God has overruled this world of sense, and put a word in its mouth, and bid it prophesy of Him. Moreover it is plain, that, while love is the root out of which faith grows, faith by receiving the wonderful tidings of the Gospel, and presenting before the soul its sacred Objects, the mysteries of the faith, the Holy Trinity, and the Incarnate Saviour, expands our love, and raises it to a perfection which otherwise it could never reach. Yet they are not distinct from each other except in our way of viewing them. And thus I answer the question concerning the connection of love and faith. This being so, surely we need not be surprised at St. Paul's language, as in the text and verses following.
Love is the true ruling principle of the regenerate soul, and faith ministers to it.
This world is their all in all. As years go on, the disappointments, troubles, and cares of life, wean a religious mind from attachment to this world. A man sees it is but vanity. He neither receives, nor looks for enjoyment from it. He has only just so much of the spirit of love as suffices to hinder his resignation from being despondency, and his faith from being dead.