Eccl 3:18

“"Then I said to myself concerning men: God has chosen them out, but only to see that they themselves are as beasts." I considered the eloquence of the sons of man, whom God chose. Only this eloquence, he says, God wanted to be between men and beasts, since we speak, they are mute; we possess the will for conversation, they are stupefied with silence. And though we only differ from beasts in language, though it is shown to us, how we are like the beasts - weak in body.”

“I said in my heart concerning the sons of men etc. Here is touched upon thirdly how from this he arrived at a consideration of the present state, namely why the Lord willed men to be miserable in the present: for this purpose, namely that he might prove them, therefore he made the life of man similar to beasts. On account of which he says: I said in my heart, that is, I knew: concerning the sons of men, as regards nature: that God might prove them and show them to be like beasts, that is, by likening them to beasts he might prove who they were, whether truly good or evil: because the evil, seeing their likeness to beasts in life, wish to be assimilated in habits and live bestially: but the good live spiritually: therefore in the Psalm it is said: "Man, when he was in honor, did not understand; he was compared to senseless beasts and was made like them." And he shows the likeness of men to beasts in death and life and in matter: the dissimilarity in spiritual substance is not manifest.”