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 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 prevent not, the ruin of many more.

{194} 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 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.

{195} 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 carcass, so saying, if it be alone, is but a dead carcass 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 widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” [James 1:27; see vv. 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. 13, 25] 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 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.