learn what are the great promises and consolations of the gospel to his own comfort. Farther, by this a man may learn to refute false opinions, to vindicate the truth, and also to instruct the ignorant. Faith. All this is true; and glad am I to hear these things from you. Talk. Alas! the want of this is the cause that so few understand the need of faith, and the necessity of a work of grace in their soul, in order to eternal life; but ignorantly live in the works of the Law, by which a man can by no means obtain the Kingdom of Heaven. Faith. But, by your leave, heavenly knowledge of these is the gift of God; no man attaineth to them by human industry, or only by the talk of them. O BRAVE Talk. All that I know very well; for a man can receive nothing, except it be given him from Heaven; all is of grace, not of works: I could give you an hundred scriptures for the confirmation of this. O BRAVE Well then, said Faithful, what is that one thing that we shall at this time found our discourse upon ? Talk. What you will: I will talk of TALKATIVE. things heavenly, or things earthly; things moral, or things evangelical; things sacred, or things profane; things past, or things to come; things foreign, or things at home; things more essential, or things circumstantial; provided that all be done to our profit. FAITHFUL BE- Now did Faithful begin to wonder; and stepping to Christian (for he walked all this while by himself), he said to him, but softly, What a brave companion we have got? Surely this man will make a very excellent Pilgrim. At this Christian modestly smiled, and said, This man, with whom you are so taken, will beguile, with this tongue of his, twenty of them that know him not. Faith. Do you know him then? CHRISTIAN MAKES A DISCOVERY OF TALKATIVE, TELL- WHO HE WAS. Chr. Know him! yes, better than he knows himself. Faith. Pray, what is he? Chr. His name is Talkative; he dwelleth in our town: I wonder that you should be a stranger to him, only I consider that our town is large. Faith. Whose son is he, and whereabout doth he dwell? Chr. He is the son of one Say-wel!: he dwelt in Prating-row, and he is known to all that are acquainted with him by the name of Talkative of Prating-row; and, notwithstanding his fine tongue, ne is but a sorry fellow. Faith. Well, he seems to be a very pretty man. Chr. That is to them that have not a thorough acquaintance with him; for he is best abroad; near home he is ugly enough. Your saying that he is a pretty man brings to my mind what I have observed in the work of the painter, whose pictures shew best at a distance; but, very near, more unpleasing. Faith. But I am ready to think you do but jest, because you smiled. Chr. God forbid that I should jest (though I smiled) in this matter, or that I should accuse any falsely! I will give you a further discovery of him. This man is for any company, and for any talk: as he talketh now with you, so will he talk when he is on the alebench; and the more drink he hath in his crown, the more of these things he hath in his mouth. Religion hath no place in his heart, or house, or conversation; all he hath is in his tongue, and his religion is to make a noise therewith. Faith. Say you so? Then am I in this man greatly deceived. TALKATIVE DOES NOT. HIS-HOUSE IS Chr. Deceived! you may be sure of it. Remember the proverb, "They say and do not;" but TALKS, BUT "the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power:" He talketh of Prayer, of Repentance, of Faith, and of the New Birth; but he knows but only to talk of them. I have been in his family, and have observed him both at home and abroad and I know what I say of him is the truth. His house is as empty of religion as the white of an egg is of savour. There is there neither prayer nor sign of repentance for sin; yea, the brute, in his kind, serves God far better than he. He is the very stain, reproach, and shame of religion to all that know him; it can hardly have a good word in all that end of the town where he dwells, through him." Thus say the common THE PROVERB people that know him, "A saint abroad, THAT GOES OF and a devil at home!" His poor family finds it so; he is such a churl, such a railer at, and so unreasonable with his servants, that they neither know how to do for, or to speak to him. 8 Matth. xxiii. 3. 1 Cor. iv. 20. 9 Rom. ii. 24, 25. HIM. MEN SHUN TO DEAL WITH Men that have any dealings with him say, "It is better to deal with a Turk than with him; for fairer dealings they HIM. shall have at their hands." This Talkative, if it be possible, will go beyond them, beguile and over-reach them. Besides, he brings up his sons to follow his steps; and if he finds in any of them a foolish timorousness, (for so he calls the first appearance of a tender conscience,) he calls them fools and blockheads, and by no means will employ them in much, or speak to their commendation before others. For my part, I am of opinion that he has, by his wicked life, caused many to stumble and fall; and will be, if God prevents not, the ruin of many more. Faith. Well, my brother, I am bound to believe you; not only because you say you know him, but because, like a Christian, you make your reports of men. For I cannot think that you speak these things of ill-will, but because it is even so as you say. Chr. Had I known him no more than you, I might perhaps have thought of him as at the first you did; yea, had he received this report at their hands only that are enemies to religion, I should have thought it had been a slander (a lot that oft falls from bad men's mouths upon good men's names and professions); but all these things, yea, and a great many more as bad, of my own knowledge, I can prove him guilty of. Besides, good men are ashamed of him; they can neither call him brother nor friend; the very naming of him among them makes them blush, if they know him. Faith. Well, I see that saying and doing are two things; and hereafter I shall better observe this distinction. THE CARCASS Chr. They are two things indeed, and are as diverse as are the soul and the body: for as the OF RELIGION. body, without the soul, is but a dead carcass; so saying, if it be alone, is but a dead carcass also. The soul of religion is the practick part; " Pure religion and undefiled, before God and the Father, is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." This Talkative is not aware of; he thinks that hearing and saying will make a good Christian, and thus he deceiveth his own soul. Hearing is but as the sowing of the seed; talking is not sufficient to prove that fruit indeed is in the heart and life; and let us assure ourselves that, at the day of doom, men shall be judged according to their fruit. It will not be said then, Did you believe? but were you doers or talkers only and accordingly shall they be judged. The End of the World is compared to our harvest; and you know men at harvest regard nothing but fruit. Not that any thing can be accepted that is not of Faith; but I speak this to shew you how insignificant the profession of Talkative will be at that day.1 He is Faith. This brings to my mind that of Moses, by which he describeth the beast that is clean. such a one that parteth the hoof, and cheweth the cud; not that parteth the hoof only, or that cheweth the cud only. The hare cheweth the cud, but yet is unclean, because he parteth not the hoof. And this 1 James, i. 27. See verse 2, 3. 24. 26. See Matth. xxiii. 2. |