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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92856	The parable of the prodigal. Containing, The riotous prodigal, or The sinners aversion from God. Returning prodigal, or The penitents conversion to God. Prodigals acceptation, or Favourable entertainment with God. Delivered in divers sermons on Luke 15. from vers. 11. to vers. 24. By that faithfull servant of Jesus Christ Obadiah Sedgwick, B.D. Perfected by himself, and perused by those whom he intrusted with the publishing of his works.	Sedgwick, Obadiah, 1600?-1658.	1660 (1660)	Wing S2378; Thomason E1011; ESTC R203523	357,415	377

to make a dead man to live 6. That true Conversion is a very great and conspicuous alteration No change is like that from death to life 7. That true Conversion is an inward or a soul-alteration not of cloaths or painting It is the putting of life into a dead man 8. That a sinner contributes nothing at all towards his Conversion but Conversion of a sinner is the sole work of a God for it is God only who can quicken the dead no dead man can make himself alive 9. That the Lord takes notice of every condition of man of the Prodigals former condition he was dead and of his present condition but he is alive again 10. That the Lord doth own every converted person as a Father owns a Son This my Son 1. That an impenitent or unconverted man is a dead man This Doct. 1. An unconverted man is a dead man my Son was dead The sinner is in Scripture sometimes stiled A fallen man Hos 14. 1. Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity Yea but this fall is a deadly fall not like Eutychu's Fall Acts 20. 29. in whom yet there was life vers 10. But like Ahaziah's Fall which was deadly to him 2 Kings 1. 4. A diseased man Isa 1. 6. From the sole of the soot even to the head there is no soundness but this disease is a deadly disease and therefore sin is called the Plague of the heart 1 Kings 8. No disease is so deadly as the Plague and no Plague is so deadly as the Plague in the heart A wounded man Luk. 10. 30. A certain man fell among Theeves who wo●nded him But this wound is a deadly wound like that which the King of Babilon gave to Pharaoh which made him groan with the groanings of a deadly wounded man Ezek. 30. 24. An inthralled man 2 Pet. 2. 19. Of whom a man is overcome of the same he is brought in Bondage But this Bondage is a deadly Bondage whether of sin unto death saith the Apostle of the servants of sin Rom. 6. 16. A dead man and this is the highest unless you say a damned man frequently doth the Scripture Phrase this way Psalm 106. 28. They did eat the sacri●ices of the dead because offered to dead Idols and by dead Idolaters Prov. 21. 16. The man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the dead .i. of the ungodly wicked impenitent The Ephesians what were they before their conversion See Chap. 2. 1. Dead in sins and trespasses The Colossians what were they before their conversion See Chap. 2. 13. And you being dead in your sins c. 1 Pet. 4. 6. The Gospel was preached to them that were dead .i. to wicked and impenitent persons nay Jude v. 12. speaks of some that were twice dead dead in respect of Original Sin and dead in respect of Actual sin or dead in respect of corruption and dead in respect to their former profession I grant that an unconverted sinner may be alive 1. In respect of his own opinion I was once alive said Paul Rom. 7. 9. but when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed 2. In the opinion of men Rev. 3. 1. Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead So Christ of the Church of Sardis 3. To sinful works he lives in them and lives with them and lives to them but this life is death this life is a sign that he is dead that unto spirituals he is dead This is a great Point of which I am now discoursing and hath been the subject of much dispute as in former Ages so in this latter Age. There have been some that have denyed utterly this death of a sinner others have held sinful men to be wounded and to be half dead The Pelagians go this way so do all the Papists and verily the Arminians come not much short herein yea most men pre●me that though they be sinners yet that they are not altogether dead but some life still remains in them or some power Favour me therefore to o●en the point with some distinctions and then I shall confirm the truth delivered both with Scripture and Arguments and wind up the rest with some profitable Applications to our Several Distinctions selves 1. For the first of these I distinguish thus Man is considerable Man considered under a three ●●ld St●te Of Creation Of Degeneration Of Regeneration Man in his Degeneration Considered as to Natural actions Political actions Or Theological under a threefold estate 1. Of Institution or Creation Wherein he was alive and had a power to live or dye 2. Of Destitution or Degeneration In this estate every man living is dead 3. Of Restitution o● Regeneration And here he is born again and is made alive again Again man in his degenerate or fallen estate may be considered in relation to actions and objects either 1. Natural To these he is alive the soul in man is no dead but living thing and is able to understand will desire discourse and reason and this man can eat drink sleep c. 2. Political Here also life is found in him even a wicked man destitute of all Grace is alive to trade to bargain to buy to sell to plant to build 3. Theological or Spiritual Now here the impe●itent or unconverted man is plane mortuus stark dead An understanding I confess he still hath but none that is able to know God aright or Christ or any saving truth without Divine aid or Grace 2 Cor. 3. 