investigation they do not seek the truth, but seek some method of subterfuge to support what they have accepted as the truth by hearsay and tradition. So, if in their investigation they meet with anything which supports their beliefs, they say, 'we have got hold of a proof'; and if anything appears to weaken their creed, they say, 'we have come across something doubtful'. Thus they set up the belief grasped and accepted by tradition, as a principle, and call 'doubtful' whatever is contrary to it, and a 'demonstration' whatever agrees with it. But the right way of doing is the contrary of this. For one must have no belief (preconceived ideas) to start with, but must look at the demonstration and call what it demands 'the truth', and what is opposed to it 'the false'.

Let us add a word as to the spirit in which the investigation ought to be conducted. It is not to be made in the spirit of controversy or hostility. The open-minded Muhammadan will readily acknowledge that the object of his investigation must be to know the truth—God's truth, and he should not set himself simply the task of trying to show that Christianity is false, or unreasonable, or unsuitable to man's needs. We both believe that God directeth aright those who seek His guidance, and in approaching this subject we ask him to come seeking in prayer the guidance of God, that he may learn from Him the Truth.