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moft grofs flattery, and palpable untruths;

infomuch

This fermon is a curiofity and deserves to be known, as it gives us a fpecimen of the grofs flattery of those times. His text was 1 Kings xi. 41, 42, and part of 43 verfe. "And the reft of the words of Salomon, and all that he did, and his wifdome, are they not written in the book of the acts of Salomon; and the time that Sa"lomon reigned in Hierufalem over all Ifrael, was forty years. And Salomon flept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father." After having mentioned the text he begins thus: "Most high and mighty, moft honourable, worfhipful and well beloved in our lord, and Saviour Jefus Chrift; it is not I, but this woful accident that chuseth this text." He proceeds then to confider it as applicable to Solomon; and afterwards compares him, and James, firft as it were in one general lump, or mould, fays he, that you may fee by the odd nefs of their propor"tion, how they differ from all kings befides. And "then with a particular examination of the parts of my "text, that you may obferve by the feveral members "how well they refemble the one the other.

"For the bulke or the mould, I dare prefume to fay, "you never read in your lives, of two kings more fully paralleled amongst themfelves, and better diftinguifhed "from all other kings befides themfelves. King Salomon is faid to be unigenitus coram niatre fua, the only fonne of his mother, Prov. 4. 3. So was king James "Salomon was of a complexion white, and ruddy, Can"ticl. v. 10. So was king James. Salomon was an in"fant king, puer parvulus, a little child, 1 Chron. "xxii. 5. fo was king James a king at the age of thir"teen months. Salomon began his reign in the life of "his predeceffor, i Kings i. 32. fo, by the force and "compulfion of that state, did our late foveraigne king James. Salomon was twice crowned, and anoynted a king, 1 Chron. xxix. 22. fo was king James. Sa"lomon's minority was rough through the quarrels of "the former foveraigne; fo was that of king James. "Salomon was learned above all the princes of the caft,

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1 Kings

(a) Great

Britain's Sa

37.

infomuch that instead of celebrating his memory, he has only expofed it.

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-James, by

his

"I Kings iv. 30. fo was king James above all the prin-
66 ces in the universal world. Salomon was a writer in
"profe and verse, 1 Kings iv. 32. fo in a very pure
"and exquifite manner was our fweet foveraigne king
"James. Salomon was the greatest patron we ever
"read of to church and churchmen; and yet no greater
"(let the house of Aaron now confefs) than king
"Fames.
Salomon was honoured with ambaffadors
"from all the kings of the earth, 1 Kings iv. last
"verse; and fo you know was king James. Salomon
"was a main improver of his home commodities, as
66 you may fee in his trading with Hiram, 1 Kings v.
9, and, God knows, it was the daily ftudy of king
James. Salomon was a great maintainer of shipping
"and navigation, 1 Kings x. 14. a moft proper at-
"tribute to king James. Salomon beautified very much
"his capital city, with buildings and water-works, I
"Kings ix. 15. fo did king James. Every man lived
"in peace under his vine, and his fig-tree, in the days
"of Salomon, 1 Kings iv. 25. and fo they did in the
"bleffed days of king James. And yet towards his
"end king Salomon had fecret enemies, Razan, Hadad,
"and Jeroboam, and prepared for a warre upon his
"going to his grave; fo had, and fo did king James.
Laftly, before any hoftile act we read of in the hif-

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tory, king Salomon died in peace, when he had lived "about 60 years, and fo you know did king James." (a)

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One would think this had been enough of all conlomon, P. fcience; but the right reverend preacher proceeds according to the method of his text, "to polish and refine "the members of this ftatue in their divifion, and par"ticular. In his ftile, fays he, you may obferve the "Ecclefiaftes, in his figures the Canticles, in his fen"tences the Proverbs, and in his whole difcourfe, reliઃઃ quum verborum Salomonis, all the reft that was ad"mirable in the eloquence of Salomon.- -From 6

❝ his

his queen, Anne of Denmark, had iffue befides Charles

"his faying I come to his doings. Quæ fecerit, all that "he did. Every action of his facred majefty was a "virtue, and a miracle to exempt him from any pa"rallel amongst the moderne kings and princes. Of "all chriftian kings that ever I read of, he was the most "conftant patron of churches and churchmen.- -[ "will speak it boldly, in the prefence here of God and 66 men, that I believe in my foul and confcience, there "never lived a more conftant, refolute, and fettled "proteftant in point of doctrine than our late foveraigne, Through all Europe no more question was "made of his being juft, than of his being king.-He 66 was refolute enough, and fomewhat too forward in "those unapproachable places (the Highlands) fcatter"ing his enemies as much with his example, as he did "with his forces. Befides these adventures of his per"fon, he was unto his people, to the hour of his death, "another cherubim with a flaming fword, to keep out "enemies from this paradice of ours."

