Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 13
? come through the progeny of Ishmael. However, when this heritage was to pass on from the children of Isaac to the generations of Ishmael, it should naturally come as a great shock to the former and weigh heavily on them. It was, therefore, necessary to make this shift a gradual process, establishing it with a clear and cogent argument. These verses hint that on their violating the covenant continuously, God decided to replace the progeny of Isaac by the children of Ishmael in order to fulfill His promise to Abraham. As a final admonition to the House of Isaac, He decided that a virgin should give birth to a son who should be the successor to Moses. Because of such a vicar of Moses, the promise, that was to seek fulfillment through the House of Israel, was halved, i. e. , it was cut off from the House of Israel from the father's side and was confined only to the mother's side, since she came off the Israel stock. In the popular view, a child could not be born without a father; though everything is possible for God, yet people discounted the possibility on the plea that it was against the ways of the Almighty. The latest researches have, however, proved that this is not so; on the contrary, it is within the range of the laws of nature. We reproduce here some fresh evidence in this behalf. Doctor Helen Spurway, of the University College, London, has advanced the theory that the birth of a child does not