517. Among the many reasons why a mere verbal confession that one is a sinner is not repentance is this: that every single person can utter this cry, the irreligious and even a devil too, and this with an outward show of piety, on thinking about impending or present torments in hell. But can anyone fail to see that this is not the result of inward piety, being merely a product of the imagination, coming from the lungs, and not a more inward product of the will, coming from the heart? For the irreligious person or devil is none the less inwardly on fire with the lusts of the love of doing evil, and these drive him as gusts of wind do a windmill. So such a cry is no more than a trick to baffle God or to deceive the simple in order to be set free. What is easier than to compel the lips to utter a cry and to match the breath of the mouth to it, to raise one's eyes and lift up one's hands? This is the same as the Lord speaks of in Mark:
Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites: This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far away. Mark 7:6.
And in Matthew:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but the insides are full of robbery and intemperance. You blind Pharisee, clean first the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside too may be clean. Matt: 23:25, 26, and much else in that chapter.
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