"(1.) That He was God before the world was created, and the same God that He was after it was created. "(2.) That He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in goodness, and that He was so from everlasting, and will be to everlasting. "(3.) That He changes not, neither is there variableness with Him; but that He is the same from everlasting to everlasting, being the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and that His course is one eternal round, without variation. "(4.) That He is a God of truth and cannot lie. "(5.) That He is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of Him. "(6.) That He is love."[276] [276] Doc. and Cov., Lectures on Faith, iii, 13-18. =7.= A knowledge of these comprehensive features of the Divine nature will enable one to exercise rational and intelligent faith in God. And upon such knowledge of God's existence, the worthiness of His character, and the perfection of His attributes, is man's faith in Him established. Faith then cannot be exercised in the absence of all knowledge; yet even the benighted heathen show some of the fruits of faith; but they have at least the conviction that arises from man's natural intuition regarding a supreme power, which has been described as a common heritage of humanity. In every human soul, even in that of the savage, there is some basis for faith, however limited and imperfect the darkness of heredity or of wilful sin may have made it. Every child of God is born with the capacity for faith inherent within his own nature; and all yearn in some degree for the strength and aid which only faith can give. We shall yet learn:-- "That in all ages Every human heart is human; That in even savage bosoms There are longings, yearnings, strivings, For the good they comprehend not. That the feeble hands and helpless, Groping blindly in the darkness, Trust God's right hand in that darkness, And are lifted up and strengthened."[277] [277] Longfellow. The heathen's faith may be imperfect and weak, for his ability to recognize the evidence upon which belief in God depends may be small. While the first promptings of faith toward God may be the result of natural intuition,--a faint echo of the songs of praise which were so common during the state of primeval childhood,--the later development will be largely the result of unprejudiced and prayerful investigation and search for truth.