 57. Goddeliue- redmeant ofthe month ofthe Lyon. And for their fauagenes andgreedines Homo hernial they ate called dogges and wolues: Zeph.3.3. Her Princesare as roaring lupus. yons, and heriudges as wolues in theeuening, which!cane net the bones till the morrow.And for fubtiltie &craft tohurt,chey are rearmed foxes, Luk. i 3. 3 z. tell Herod that foie. In regard ofthe latter, namely their poifon and venome,Chrifl calleth themferpents,andgeneration oftriperr;their tongues are like flings,fharpened again(( goodmen,and thepoifon ofadders and alpes is vnder their lipps, Pfal.r4o.3.hence loth the Lord threaten molt cruell and ineuitable enemies vnder fuch fpeaches,as Ier.8. t 7. Iwillfend ferpents andcockatrices amongyou,»hick(hallnot beecharmed, but theyAga ftingyou. Whereby he would defcribe and fignifie the implacable and virulent malice and rageofthe Chaldeans. Nowman beeing aboue all other bornea fociable creature,and to line in focietie with God and men in the family, Church, and common-wealch,hath by his hoftilitie againfl God, and enmicie againft man, aftera fort put off the nature ofman, and by fuchdegenerating, ofgood right bath loft euen the name of man al- to. Many men fo Dolfr. Whence we !carne, that fuchas are not lead by reafon renew - dcgencratedas chtt they eons ed nor by iudgement rightly enformed by the word of God; but fol- cut them felu;s Lowe their owne hearts lulls for their guide , haue cut themfelues from from the ae. -count amen. the account of men, and as worthily loft thename as the nature of men: for they become beafts in vndertlanding, beafis in fenfualitie, beads in bruitifh praétifes, beafls in Godsaccount, beads in the reputation but ofrefonableand hearhenifh men.The very light ofnature adiudgeth the vnworthy the nameof men, being rather like the piéìures or images of wood or (lone outwardly refembling things, but inwardly wanting chat, which aboue all could make them the things they reprefent. And hence proceeded thofe poetries ofmetamorpholes,not that eitherbeat} s or birds, or trees were changed intomen, or men into thefe, but in that the eie ofnature in thefe men perceiued, that menmore and moredege- nerated from themfelues, and becamedaily neerer thebeafls in proper- ties,
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