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proach, and fhame of religion, to all that know him; it can hardly have a good word in all the end of the town where he dwells, thro' him. (Rom. ii. 24, 25.) Thus fay the common people, that know him, "A "faint abroad, and a devil at home." His poor family finds it fo, he is fuch a churl; fuch a railer at, and fo unreasonable with his fervants, that they neither know how to do for, or fpeak to him. Men that have any dealings with him, fay, 'Tis better to deal with a Turk than with him, for fairer dealing they shall have at their hands. This Talkative (if it be poffible) will go beyond them, defraud, beguile, and over-reach them. Befides, he brings up his fons to follow his fteps; and if he finds in any of them a foolish timorousness, (for fo he calls the firft appearance of a tender confcience) he calls them fools and blockheads, and by no means will employ them in much, or fpeak to their commendations before others. For my part, I am of opinion, that he has, by his wicked life, caufed many to ftumble and fall; and will be, if God prevents not, the ruin of many others.

Faith. Well, my brother, I am bound to believe you; not only because you fay you know him, but also because, like a Chriftian, you make your reports of men. For I cannot think that you speak thefe things of ill-will, but because it is even fo 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

of God, and their poor fouls as miferable, as fin and a barren profeffion can make them. They are no better than dead carcaffes, in the fight of God; and except mighty, matchlefs grace prevail, will be of all men the most miferable! Talk with them, and they will cry out against fin, at the very time.

they

have thought it had been a flander. (A lot that often falls from bad mens mouths, upon good mens names and profeffions ;) But all these things, yea, and a great many more as bad, of my own knowledge, I can prove him guilty of. Befides, 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 fee that faying and doing are two things, and hereafter I fhall better observe this diftinction.

Chr. They are two things indeed, and are as diverse as are, the foul and the body; for as the body without the foul is but a dead carcass, fo faying, if it be alone, is but a dead carcafs alfo. The foul of religion is the practick part: Pure religion, and undefiled, before God and the Father, is this, To vifit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep bimfelf unfpotted from the world, James i. 23,-27. This Talkative is not aware of; he thinks that bearing and saying will make a good Christian; and thus he deceiveth his own foul. Hearing is but as the fowing of the feed; talking is not fufficient to prove that fruit is indeed in the heart and life; and let us affure ourselves, that at the day of doom, men shall be judged according to their fruit: (Matt. xiii,) It will not be faid then, Did you believe? but, Were you doers, or talkers only? and accordingly fhall they be judged.

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they are abfolute flaves to it. Push the matter home, and they appear in their genuine colours. Tell them of the evil of the world-of its contrariety to the Chriftian life-of living devotedly to God day by day-and of being one hourly, yea continual facrifice to his name, and they will immediately grow an gry. Their unchanged tempers will appear, and their proud rebellious hearts will grow warm with indignation. They will indeed, for a time, appear fo plaufible as to deceive the very elect; but in the end, are found to be no better than

painted

judged. The end of the world is compared to our harvelt; and you know men at harvest regard nothing but fruit. Not that any thing can be accepted, that is not of faith; but I fpeak this to fhew you how infignificant the profeffion of Talkative will be at that day. the vi

"Faith. This brings to my mind that of Mofes, by which he defcribed the beaft that is clean. He is fuch 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. (Lev. xi. Deut. xiv.) And this truly refembleth Talkative; The cheweth the cud, he feeketh knowledge, he cheweth upon the word; but he divideth not the hoof, he parteth not with the way of finners; but as the hare, he retaineth the foot of a dog or bear, and therefore he is unclean.

Chr. You have spoken, for ought I know, the -true gospel fenfe of thofe texts. And I will add another thing: Paul calleth fome men, yea, and thofe great talkers too, founding brass, and tinkling cymbals; that is, as he expounds them in another place, things without life, giving found. Things without life, that is, without the true faith and grace of the gofpel; and confequently, things that fhall never be placed in the kingdom of heaven among thofe that are the children of life: though their found, by their talk, be as it were the tongue or voice of an angel. 1 Cor. xiii. 1,2,3. chap. xiv. 7. Faith.

painted fepulchres. They are only almoft Chriftians; and to be almoft a Chriftian, is to be almoft fayed, and altogether damned! May God help fuch poor deceived fouls to confider the danger of their cafe; that religion confifts not in mere notion or whim; in dry fpeculation, and a bare profeffion of the name of Jefus; but that fomething must be known, and felt: the power of the gofpel muft be fet home upon the heart, and the foul be made fpiritually alive to God."

Faith. Well, I was not fo fond of his company at first, but I am as fick of it now.

to be rid of him?

What fhall we do

Chr. Take my advice, and do as I bid you, and you shall find that he will foon be fick of your company too, except God fhall touch his heart and turn

it.

Faith. What would you have me to do?

Chr. Why go to him, and enter into fome ferious 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 converfation.

Faith. Then Faithful stept 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 fince you left it with me to ftate the question, let it be this: How doth the faving 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, 'tis a very good queftion, 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 outcry against fin. Secondly,

Faith. Nay, hold, let us confider of one at once: I think you should rather fay, It fhews itself, by inclining the foul to abhor its fin.

Talk. Why, what difference is there between crying out againft, and abhorring of fin?

Faith. Oh! a great deal: A man may cry out against fin, of policy, but he cannot abhor it, but by virtue of a godly antipathy against it: I have heard many cry out against fin in the pulpit, who yet can

abide it well enough in the heart, houfe, and converfation. Jofeph's mistress cried out with a loud voice, as if she had been very holy; but fhe would willingly, notwithstanding that, have committed uncleanness with him. (Gen. xxxix. 15.) Some cry out against fin, even as a mother cries out against her child in her lap, when the calleth it flut and naughty girl, and then falls to hugging and kiffing it.

Talk. You lie at the catch, I perceive.

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Faith. No, not I, I am only for fetting things right. But what is the fecond thing whereby you would prove a discovery of a work of grace in the heart?

Talk. Great knowledge of gofpel myfteries.

Faith. This fign fhould have been firft; but first or laft, it is also false; for knowledge, great knowledge, may be obtained in the mysteries of the gofpel, and yet no work of grace in the foul. (1 Cor. xiii.) Yea, if a man have all knowledge, he may yet be nothing, and fo confequently be no child of God. When Chrift faid, 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 bleffing in the knowledge 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 fign of it is not true. deed, 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 are therefore two forts of knowledge; knowledge that refteth in the bare fpeculation of things, and knowledge that is accompanied with the grace of faith and

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