writing upon the wall, will be enough to spoil and difrelish the feaft ;-but much more fo, when the tumult and hurry of delight is over-when all is ftill and filent, when the finner has nothing to do but attend its lashes and remorfes ;-and this, in fpite of all the common arts of diverfion, will be often the cafe of every wicked man ;-for we cannot live always upon the stretch;-our faculties will not bear conftant pleasure, any more than conftant pain ;there will be fome vacancies; and when there are, they will be sure to be filled with uncomfortable thoughts and black reflections. So that, fetting afide the great after-reckoning, the pleasures of the wicked are over-bought, even in this world. I conclude with one obfervation of this argument, which is this— Notwithstanding the great force with which it has often been urged by good writers, there are many cases which it may not reach,-wherein vitious men may feem to enjoy their portion of this life, and live as happy, and fall into as few troubles as other men and therefore, it is prudent not to lay more ftrefs upon this argument than it will bear :—but always remember to call in to our aid, that great and more unanswerable argument, which will anfwer the most doubtful cafes which can be ftated, and that is, the certainty of a future life, which Chriftianity has brought to light. However men may differ in their opinions of the usefulness of virtue for our prefent purposes,--no one was ever fo abfurd as to deny it ferved our beft and laft intereft,-when the little. interefts of this life were at an end-upon which confideration we fhould always lay the great weight which it is fitteft to bear, as the ftrongeft appeal, and most unchangeable motive that can govern our actions at all times. However, as every good argument on the fide of religion fhould, in proper times, be, made ufe of,-it is fit fometimes to examine this, -by proving, virtue is not even deftitute of a prefent reward, but carries in her hand a fufficient recompence for all the felf-denials fhe may occafion :-fhe is pleasant in the way-as well as in the end;-her ways being ways of pleasantnefs, and all her paths peace. But it is her greatest and most distinguished glory, that the befriends us hereafter, and brings us peace at the laft ;-and this is a portion fhe can never be difinherited of-which may GOD of his mercy grant us all, for the fake of JESUS CHRIST. - SERMON XXIX. Our Converfation in Heaven. PHILIP. III. 20. 1ft Part. For our converfation is in Heaven. THESE words are the conclufion of the account which St Paul renders of himself, to justify that particular part of his conduct and proceeding-his leaving fo ftrangely, and deferting his Jewith rites and ceremonies, to which he was known to have been formerly fo much attached, and in defence of which he had been fo warmly and fo remarkably engaged. This, as it had been matter of provocation against him amongft his own countrymen the Jews, so was it no less an occafion of surprise to the Gentiles;—that a person of his great character, interest and reputation,-one who was defcended from a tribe of Ifrael, deeply skilled in the profeffions, and zealous in the obfervances of the ftraiteft fect of that religion; -who had their tenets inftilled into him from his tender years, under the inftitution of the ableft mafters; a pharifee himself,-the fon of a pharifee, and brought up at the feet of Gamaliel; one that was fo deeply interested, and an acceffory in the perfecution of another religion, juft then newly come up; a religion, to which his whole fect, as well as himself, had been always the bitterest and most inveterate enemies, and were conftantly upbraided as fuch, by the first founder of it :-that a perfon fo befet and hemmed in with interefts and prejudices on all fides, fhould, after all, turn profylete to the very religion he had hated;—a religion, too, under the most universal contempt of any then in the world,— the chiefs and leaders of it men of the lowest birth and education, without any advantages of parts or learning, or other endowments to recommend them: -that he fhould quit and abandon all his former pri vileges, to become merely a fellow-labourer with thefe;that he fhould give up the reputation [he had acquired amongst his brethren, by the study and labours of a whole life;-that he fhould give up his friends-his relations and family, from whom he eftranged and banished himself for life :-this was an event fo very extraordinary-fo odd and unaccountable, that it might well confound the minds of men to answer for it.It was not to be accounted for upon the common rules and measures of proceeding in human life. The apostle therefore, fince no one elfe could do it fo well for him, comes, in this chapter, to give an explanation why he had thus forfaken fo many worldly advantages,-which was owing to a greater and more unconquerable affection to a better and more valuable intereft;-that, in the poor perfecuted faith-which he had once reproached and de ftroyed, he had now found fuch a fulness of divine grace, fuch unfathomable depths of God's infinite mercy and love towards mankind, that he could think nothing too much to part with, in order to his embracing Chriftianity:-nay, he accounted all things but lofs-that is, lefs than nothing, for the excellency of the knowledge of JESUS CHRIST. The apoftle, after this apology for himself,proceeds, in the second verse before the text, to give a very different representation of the worldly views and fenfual principles of other pretending teachers, —who had set themselves up as an example for men to walk by, against whom he renews this caution : For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of CHRIST,-whose end is destruction,-whofe god is their belly, and whofe glory is in their fhame, who mind earthly things-vs-relish them, making them the only object of their wishes-taking aim at nothing better, and nothing higher.-But our converfation, fays he in the text, is in heaven.-We Christians, who have embraced a perfecuted faith, are governed by other confiderations,-have greater and nobler views. Here we confider ourselves only as pilgrims and ftrangers-our home is in another country, where we are continually tending: there our hearts and affections are placed; and when the few days of our pilgrimage fhall be over, there fhall we return, where a quiet habitation and a perpetual rest is defigned and prepared for us for ever. Our converfation is in heaven, from whence, fays he, we |