Those may be said to flatter their neighbours who commend and applaud
that good in them (the good they do or the good they have) which really
either is not or is not such as they represent it, and who profess that
esteem and that affection for them which really they have not; these
spread a net for their feet. 1. For their neighbours' feet, whom they
flatter. They have an ill design in it; they would not praise them as
they do but that they hope to make an advantage of them; and it is
therefore wisdom to suspect those who flatter us, that they are
secretly laying a snare for us, and to stand on our guard accordingly.
Or it has an ill effect on those who are flattered; it puffs them up
with pride, and makes them conceited and confident of themselves, and
so proves a net that entangles them in sin. 2. For their own feet; so
some understand it. He that flatters others, in expectation that they
will return his compliments and flatter him, does but make himself
ridiculous and odious even to those he flatters.