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Mic_2:11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, [saying], I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
Ver. 11. If a man, walking in the spirit, &c.] Si vir ventosus, so Junius rendereth it, if a windy and false man lie, saying, &c. Let a man but feed them with vain hopes and frothy fancies; let him but make fair weather before them when the storm of God’s wrath is ready to break out upon them; let him promise them plenty of all things, and prophesy to them of wine and strong drink, as the Popish priests in Gerson’s time publicly preached to the people, that if any one would hear a mass he should not on that day be struck blind, nor die suddenly, nor want sufficient sustenance, &c. These call themselves the spirituality, or men of the Spirit (as Hosea hath it), as if all others to them were carnal, and destitute of the Spirit. They also, after the manner of those false prophets of old, take to themselves big swollen titles, and as they increase in their pretended holiness, so they proceed in their titles from Padre benedicto to Padre Angels, then Archangels, Cherubino, and lastly Serephino, which is the top of perfection. But what is all this more than a light flask, or a pillar of smoke, which the higher it mounteth the sooner it vanisheth? And what are all such vain boasters but gloriae animalia, popularis aurae mancipia vilia, animals of reknown, cheap slaves of the breeze of popularity, as Jerome calls Crates the philosopher? may it not fitly be said of them, as Hos_9:7, "The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad," and as Eze_13:3. Surely these are "foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing. O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts," &c. "A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?" Jer_5:31. All will be naught, no doubt. There is not a more dangerous creature than a parasitical prophet. Ezekiel calleth them the devil’s dirt daubers, Eze_13:10, his upholsterers, for they sew pillows, &c. And these are prophets for this people, fit lettuce for such lips, dignum patella operculum, a singular plague of God upon the men of this world, who deserve to be deceived; for what reason? they have desired it, and it best pleaseth their vitiated palates. Most people, having first flattered themselves, are well content to be soothed up by others; and I cannot but accord him that saith, If there were judges ordained for flattery they would have no doings, there being so very few that will complain that they are flattered.