doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He" [Christ] "is righteous: he that doeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (I John iii. 7, 8). To find fault with the Christian faith because of the sins of those who disobey it is hardly worthy of wise men. Thirdly, even those who are most bitter enemies of Christianity admit that here and there true Christians are found, who, though themselves conscious of their imperfections, are good, noble, self-denying men and women, and bear true witness to Christ in their lives. Some of these are medical missionaries, others are nurses in our Christian hospitals, others are officers in the army, others are to be found in every honest trade and calling. No other religion at the present time produces such characters, our enemies themselves being judges. What other religion has established hospitals, as in India, Persia, Egypt, and in many other lands? What other faith sends men and women to teach and tend lepers? In what lands other than Christian are vast sums of money raised to relieve distress and feed those who are starving, whenever a famine occurs in any part of the world? What nations have suppressed the slave-trade, abolished slavery as far as their power extends, and even engaged in war, at great cost in blood and money, in order to put down tyrants and free the oppressed ?

Moreover, the effects produced by true faith in Christ are not confined to people of any one nation, race, or colour. In India, Persia, Egypt, China, Japan, and in every other land where the Gospel has been preached, we find examples of men and women who were once hard-hearted and of evil life, but since they became Christians have been so changed that even their enemies admit that they are good, upright, God-fearing people. Many have undergone persecution and been faithful even unto death. Such men are living epistles of Christ, known and read of all men (2 Cor. iii. 2, 3).

There are, unfortunately, some sects of Christians who offer adoration of some kind to the saints and to the Virgin Mary, and who even bow down before images and pictures. But this is contrary to both the Torah and the Injil (Exod. xx. 2-5; John xiv. 6; I Tim. ii. 5). The New Testament denounces idolatry in no measured terms (I Cor. v. 10, 11; vi. 9; x. 7, 14; Gal. v. 20; Eph. v. 5; Col. iii. 5; I Pet. iv. 3; Rev. ix. 20; xxi. 8; xxii. 15), and the Old Testament history is full of instances in which God most severely punished Israel for this very sin. As such practices are condemned by the whole Bible, it is untrue to say that Christians are idolaters, just as it would be untrue to bring the same accusation against Muslims because many of them, contrary to the teaching of the Qur'an, offer adoration to the Auliya and other dead men, and in some cases to trees, and to other stones as well as to the Black Stone at Mecca.

The true Christian is the man who follows Christ, and who by his life and conduct bears true witness unto Him. In the Visible Church the Lord Jesus Himself told us to expect that tares would spring up among the wheat (Matt. xiii. 24-30, 36-43). But no wise man will mistake the weed for the corn, the bad for the good. Nor is the forged coin an argument against the acceptance of the genuine in the mind of a merchant who is wise and just.