heaven--shall breed in our soul, and bring forth virtues in the
branches of our faith. And then, with the faithful trust that
through the true belief of God's word we shall put in his promise,
we shall be well able to command a great mountain of tribulation to
void from the place where it stood in our heart, whereas with a
very feeble faith and faint, we shall be scantly able to remove a
little hillock.

And therefore, as for the first conclusion, since we must of
necessity before any spiritual comfort presuppose the foundation of
faith, and since no man can give us faith but only God, let us
never cease to call upon God for it.

VINCENT: Forsooth, good uncle, methinks that this foundation of
faith which, as you say, must be laid first, is so necessarily
requisite, that without it all spiritual comfort would be given
utterly in vain. And therefore now shall we pray God for a full and
fast faith. And I pray you, good uncle, proceed you farther in the
process of your matter of spiritual comfort against tribulation.

ANTHONY: That shall I, cousin, with good will.


III

I will in my poor mind assign, for the first comfort, the desire
and longing to be comforted by God. And not without some reason
call I this the first cause of comfort. For, as the cure of that
person is in a manner desperate, who hath no will to be cured, so
is the comfort of that person desperate, who desireth not his own