46. Here the ground of their sin is finely deciphered and laid out in its colours, wherein their cry was come before God; as, namely, uncleanness, lasciviousness, tyranny, self-willed perverseness; and the greatest of all was the contempt of God; for Lot had told them of the punishment which God would bring upon them. And then they said, Thou art the only stranger among us, and wilt go about to rule and judge us, we will yet plague thee worse than those; to signify, that God had before sent them warning by the messengers of his mouth, and that they had only plagued and contemned them. Therefore they said also to Lot, Wilt thou govern us with thy threatenings, and contemn and nullify our works, we will serve thee worse than them.
47. For when they understood that men [of God] were come in unto Lot, who threatened them with ruin and destruction, they made an uproar against them, and would kill them. As the mad blind world has always done, when God has sent them messengers, who have rebuked and reproved them; then the Babylonical whore has cried out, Run, run, there is a new heresy, which would teach us other doctrine, and reprove our way which we go in.
48. Thus it was here: the self-full rebellious devil's will, in his Serpent's ens, would be uncontrollable, unreprovable; and seeing these men were come, they cried out, Mordio [murder] and said there were false prophets and teachers come, to rebuke and contemn them, as the Babylonical whore has always done; for she will not hear what the Lord speaks through his children; but that alone must be accounted sacred, which she speaks from the Serpent's ens.
49. This whore has covered herself with the literal word, and gives forth herself for holy, and boasts much in a strange attire;
but her heart is only Sodom and Gomorrah. When she sees these two angels come from Abraham, that is, from Christ, to her in her Sodom and Gomorrah, and lay open her shame, then she makes the whole city of an uproar, with a cry of murder; so that all people, young and old, come running together, and think that there is some strange wonderful beast arrived.
50. And when they can perceive no new strange thing in God's messengers, and hear that they do only teach and reprove, then they think, O! our minister and pastor calls him a new upstart, a heretic and false prophet, there is a fool [and a frantic fellow, sure enough he is worse than out of his wits]; and they begin to wonder at him [like birds] at an owl, and assault him, and his house, his wife, and his children, with scorn, reproach, and contempt, as the Sodomites did Lot; every one thinks, that he does well if he can but jeer and revile these messengers.
51. And although he knows no other ground or reason [in the world], but only that the high priest 1 (who has put on the whore of Babylon) doth set him at nought; yet he is very raging mad, and suffers a false wind (viz. the spirit of the Babylonish whore) to drive him, and raves in misunderstanding, as here the Sodomites did, two men which were come in unto him; that they might know them, that they might plague them, scorn, revile and reproach them. For thus the anger of God does drive itself into a fire, for its own enkindling. And thus nlade also must the people be, when the punishment shall come, that they must all make up the measure of their iniquities.
1 Or, some noted minister.
46. Here the ground of their sin is finely deciphered and laid out in its colours, wherein their cry was come before God; as, namely, uncleanness, lasciviousness, tyranny, self-willed perverseness; and the greatest of all was the contempt of God; for Lot had told them of the punishment which God would bring upon them. And then they said, You are the only stranger among us, and will go about to rule and judge us, we will yet plague you worse than those; to signify, that God had before sent them warning by the messengers of his mouth, and that they had only plagued and contemned them. Therefore they said also to Lot, Wilt you govern us with your threatenings, and contemn and nullify our works, we will serve you worse than them.
47. For when they understood that men [of God] were come in unto Lot, who threatened them with ruin and destruction, they made an uproar against them, and would kill them. As the mad blind world has always done, when God has sent them messengers, who have rebuked and reproved them; then the Babylonical whore has cried out, Run, run, there is a new heresy, which would teach us other doctrine, and reprove our way which we go in.
48. Thus it was here: the self-full rebellious devil's will, in his Serpent's ens, would be uncontrollable, unreprovable; and seeing these men were come, they cried out, Mordio [murder] and said there were false prophets and teachers come, to rebuke and contemn them, as the Babylonical whore has always done; for she will not hear what the Lord speaks through his children; but that alone must be accounted sacred, which she speaks from the Serpent's ens.
49. This whore has covered herself with the literal word, and gives forth herself for holy, and boasts much in a strange attire;
but her heart is only Sodom and Gomorrah. When she sees these two angels come from Abraham, that is, from Christ, to her in her Sodom and Gomorrah, and lay open her shame, then she makes the whole city of an uproar, with a cry of murder; so that all people, young and old, come running together, and think that there is some strange wonderful beast arrived.
50. And when they can perceive no new strange thing in God's messengers, and hear that they do only teach and reprove, then they think, O! our minister and pastor calls him a new upstart, a heretic and false prophet, there is a fool [and a frantic fellow, sure enough he is worse than out of his wits]; and they begin to wonder at him [like birds] at an owl, and assault him, and his house, his wife, and his children, with scorn, reproach, and contempt, as the Sodomites did Lot; every one thinks, that he does well if he can but jeer and revile these messengers.
51. And although he knows no other ground or reason [in the world], but only that the high priest 1 (who has put on the whore of Babylon) does set him at nought; yet he is very raging mad, and suffers a false wind (viz. the spirit of the Babylonish whore) to drive him, and raves in misunderstanding, as here the Sodomites did, two men which were come in unto him; that they might know them, that they might plague them, scorn, revile and reproach them. For thus the anger of God does drive itself into a fire, for its own enkindling. And thus nlade also must the people be, when the punishment shall come, that they must all make up the measure of their iniquities.
1 Or, some noted minister.
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