Faith And Love In John Henry Newman

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John Henry Newman begins his sermon about faith and love with a bible passage. “Though I have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have no Charity, I am nothing.” This passage is the basis of Newman’s entire sermon and is the foundation of many of the ideas that Newman addresses. According to Newman Love is the greatest virtue a person can possess, and while Newman also agrees that a strong faith is significant it is nothing if love is absent. Newman uses testaments, deductive reasoning and experiences to show how the act of faith and love disclose the presence of God.
Several saints agree with Newman and the statement that love is a virtuous quality that can be improved along with the pursuit of faith, charity, and holiness. Saint …show more content…

People are born with Gods love within. Newman uses an infant as an example of this “We see how it exist in infants, who obey the inward law without knowing it. By a sort of natural service, as plants and trees fulfil the functions of their own nature.” An infant is born pure and filled with love, it is the nature in which all babies are brought into the world. Tress are grown with everything it needs to provide clean air and shade. Each of these things were brought into this world with the means to accomplish what God has intended. God has given all people the want and abilities to love as God loves.
“Thus our duty lies in faith working by love: love is the sacrifice we offer to God, and faith is the sacrificer. Yet they are not distinct from each other except in our way of viewing them.” The presence of god lives within the love and faith of the people who practice holiness. Although Newman addresses that love forms faith, it can be viewed as one complete act of holiness. Love and faith are core values and virtues that help a person become holy. Holiness is a way of living that brings a person closer God. It is an experience that clearly discloses the presence of God through faith and

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