The Life of Faith Author:Thomas Cogswell Upham Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER SECOND. ON NATURAL FAITH AS A SOURCE OR PH frCIPLE OF NATURAL ACTION. Of natural strength in connection with natural faith The connection of streng... more »th or decision of character with the will. The energy of the will's action depends in part upon faith. Evidences of the connection between strength of faith and energy and success in action. Evidence of this connection from inventions in the arts, from literature, and from great active enterprises. The existence and importance of this principle beginning to be recognized by philosophical writers. It is a religious maxim, that a man is according to his faith. It is not less true, though perhaps in a diminished or mitigated sense, that it is also a philosophical or natural maxim. Certain it is, that faith, in the natural sense, is the foundation, to a considerable extent, of activity and energy in the natural man. In many things, though not invariably, the natural man will be found to be, in the result of what he proposes to undertake, very nearly or precisely what he believes himself to be. The measure of his strength will be found in the measure of his faith. 2. — It should be added, however, in order to a correct estimation of this matter, that strength or energy of character cannot be well explained without a reference to the mil. And in accordance with this remark, the common idea of an energetic man is, that he is a person of a strong or energetic will. There are diversities in the constitution of the will, it is true; and as a result of this, there are diversities in personal energy; just as there are diversities in other elements and traits of character. Some men, in consequence of possessing original strength of will, are naturally more decided, more energetic than others. But other things being equal, in othe...« less