t ought to actuate are not revolving? What is the
good of the screw of a steamer revolving, when she pitches, clean above
the waves? It does nothing then to drive the vessel onwards, but will
only damage the machinery. And Christian emotions and experiences which
do not drive conduct are of as little use, often as perilous, and as
injurious. If you want to keep your 'faith, love, hope,' sound and
beneficial, set them to work. And do not be too sure that you have them,
if they do not crave for work, whether you set them to it or not.

'Your work of faith.' There is the whole of the thorny subject of the
relation of faith and works packed into a nutshell. It is exactly what
James said and it is exactly what a better than James said. When the
Jews came to Him with their externalism, and thought that God was to be
pleased by a whole rabble of separate good actions, and so said, 'What
shall we do that we might work the works of God?' Jesus said, 'Never
mind about _works_. This is _the work_ of God, that ye believe on Him
whom He hath sent,' and out of that will come all the rest. That is the
mother-tincture; everything will flow from that. So Paul says, 'Your
work of faith.'

Does your faith work? Perhaps I should ask other people rather than you.
Do men see that your faith works; that its output is different from the
output of men who are not possessors of a 'like precious faith'? Ask
yourselves the question, and God help you to answer it.

Love labours. Labour is more than work, for it includes the notion of
toil, fatigue, difficulty, persistence, antagonism. Ah! the work of
faith will never be done unless it is the toil of love. You remember how
Milton talks about the immortal garland that is to be run for, 'not
without dust and sweat.' The Christian life is not a leisurely
promenade. The limit of our duty is not ease of work. There must be
toil. And love is the only principle that will carry us through the
fatigues, and the difficulties, and the oppositions which rise against
us from ourselves and from without. Love delights to have a hard task
set it by the beloved, and the harder the task the more poignant the
satisfaction. Loss is gain when it brings us nearer the beloved. And
whether our love be love to God, or its consequence, love to man, it is
the only foundation on which toil for either God or man will ever
permanently be rested. Do not believe in philanthropy which has not a
bottom of faith, and do not believe