25. 2. IF A MAN THINKS AND SPEAKS PIOUS THINGS, AND DOES NOT SHUN EVILS AS SINS, THE PIOUS THINGS [WHICH HE THINKS AND SPEAKS] ARE NOT PIOUS. This is because he is not in the Lord. For example: if he frequently visits places of worship, listens devoutly to the preaching, reads the Word and books of piety, partakes of the sacrament of the Supper, and daily pours forth prayers; indeed, even if he thinks much concerning God and salvation, and yet makes light of evils which are sins, such as fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy and the like, then all the pious things which he thinks and speaks can be no other than such as are inwardly not pious: for the man himself with his evils is in them. This indeed he does not know at the time; but nevertheless they are there, lying hidden from him; for he is as a fountain whose water is impure from its source. His exercises of piety are either merely customary from habit, or they are merit-seeking, or they are hypocritical: they ascend indeed towards heaven, but they turn back in their course and fall down, like smoke in the air.