5. We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves If we Apostle and regenerate be not sufficient who is if not to think then to what to think is the lowest act of po●er 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned John 1. 5. The light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not A ●ill also I grant unto the natural and unconverted man for he could not be a man if he had not a will but this will without Grace cannot do any spiritual good nor chuse it nor love it nor desire it Non potest home aliquid velle nisi adjuvetur ab eo qui malum non potest velle So S. Austin against Pelagius Tom. 3. De spiritu Litera cap. 3. Without me saith Christ ye can do nothing Joh. 15. 5. No man comes to me except the Father draw him Joh. 6. 44. It is God who works in us to will and to do saith the Apostle Phil. 2. 13. And Works I grant un●o this man but spiritual work I deny to them Quid boni petest perditus nisi in quantum à perditione liberatus Austin in Enchirid c. 30. They that are in the flesh cannot please God saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 8. An evil Tree cannot bring forth good fruit so our Saviour Mat. 7. 18.

death what rewards after death it shall procure to persons upon the one and the other he is stirred up to the sense of his sins to the admiration of Holiness to a condemnation of his evil course to a resolution for a better But then it is with him as with some ship sometimes as soon as it is putting out of the Harbor it strikes upon a rock or falls into the sands and loseth all the precious lading Or as with Corn sown and let fall in an open and solid place where the Birds come down and instantly pick it up so is it here with this man the world meets him again at the Church door or at his own door and all these impressions and resolutions are spilt and gone Worldly engagements take present possession of his thoughts and all the service of his affections so that he hath no time to consider what God did speak or work in him no time secretly to beg of God to write those truths in his heart to keep all this in the purpose of his heart to give him the Spirit of Grace and strength to walk in the wayes of God revealed now unto him When you turn the course of the water another way the Mill cannot stir so when men turn the course of their thoughts and affections to secular and vain imployments all resolutions stand still they have nothing now to elicit or draw them on and out into any holy or careful diligence of obedience and performance The Oxen and the Farm c. took them quite off and they made excuses .i. for the present they had other engagements therefore take heed of worldly cares It is impossible that you should be much in the actings of any Grace if you be very much in the service of worldly cares 6. Lastly Presumptuous Confidence is also an Impediment to the Presumptuous confidence present executions of good resolutions whether it be of future time hereafter shall serve the turn it is not wisdom to be so forward soft and fair will go far we have day enough yet before us a year two or ten hence after such a business is effected or which is worse after the pleasures of such a sin is a little more tasted Or of Future ability This is a work which we will do at pleasure and at leisure when we see the scouts the forerunners of the army then we will buckle on our armor when we espy the harbingers of death approaching old age sickness weakness diseases then we will think of heaven and forsake hell what need we be troubling our selves to be doing of that a long time which we can dispatch at any time if we have but time to say Lord have mercy upon me what would ye more Or of Future Mercy Wherefore hath God Mercy but for sinners and he hath said That if at any time a sinner convert he will have mercy We have found him kind unto us all our dayes and doubt not of his fatherly compassion at the last Thus do men post of all penitential executions and for ever endanger their souls Alas for future time whose is it Seneca the Heathen could see more truth then this Solum tempus presens nostrum No time is ours but the present Thou carriest thy life in thy hands thy breath in thy nostrils and seest more Graves made for the young then for the aged And as for thy future ability why dost thou so grosly befool thy self knowest thou not that present Neglects cause stronger Indispositions Qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit the School-boy will teach thee Every man by more sinning grows more sinful and therefore most unapt and averse to good And then Future Mercy it is of all things the most uncertain to pardon sin where present mercy leaves us not to repentance from sin it is all one as if thou shouldst thus argue God will hereafter pardon me and therefore for the present I will sin against him disobey dishonour vex and grieve and abuse him These are the principal impediments to a present expectation of penitential resolutions and are to be declined by us I now proceed to the helps and furtherances to a present Helps execution of penitential● resolutions which are these amongst many 1. Solid Conviction of a sinful estate This will put us upon a present Execution When the Soul is brought to an experimental Solid conviction of a sinful state sense of the vileness and bitterness of sin it will not then lye hovering Were I best to give up this course or shall I go on in it still No but when the Soul is indeed wounded the wayes shall without delay be reformed take a person in some judicial and close conviction of sin upon a sick and dying bed how forward is a person then to change and better his courses much more do solid and evangelical convictions sweetly dispose and incline the heart to the forsaking of an evil and walking in a good way They in Acts 2. 