Re: CFL database

["Robert L Bass" <RobertLBass@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

that God Himself puts into the heart, of
which the proof is often the instrument, fides ex auditu;34 but this faith
is in the heart, and makes us not say scio, but credo.35

249. It is superstition to put one's hope in formalities; but it is pride to
be unwilling to submit to them.

250. The external must be joined to the internal to obtain anything from
God, that is to say, we must kneel, pray with the lips, etc., in order that
proud man, who would not submit himself to God, may be now subject to the
creature. To expect help from these externals is superstition; to refuse to
join them to the internal is pride.

251. Other religions, as the pagan, are more popular, for they consist in
externals. But they are not for educated people. A purely intellectual
religion would be more suited to the learned, but it would be of no use to
the common people. The Christian religion alone is adapted to all, being
composed of externals and internals. It raises the common people to the
internal, and humbles the proud to the external; it is not perfect without
the two, for the people must understand the spirit of the letter, and the
learned must submit their spirit to the letter.

252. For we must not misunderstand ourselves; we are as much automatic as
intellectual; and hence it comes that the instrument by which conviction is
attained is not demonstrated alone. How few things are demonstrated! Proofs
only convince the mind. Custom is the source of our strongest and most
believed proofs. It bends the automaton, which persuades the mind without
its th