NECESSITY OF MIRACULOUS GIFTS.
It is necessary that the signs or gifts of the Gospel should follow believers in our day as well as in past ages. They furnish a proof of our faith. If our faith is not sufficient to bring to us the temporal blessings of God which we need or desire, then we have cause to fear that our faith is not strong enough to bring to us eternal salvation. It is possible for a person to be mistaken in estimating his own faith. Sometimes people over-estimate their strength, and only learn of their mistake when they make some test of it. Persons can also overestimate the faith they possess, and if they do not test it they may deceive themselves.
Faith, like bodily strength, can only be developed or increased by exercising it; and a person once possessing faith may lose it by disuse, as one loses his strength of muscle when it is not exercised.