word, but in power. (Matt. xxiii. 3; 1 Cor. iv. 20.) 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. (Rom. ii. 24, 25.) 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 churl, such a railer at, and so unreasonable with, his servants, that they neither know how to do for or speak to him. Men that have any dealings with him say, it is 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 overreach them. Besides, he brings up his sons to follow his steps; and, if he findeth 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 prevent 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 also because like a Christian you make your reports of men. For I cannot think 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 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.

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 carcase, so saying, if it be alone, is but a dead carcase also. The soul of religion is the practical part. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James i. 27; see also verses 22-26.) 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 ourselves that, at the day of doom, men shall be judged according to their fruits. (Matt. xiii. 23.) 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. (Matt. xiii. 30); and you know men at harvest regard nothing but fruit. Not that anything can be accepted that is not of faith; but I speak this to show you how insignificant the profession of Talkative will be at that day.

FAITHFUL QUESTIONS TALKATIVE.

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FAITH. This brings to my mind that of Moses, by which he described the beast that is clean. (Lev. xi.; Deut. xiv.) He is 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 truly resembleth Talkative: he cheweth the cud, he seeketh knowledge, he cheweth upon the word; but he divideth not the hoof, he parteth not with the way of sinners, but, as the hare, retaineth the foot of the dog or bear, and therefore is unclean.

CHR. You have spoken, for aught I know, the true Gospel sense of those texts. And I will add another thing; Paul calleth some men, yea, and those great talkers too, sounding brass and tinkling cymbals (1 Cor. xiii. 1-3); that is, as he expounds them in another place, things without life, giving sound. (1 Cor. xiv. 7.) 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.

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 stepped forward again, and said to Talkative, "Come, what cheer? 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 itself when it is in the heart of man?

TALK. I perceive, then, that our talk must be about the power of things. Well, it is a very good question, and I shall be willing to answer_you. And take my answer in brief, thus. First,

Talkative's false discovery of a work of grace.

where the grace of God is in the heart, it causeth there a great outcry against sin. Secondly,

FAITH. Nay, hold; let us consider of one at once. I think you should rather say, it shows itself by inclining the soul to abhor its sin.

TALK. Why, what difference is there between crying out against, and abhorring of sin?

no sign of grace.

FAITH. Oh! a great deal. A man may cry out against sin, of policy; but he cannot abhor it but by virtue 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 To cry ont against sin heart, house, and conversation. Joseph's mistress cried out with a loud voice, as if she had been very chaste; but she would willingly, notwithstanding that, have committed uncleanness with him. (Gen. xxxix. 12-15.) Some cry out against sin, even as the mother cries out against her child in her lap, when she calleth it slut and naughty girl, and then falls to hugging and 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 would prove a discovery of a work of grace in the heart?

TALK. Great knowledge of Gospel mysteries.

Great knowledge

no sign of grace.

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. (1 Cor. xiii. 2.) When Christ said, "Do ye 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 master's will, and doth 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 and faith of 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 content. "Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart." (Psa. cxix. 34.)

TALK. You lie at the catch again; this is not for edification. FAITH. Well, if you please, propound another sign how this work of grace discovereth itself 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. You may use your liberty.

FAITHFUL'S SECOND QUESTION.

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FAITH. A work of grace in the soul discovereth itself, either to him that hath it, or to standers by.

To him that hath it thus: It gives him conviction of sin, especially of the defilement of his nature, and One good sign of the sin of unbelief; for the sake of which, he is

grace.

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. (Psa. xxxviii. 18; Jer. xxxi. 19; John xvi. 8; Rom vii. 24; Mark xvi. 16; Gal. ii. 16; Rev. i. 5, 6.) 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 hungerings and thirstings after him; to which hungerings, etc., the promise is made. Now, according to the strength or weakness of his faith in his Saviour, so are 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 itself 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, make his mind to misjudge in this matter: therefore in him that hath this work, there is required a very sound judgment, before he can with steadiness conclude that this is a work of grace. (John xvi. 9; Gal ii. 15, 16; Acts iv. 12; Matt. v. 6; Rev. xxi. 6.) To another it is thus discovered :

1. 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 suppress it in his family, and to promote holiness in the world; not by talk only, as a hypocrite or talkative person may do, but by a practical subjection in faith and love to the power of the Word. (Job xlii. 5, 6; Psa. 1. 23; Ezek. xx. 43; Matt. v. 8; John xiv. 15; Rom. x. 10; Ezek. xxxvi. 25; Phil. i. 27; iii. 17.) And now, sir, as to this brief description of the work of grace, and also the discovery of it, if you have aught to object, object; if not, then give me leave to propound to you a second question.

TALK. Nay, my part is not now to object, but to hear; let me, therefore, have your second question.

FAITH. It is this: Do you experience the first part of this description of it? And do your life and conversation testify the same? Or, standeth your religion in word or in tongue, and not in deed and truth? Pray, if you incline to answer me Another good sign in this, say no more than you know the God

of grace.

above will say Amen to, and also nothing but what your conscience can justify you in; for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. Besides, to say, I am thus, and