John Trapp on Proverbs 17:12

Verſ. 12. Let a Bear robbed of her Whelps meet a man] A Bear is a fierce and fell creature, the Shee-bear eſpecially, as Ariſtotle noteth, but moſt of all when robbed of her Whelps, which ſhee licketh into form, and loveth without meaſure. To meet her in this rage is to meet death in the face, and yet that danger may bee ſooner ſhifted and ſhunned, than a furious fool ſet upon miſchief: Such were the primitive Perſecutors, not ſparing thoſe Chriſtians whom Bears and Lions would not meddle with. Such an one was our bloody Bonner, Act. & Mon. who in five years ſpace took and roaſted three hundred Martyrs, moſt of them within his own Walk and Dioceſs. Such another was that mercileſs Minerius, one of the Popes Captains,Ibid. who deſtroyed two and twenty Towns of the innocent Merindelians in France, together with the inhabitants; and being intreated for ſome few of them that eſcaped in their ſhirts to cover their nakedneſs, hee ſternly anſwered, that hee knew what hee had to do, and that not one of them ſhould eſcape his hands, but hee would ſend them to hell to dwell among Devils.