thou say unto them, _My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins. And now, whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips: but I will chastise you with scorpions._ So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, come to me again the third day. And the king _answered the people roughly_, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him: And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, _My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke; my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions._ Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; _for the cause was from the Lord_, that he might perform his saying which the Lord spake by Ahijah, the Shilonite, unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.’ [We here see pretty plainly how the principle of ‘a true theocracy’ qualified the doctrine of _Jus Divinum_ among the Jews; but let us mark the sequel.] ‘_So when all Israel saw that the King hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David: neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents._ Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones that he died; therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel.’ Here is the doctrine and practice of divine right, with a vengeance. We do not wonder Mr. Coleridge was shy of instances from his Statesman’s Manual, as the rest are like this. He does not say (neither shall we, for we are not salamanders any more than he, _to tread on glowing embers_) whether he approves of the conduct of all Israel in this case, or of the _grand_, _magnificent_, _and gracious_ answer of the son of Solomon; but this we will say, that his bringing or alluding to a passage like this immediately after his _inuendo_ (addressed to the higher classes) that the doctrine of divine right is contained _par excellence_ in the Scriptures alone, is we should suppose, an instance of a power of voluntary self-delusion, and of a delight in exercising it on the most ticklish topics, greater than ever was or ever will be possessed by any other individual that ever did or ever will live upon the face of the earth. ‘Imposture, organised into a comprehensive and self-consistent whole, forms a world of its own, in which inversion becomes the order of nature.’ Compared with such powers of inconceivable mental refinement, hypocrisy is a great baby, a shallow dolt, a gross dunce, a clumsy devil!