Doc. of Faith (Dick) n. 11

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11. Since the internal acknowledgment of truth is faith, and since faith and truth are one, as was said above Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, it follows that an external acknowledgment without an internal acknowledgment is not faith; and also that a persuasion of what is false is not faith. An external acknowledgment without an internal acknowledgment is a faith in what is unknown; and faith in what is unknown is merely knowledge which is a matter of the memory; and if it is confirmed, it becomes a persuasion. Those who are in this faith and this persuasion think that a thing is true because someone has said so, or they think it is true from having confirmed it: and yet a falsity may be as easily confirmed as a truth, and sometimes more strongly. By thinking that something is true from having confirmed it, is meant thinking that what another says is true and merely confirming it without previous examination.


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