In the novella Scrooge points out to the Spirit that the actions of the Sabbatarians “... has been done in your name, or at least that of your family”. This is a revealing comment, as it shows that the Spirits have been sent by God for Scrooge's redemption and that Dickens therefore intended "A Christmas Carol" as a Christian allegory. In the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament the disciples of Jesus pluck the heads off grain to eat as they walked by some fields. They are accused of breaking the Sabbath rules concerning resting on the Sabbath because plucking the grain was considered food preparation. Jesus replied, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." Dickens himself professed to be a Christian, but it is hard to pigeon-hole his faith into any particular branch of 19th-century Christianity. The Spirit responds: