I shall only crave your farther Patience, while I apply what has been said in two short moral Reflections, both which I shall take from the concluding Prayer in the Service for the Day, where we beseech God, _that neither the splendor of any thing that is great, nor the Conceit of any thing that is good in us, may any ways withdraw our Eyes from looking on our selves as sinful Dust and Ashes_. 1. Then, from the tragical Event of this Day, we may observe the _Uncertainty_ of all _Human State and Grandeur_. Of how short Continuance, and consequently of how little Value is the most glittering Pomp, that attracts our vain Eyes, and strikes us with Admiration! Of how slippery a Tenure must _lesser_ Dignities and Honours be, if _Majesty_ it self be so insecure! How little is the Condition of Princes to be envied, who have often Occasion to envy the Quiet and Repose of the meanest of their Subjects, who can Sleep securely, whilst _they_ are waking and caring for 'em! They are equally expos'd to Pain and Sickness, to Infirmity and Diseases; they lye as open to a natural, and much _more_ open to a violent Death. _Plots_ and _Conspiracies_, _Assassinations_ and _Poysonings_ are Accidents peculiar to the _Royal List_ of Mortality, and seldom bring a Subject to his End. Nor is the _Fame_ of Princes less liable to Injury, than their _Persons_. Calumny dares even assault the _Throne_, and fears not to trample on _Regal Sepulchers_. There is none so great and inaccessible, as to be out of the Reach of that intruding Monster; who will blacken and sully the clearest Fame, turn the brightest Ornaments and Beauties into Deformities, detract from the most Heroical and Princely Vertues, and transform, to the Appearance of such as see by her Glass, a good _Josiah_ into a wicked _Jeroboam_. And as the most conspicuous _Greatness_ is no Preservative against the common Calamities of the World, so neither 2. Is the most eminent _Goodness_. Tryals and Afflictions are the common Lot of Mortality, and every Man, more or less must sustain his Share of 'em. In this, the Righteous and Wicked fare alike, nor can a Man judge of Love or Hatred by all that is before him. There are indeed many Passages of Scripture, that encourage a good Man to expect even the Blessings of this Life, and ordinarily Speaking, he does actually enjoy 'em, at least in a contented Mind and quiet Conscience, which comprehends 'em all. But we are to look upon these Passages, as moral Observations, not as absolute Promises: That according to the most rational, most probable, most natural Event, such temporal Blessings would be allotted to good Men, not that each particular good Man should be possess'd of every one of 'em, for that would be in some Measure, to have his Portion here.