The Hypocrisy of Talkative

Faithful happened to look to one side and saw a man named Talkative walking some distance beside them. There was enough room here for them all to walk. Talkative was tall and looked somewhat better from a distance than close up.

Faithful spoke to him. ​“Friend, where are you heading? Are you going to the heavenly country?”

“I’m going to the same place,” Talkative replied.

“That’s good. Then I hope we can enjoy your company.”

“I’ll gladly be your companion.”

“Come along, then,” said Faithful. ​“Let’s go together and spend our time discussing things that will benefit us.”

“I like you very much,” said Talkative. “…What could be more pleasant or more profitable than talking about the things of God? What could be more pleasant, that is, if someone takes any delight in wonderful things? For instance, if someone enjoys discussing the history or mystery of things, or loves talking about miracles, wonders, or signs, where will he find such delightful accounts, written so beautifully, as in Holy Scripture?”

“That’s true,” Faithful said. ​“But our aim in discussing these things should be to benefit from them.”

“That’s just what I said,” Talkative replied. ​“Talking about these things is most profitable. By doing so, a person can learn many things: the emptiness of earthly things and the benefit of things above, for example. That’s speaking generally. More particularly, he can learn the necessity of the new birth, the inadequacy of our works, the need for Christ’s righteousness, and so on. Through discussion he can also learn what it means to repent, believe, pray, suffer, and the like. He can learn the great promises and comforts of the gospel for his own consolation. What’s more, he can learn to refute false opinions, defend the truth, and teach the ignorant.”

“All this is true,” said Faithful, ​“and I’m glad to hear these things from you.”

“Sadly, the lack of this is why so few understand the need for faith and for a work of grace in their souls in order to have eternal life. Instead, they live ignorantly by the works of the law, through which no one can obtain the kingdom of heaven.”

“But, if I may say so,” Faithful replied, ​“heavenly knowledge of these things is God’s gift. No one gains it by human effort or merely by talking about it.”

“I know all that very well,” said Talkative. ​“For ​‘a man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.’ Everything comes by grace, not by works. I could give you a hundred Scriptures to confirm this.”

…

Now Faithful began to marvel. He stepped over to Christian, who had been walking by himself all this time, and said quietly, ​“What a fine companion we’ve found! Surely this man will make an excellent pilgrim.”

Christian smiled gently. ​“This man you’re so taken with could deceive twenty people who don’t know him, just with that tongue of his.”

“Do you know him, then?” Faithful asked.

“Know him? Yes, better than he knows himself.”

“Tell me, what sort of man is he?”

“His name is Talkative, and he lives in our town. I’m surprised you don’t know him, though our town is large.”

“Whose son is he? And whereabouts does he live?”

“He’s the son of a man called Say-well. He lived in Prating Row, and everyone acquainted with him knows him as Talkative of Prating Row. Despite his fine tongue, he’s a miserable fellow.”

“Well, he seems a very agreeable man.”

“To people who don’t know him thoroughly, yes. He’s at his best away from home. Near home, he’s ugly enough. Your saying he’s agreeable reminds me of what I’ve noticed in a painter’s work: the pictures look best from a distance, but close up they’re less pleasing.”

“But I’m inclined to think you’re only joking, because you smiled.”

“God forbid that I should joke about this, though I smiled, or falsely accuse anyone! I’ll tell you more about him. This man will join any company and take part in any kind of talk. He’ll talk just as he’s talking to you now when he’s sitting on an alehouse bench. The more drink he has in his head, the more of these things he has in his mouth. Religion has no place in his heart, his home, or his conduct. All he has is on his tongue, and his religion consists of making a noise with it.”

“Is that so?” Faithful said. ​“Then I’ve been badly deceived by this man.”

“Deceived? You certainly have! Remember the saying, ​‘They say, and do not’ (Matt 23:3). But the ​‘kingdom of God is not in word, but in power’ (1 Cor 4:20). He talks about prayer, repentance, faith, and the new birth, but all he knows is how to talk about them. I’ve spent time with his family and observed him both at home and elsewhere. I know what I’m saying about him is true.

“His house is as empty of religion as the white of an egg is of flavor. There’s neither prayer nor any sign of repentance for sin. Even an animal, according to its nature, serves God far better than he does. To everyone who knows him, he’s a stain, a disgrace, and a shame to religion. Because of him, religion can hardly get a good word in that whole end of town where he lives (Rom 2:24 – 25). Ordinary people who know him have this saying about him: ​‘A saint away from home, and a devil at home.’

…

“Well, my brother,” said Faithful, ​“I must believe you, not only because you say you know him, but because you speak about people as a Christian should. I can’t think you’re saying these things out of ill will. I believe things really are as you say.”

“If I knew him no better than you do, I might have thought of him as you did at first. Indeed, if this report had come only from enemies of religion, I would have thought it slander. Bad people’s mouths often cast that sort of accusation on good people’s names and professions of faith. But I can prove from my own knowledge that he’s guilty of all these things, and many more just as bad. Besides, good people are ashamed of him. They can call him neither brother nor friend. The mere mention of him makes those who know him blush.”

“Well,” Faithful said, ​“I see that saying and doing are two different things. I’ll pay closer attention to that distinction from now on.”

“They certainly are different,” Christian replied, ​“as different as the soul and the body. A body without a soul is only a dead carcass. In the same way, words alone are only a dead carcass. The soul of religion is its practice: ​‘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’ (Jas 1:27; see Jas 1:22 – 26).

“Talkative doesn’t understand this. He thinks hearing and speaking will make someone a good Christian, and so he deceives his own soul. Hearing is like sowing seed. Talking isn’t enough to prove that there really is fruit in the heart and life. Let’s be sure of this: on judgment day, people will be judged according to their fruit (Matt 13; Matt 25). The question then won’t be, ​‘Did you believe?’ but, ​‘Did you act, or did you only talk?’ They’ll be judged accordingly. The end of the world is compared to our harvest, and you know that at harvest people look only for fruit. I don’t mean that anything can be accepted apart from faith. I’m saying this to show how worthless Talkative’s profession of faith will be on that day.”