343. III. A person acquires faith by approaching the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living by them.
Before starting to show the origin of faith, which is approaching the Lord, learning in addition truths from the Word, and living by them, I must first present a summary of faith, which will allow a general idea to be formed on each detail of faith. For this will make more readily intelligible not only what is said in this chapter about faith, but also what will be said later on about charity, free will, repentance, reformation and regeneration, and imputation. For faith enters into each and every part of a theological system like the blood into the parts of the body, and gives them life. The teaching of the present day church about faith is widely known in the Christian parts of the world, and particularly among the ordained clergy of the church; for the libraries of the theologians of the church are full of books about nothing but faith, and about faith alone. Indeed hardly anything but that is regarded as really theological at the present time. But before the doctrines of the present-day church regarding its faith are taken up, scrutinised and evaluated (which will be the subject of an appendix), I present the general doctrines of the new church on the subject of its faith, as follows.
