ncreasingly conscientious, if we are
not steadily growing in inwardness and insight and depth and real
spirituality of mind and life ourselves, we cannot escape,--our calling
in life will not let us escape,--becoming as sounding brass. There is an
awful sentence in Butler that should be written in letters of fire in
every minister's conscience, to the effect that continually going over
religion in talk and making fine pictures of it in the pulpit, creates a
professional insensibility to personal religion that is the everlasting
ruin of multitudes of eloquent ministers. That is true. We ministers
all feel that to be true. Our miserable experience tells us that is only
too true of ourselves. What a flood of demoralising talk has been poured
out from the pulpits of this one city to-day!--demoralising to preachers
and to hearers both, because not intended to be put in practice. How few
of those who have talked and heard talk all this day about divine truth
and human duty, have made the least beginning or the least resolve to
live as they have spoken and heard! And, yet, all will in words again
admit that the soul of religion is the practick part, and that the tongue
without the heart and the life is but death and corruption.

Let us, then, this very night begin to do something practical after all
this talk about talk. And let us all begin to do something in the direct
line of our present talk. What a noble congregation of evangelical
Carthusians that would make us if we all put a bridle on our tongue to-
night before we left this house. For we all have neighbours, friends,
enemies, against whom we every day sin with our unbridled tongue. We all
have acquaintances we are ashamed to meet, we have been so unkind and so
unjust to them with our tongue. We hang down our head when they shake
our hand. Yes, we know the men quite well of whom Pascal speaks. We
know many men who would never speak to us again if they only knew how,
and how often, we have spoken about them behind their back. Well, let us
sin against them, and against ourselves, and against our Master's command
and example no more. Let this night and this lecture on Talkative and
his kindred see the last of our sin against our ill-used neighbour. Let
us promise God and our own consciences to-night, that we shall all this
week put on a bridle about that man, and about that subject, and in that
place, and in that company. Let us say, God helping me, I shal