Confider this ye Rich and Great Men, who are. fo apt to forget God, and a Future Judgment: Riches profit not in the Day of Wrath, they cannot bribe God as they do Men, no Power can prevail against the Almighty; proud and fwelling Titles are meer empty Bubbles, which burft and vanish into nothing in the next World: Men ye are, and ye fhall die like Men, and fhall be judged like Men, and have much more reafon to think of Judgment than other Men have, for ye have a greater Account to give, and are in more danger of giving a very bad Account if you do not frequently and feriously think of Judgment !

What a mighty Truft, and a mighty Temptation are Riches, and Honour, and Power! How much good, and how much hurt, may fuch Men do in the World! And what a formidable thing is it to give an account of all the Good that we might and ought to have done, and have not, and of all the Evil we have done by the abufe of thofe Bleffings of Heaven, which we were entrusted with to do good.

Honour and Power always carry fome great Duties with them; they are not meerly intended to fet fome Men above others, to command the Cap and the Knee, and external Refpects, but they are for the good Order and Government of the World, to fupprefs and punish Wickedness, and to protect and encourage Innocence and Vertue; fuch Men are like the great Lights of Heaven, to direct and cherish the World with their Light and Influence; their Examples are visible and confpicuous, and carry great Authority with them; and if their

T 4

Motions

Motions be irregular and exorbitant, it proves as fatal as for the Sun to forfake the Eclyptick, and wander into unknown Regions of the Heaven, which would confound Summer and Winter, Night and Day, and bring the utmoft Disorder upon Humane Affairs: When Princes and Great Men, who fhould fupport Religion, and punish Wickednefs, are the Patrons of Atheifm, Profaneness, and Immorality, and give Countenance and Reputation to it by their Examples, what Multitudes of Converts do they make! How does it give the Reins to Mens ungoverned Lufts, when the Reftraints of Fear and Shame are gone! How does it corrupt even vertuous and well-difpofed minds, when it is a fashionable thing to be wicked, when it qualifies them for Preferments, and makes them fit for the best Company; while Vertue and Modesty is the common Subject of Drollery and Ridicule: When those who fhould adminifter Juftice to the World, opprefs the Poor and Fatherlefs, and accept the Perfons of the Rich; when they pervert Judgment for a Res ward, and enrich themselves with Bribes: Such an Abuse of Power will have a very heavy Account: What a dreadful thing will it be, when you come to Judgment, to be purfued with the Cries of Widows and Orphans, of ruined Families, and which is more dreadful yet, with the Curfes and Execrations of murdered Souls!

The like may be faid of Riches, which is but a Stewardship, and we must give an account of it: And if inftead of improving a plentiful Fortune to do Good to the World, we

spend

fpend it upon our Lufts, and make our felves Beafts; if with the Rich Man in the Gofpel, we fare deliciously every day, and fuffer the Poor and Miferable to ftarve at our Doors, we must expect to hear what Abraham said to him, Son, remember thou hadst thy good things in thy life-time, and Lazarus his evil things, therefore now thou art tormented and he is comforted.

To whom much is given, of them shall be much required: Our Account increases as our Riches, and Honour, and Power does; for the more Opportunities we have of doing good, the more is expected from us; and the more we have experienced the Divine Bounty and Goodnefs, the greater Returns we owe of Duty and Gratitude; and therefore Rich and Great and Powerful Men, have more reason to think of Judgment, than other Men, because they have a greater Account to give; and yet there is a greater reason than this too, that nothing but the frequent and ferious Thoughts of Judgment will enable them to make a good Ac

count.

Our Saviour tells us how hard it is for a rich man to enter into heaven; as hard as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle For how irrefiftible are the Temptations of Riches and Power? Which take off all the Reftraints of Fear and Shame, and furnish them with all the Inftruments and Opportunities of gratifying their Lufts.

How hard it is for Men to bear Greatness without Pride and Infolence? To be Rich without being covetous or luxurious? To be devout Worshippers of GOD, when they themselves

are

are adored and flattered by Men? There are very few Examples of Humility, Piety, and Devotion, Temperance and Chastity in an exalted Fortune. Profperity is generally a greater Tryal of a fteddy and confirmed Vertue, than Adverfity is; for it scatters our Thoughts, makes our Spirits aery and volatile, gives new Charms to the World, and kindles new Fires within; it leads us through all the various Scenes of Pleafures, and keeps up and tempts our Appetite with Varieties and fresh Delights, and entertains us fo much abroad, that we can feldom retire into our felves, and converfe with our own thoughts.

But would fuch Men seriously think of Judgment, it would teach them another ufe of Riches and Power; it would mind them that they are but Men, as other Men are, all alike to God, and that they fhall be judged alike; that their Riches and Power, which diftinguishes them from other Men, is not their own, but they are entrusted with it by God, not to domineer over their fellow-Creatures; not to eat and drink and be drunken, and to fmite their fellow-fervants, but to relieve the Poor, to defend the Injured and Oppreffed, to be Eyes to the Blind, and Feet to the Lame, a Father to the Fatherless, and a Husband to the Widows: This is the Honour God has conferred on them, that he has made them his Minifters and Stewards, Tutelar Angels, and even Gods to Men; and the way to be truly Great, is to improve their Power and Riches, to make themselves very useful to the World: To have Power and Riches is not to be great, but to do a great

deal

deal of good with them; this fets them above other Men, and will prepare glorious Rewards for them: But if Power and Riches make them only more wicked than their Neighbours, all that they will get by it will be a hotter Hell.

2dly. Those who are very Poor and Calamitous, are very apt to forget a Future Judgment, or think themselves unconcerned in it: They are too little for Judgment, as the others were too great; what fhould God judge them for whom he has entrufted with little or nothing but their Skins. Who can fpare no time to worship God, for all the time they have is little enough to get Bread in; Who cannot be blamed, if when they can get a little Drink they drink away Sorrow, and forget their Wants and Miseries for fome few Moments; or if they pilfer and steal or lye to get Bread, Neceffity has no Law, and makes fuch Actions innocent in them, as are great Crimes in other Men: By fuch kind of Excufes as these, poor Men excufe away all concernment about Religion; Religion is above them; rich and happy People may be at leasure for it, but they have enough to do to live; the Church-door they like very well, where devout and charitable People drop their Alms, but the infide of the Church does not belong to them, and they have nothing to do there. And thus it is proportionably in lefs degrees of Poverty; every Condition of Life which may be called Poor, is apt to tempt Men to be careless of Religion, and unmindful of a Future Judgment.

Now