"Look Well to Your Faith."
He that has the faith of Christ, has all; he that wants it, has nothing. Well might our Lord say: "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." It secures the heart for God through Jesus Christ, and that secures the whole man; all his thoughts, all his words and actions; forming the whole of his conduct for life upon a perfect, a most infallible pattern. This, then, is the direction to which every Christian must turn his mind. Look well to your faith. Beware of starving your faith, by neglecting to lay in proper provision. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. What the word holds forth and conveys through faith into the heart, viz., the grace of God in Christ, is the only support of the soul. Wherefore, as new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. And let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all knowledge and spiritual understanding. It is the Spirit of Christ indeed, which alone can kindle and maintain this Divine flame; but it is the Christian's business to lay the fuel ready. Beware of poisoning your faith. And this may be done, either by perverse principles or practices. Both commonly go together, and mutually contribute support to each other. The milk of the word must be sincere, i. e., without mixture, in order to give nourishment; for every mixture gives it a poisonous quality. Beware of spoiling your faith by suffering it to be idle. Exercise is as necessary in the spiritual life, as in the natural. By faith the Christian lives, and of course, he only lives so far as faith is kept in constant exercise. Just so much activity and exercise as there is, so much is there of faith; and whenever it ceases to act, the Christian ceases to live. The seed of life may be in him; but life consists in the exercises of life. At the same time we must beware of attempting to live, that is, to exercise faith, or any other grace, but in strength derived from the Spirit of life.