Christian faith differs in this from the faith which the heathen have in their own religions, that Christian faith affects conduct while that of the heathen either does not have any influence at all upon men's lives and words and deeds, or in some cases makes them worse than they would otherwise have been. We shall not attempt to decide whether a Muslim who with his whole heart believes in Muhammad is thereby made holier, purer, more unselfish, more humble-minded, more merciful, than he would otherwise have been. We leave each earnest reader to answer this question for himself, and would ask him to consider well what there is in the life and example of Muhammad, and in the pleasures also to which Muslims look forward in paradise, which has any tendency to produce purity of heart and life. That Christ's character and teaching and the whole of the Gospel do tend to purify the heart of the believer and lead him to do good is clear to any one who has read the New Testament on ever visited a mission hospital or Christian school. 'The tree is known by its fruit.'

True Christian faith in the Lord Jesus Christ depends upon knowing and loving Him as our loving Saviour and Redeemer. 'We ¹ love, because he first loved us.' Christian faith thus produces true repentance in the heart of the believer, and kindles therein the flame of love towards God, thereby arousing the longing to obey His commandments

and bestowing strength to do so. For this faith is such an inward and spiritual and God-given power, poured into the believer's heart from on high through the Lord Jesus Christ, that it removes the believer from love of sin and from evil desires and from love of the world. It also cleanses his heart and renders his outward walk and conduct such as to be acceptable to the Holy God. His heart becomes so filled with God's love that with gladness he walks in God's appointed way and follows His divine guidance, obeying Him in all things. He obtains from God even in this world heart happiness and true rest and peace (as we hope to point out in the next chapter), and in the next world there fall to his lot,

Things ¹ which eye saw not, and ear heard not,
And which entered not into the heart of man,
Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him.

But let it not be thought that the realization of God's love and mercy as revealed in Christ Jesus has the effect of making a true Christian proud with that spiritual pride which is one of the most deadly of all sins. On the contrary, this knowledge of God's mercy teaches him his own unworthiness. Every person who truly believes in the Lord Jesus Christ knows and understands that in God's sight he himself is a guilty sinner and deserving of hell fire, and that inwardly he is so defiled that he dares not draw near to God the All-Holy. He perceives,