"When Europeans first began their explorations in the New World, the Indians whom they met were much amazed at the power and explosive properties of gun-powder, and asked many questions respecting the manner in which it was produced. The Europeans, taking advantage of the ignorance of the savages, and seeing an opportunity to increase their wealth by the deception, told the Indians that it was the seed of a plant which grew in the lands they had come from, and doubtless it would thrive in their land also. The Indians, of course, believed this statement and purchased the supposed seed, giving in exchange for it large quantities of gold. In implicit faith they carefully planted the supposed seed, and anxiously watched for its sprouting and the appearance of the plant; but it never came. They had faith in the statements made to them by the Europeans, but as these statements were false, and therefore the evidence on which the Indians based their belief untrue, their faith was vain." Thus must it ever be. Only correct evidence, only truthful testimony can produce fruitful, profitable faith. No matter how sincere one's belief may be in an error, that will not transform the error into truth. The sincere faith of the Indians in what the Europeans had said about the "gun-powder seed" did not make that substance produce a plant yielding gun-powder. And so faith in false doctrines, founded upon false testimony, cannot savor of salvation. It is also worthy of note, in passing, that the character and intensity of the faith depends largely upon the quality and quantity of the evidence. If a credible witness testifies to any matter of fact, however strange or unusual the fact may be, one would have some degree of faith in it; but if another witness to the fact, equally credible with the first, also testifies to the same thing, one's faith would be greatly increased; and so as the evidence was multiplied the faith would grow, until at last faith would become so perfect that it would pass almost into the domain of knowledge. So much for faith in general. Now to consider it as a principle of revealed religion. Here it occupies a prominent place. It is the foundation on which religion rests, and the source of all righteousness. In religion, it is in God that faith centers; it is to him that religious faith directs the eyes of man, and bids him hope through Christ to obtain eternal life. And as this is the primary principle in religion, it is my purpose to show from the Scriptures that there is an abundance of evidence which, if carefully considered, will not fail to produce faith in the mind of him who is desirous to know the truth as to the existence of God, the divinity of Christ's mission and the truth of the Gospel.