The legs of the lame are not equal: so [is] a parable in the mouth of fools.
Ver. 7. The legs of the lame are not equal.] Locum habet proverbium cum is qui male vivit, bene loquitur, saith an interpreter. a This proverb hits such as speak well, but live otherwise. Uniformity and ubiquity of obedience are sure signs of sincerity; but as [an] unequal pulse argues a distempered body, so doth uneven walking show a diseased soul. A wise man's life is all of one colour, like itself; and godliness runs through it, as the woof runs through the warp. But if all the parts of the line of thy life be not straight before God, it is a crooked life. If thy tongue speak by the talent, but thine hands scarce work by the ounce, thou shalt pass for a Pharisee. Mat 23:3 They spake like angels, lived like devils; had heaven commonly at their tongue ends, but the earth continually at their finger ends. Odi homines ignava opera, philosopha sententia, said the heathen; that is, I hate such hypocrites as have mouths full of holiness, hearts full of hollowness. A certain stranger coming on embassy to the senate of Rome, and colouring his hoary hair and pale cheeks with vermilion hue, a grave senator espying the deceit, stood up and said, ‘What sincerity are we to expect at this man's hand, whose locks, and looks, and lips do lie?'
a Rodulph. Bain.