3. (II.) As far as anyone does not take cognizance of sins and know what they are, so far he does not see but that he is without sins. That he knows he is a sinner, in evils from head to foot, is from the Word; and yet he does not know because he does not see anyone sin in himself. He therefore prays, as a tinkling sound, confesses as a tinkling sound, and yet inmostly in himself he believes that he is not a sinner; which belief in the other life is manifested. For there he says, "I am pure, I am clean, I am guiltless," and yet when examined he is impure, unclean, yea even carrion. It is as if the skin were fair and soft outwardly, but within diseased from the very heart; or as a liquid, like water upon the surface, but within putrid from stagnation.