and condemned together, thofe who tempt, and those who are overcome by Temptations; the Prince of Darkness, and all his Subjects, whether Angels or Men. Hell is the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels, not for Men; but when he has drawn Mankind into the Apoftacy, it is fit they should share in his Punishments too; and when our Lord comes to judge Men who have been feduced and corrupted by Evil Spirits, there is no reason to think that Wicked Spirits fhould efcape, who have feduced and tyrannized over Mankind.

But that which we are at prefent concerned in, is the Judgment of Mankind, That God hath appointed a Day wherein he will judge the World, or the whole Race of Men, as St. John reprefents it, I saw the dead, fmall and great, ftand before God, 20 Revel. 12.

No Man who believes a Future Judgment, makes any doubt of this, but that all fhall be judged. For if any, why not all? We are all alike God's Creatures, we are all equally accountable to him; and tho' we have very different Talents, yet we have all fome Talent or other to improve for our Mafter's Ufe: And therefore I fhall not go about to convince any Man, that he is to be judged as well as the reít of Mankind; but there are fome Perfons who are apt to forget this, who have yet as much occafion to think of a future Judgment, as any other Men, and therefore ought to be minded of it: And they are those who are very Rich and Great, orvery Poor, or in the Vigour and Gayety of Youth.

tune;

1ft. Rich and Great Men, Princes and Potentates, Men of Honour and Fortune, who are exalted above the common Level of Man kind: These muft all be judged as well as the meanest Men, though they are not very apt to think of it: Great Power and great Riches make.them reverenced and adored like fo many Deities in this World; all Men court and flatter them, and make a great diftinction between them and thofe of a meaner Rank and Forand this is apt to fwell their Minds: They look down upon the reft of the World as very much below them; and think they merit much when ever they look up to God: For fuch great Men as they are to worship God, and lift up their Eyes fometimes to Heaven, they imagine is fo great an Honour to God, and credit to Religion, that a very little matter will be accepted from them: They fee Humane Judicatures very often have great refpect for Mens Perfons in Judgment, and they hope God will confider their Quality too, and deal with them like Princes, or Nobles, or Gentlemen; as one unfortunate Gentleman expreffed himfelf not many Years fince at the Gallows; and I fear therein fpoke the fecret Thoughts and Hopes of many others: So that if thefe Men believe they fhall be judged, yet they perfwade themselves, that they fhall not be judged like other Men; that God will wink at their Faults, and have refpect to their Rank and Quality, and excufe them from the strict Obfervation of thofe Laws which were made for meaner Perfons.

I fuppofe you do not expect I fhould gravely and feriously confute fuch vain Conceits as thefe, which few Men dare profefs, and own, and defend, though they fecretly flatter themfelves with fuch Hopes, as is too visible in their lives; but fince Men are apt to think fuch things as they dare not speak, it will be useful' to fuggeft fome wifer Thoughts to them, which may prevent fuch Imaginations, and bring the greatest Men living under the Awe and Terror of the Future Judgment.

For what a vain Imagination is it, That God will have regard to Earthly Greatness in judging the World! For what is this World, and all the Greatness and Glory of it, to him who made it? Great and fmall are but comparative Terms, and nothing is great, when compared with that which is greater: Confider the Glory of our Judge, as I have already represented it to you, when he fhall come attended with Myriads of Angels; and then think what little creeping Worms you are to him: We may ob ferve in this World, that every Rank and Degree of Men appears confiderable to those below them, but thofe above use them as Inferiours, and are not afraid to judge and correct them for their Faults; and is there not a much greater Distance between GOD and the greateft Emperor, than there is between the greatest Emperor and a petty Conftable? Confider the Cafe of the Apoftate Angels, of the Devil himfelf, who is the Prince of the Power of the Air, and was a very glorious Spirit; and if as great and glorious as he was, God flung him down from Heaven for Sin, and as powerful

as

as he now is, who is the God of this World, will judge and condemn him at the laft Day; why should any Man think that his Power and Greatnefs, which be it what it will, can neither be compared to what the Devil was, nor to what he is, fhould excufe him from the Judgment of God?

And fince you boaft of your Power and Greatness, who made you fo? Who made you differ from the meaneft Beggar? Who advances Princes to the Throne, and cloaths them with Glory and Majefty? Is not all power of God? Are they not his Minifters and Servants? And is any Minister too great to be corrected by his Prince, who made him fo? Are not all Minifters accountable to their Lord? And the greater their Truft and Power is, have they not a greater Account to give? and is this a reafon why they fhould give none? Why they should be exempted from Judgment, and from giving an Account ?

But it is a wonderful thing to me, that any Man fhould glory in Power and Greatnefs, or think himself too big to be judged by God, or that God will have any regard to his Greathefs in judging him; for did he but reflect upon his own state and condition in this World, it would convince him what a little inconfiderable Creature he is.

As great as any Man is, he is exposed to every Accident, to all Changes and Viciffitudes of Fortune: God can and very often does punish him in this World, and then there is no reafon to expect that he will not judge him in the next: Pain and Sickness stand in no awe of

his Greatness, and Death is no more afraid of him than of a Beggar: Those who are Gods on earth, muft die like Men; which is the Curfe and Punishment of Sin; and this puts an end to all their Greatnefs; for after a little Funeral Pomp is over, and they are laid in their Graves with a little more Ceremony than Meaner Men, they are forfaken of all their Guards, and Retinue, and Dependants, and are left to be a Prey for Worms: And is this the Creature too great to Reverence and Worship God! and too big to be judged; whom Worms eat, and Beggars walk over his Grave!

This is the weak and frail ftate of the greateft Men on Earth: They go naked and unarmed into another World, ftript of their Power and Fortunes, of Riches and Honours, which dazled the Eyes of Men here; and when they are gone, all Men fpeak their Minds freely of them, judge their Lives and Actions, arraign their Memories, and revenge their Injuries upon their Graves; and when they are become little enough to be judged by Men, furely they are not too big for God's Judgment: Then the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, as well as every bond-man, and every freeman fhall hide themfelves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and fay to the rocks and mountains, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that fitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath * come; and who fhall be able to stand? 16 Revel. 15, 16, 17.

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