"Did he know that the North American Indians would be blessed in him? Did he know they would learn that the Great Spirit had a Son, Jesus Christ? And that Jesus Christ was descended from him?"
"I—don't—know," said Marjorie, doubtfully. "I get all mixed up."
"It was because all the world would be blessed that he was so anxious to have a son. And, then, after Isaac was born and married for years and years the promise did not seem to come true, for he had no child. Must the faithful, hopeful old father die with his hope deferred? We read that Abraham died in a good old age, an old man, full of years, and Isaac and Ishmael buried him, and farther on in the same chapter we find that the twin boys are born, Jacob and Esau. But their old grandfather was dead. He knew now how true God is to his promises, because he was in Heaven, but we can't help wishing he had seen those two strong boys from one of whom the Saviour of the whole world was to descend. But if we look at Abraham's age when he died, and comparing it with Isaac's when the twins were born, we find that the old man, truly, had to wait twenty years before they were born, but that he really lived to see them seventeen or eighteen years of age. He lived to tell them with his own lips about that wonderful promise of God."
"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Marjorie, enthusiastically.
"He had another long time to wait, too," said Linnet.
"Yes, he had hard times all along," almost sighed Miss Prudence.
Forty years old did not mean to her that her hard times were all over.
"But he had such a good time with the boys," said Marjorie, who never could see the dark side of anything. "Just to think of dates telling us such a beautiful thing."
"That's all you hate, dates and punctuation," Linnet declared; "but I can't see the use of ever so many other things."
"If God thought it worth while to make the earth and people it and furnish it and govern it with laws, don't you think it worth your poor little while to learn what he has done?" queried Miss Prudence, gently.