37. were pricked in their hearts and what did this work in them they cry out presently Men and brethren what shall we do So Saul was struck to the ground and was astonished and trembled and then presently cries out Lord what wilt thou have me to do Act. 9. 4 6. Outward afflictions you see many times do put on men to alter and reform their wayes of much greater force are inward afflictions of spirit Go on yet in sin God forbid shall I continue in sin any longer who if I make not haste may lose all mercy and drop into Hell it self what I feel is much what I deserve I cannot bear 2. Holy Wisdome To know times and seasons is an high Holy wisdome part of Wisdome Walk not as fools but as wise redeeming the time saith the Apostle Eph. 5. 15 16. There are four things which solid Wisdome teacheth a man One is to look to the best part Another to make choice of the best good A third to walk in the best wayes A fourth is to do all this in the first place and surest time Have I any thing more near to me then my soul more concerning my soul then God more concerning God then walking before him Where am I if I lose my Soul what am I if I enjoy not God whether run I if I continue in sin if my soul be nearest and God choicest and his wayes safest why do I demur what should I take time or put off the doing of that which is ever best done when it is done If I will live yet in sin for ought I know I may then dye in sin and if I dye in sin I must for ever perish for sin Why should I not Do I not admit the present loss of that which else may be the eternal loss of my Soul But if I set into an holy life this is the very path of God the image of Glory the Ark of safety and the pledg of an happy eternity

becomes malleable nevertheless it is not changed in its Intrinsecal disposition 4. When a man is Formal in duties but not Spiritual in duties he holds a customary course but not a conscientious course this mans heart is not changed Judas was as busie about Christ as the other Disciples yet he was not changed Some unconverted man may be as frequent in religious duties as converted persons are yet their hearts unchanged There are four things which prove a formal Christian to have an unchanged Four things prove a formal Christian to have an unchanged Heart Heart for though he doth good duties yet he doth them 1. From carnal Principles of Custome Education Example not from Faith Love and Spiritual Principles 2. For Carnal Ends with a respect to his Estimation with men not with God or he doth some good to blind and cover more evil 3. As a Carnal or Natural work not as a Communion with God or Christ if he doth them it is sufficient but whether he meets with God in them or God with him in them whether he pleaseth God and God accepts of him and them or what heavenly revenues come into his soul upon them he regards not 4. Without any Delight A good m●n hates the sin which he doth an evil man hates the good which he doth he delights not in the Law of God after the Inward man he is glad when the work is done but not to do the work It is his Task it is not his Pleasure It is a Heaviness but not an Heaven to him his Spirit is weary as much as his Body he cannot take hold of God be importunate in prayer for any Grace he doth not put out a Might a Power a Zeal in holy Services but acts them with a sleepy faint wearisome undelightful Spirit 5. When a man hath been and still is a stranger to Inward Conflicts certainly that mans heart was never changed there may be two conditions wherein all may be quiet One is in anothere life where grace stands alone in heaven there is no sin but holiness is grown unto its utmost perfection and therefore it is above contrariety and conflict Another is in this life where sin stands alone it hath the dominion and blinds the mind sears the conscience and hardens the heart there is neither a contrary light nor a contrary grace to raise any stirs and conflicts But then there is a third condition which hath medium participationis in it in which the soul is partly flesh and partly spirit sin is there and grace is there there are two contrary Natures two contrary Lawes two contrary Inclinations and workings two Adamants as it were one drawing the soul to evil the other drawing the soul to good one willing the other unwilling one yielding the other resisting one putting on to ●aith to love to mourning to praying to repenting the other putting off the soul from all these when I would do good evil is present with me saith Paul And verily it is thus with every converted and changed man The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh and these two are contrary one to another so that they cannot do the good that they would Gal. 5. 