117. Faith by persuasion exists, when the Word and the doctrine of the Church are believed and loved, not for the sake of the truth and a life according to it, but for the sake of gain, honour, and the reputation of learning, as ends; therefore, those who have the above faith, do not look to the Lord and to heaven, but to themselves and the world. Those who aspire after great things in the world, and are covetous of many things, are in a stronger principle of persuasion that what the doctrine of the Church teaches, is true, than those who do not aspire after great things, and who are not covetous of many things. The reason is, that with the former the doctrine of the Church is merely a means for the attainment of their own ends; and in so far as the ends are coveted, in so far the means are loved, and are also believed. But the case herein intrinsically is as follows: so far as these persons are in the fire of the loves of self and the world, and so far as from that love they speak, preach, and act, in so far they are in the above principle of persuasion, and then they do not know otherwise than that a thing is so; but when they are not in the fire of those loves, they believe but little, and many do not believe at all. From this it is evident, that faith by persuasion is a faith of the lips, and not of the heart and thus that intrinsically it is no faith.