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After flourishing upon his political wisdom and learned works, he goes on to let his hearers know" that as " he lived like a king, so he died like a faint. All his "latter days he spent in prayer, fending his thoughts "before into heaven, to be the harbingers of his happy "foul. Some foure days before his end he defired to re"ceive the bleffed facrament, and faid he was prepared "for it by faith and charitie. He repeated the articles "of the creed, and after the absolution had been read "and pronounced, he received the facrament with "that zeal and devotion, as if he had not been a fraile "man, but a cherubim cloathed with flesh and blood, "he twice, or thrice repeated Domine Jefu, veni cito ; " and after the prayer ufually faid at the hour of death, was ended, his lords and fervants kneeling, without "any pangs or convulfions at all, dormivit Salomon, "Salomon flept. And his foul, adds the good bishop, "" severed from the dregs of the body, doth now enjoy "an eternal dreaming in the prefence of God, environed

66

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" no

73.

Charles who fucceeded him, and Elizabeth,

who

"no more with lords and knights, but with troupes of "angels, and the fouls of the bleffed, called in this "text his fore-runners or fathers; and Salomon flept (b) Great "with his fathers." (b)-This was the character given Britain's Saof fames before thofe who were acquainted well with lomon, p. him: and I believe there is no one, who reads it yet now but will think it fomewhat too panegyrical for the pulpit. But indeed the bishops ftrived (as he had been fo great a friend to churchmen) to outvie each other in praifing him; and confequently we can take no meafures of the truth from their defcriptions. Laud obferves of him, that it was little lefs than a miracle, that fo much sweetness fhould be found in fo great a heart; that clemency, mercy, and juftice, were eminent in him; that he was not only a preferver of peace at home, but the great peace-maker abroad; that he was bountiful, and the greatest patron of the church; that he was the most learned prince in matters of religion, and moft orthodox therein; that he devoutly received the bleffed facrament, and approved of abfolution; that he called for prayers, was full of patience at his death, and had his reft in Abraham's bofom. (c)

(c) See

Rushworth,

Vol. I. p.

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66

Spotfwood determining not to be outdone by Williams and Laud, declares that he was the Salomon of this age, admired for his wife government, and for his "knowledge in all manner of learning. For his wifdom, moderation, love of juftice, for his patience, "and piety (which fhined above all his other virtues, and is witreffed in the learned works he left to pofte"rity) his name fhall never be forgotten, but remain (Church "in honor fo long as the world endureth." (d) Thefe history, p. are the characters given of James by three of the higheft 546. rank in the church; which yet have had the misfortune to be little credited by difinterested pofterity. And (e) Exami- therefore Dr. Grey did not do quite fo right in referring to Spetfwood's character of James, as a vindication of him from what he had been charged with by his adver luze, p. 77. fary. (4) For court-bishops, by fome fate or other,

nation of

Neale's fecond vo

from

T

married Frederick, prince Palatine of the Rhyne,

from the time of Conftantine, down at least to the death
of James, and a little after, have had the characters of
flatterers, panegyrifts, and others of like import; and
therefore are always to have great abatements made in
their accounts of those who have been their benefactors:
it being well known, that such they endeavour to hand
down to pofterity under the notion of faints, as they al-
ways
blacken and defame their adversaries.

21.

I have just observed that difinterested pofterity have given little credit to the panegyrics of the three right reverends: I will give a proof or two of it, and then conclude this note. Burnett tells us, that James 66 was become the fcorn of the age; and while hungry "writers flattered him out of measure at home, he was "defpifed by all abroad as a pedant without true judg"ment, courage, or fteadinefs, fubject to his favou"rites, and delivered up to the counfels, or rather the "corruption of Spain." (f)-Lord Bolingbroke oblerves (f) Burnett, of him," that he had no virtues to fet off, but he had Vol. I. p. "failings and vices to conceal. He could not conceal "the latter; and, void of the former, he could not "compenfate for them. His failings and his vices. "therefore stand in full view, he paffed for a weak ❝ prince and an ill man, and fell into all the contempt "wherein his memory remains to this day.” (g) —— (g) Letters Lord Orrery fays, "the character of queen Elizabeth on patriotism, p.214. " has been exalted by the want of merit in her fuccef"for, from whose misconduct gushed forth that torrent of mifery, which not only bore down his fon, but "overwhelmed the three kingdoms." (h)

and writing

(b) Remarks In the Abbe Raynal's hiftory of the parliament of on the life England, we read that James wanted to be pacific, of Swift, p. "and he was only indolent; wife, and he was only 208. "irrefolute; juft, and he was only timid; moderate, "and he was only foft; good, and he was only weak; ❝a divine, and he was only a fanatic; a philofopher, and he was only extravagant; a doctor, and he was 66 only a pedant. No one ever carried the pretenfions R 4

" of

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