True Christian Religion (Chadwick) n. 600

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600. If the internal man is regenerated without the external being regenerated along with it, this can be compared to a bird flying through the air with no dry land to rest on, but only a marsh where it is worried by snakes and frogs, so that it flies off and dies. It can also be compared to a swan swimming in the middle of the sea, unable to reach the shore and make its nest, so that the eggs it lays sink into the water and are eaten by fish. It can also be compared to a soldier standing on a wall, who, when this is undermined beneath his feet, falls down and is killed in the collapse. It can also be compared to a lovely tree transplanted into rotten soil, where hordes of worms eat up its roots, so that it withers and dies. It can also be compared to a house without foundations, or to a column with no base to stand on. That is what a person is like if the internal man alone is reformed, and not the external along with it; for he lacks all resolution to do good.


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