Doc. of Faith (Potts) n. 13

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13. THE INTERNAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF TRUTH, WHICH IS FAITH, EXISTS WITH NONE BUT THOSE WHO ARE IN CHARITY. We have already said what faith is, and will now say what charity is. In its origin or beginning, charity is the affection of good, and as good loves truth, the affection of good produces the affection of truth, and through it the acknowledgment of truth which is faith. Through this succession, the affection of good* comes forth into manifest being, and becomes charity. This is the progressive advance of charity from its origin which is the affection of good, through faith which is the acknowledgment of truth, to its final end in view, which is charity. The final end is the doing. And this shows how love, here the affection of good, produces faith-which is the same thing as the acknowledgment of truth-and through this produces charity-which is the same thing as the working of love through faith. * The Latin here reads "affection of truth," which is evidently a slip of the pen or else printer's error, as the context shows. [TR.]


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