In Sabbath-keeping as in everything else there is the true and the false. Much that is called Sabbath-keeping is lacking in almost every essential element of that which God would have his people know.
All through the Bible the Sabbath is pointed out as a day of joy and activity. When Jesus was chided for his healing work, and accused of breaking the Sabbath law, he said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” At another time he justified his course by alluding to the fact that the priests were busier on the Sabbath day than on any other day of the seven. They “profane the Sabbath,” he said, and yet “are blameless.”
From this teaching of the Lord Jesus we may learn much that will be of value to us in our home experiences. Certainly there is need of the inspired statement, “I desired mercy, and not sacrifice.” If it was important that the Jewish people should grasp the thought of God as that thought had been expressed through the prophet, how much more important it is that we upon whom the ends of the world have come should discover it, and accept it, and live it.
“I desired mercy, and not sacrifice.” These words convey the thought that in the observance of the Sabbath we may put too much stress upon the idea of resting—of doing nothing. More than this, they show that it is possible, in our effort to keep the letter of the law, to leave out that element which is the real essence of all law-keeping, the element of mercy. The law of the Sabbath is but the law of well-doing, the law of bringing gladness and sunshine to every place and to every person that needs it. This was what Jesus did. To relieve the ox fallen into the pit, to satisfy the needs of the hungry, and to heal the wounds and bruises of mankind,—such acts won his divine approval.
The Saviour placed great emphasis upon the principle of doing well on the Sabbath day. And if we would introduce into our homes and families a real relish and reverence for the Sabbath, we must give this truth a practical indorsement. It is time that our children have an opportunity to enjoy earthly Sabbaths; for only those who enjoy them here will know what it is to enjoy them “over there.”
Children particularly love to be doing. It has been my observation that the inactivity of the Sabbath observance in many homes is the part which is especially distasteful to the little ones. To sit still and be quiet because it is the Sabbath, is an announcement which carries with it a spirit at antipodes with all that is pleasant and good as the child views it. He wants something to do, and this want is one which is only normal, right, and best. God has recognized this as right; and years ago he instructed parents so to plan for the Sabbath that the day might be filled with those activities that would conduce to symmetrical and substantial character-building.
Now it must not be supposed that our children, of themselves alone, will be able to plan wisely for the Sabbath day. If left to themselves, they will plan; but they will many times plan wrongly. The planning should be done by the parents with the children. Just as far as possible, train them to think, and thus bring into their lives the power to discern the difference between the wrong and the sacred, the holy and the common. How many times this would help us who are older; for, like Israel of old, we too often, in our haste and carelessness, “put no difference between the holy and profane.”
Whatever our plans, they should include, in their fulfilment, both parents and children. Let the parents stay with their children as far as is possible. Go with them to Sabbath-school and to church. Go, not as detectives or spies, but as taking part with them in all that is good. The journey to and from Sabbath-school has been the cause of the downfall of many a child, and all because a loving parent’s helping hand was not there to lead and hold. O brethren and sisters! let us all take heed to this feature of the Sabbath day, and keep our children with us.
The idea that some one else can bear the parent’s responsibility is fast obtaining nowadays, and is working much harm. The ticket of child life is non-transferable. God has given the children to their parents, and of them he will require an account. All through the more tender years the parent stands in the place of God, and it is his duty to see that the child-gift is placed upon the altar and kept there for him.
The whole Sabbath day should be provided for in a wise way. This will embrace something more than going to Sabbath-school and meeting. To spend the day in the ideal way, follow the methods of the Lord Jesus. His Sabbaths were spent in doing for others,—in visiting and laboring for the sick and sinful. This was the secret of his divine success. He spent no time idly, nor, what would be worse than idly, in entertaining himself. When children and youth have before them a definite purpose to help and comfort others, there is brought into the Sabbath hours that which takes away from them all tediousness and dulness and unloveliness. The day is filled with active duties from earliest morn till setting sun. Missions of mercy with angel wings waft over the hearts of all a divine influence, and all unconsciously the day has flown, leaving behind a trail of bright memories and glad recollections.
Sanitarium, Cal.
Obedience
By Della T. Lutes
“ORDER is heaven’s first law.” It must also be that of the home if there is to be any resemblance between the two places. Order is the law, and the law is order. . . .
Each home must have certain laws by which order, peace, and safety are maintained. These laws must be taught to the child, not only that he may cause no discord in the home, but that he may take his orderly part in the community in which he lives and in the world at large.
Children must be taught obedience in the first three years of life, and should be taught it from the very first day of life. If, on the second week after his birth, a child cries to be picked up and held because he was picked up and held yesterday, he must be made quite as comfortable in his bed as he would be in the arms, and allowed to cry until he finds it useless. It will not be for long.
Too often, however, the child is allowed to have his own sweet will for two or three years of his life, possibly longer, and then all at once, when disobedience and lawlessness are no longer “cunning,” he is suddenly told not to do thus and so, and is bruised upon the body, beaten and hurt, for doing the very things he has hitherto been allowed to8do, and has often been applauded for doing.
There is always some explanation for disobedience. It may be a lack of harmony in the home. Where discord reigns between father and mother, there can be no united, harmonious development for the child. One parent will tell him to do one thing, and the other will often countermand the order, and tell him to do something else. The child soon disrespects both parents and obeys neither.
Obedience is best taught by example. If parents will keep a close watch upon themselves, will constantly strive toward an ideal, will set a vigilant sentinel over their own self-control, self-restraint, and temperament, the development of the child will follow along natural lines. Everything in the training of the child depends upon the manner and attitude of the parent toward it. The fretful, irritable, complaining, scolding mother will develop a whining, irritable, nervous, saucy child.
Once we can make parents understand that they are responsible for what their children are, we shall have accomplished a beginning.
As you are, your child will be. If you want a quiet, lovable, obedient child, be these things, both before its birth and after. If you have “nerves,” don’t be irritable with your child because it is nervous. It may have inherited the tendency, and is sure to have imitated it. Control yourself, and you will find control of the child easy.
Obedience in early years is a necessary quality of character-development. All during life some requirement or other will be made upon this bending of the will to circumstance and necessity.
Upon obedience depends health and safety from danger; upon obedience to conscience depends future behavior, and protection against temptation by law-breaking, evil influences; upon obedience to law depends success in the material world; but obedience in all things must be taught with regard to justice, else it will be not obedience to law actuated by control of self, but obedience to law by virtue of superior might, to be broken how and whenever possible without discovery. And it lies with the parents, within the jurisdiction of the home, to teach this obedience.
Blind obedience should not be expected. “Because I say so,” is a poor reason to the child of ordinary intelligence. It is a slur upon his faculties, and he rightfully resents it. We might as well have little waxen automatons about us as docile children who go and come and fetch and carry unquestioningly, simply because they are told to do so. Fortunately for the race, such children are as rare as red peas.
It is unjust to a child’s reasoning faculties to prescribe his movements, to dictate his acts, and to give no reason for or against. Of course instances occur when instant obedience must be exacted; but such a command is much more likely to be recognized and obeyed where in usual cases reasons are given. If the child knows that, on general principles, he is requested to do or not to do certain things for a reason, he will respond to a quick and urgent summons from the very unusualness of the peremptory command.
In exacting obedience we must exact it from judgment, principle, conscience, rather than our own higher authority. — Della T. Lutes, in American Motherhood.
—L. M. Montgomery
By L. M. Montgomery
Gratitude
Dear God, I thank thee for the sweet,
Fair hour of present happiness,
Though sorrow close upon it press,
And though its rainbow glow be fleet;
From it I gather courage still
For coming ill.
I thank thee for the pleasure found
In little things,—the smiling eyes
Of a dear friend; the rich surprise
Of new-blown roses, morning-crowned;
And for the beauty of the thought
One rapt hour brought.
I thank thee for the priceless boon
Of loyal, tried companionship,—
A friend with smile of eye and lip
With whom my heart may still commune,
Whose hand-clasp hath a potency
To strengthen me.
I thank thee for the touch of pain
That seared away some selfish dross,
And out of bitterness and loss
Brought forth a loftier spirit gain,—
A kinship with the sad and lone
I had not known.
