comfortable walking with God 193 raging againft Profeffors, fawcily and unfèafonably mcd. ling with, andmitcenfitring other mens matters ; yea, and would you thinke it, fometimes even highe1l Mifleries of State; reviling the ;.vliniflery, efpecially if managed with manifellarion of the Spirit,and an holy impatiency, to fee the devill domineere and revel! it in the blood of the peoples foules without contradiction, When they come together at filch times, every one opens his packe of tales; for I have told you heretofore, that a Talc-bearer is compared to aiyon-fint0 a Pedler,as the word in the original! cleerely intimates, who TWu ib't net,.* having furnifhed himfelfe, and filled his packe with varietie á is ¿eáß Lia of pedling and petty ftuffcs, trots up and downe for vent t9,t6.of from houle tohoufe,where he findes belt cuflon;e and (peci- Pagn .sgc all entertainment t I fay,at filch meetings, it is their manner to open every one his packe of falfe and flanderous tales ; which they have raked and Ccraped together by their owne malicious furtnifes, liflnings, whifperings, pragmatical! in- qui(tiveneffe into other mens bufineffes, or fame odde idle intelligencers,whotn they entertains for that purpoíè; and thereout of an itching humor of talkativenef a and tattling, they lay abroad fuch rotten wares, to the empoyfoning of the cares ofthofe thatheare them, thedefaming of their bre- thren farre better than themfelves, and certaine remonflrac Lion to their owneconsciences, that they are as yet the chi!- dren of the devil! the father oflies andFlanders, and have Of him already learned the very language of hell. Were fuel meetings mingled and feafoned withgracious talke (and all our talke ought alwayes to bewith grace, Cold, 4.6.) with holy conferences, and helping one another towards heaven; with planting and preferving Chriftian Idve, and kinde af- ieftions one towards another, it were an happy thing ; but while there is nothing but ribald and rotten communica- tion, (owingmany timesmuch feede ofbitterneffe andheart- burning againft their brethren, in the cares of one another; and a curled facrifice, as it were, of fpitefùll and flanderous tongues, offered upuntoSatan ; filch miferabfe meetings are fitter for Pagans, thenProfefforsof Religion ; far the conii ft orf
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