64. It is a common maxim in every religion that a man ought to examine himself, to do repentance, and to desist from sins; and that if he does not do so he is in a state of damnation. That this is common in every religion may be seen above, Nos. 4-8. It is also common in the whole Christian world to teach the Decalogue, and thereby to initiate children into the Christian religion; for the Decalogue is in the hands of all children and young people. Their parents and teachers tell them that to do these evils is to sin against God; indeed, while they are talking with the children, they do not know anything else. Who cannot wonder then that the same parents and teachers, and also the children when they become adults, think that they are not under the Law, and that they cannot do the things required by that Law? Can there be any other reason why they learn to think thus, than that they love evils, and consequently the falsities which favour them? These, therefore, are they who do not make the precepts of the Decalogue precepts of religion. That the same persons live without religion will be seen in THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING FAITH.