17. And if no such thing be in thee thy heart was never changed That man who never finds an unbelieving nature opposing and conflicting with a believing nature hardness conflicting with softness c. his heart was never changed for converting grace is in us but in part and if but in part then some sinfulness still remains and believe it there are not two more active more contrary more conflicting principles then grace and sin in the same subject 6. When a man is constantly formal in the same rode and posture all his dayes like a Pio●ture never better nor worse Such who seem to be changed without and within but it is not total Two things manifest a partial change When they do not come up fully to the commanding Will of God 3. There are many men who seem to be changed without and within yet the change is not a total or universal change and there are two things which do manifest a partial change only to be in many men 1. When they do not come up fully to God in respect of his commanding will they cannot come up to the Will of God when his Will is most spiritual when his will is most strict as self-denial when his will is most difficult Oh to sacrifice Isa●c that beloved Child to part with Ben●amin this is against them to pluck out the right eye and cut off the right hand this is an hard saying when his will is most suffering For the young man to forsake all his riches this is a sorrowful Injuction to renounce all our honours with Moses and to suffer reproaches with the people of God to leave Friends and Father and Mother and Brethren and Sisters and Children and Lands and Life too as the Apostles did When a man is converted he is now so changed that his will and Gods Will are not sutable but also coextensive It is pliable and it is parallel Gods Will is my will and what he wills I will the Law of God is written in his heart every command of God is ingraven upon it there may you read the Masters Copy and the Scholar writing after it This is to be done saith God this I desire to do saith the Godly heart this I would have thee to believe Lord I believe help my unbelief Thus much I would have thee to suffer Lord strengthen me and give me not only to believe but to suffer for thy sake But in a partial change it is otherwise 2. When they do not fully come up to God in respect of his forbidding Nor to the forbidding Will of God will You know that God forbids all sin he forbids spiritual sins pride ambition c. as well as fleshly sins 2 Cor. 7. 1. little sins faith and troth vain thoughts as well as great sins secret sins alone as well as open sins heart sins heart-adultery revenge malice as well as life sins Gospel sins unbelief and grieving of the Spirit of God as well as Law sins sins of Omission as well as sins of Commission breeding or original sin as well as actual Quest But some may say unto me If the case be so How How a man may know that God hath indeed changed his heart Some things premised There are many abo●●ive changes may one know that God hath indeed converted and changed his very heart so that he may confidently say that although I was once dead yet I am now alive This Question deserves a serious Resolution For 1. There are many abortive changes deluding changes rising from false and insufficient Principles from a terrifyed conscience or from politick parts or from the power of restraint or from denial of occasions or from prevalent passions or from the contrariety of one sin

succeed one the other there being no predominant impediment to the instantaneous execution of that penitential purpose Another is seasonable vvhere though twixt the purpose and the acting there may be some distance of time yet the apprehension of the next occasion may truly make the execution or practise to be present As in the case of penitential restitution it may so fall out either through the inability of the estate or the subjection of the person that he cannot immediately restore yet because the penitent person in such a case layes hold on the next opportunity and occasion his resolution may be said to be acted presently i. upon the next present time when God enables h●m to act his purpose of restoring So that penitential Resolution produceth present Execution either for immediateness as in most cases or for seasonableness as in some cases 4. That there is again a double penitential Execution of penitential And in execution in endeavour or in victory Resolution One consists in endeavour and application when the person without delays addresseth or applieth himself to the ways by which sins may be subdued and forsaken Another consists in victory and assecution wherein the Penitent doth in some more eminent degree lead captivity captive That penitential Execution whereof I speak properly and naturally consists in the former though it must aim and strive after the latter also i. when a person doth indeed resolve to leave his sins and to serve the Lord in newness of life this Resolution doth actively excite him to be much in Prayer unto the Lord and diligently to hearken to and observe his Word and to decline the occasions which may give strength to his corruptions It causeth him to resist evil motions and to bewail them it sets him upon all sorts of Duties and Ordinances so that the person is now really working against sin and throughly working for God he is in the ways of God and according to the measure of grace received working the works of God But why should penitential Intentions be accompanied with present Executions or performances Sol. Reasons for it are many 1. That God who commands Reasons for 〈◊〉 God commands