The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

64 SERMON S^wifdom, his eloquence, his virtue, are extolled aboveall meafure ; every one about court lirives to exceedanother in this fpecies of adulation ; and every oneexped:Sj for his pains, a place or a penfion under thenew government. Thefe flatterers are the moft dangerousenemies of princes. Thus James I. was, onhis accefiion to the tlircne of England, fo extravagantlyflattered, tiiat, though at fnil he perceived histlanger from the fweetnefs of a potion fo copiouflyadminiilercd to him, and had the fenfe to declare," that thefe flatterers would fpoil even a good king,"yet his fenfe was more and more damaged by conftantlyreceiving and fwallowing a draught fo deHghtfuland fo ftupifying-, fo that he wondered at hii o-vrhability, or king-craft, as he called it, and vainly boaftedthat he hnu managed the aifairs of England inxiic iail years of Queen Elizabeth ; though it is wellknown, that for many years he and his minifters inScotland were, like children in leading-firings, guidedin every material rtep by that immortal princefs.Thus, when James IL came to the throne, his dignityand high fpiiit were loudly praifed. The flatteringcourtiers boaftcd, that he* would not, like Charles^dcbafc himfelf to be a penfioner of France, thoughthe French king, they fay, declared that James wasas willing to receive his money as his brother Charleshad been. And thus alfo, when Anne fucceeded theilluftrious William III. {he was flattered by a parliamentaryaddrefs, that, by her capacity, fhc would re^trieve the honour of the nation. And I niake nodoubt, but the Jewilh counfellors talked in the fameflyle with refpeft to Rehoboam: They flattered him,and taught him to think himfelf, in every refpedt, farfuperior to Solomon, his father. They are calledyoung men-, Rehoboam himfelf was not young; " hewas forty and one years old when he began to reign.'*The counfellors, who had been at fchool with him,were not very young in point of age *, but they were