Page:The Faith as Unfolded by Many Prophets.djvu/42

 man, he was not an apostle of God. If he had known (as God has given it unto some men in our day to know) how simple is the faith of Christ, so as to agree with the one eternal truth; how complete his commission, so as to leave no office for another to fill; how his doctrine purifies the heart, and his promises console and satisfy the spirit, — your Prophet would not have presumed to teach men greater wisdom, or to offer them a higher happiness than God had bestowed already.

Yet, replied Havilah, hast thou not said that the faith of Mohammed hath been spread abroad for good?

Even so, replied his friend: but that good is from Him in whose hand every man is but an instrument of his high will. — Has thy child told thee of the trouble which befel him ere we came forth?

Yes; — but wherefore this question?

I walked in the garden; and, as I passed, the child plucked up by the roots a plant which he supposed to be a weed; but when I told him that its blossoms were beautiful in his father's eyes, he wept because of his haste, and besought me to plant it again. I did so, having first taken from its root a worm, which would soon