us to repent presently us to repent commands us presently to repent The Time is under Precept as well as the Work Some Precepts bind us semper but not ad semper other Precepts bind us semper ad semper too When the Lord commands any man to repent this is a Duty which concerns the whole course of his life it takes hold of him as soon as ever he lives and is become a sinner and concerns him not onely in his latter days but all his days 2. It is very dangerous to defer our penitential Executions or actings Whether we consider 1. The Resolutions themselves It is dangerous to delay they are but accidental and not natural things not such qualities or rather motions which arise from an in-bred principle but are forensical to our natures and being not presently cherished by acting like little sparks of fire may easily vanish languish and extinguish We read of the Israelites that they were an unstedfast people in Covenant and like a deceitfull Bow Naked Resolutions will never ripen and abide if you will not go beyond your Resolutions you will quickly fall from your Resolutions 2. Our own hearts ah how deceitfull are they how full of rebellion how averse to all good Like the cold hearth to a little fire how cunning to keep up Sin in the Throne how willing to break asunder all the bands of Obedience with much adoe resolving with little adoe dissolving those resolves again Volebam saith St. Austin nolebam I would and yet I would not one while I would and by and by I wouldnot It is the Genius of cur sinfull hearts to apprehend the present time for sin and to crave the future time for repentance Our worst work we would do instantly our best work we would do negligently Good motions are like a Bird falling into our hands which if we presently catch not she instantly flees away Gracious purposes in our hearts are like warmth in the water the impression requires some degrees and some blowing but the recession is easie the natural coldness in the water will instantly rise up and expel that heat if you be not watchfull c. 3. Extinguishing occasions Repentance in all the parts of it hath many enemies and hinderances some within us some without us the Resolutions are weak but the Occasions are strong Let the ship alone and if the Pilot hath onely a resolution to sail with the next tide or the next wind may carry the ship away How ordinary is the experience That the strength of occasions have beaten back and put to flight many and many a resolution like a cross wind which hath carried back the ship unto the very harbour whence it came forth Meer resolutions are but unarmed Souldiers or as unwalled Cities You shall find much of this truth That meet resolutions are too weak for proper and sudden occasions 4. Or the assistance of Grace To resolve and not to act is one way whereby we quench the Spirit The Spirit you know may be quenched many ways Positively as when we will walk in paths expresly contrary to his motions this is to throw water upon the fire Negatively when we do not follow nor cherish his motions as you quench the fire if you do not stir it or blow it or add more unto it So when the Spirit of God shall deal thus far with us as to convince us that our course is evil and yet further to excite a purpose in our hearts to desist but then we let the work lie still we do not st against that evil way this may cause the Spirit of God to withdraw to desert the sinner who doth desert his counsel who will be a Counsell our to him who will walk in no counsel but his own 3. Penitential Executions if present will be more easie and Present execution will be More easie more comfortable 1. They will be more easie St. Austin had almost wasted his spirits with resolutions and conflicts Quamdiu cras cras c. and he thought it many times impossible for him ever to be rid of such an inmate as sin But when his resolution brake out into practise then Facile suave the work grew easie and sweet When we come to the acting part then the Lord will exert and put forth his power in our weakness the acting and doing Christian partakes of most assistance Do we not find it thus in Prayer and in many other Duties which perhaps we look upon with much fear and suspition But when we are acting of them how singularly doth the Lord enlarge our thoughts and affections Why this holds in the very Duty of Repentance seta against thy sins in good earnest set upon a holy course in good earnest thou shalt expermentally find that it was

Covenant of God with you in Christ of the offer of Christ unto you now under seal that he is yours seal with your Ring put your Seal to the Covenant and Deed of Christ and God and feed on him believe on him draw from him This is my Lord this is my Saviour this bloud was shed for me my Christ will do me good I shall be saved by his bloud reconciled by his bloud healed and preserved by his Spirit And shoes on his Feet This is the third Favour which is bestowed upon the repenting Prodigal his Lips were kissed his Back was clothed his Hand was adorned and now his Feet are shod the penitent person is onely the compleat person But what these What is meant by shoes on his feet Feet are and what the Shoes which are put-on them is a point differently conjectured of by Interpreters Sol. Not to waste time both the Words are Metaphorically to be understood for some things which do in some respects answer to Feet and Shoes Feeet are taken sometimes 1. for the springs of our actions and courses as for our Will and Affections so Eccles 5. 