2. For the whole life of a Christian upon earth, is properly nothing else than a continual _renewing_ of the image of God in his soul: so that he may constantly live in the new birth, and daily mortify that which is old and corrupt, till the body of sin be eventually destroyed. Rom. 6:4. This life must be begun in this world, that so it may be perfected in that which is to come. Whereas, in whomsoever the renewal of this divine life shall not be begun before his departure from this world, in him it never shall be accomplished. Wherefore I have thought it might be well briefly to repeat what is here meant by the _image of God_, which is to be revived; and what by the _image of the devil_, which is to be obliterated and destroyed in man’s soul: for in the right knowledge of these two, the substance of our whole religion consists. It is the main point upon which all turns, and from which many other articles (as that of Original Sin, free-will, repentance, conversion, faith, justification, prayer, the new birth, sanctification, and lastly, obedience, and the whole practice of a religious life), borrow no small light. Of this, the following remarks will give an account. 3. The soul of man is an immortal spirit, endowed of God with excellent faculties; as the understanding, will, memory, and other powers and affections. 4. See that thou turn all these towards thy God, in order to behold him therein as in a mirror; and, by beholding him, to have his image gradually formed in thy soul. In this sense the apostle speaks of “the glory of the Lord,” which we behold “with an open face,” without vail and shadows. 2. Cor. 3:18. 5. As God is a truly good and holy Being; so also were the substance of the soul, and its true nature and essence, originally good and holy. And as in God there is nothing of evil; even so was the soul of man, in the beginning, free from all manner of evil. As in God there is nothing but what is right; so in the soul there was nothing at first but what was right also. For He is the rock, whose “work is perfect;” even “a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deut. 32:4; Ps. 92:15. As God is wise, so was also the human soul full of divine and spiritual knowledge, of heavenly and eternal wisdom. And as the divine wisdom ordered all things in number, weight, and measure, and knew the powers of all creatures, as well in heaven as in earth: so also was the mind of man possessed of the same light and knowledge.