—L. M. Montgomery
The Right Way to Cook Vegetables
THE title of this article infers that there is a wrong way to cook vegetables, and so there is, though this fact is usually ignored by the average cook. Even those who are very particular about preparing other foods, are often unaccountably careless in the cooking of vegetables. There is quite as much difference between a properly and an improperly cooked vegetable as there is between a good and a poor loaf of bread.
Most vegetables do not possess a high nutritive value, and they might be omitted from our dietary were it not that they supply the necessary bulk, and give a desirable variety to our food. From a nutritive point of view, vegetables are chiefly valuable because of the organic salts which they contain. These salts are in a form easily assimilated by the body, and are particularly beneficial to anemic persons.
In the ordinary method of cooking vegetables (boiling in a large quantity of water, and then pouring off the liquid when the vegetable is done), these valuable organic salts are largely lost. The vegetable is left in a watery, tasteless condition, and requires liberal seasoning to make it at all palatable. It is possible, with care, to cook vegetables in such a way that the organic salts and also the distinctive flavor of the vegetable may be retained. To do this the vegetable should either be steamed, baked, or boiled in so small an amount of water that there will be little or none to pour off when the cooking is completed.
Great care should be taken to allow sufficient time for the cooking of such vegetables as peas, French beans, beets, and turnips. Peas and beans are frequently served quite hard, when they would be not only more wholesome, but much more palatable, if cooked an hour longer.
The common practise of using soda to preserve the color of green vegetables is a harmful one. The same desirable effect may be obtained by adding a teaspoonful of sugar to the water in which the vegetable is cooked.
The following suggestions will be found helpful:—
BAKED POTATOES.—Select uniform-sized potatoes, wash well, and dry. Place in a moderate oven. Bake one hour. Just before serving, prick them to allow the steam to escape, and they will be quite ready. Serve with brown sauce.
BAKED CABBAGE.—Chop the cabbage fine, and cook in boiling water for twenty minutes in as small an amount of water as possible. Cover closely. To one quart of this cooked cabbage add one-half cup of water, in which has been dissolved a dessert-spoonful of nut butter and the juice of one lemon. Bake in a covered dish until the cabbage is thoroughly done. Season with salt to taste.
VEGETABLE MARROW.—Peel and cut into slices a nice, fresh, vegetable marrow. Lay it in a steam-cooker, and leave until tender. Serve with white sauce. Marrow steamed in this way is very sweet and delicious.
CAULIFLOWER WITH TOMATO SAUCE.—One large cauliflower, two cups tomatoes, one tablespoonful flour, one tablespoonful nut butter. Trim the leaves and waste from the cauliflower, place in a steamer, and steam until done (about one hour). Prepare tomato sauce by heating the strained tomato to boiling. Add a salt-spoonful of salt; thicken with the flour rubbed smooth in a little water. Add the nut butter to the sauce, and then turn it over the cauliflower. Serve hot.
SPINACH.—Select crisp, fresh spinach. Look over carefully, wash, and steam until done. Season, and serve hot. In steaming vegetables it is necessary to keep up a good fire, as the water in the lower vessel should be kept actively boiling throughout the process of cooking.
It would be well to state that the coarser vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, beets, cabbage, and parsnips, should be avoided by those who are troubled with slow digestion. Of all vegetables the potato is perhaps the most easily digested; and of all methods of cooking potatoes, baking is the best. Many persons can take baked potatoes with impunity who can not eat them without discomfort when prepared in other ways.—Australian Good Health.
New Use for Old Tomato-Cans
Do not throw away your old tomato-cans, if you have either a vegetable or a flower garden. Place them over the young plants that are just coming up, either seedlings or cuttings, and they will keep off all insects and worms until the plants are strong enough to withstand their attacks; for, try as they may, the bugs can not hop as high as the tops of the cans.
The bottoms of the cans must first be knocked out. This is easily done with one blow of the hammer if the cans are previously placed upon the cook-stove and allowed to get very hot. If you do not care to try this plan, cut out the bottoms as you did the tops, with a can-opener.
I have tried this simple method for the past two years with perfect success. My only regret is that I did not know earlier how much labor in spraying, etc. is saved by the use of these protectors in gardening. They also serve to keep the young plants moist, and shelter them from the scorching heat.—Selected.
