'Justice and Equity do very often lie in the way of a present Interest': a Burnet sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent

From a Sermon preached before the Queen, at Whitehall, on the 11th March, 1694 being the third Sunday in Lent, by Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, on the text I Corinthians 1:26:

If the mighty are prejudiced against Religion, it is by reason of those ill qualities that commonly creep upon the Men of Power. Justice and Equity do very often lie in the way of a present Interest. Impartial Proceedings require Impartial Minds. The thoughts of a Judgment to come, must be very unacceptable to him that perverts Judgment and Justice. He who is not content with what he hath, cannot be easie while he sees that his Neighbour has more than himself: Or that he has that which would very much accommodate himself, and which he might come at, if it were not for such an importunate Rule as is that of doing as one would be done by. He who has been successful in his Injustice and Violence, cannot easily receive a Doctrine which brings him under indispensable Obligations of restoring all that he has unjustly acquired. The Horrors of Guilt, the Tears of the Oppressed, and the cry of Blood that pursues them, would arise too fast, and be heard too sensibly by them, if they admitted such a secret Monitor as true Religion would prove to them. When Felix heard the Doctrines of Temperance, Justice, and a Judgment to come, he trembled indeed, but yet he sent away the Preacher, putting him off to a more convenient time. And whereas no Man is in danger to be much corrupted by the Flatteries of others, till he has accustomed himself to such kind Thoughts of his own supposed Worth, that he easily believes that all others are as favourable to him as he himself is, the severe Reflections that will arise out of this Holy Doctrine will soon take off the Visar, and make him see himself in his own Deformity, and that perhaps in the most odious appearances. In a word, unless this Man of Power and Dominion, can free his Mind from the false Notions he has of his own Glory and Authority, he cannot receive the Christian Religion, but with great aversion, since his Nature and his Habits are so totally opposite to its chief Tendency and Design. Yet this arises not from any Contradiction that it has to the true Ends of Power and Government, as if these were incompatible, but from those ill qualities which do so generally vitiate the Taste, and corrupt the Tempers of the great and mighty Men.