And Hazael said, But what, [is] thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD hath shewed me that thou [shalt be] king over Syria.
Ver. 13. But what, is thy servant a dog?] Curst and cruel, so as to tear men's entrails, and to devour them. Hazael could not imagine himself so bad as he proved to be. Little did Bonner think when he was Cromwell's favourite, and preferred by him, that he should ever have been so bloody a butcher, the common cut-throat, and general slaughter-slave to all the bishops of England, as a certain unknown good woman called him in her letter to him. When he was newly made Bishop of London, he thus spake to Grafton the stationer: Before God, the greatest fault that I ever found in Stokesly, my predecessor, was for vexing and troubling poor men - as Lobley, the bookbinder, and others - for having the Scriptures in English; and, God willing, he did not so much hinder it, but I will as much further it, &c. a
That thou shalt be king over Syria.] And shalt exercise thy power to the vexation and vastation of my people. Honours change men's manners; but seldom for the better.
a Act. and Mon., 1087.