Chapter 8 (81)
Distinction XXIII | 101 although we are commanded to believe because we cannot see that which we are commanded to believe, yet we see faith itself in ourselves, when it is in us; because faith even in absent things is present, and faith in outward things is itself within, and faith in things which are not seen is itself seen. Faith itself comes into the hearts of men in time; and if, from being faithful they become unbelievers, it perishes from them.'
3. With these words, it is plainly taught that faith in man's heart itself is seen by the man himself, and not corporeally or in the imagination, but intellectually. And yet faith itself concerns absent things and those which are not seen. For as Augustine says elsewhere, "we believe in order to know; we do not know in order to believe. For what is faith, except to believe what you do not see? Faith, then, is to believe what you do not see; truth, to see what you have believed."
4. And so faith is rightly called the evidence or conviction of things that do not appear,* because if there is faith, then on its account there is conviction and proof that there are some things which do not appear, since faith concerns only things that do not appear.
Chapter 8 (81) 1. DESCRIPTION OF FAITH. For the Apostle says: Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence or conviction of things that do not appear,' because those things for which we are to hope subsist in us even now through faith, and they will subsist in the future through experience.
And it is the proof and conviction of things that do not appear because, if anyone should doubt concerning these, they are proven by faith, as even now the future resurrection is proven because the Patriarchs and other saints believed it to be so. Or it is the proof and certitude that there are some things which do not appear, as was said above.' But faith is properly called the substance of things to be hoped for because it 'stands under' the things to be hoped for, and because it is the foundation of good things and no one can change it.
2. WHETHER THAT DESCRIPTION [OF FAITH] IS SUITABLE FOR HOPE. But
if it is asked whether this description is suitable for hope, either view may freely be granted. For if it is said to be suitable, there are also many other things in which faith and hope differ.' But it would not be wrong to say that it is only suitable for faith, and not for hope, because faith alone is
°Augustine, De Trinitate, bk 13 cl n3.
7Augustine, /n Joannem, tr. 40 n9.
'@telebrelieels "Hebr. 11, 1.
?See above, c7 n4.
3See below, dist. 26 c3.