The Syrian-Egyptian Mission
By W. C. Ising
W. C. ISING
We are grateful for the success of the third angel’s message seen in this field during the past year. Ten precious souls were received into the church, nine by baptism and one by vote. In nearly every station occupied by our workers some fruit has been yielded; namely, Beirut, Jerusalem, Joppa, Luxor (ancient Thebes), and Alexandria. This indicates the result of the leaven of truth deposited in these places. We hope for still better returns in the future.
Last year marked the beginning of our canvassing work in Syria as well as in Egypt. While Brother Zachary began to canvass in Beirut early in January, Brother Dikran, who had been selling peanuts in Alexandria, exchanged this work for the privilege of becoming a colporter in the cause. Then, again, in Cairo, Brother Beserdjian, having once made a start in selling our literature, has found this to be such a blessing that he is determined to put in extra time in this work, at the same time working at his trade, that of a sculptor. He has sold several hundred copies of the newly published “Steps to Christ,” which he translated into Armenian. One Sunday he sold twenty-four copies, valued at ten dollars. Our prayer is that God will raise up other faithful brethren to sell the printed page. Especially ought Cairo to have many good canvassers. It is interesting to know that the three brethren whom God has chosen to be the pioneers in this branch of the work are Armenians. In the spring of last year some of our young brethren from Asia Minor went to Egypt. They have been the means of starting our work anew in Cairo, and of bringing the message to two others with whom they lived.
Having now started the canvassing, practically the backbone of our work, we are anxious to prepare such literature in the Arabic language as will be most helpful for the beginning. We have some tracts under preparation, and hope soon to be able to present these to the people. Since Arabic is the leading language in this field, it is necessary that we should make a good start in the native tongue, rather than give our special attention to the minority. There are several indications that we shall soon be able to carry on this work for the natives more vigorously.
We are glad to say that our Jerusalem health institution has made good progress in its work the past year. For the first time, I believe, it was self-supporting, and had a little surplus with which to begin the new year. Although, viewed from a numerical standpoint, the progress in our field has been small, we know that God will use these little beginnings for greater things. That such may be the case is our continual prayer, and for this we ask the support of all our people.
Beirut, Syria.
Among the Aymara Indians
By F. A. Stahl
F. A. STAHL
“Thirty more ready for baptism!” With these words I was greeted by the Indian brethren at Chucuito, Peru, just four months after the visit reported in the Review of December 29.
I found that this good news was true.
Photo by F. A. Stahl
Thirty more have put off Catholic darkness and are walking in the light of present truth. Thirty more meet around the family altar every morning and evening, and on the true Sabbath day worship the Lord. How these things inspire one to make greater sacrifices, and endure with patience and joy the hardships that come in the way!
The priest of Chucuito had threatened to kill me if I returned; but on my return I found that he had been removed, and that the fifteen young men who were arrested for meeting us with flags on our former visit had been released, and the authorities punished for arresting them. All this greatly strengthened the faith of these people.
Among the first to greet me were some whom the Lord had restored to health during our first visit. I found many more awaiting treatment and instruction. Besides those who came to Brother Comacho’s home for help, I received many calls to visit the sick at the homes of the people. This work and the meetings kept me very busy.
Among those who called for aid were three shepherds living on the farm of a priest, far out upon the mountains, eighteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. They brought the priest’s best horses for my use. This priest is an enemy to us and to the truth, but he was powerless to refuse these people medical attention, or the use of his horses for this purpose. When I came to the homes of these people I found, instead of one sick person, five or ten others brought in from a distance. After attending the sick, the people would call for a meeting. They never tire of hearing that Jesus is soon coming.
At one of these places, a boy eight years old was brought to me. Disease had destroyed the sight of both eyes, and he was sobbing as if his heart would break. I drew the little fellow close to me, and explained to him that the time of the end is indeed near, and that, if we remain faithful, Jesus will soon take us to our new home. I told him if the Lord did not see fit to restore his sight here, it would be restored in the new earth.
The child stopped weeping, and his face lighted up as this new hope came to him—“the blessed hope,” the same hope that fills our hearts, and gives us courage to press on to win souls for Christ.