1. 2. For the actions and courses themselves which Solomon calls the path of our feet Prov. 4. 26. And in this sense David saith Wilt thou not keep my feet from falling Psal 56. 13. and God is said to guide the feet of his People and to preserve the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2. 9. And Shoes on the feet are also diversly taken in a metaphorical sense 1. Sometimes for a mortified disposition to the world as the shoes keep the feet at a distance from the earth and with them we trample upon the earth 2. Sometimes for strength against passive injuries and evils as feet shod can pass upon sharp thorns and stones this is called Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Christ Ephes 6. 3. Sometimes for a ●it ability in all walking for the shoes do not onely adorn the feet but strengthen them in and unto motion From all which we may I think observe this Proposition That God doth enable a penitent person with grace and strength Doct. God doth enable a penitent person with grace and strength for a singular walking for a better and singular walking or course of Life and Obedience The Prodigal before his Conversion walked with naked feet wildly loosely disgracefully dangerously but upon his repentance he hath shoes put on his feet not onely his Heart is altered but his Life not onely his disposition but condition not onely his condition but his conversation He was another man and now walks as another man The same you see in Paul before his Conversion and after it Before his Conversion his feet were swift to shed bloud he persecuted the Saints and Members of Christ to the death but after his Conversion he exalts Jesus Christ and is endeared in highest affection unto him and his servants prizeth Christ above all loves Christ above all strives for the propagation and for the obedience of the Gospel above all and his feet carry him to most places and persons for the service of Christ And this alteration in the course of life Paul expresseth to be in all that are effectually called and converted that they do not now walk as other Gentiles Ephes 4. 17. nor as they themselves once did in darkness and voluptuousness but do put off their old Conversation Ephes 4. 22. and walk as children of the light Ephes 5. 8. and become servants of righteousne●● Rom. 6. 18. and have their fruits unto ●oliness v. 22. What this singular walking is But the Question may be What that singular course of living or walking is unto which God doth enable penitent persons Sol. I conjecture of it thus 1. It is an heavenly and spiritual A heavenly and spiritual walking walking In Abraham this is called a walking before God and in Noah a walking with God in the Galatians a walking in the Spirit in others a walking in Christ in the Phillippians a conversation in heaven Before our conversion we mind nothing and endeavour after nothing and imploy our selves in nothing but sinfull sensual vain things and courses But when the soul is truly made penitential now our hearts mind a God and his Word and his Glory now they meditate on his Will and Laws now they crave after Grace and heavenly strength now they busie and endeavour What shall we do to be saved Now our feet can bring us to the Courts of God and now we can conscionably prize and use communion with God we take more delight a thousand times to read his Word than all Play-books and merry Histories to hear the voice of Christ to be reforming of what is evil to be much in Prayer and all the works of holy Obedience than in any wicked or vain way whatsoever 2. It is a regular course of life The feet when shoes are on them are then restrained as it were and confined they are A regular course of life kept to a size and do not ●qu●nder and expatiate So is it with the course of a man who is made a true Penitent it is not now loose and wild guided by the season of every company nor by the examples of every man nor by the course of the world nor by the lusts of his own heart what others do is no rule to him and what others applaud is no rule to him and what others decide is no rule to him and what his own heart suggests is no rule to him But he hath a sure rule unto which he takes heed and according to which he orders his conversation and walks If the Word of God saith Go he goeth if that say Come he cometh If that like the Cloud before the Israelites moves by Precept he riseth up and endeavours to follow it if that like the same Cloud doth rest and forbid he sits down and dares not do it He doth not do what he will but what he may live after an Humour but after a Law he would have every action not bad but good and that it may be so first consults with the Word Is it lawfull and then resolves to practise it because it is so 3. It is an even and upright course of life as the shoes keep An even and upright course of life the feet up on either side Such feet doth God bestow upon penitent people as the living creatures had their feet were straight feet Ezek. 1. 7. not like the Images feet in Daniel 2. 33. which were part of Iron and part of Clay A conversation that is like the Prophets cake which was not turned Hos 7. 8. Dough-baked bread on the one side and dough on the other so P●ous in one part and Impious in another publickly Religious and secretly Prophane in one society Angelical in another Diabolical in one place a Doctrine and in an other an Use of Confutation like a Fish to give a