Chr.—"Wrong! You may be sure of it. He talks of what it is to pray; to mourn for sin; of faith, and of the new birth; but he knows but how to talk of them. I have been in his home, and have seen him both in and out of doors, and I know what I say of him is the truth. His house is as void of the fear of God as the white of an egg is of taste. They pray not there, nor is there a sign of grief for sin: yea, the brute, in his kind, serves God more than he."
Fai.—"Well, my friend, I am bound to trust you; not for that you say you know him, but in like way, for that, like one who has the mind of Christ, you judge of men."
Chr.—"Had I known him no more than you I might, it may be, have thought of him as at the first you did; but all these things, yea, and much more as bad, which I do bring to mind, I can prove him to have the guilt of."
Fai.—"Well, I see that to say and to do are two things; and by and by I shall take more note of this."
Chr.—"They are two things, in sooth, and are no more like than are the soul and flesh; for, as the flesh void of the soul is but a dead lump: so to say, if it stand loose, is but a dead lump too. This Talkative does not know. He thinks that to hear and to say will make a good man, and thus he cheats his own soul. To hear is but to sow the seed; to talk is not full proof that fruit is deep in the heart and life; and let us feel sure that at the day of doom men shall reap just as they have sown. It will not be said then, 'Did you have faith?' but 'Did you do or talk?' when they shall have their due meed."
Fai.—"Well, I was not so fond to be with him at first, but am as sick of him now. What shall we do to be rid of him?"
Chr.—"Be led by me, and do as I bid you, and you shall find that he will soon be sick of you, too, save God shall touch his heart and turn it."
Fai.—"What would you have me to do?"
Chr.—"Why, go to him, and take up some grave theme on the might of faith."
Then Faithful gave a step forth once more, and said to Talkative, "Come, what cheer? how is it now?"