Every day more people came from greater distances, often two or three days’ journey, bringing their sick; but the sad part of it was, we had no place to keep them, nor had we the proper food for them. Twenty-two patients were compelled to lie on the bare ground, without sufficient covering, in a school building. I had used up everything available of which to make bandages and compresses. Finally, I asked Brother Comacho, our chief brother here, if the people would soon stop coming. He said: “No, they will return to their homes, and tell others in still more distant parts.” I told him that it was better I should leave for the present; that I would present their needs to our conference brethren; and that, the Lord willing, I would soon return to fit up a place where the sick among them could be cared for.10
All we need here is a plain two-story building, where the most simple treatments can be given; board beds, which we will make; and clean, well-cooked food.
What an opportunity to give the message! These people will come a week’s journey to a place of this kind. The power of the priests will be broken, yea, it has already been broken in this vicinity; already people are saying, “I want to know more about these people; for they have helped my mother, father, sister, or brother.” A place of this kind would soon be more than self-supporting, as the people are willing to pay for the treatment and care; and as the running expenses would be small, the charges could be made small. Workers could be trained from among this people, and thus the message be carried to the remotest parts of Peru and Bolivia.
Some may wonder why there is so much sickness among these Indians. The answer is simple: The people perish for lack of knowledge. In the first place, most of them cook, eat, and sleep in one small room. There are no windows, and only one small door. There is no outlet for the smoke except the door; consequently the huts are full of smoke all the time.
Ninety per cent of the people drink alcohol and have the cocaine habit. When they receive an abrasion or a wound, it is neglected; or, worse still, filthy powdered herbs are bound on the affected part. They eat with fingers which are never washed. They are clothed insufficiently, men, women, and children going barefooted in a climate where shoes and stockings are a positive necessity. They bring their drinking-water from the place nearest to their hut, without regard to its purity. The men wear around the waist a band so tight that it is with difficulty one can force the fingers underneath. The women wear from three to seven heavy skirts, tightly drawn around the waist. Last, but not least, the babes are given all kinds of solid food to eat. No physician is needed to tell the ills these wrong habits will surely bring on.
These people are very appreciative, always showing true courtesy. It is a real pleasure to teach them, but they must be taught with patience. For several evenings we held washing classes. It was amusing, and at the same time pathetic, to see them scrub one part of their face or hands until told to move on. Would we do any better if we had never been taught to wash, or had never seen any one wash?
At one of our large meetings, I told them of the sacrifices some of our brethren and sisters in other parts of the world are making, and that they were in part recipients of these kindnesses. They all arose, and said, Diospakgertum. This means not only thanks, but also, God will repay them.
May we continue to have an interest in your prayers as we work for this neglected people?
La Paz, Bolivia.
J. L. SHAW
By J. L. SHAW
India
J. L. SHAW
AFTER spending several months on the plains, getting better in touch with the work at the different mission stations, we came to Mussoorie a few weeks ago, and are now planning for the coming season's work in the hills. I have been very thankful for the measure of strength which has been given me since returning to India. I have been able to visit nearly all our mission stations, with the exception of Tinnevelli and the work in Burma. This has been a great help to me, planning with those at the different mission stations for future work. Although we have difficulties to contend with in the India Mission field, we are getting down to a basis of operation in our native work which will in time bring about larger results than we have seen heretofore.
Up to four years ago, we had done scarcely anything in native work, as most of the workers coming from America were compelled to assist in the English work, both evangelical and medical. Since that time, however, we have been giving the workers a better opportunity of learning the language; and I am glad to say that practically all our foreign workers in India will have passed at least their first year's examination in some language by the month of October. A knowledge of the language is absolutely essential for those working among the native people. When the worker has the language, he can come very closely in touch with the people, and learn the best methods of working for them.
I received word from Tinnevelli recently that sixteen persons had been baptized. We expect four or five will be baptized at Karmatar this coming Sabbath. During the past month we have opened six or eight new out-schools at our different mission stations. We find that the mission school is one of the best agencies for teaching the gospel, not only to the children and youth, but also to their parents. The people desire to learn, and are willing to assist by providing schoolhouses and allowing us to teach the Word of God; and it is by the continual teaching of the Word of truth that souls are brought from darkness into light.
