FAITHFUL DISPUTES WITH TALKATIVE. 99

Fairn. Oh! a great deal. A man may cry out against sin of poltey; but he can-
not abhor it but by virtue of a godly antipathy against it. IT have heard many ery out
against sin in the pulpit, who yet can abide it well enough in the 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.

Some ery out against sin, even as the mother eries out against her child
in her lap, when she calleth it slut and naughty girl, and then falls to hugging and
kissing it.

Tax. You lie at the catch, I perceive.

Farrn. 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?

Taxx. Great knowledge of Gospel mysteries.

Fartu. This sign should have been first; but, first or last, it is also false; for knowl-
edge, 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 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 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 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 specula-
tion 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.”

Tatk. You lie at the catch again: this is not for edification.

Farru. Well, if you please, propound another sign how this work of grace dis-
covereth itself where it is.

Tax. Not I; for I see we shall not agree.

Farrn. Well, if you will not, will you give me leave to do it?

Tatx. You may use your liberty.

Farrn. A work of grace in the soul discovereth itself eithe: to him that hath it or
to standers by.