fruit ; it put Absalom upon dethroning of his father ; it put Haman upon plotting the ruin of the Jews ; it put Korah, Dathan, and Abiram upon rebelling against Moses; it makes men call evil good and good evil, darkness light and light darkness, &c. ; it puts persons upon neglecting the means of grace, upon undervaluing the means of grace, and upon contemning the means of grace ; it puts men upon abasing God, slighting Christ, and vexing the Spirit; it unmans a man; it makes him call black white and white black ; it makes a man change pearls for pebbles, and gold for counters; it makes a man judge himself wise when he is foolish; knowing, when he is ignorant ; holy, when he is pro- fane ; free, when he is a prisoner ; rich, when he is poor : high, when he is low ; full, when he is empty ; happy, when he is miserable,1 Rev. iii. 17, 18. Ah! young men, young men, take heed of flatterers; they are the very worst of sinners ; they are left of God, blinded by Satan, hardened in sin, and ripened for hell. God declares sadly against them, and that in his word and in his works : in his word, as you may see by comparing these scriptures together, Deut. xxix. 18-20; Ps. lxxviii. 36, xxxvi. 1, 3 ; Job xvii. 5 ; Ezek. xii. 24 ; Dan. xi. 21, 32, 34*. Ps. xii. 2, 3; ' They speak vanity every one with his neighbour : with flattering lips, and with a double heart, do they speak. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things.'2 And as God declares sadly against them in his word, so he hath declared terribly against them in his works, as you may run and read in his judgments executed upon Ahab's flattering prophets, and upon Haman, and upon Daniel's princely false accusers, &c. And why, then, will not you stop your ears against those wretches, that the hand and heart of God is so much against ?
Again, as God declares against them, so good men detest them and declare against them, as you may see by comparing these scriptures together, Ps. v. 8-10 ; Prov. ii. 16, vii. 21, xxviii. 23 ; Job xxxii. 21, 22; 1 Thes. ii. 5, 10. Prov. xx. 19, 'Meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips/ Why so ? Why ! Because a man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet, Prov. xxix. 5. The Hebrew word Mahhalik, from hhalak, that is here rendered flatterer, signifies a smooth-boots, a soft butter-spoken man, because flatterers use smooth-, soft speeches. Also the word signifies ' to divide/ because a flatterer's tongue is divided from his heart. Flatterers have their nets, and those that give ear to them will be taken to their ruin.3 A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, ' and a flattering mouth worketh ruin,' Prov. xxvi. 28. A flattering mouth ruins name, fame, estate, body, sold, life/
Valerian, the Roman emperor, used to say, Ron acerba, sed blanda, not bitter, but flattering words do all the mischief.
When Alexander the Great was hit with an arrow in the siege of an Indian city, which would not heal, he said to his parasites, You say that I am Jupiter's son, but this wound cries that I am but a man.
1 The flatterers told Dionysius that his spittle was as sweet as honey. 3 Karah signifies any cutting off, either hy death or banishment, &c.
3 A preacher in Constantino's time presumed to call the emperoi saint to his face, hut he went away with a check.— Eu.icb. de vit. Const. 1. 44.
4 The Hebrew word iim. Dahhah, signifies such a violent forcing of one as he cannot stand it, signifies to thruw down, to drive on forwards till a man fall into destruction.
1 Kings XIV. 13.] apples of gold. 229
Now shall good men detest them and abhor them, as they are the pest of pests, the plague of plagues, and will you own them, will you take pleasure in them, to your ruin here and hereafter ? The Lord forbid ! Oh say to all flatterers, as he to his idols, ' Get you hence, for what have I more to do with you ?' Hosea xiv. 8.
Nay, once more consider, that not only the good, but the bad, not only the best, but some of the worst of men, have manifested their detestation of flatterers and flattery.
Leo the emperor used to say, Occulti inimici pessimi, a close enemy is far worse than an open. When a court parasite praised Sigismund the emperor above measure, the emperor gave him a sound box on the ear.
When Aristobulus the historian presented to Alexander, the great book that he had written of his glorious acts, wherein he had flatter- ingly made him greater than he was, Alexander, after he had read the book, threw it into the river Hydaspes, and said to the author, It were a good deed to throw thee after it.
When the flatterers flattered Antigonus, he cried out, Mentiris, mentiris in gutture, hce virtutes non latent in me, thou liest, thou liest in thy throat ; these virtues that thou speakest of I have not in me, but I am like a leopard, that have ten black spots to one white.
Augustus Caesar and Tiberius Caesar were deadly enemies to flat- terers, insomuch that they would not be called lords by their own children.
A good symbol is attributed to Trebonianus Gallus,1 viz. Nemo ami- cus idem et adulator, no flatterer can be a true friend.
Aristippus, the philosopher, seeing Diogenes washing of herbs for his dinner, said, If Diogenes knew how to make use of kings, he need not live upon raw herbs, as he doth ; to which Diogenes replied, that if Aristippus could content himself with herbs, he need not to turn spaniel, or to flatter king Dionysius for a meal's meat.
Ah ! young men, young men, shall God, shall good men, shall bad men, detest and declare against flatterers and flattery, and will not you turn a deaf ear upon them, yea, fly from them as from a serpent, and shun them as you would shun hell itself? If you do not, the very heathens but now cited will rise in judgment against you.
Flatterers are the very worst of sinners. The flatterers told Caesar, that his freckles in his face were like the stars in the firmament ; they bought and sold Aurelius the emperor at pleasure. And Augustus complained, when Varrus was dead, that he had none now left that would deal plainly and faithfully with him.
So men may gain by flattery ; they will be like Harpalus, who said, Quod regi placet, mihi placet, that which pleaseth the king pleaseth me, when Astyages set his own son before him to feed upon him.
Oh ! but let every young man say, into whose hands this treatise shall fall, Quod Deo placet, mihi placet, that which pleaseth God pleaseth me.
I have been the longer upon this, out of love to young men's souls, who are so apt to be ensnared in the flatterer's net. If ever you would be good in good earnest, you must abhor flatterers as the first-born of 1 Roman emperor, a-d. 251-254 — G.
230 APPLES OF GOLD. [1 KlNGS XIV. 13.
t!ic devil, and as such as are most pernicious to men's happiness both here and hereafter.1