I do hope we shall receive eight or ten thousand dollars from our share of the $300,000 Fund this year. Some of our mission stations are urgently in need of funds with which to provide homes for the missionaries. I recently received a letter from Brother H. H. Votaw, urging money from the $300,000 Fund to put up a house for Brother R. B. Thurber, who is carrying on an industrial school at Meiktila.
At Karmatar we have had thirteen biggahs (a biggah is from one third to three fifths of an acre) of land given to us upon which to build a mission property. Already at that station we have spent about four thousand dollars in rent, having nothing to show for it. We have asked for five thousand rupees, which is a little more than fifteen hundred dollars, to put up a mission house at Karmatar; this would also give us a good location. Our native work at this place is more encouraging than at any previous time. We now have four or five out-schools in operation; the confidence of the natives about the station is growing; and I believe that if we carry out the right policy, many souls will be brought to a knowledge of the truth.
Owing to the prevalence of plague, and not having a house for our workers to live in away from the native quarters of the city, we have been compelled to abandon the work we were carrying on at Najibabad, in North India. One of our workers, Sister O'Connor, was taken down with plague. As soon as her condition was known, telegrams were sent to workers at different stations, asking them to make her case a subject of prayer. The disease was miraculously stayed, and though she is not a strong woman physically, she rallied from the attack and is now at work. As a rule, not more than five or ten per cent at most recover from this disease. We must have a building of our own at Najibabad if we continue to carry on work there; and it does not pay to change locations after we have turned sod, unless there are the best of reasons for so doing.
We very much regret the necessity of closing the sanitarium for the coming year. We shall endeavor to carry on treatment-room work while we wait for a doctor to come out from home.
We are opening, in connection with the rest home at Annfield, a school for the children of our missionaries and believers in this country. It will be small to begin with, but it will fill a great want in the field; and by the blessing of God we hope it will grow.
Mussoorie.
Pagan Temples Falling Into Decay
A MISSIONARY of the American Board writes home: “While traveling from our station at Pang-Chuang to Lintsing this spring, we passed a temple near one of the villages, of which I took a picture because I felt very strongly that it is typical of the attitude of the Chinese in that densely populated district toward the religion which these temples represent. Every village has its two or more temples; but with the exception of a very, very few, all are in the condition represented by this picture. To me there is a great pathos in this; for I can not but feel that the human heart strove for peace with God, but found that the means employed, as represented by this temple sinking into decay, did not bring peace. The back wall of the temple has fallen outward, while the front wall has entirely disappeared. The figures inside the central image with the eighteen disciples around it, are all made of mud. No one ever comes near; for there is no life to be found there. The greater pathos is that nothing fills the void left by the casting off of these mud images.”
Editorial
By Editor
In the first notes of the message sounded by the pioneers in this work, there rang out the gospel call of repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The “commandments of God” were lifted up as the divine standard of righteousness, and “the faith of Jesus” was preached as the one way of righteousness and salvation; for “a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.” Gal. 2:16. So has it ever been since the fall of Adam and the promise of the Saviour.
“In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling.”
In the first volume of the REVIEW, May 5, 1851, Hiram Edson, one of the earliest pioneers in the third angel’s message, wrote as follows of the gospel covenant, the “everlasting covenant,” of righteousness by the faith of Jesus:— Luke 1:72, 73: “To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant.” What is it? Answer: The oath which he made to our father Abraham. Verses 54, 55: “He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.” From these texts we see clearly that the covenant made with Abraham is the holy covenant, and identical with the gospel. The covenant made with Abraham was the gospel covenant. See Gal. 3:7, 8, 16, 17. “Know ye therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, can not disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.”
The covenant made with Abraham is the everlasting covenant. See 1 Chron. 16:13-17; Ps. 105:6-10. And the blood of Christ is the blood of the everlasting covenant. See Heb. 13:20, 21: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will,” etc. It is a settled point in Scripture that Christ and his followers, namely, they which be of faith, are counted for the seed of Abraham. Such are the children of Abraham, to whom the promise was made.
