3. _Foolish talking and jesting._--The Gospel is not so rigid and
austere as to debar us from innocent pleasures and harmless
amusements. Jesting is not foolish when used to expose the absurdity
of error and the folly of vice. The apostle condemns lewd and obscene
jesting, profane jesting, and reviling and defamatory jesting.
Evil-speaking never wounds so deeply nor infuses in the wound such
fatal poison as when it is sharpened by wit and urged home by
ridicule.
+II. The arguments subjoined.+--1. Impurity, covetousness, and
foolish talking are unbecoming in saints. 2. Foolish talking and
jesting are not convenient, as the heathen imagined them to be, but
are criminal in their nature and fatal in their tendency. 3. The
indulgence of these sins is inconsistent with a title to heaven.
4. These sins not only exclude from heaven, but bring upon the
sinners the wrath of God.--_Lathrop._