ligion hath no place in his heart, or house, or conversation; all he hath lieth in his tongue, and his Religion is to make a noise therewith. Faith. Say you so! then am I in this man greatly deceived. Mat. 23. I Cor. 4. 2. Talkative talks but does not. His House is empty of Religion. He is a stain to Religion. Rom. 2. 24, 25. The Proverb that goes of him. Proverb, They say, and do not: 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 People that know him, A Saint abroad, and a Devil at home. His poor family finds it so, he is such a churle, such a railer at, and so unreasonable with his Servants, that they neither know how to do for, or to speak to him. Men that have any dealings with him, say, it's better to deal with a Turk than with him, for fairer dealing they shall have at their hands. This Talkative (if it be possible) will go beyond them, defraud, 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 Commendations 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. Men shun to deal with him. Faith. Well, my Brother, I am bound to believe you; not only because you say you know him, but also 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 often falls from bad mens mouths upon good mens 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 The Carkass of Religion. James 1. 27. see ver. 2, 3, 24, 25, 26. Chr. They are two things indeed, and are as diverse, as are the Soul and the Body: For as the Body without the Soul is but a dead Carkass; so Saying, if it be alone, is but a dead Carkass also. 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 is indeed in the heart and life; and let us assure our selves, 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. See Matth. 14. 25. Lev. II. Deut. 14. Faith. This brings to my mind that of Moses, by which he describeth the Beast that is clean. He is such an 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 truly resembleth Talkative: he cheweth the Cud, he seeketh knowledge, he cheweth upon the Word, but Faithful convinced of the badness of Talkative. he divideth not the hoof, he parteth not with the way of sinners; but as the Hare, he retaineth the foot of a dog or bear, and therefore is unclean. I Cor. 13. I, two things that sound Chr. You have spoken, for ought I know, the true Gospel sense of those Texts; and I will add another thing: Paul calleth some men, yea, and those Talkative like great Talkers too, Sounding-brass, and tinkling Cymbals: that is, as he expounds them in another place, Things without life giving sound. Things without life, that is, without the true Faith and Grace of the Gospel; and consequently, things that shall never be placed in the Kingdom of Heaven among those that are the Children of Life: Though their sound by their talk be as if it were the Tongue or Voice of an Angel. without life. Faith. Well, I was not so fond of his Company at first, but I am as sick of it now. What shall we do to be rid of him? Chr. Take my advice, and do as I bid you, and you shall find that he will soon be sick of your company too, except God shall touch his heart and turn it. Faith. What would you have me to do? Chr. Why, go to him, and enter into some serious discourse about the power of Religion; and ask him plainly (when he has approved of it, for that he will) whether this thing be set up in his Heart, House or Conversation. Faith. Then Faithful stept forward again, and said to Talkative: Come, what chear? how is it now? Talk. Thank you, well. I thought we should have had a great deal of talk by this time. Faith. Well, if you will we will fall to it now, and since you left it with me to state the question, let it be this: How doth the saving Grace of God discover it self, when it is in the heart of man? Talk. I perceive then that our talk must be about the power of things; Well, 'tis a very good question, and I shall be willing to answer you. And take my answer in brief thus. First, Where the Grace of God is in the Heart, it causeth there a great out-cry against sin. Secondly, Talkative's false discovery of a work of grace. Faith. Nay, hold, let us consider of one at once, I think you should rather say, It shows it self by inclining the Soul to abhor its sin. Talk. Why, what difference is there between crying out against, and abhorring of sin? against sin of The crying out against sin, no sign of grace. Gen. 39. 15. Faith. Oh! a great deal; a man may cry out policy, but he cannot abhor it, but by vertue of a godly antipathy against it: I have heard many cry out against sin in the Pulpit, who yet can abide it well enough in the heart, house and conversation. Joseph's Mistress cryed out with a loud voice, as if she had been very holy; but she would willingly, notwithstanding that, have committed uncleanness with him. Some cry out against sin, even as the mother crys out against her Child in her lap, when she calleth it Slut, and naughty Girl, & then falls to hugging & kissing it. Talk. You lie at the catch I perceive. Faith. No not I, I am only for setting things right. But what is the second thing whereby you will prove a discovery of a work of grace in the heart? Great knowledge no sign of Grace. I Cor. 13. Talk. Great Knowledge of Gospel-Mysteries. Faith. This sign should have been first, but first or last, it is also false; for knowledge, great knowledge may be obtained in the Mysteries of the Gospel, and yet no work of grace in the Soul. Yea, if a man have all knowledge, he may yet be nothing; and so consequently be no child of God. When Christ said, Do you know all these things? And the Disciples had answered, Yes: He added, Blessed are ye if ye do them. He doth not lay the Blessing in the knowing of them, but in the doing of them. For there is a knowledge that is not attended with doing: He that knoweth his Masters will, and doeth it not. A man may know like an Angel, and yet be no Christian: Therefore your sign of it is not true. Indeed to know is a thing that pleaseth Talkers and Boasters; but to do, is that which pleaseth God. Not that the heart can be good without knowledge; for without that the heart is naught: There is therefore knowledge, and knowledge. Knowledge that resteth in the bare speculation of things, and knowledge that is accompanied with the grace of faith and love, which puts a man upon doing even the will of God from the heart: The first of these will serve the Talker, but without the other the true Christian is not and knowledge. Knowledge content. Give me understanding and I shall keep thy Law, True Knowledge attended with endeavours. Faith. Talk. You lie at the catch again, this is not for edification. Well if you please, propound another sign how this work of grace discovereth it self where it is. Talk. Not I, for I see we shall not agree. Faith. Well, if you will not, will you give me leave to do it? Talk. Faith. One good sign of grace. John 16. 8. from 7. 24. John 16. 9. Mark 16. 16. Gal. 2. 15. 4. 12. Matth. 5. 6. You may use your liberty. A work of grace in the soul discovereth it self, either to To him that hath it, thus it gives him conviction of sin, especially of the defilement of his nature, and the sin of unbelief, (for the sake of which he is sure to be damned, if he findeth not mercy at God's hand by faith in Jesus Christ). This sight and sense of things worketh in him sorrow and shame for sin; he findeth moreover revealed in him the Saviour of the World, and the absolute necessity of closing with him for life, at the which he findeth hungrings and thirstings after him, to which hungrings, &c. the Promise is made. Now according to the strength or weakness of his Faith in his Saviour, so is his joy and peace, so is his love to holiness, so are his desires to know him more, and also to serve him in this World. But though I say it discovereth it self thus unto him; yet it is but seldom that he is able to conclude, that this is a work of Grace, because his corruptions now, and his abused reason makes his mind to mis-judge in this matter; therefore in him that hath this work there is required a very sound Judgment, before he can with steddiness conclude that this is a work of Grace. Rom. 10. 10. Phil. I. 27. Matth. 5. 9. John 24. 15. Psal. 50. 20. Job 42. 5, 6. Ezek. 29. 43. To others it is thus discovered. I. By an experimental confession of his faith in Christ. 2. By a life answerable to that confession, to wit, a life of holiness; heart-holiness, family-holiness, (if he hath a family) and by Conversation holiness in the world: which in the general teacheth him inwardly to abhor his sin, and himself for that in secret, to 1 |