It pleased the Lord, I think, to give me in some cases something like the gift (not grace) of faith, so that unconditionally I could ask and look for an answer. The difference between the _gift_ and the _grace_ of faith seems to me this. According to the _gift of faith_ I am able to do a thing, or believe that a thing will come to pass, the not doing of which, or the not believing of which would not be sin; according to the _grace of faith_ I am able to do a thing, or believe that a thing will come to pass, respecting which I have the word of God as the ground to rest upon, and, therefore, the not doing it, or the not believing it _would be sin._ For instance, _the gift of faith_ would be needed, to believe that a sick person should be restored again, though _there is no human probability: for there is no promise to that effect; the grace of faith_ is needed to believe that the Lord will give me the necessaries of life, if I first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness: for _there is a promise to that effect._ (Matt. vi. 33.)
The natural mind is ever prone _to reason, _when we ought _to believe;_ to be _at work,_ when we ought to be _quiet;_ to go our own way, when we ought steadily to walk on in God's ways, however trying to nature.