contains within it. Do not stop to ask
therefore, whether the subject was satisfactorily worked out; let each
man be satisfied to have received a germ of thought which he may
develope better for himself.

I. The deception of life's promise.
II. The meaning of that deception.

Let it be clearly understood in the first place, the promise never was
fulfilled. I do not say the fulfilment was delayed. I say it _never_
was fulfilled. Abraham had a few feet of earth, obtained by
purchase--beyond that nothing; he died a stranger and a pilgrim in the
land. Isaac had a little. So small was Jacob's hold upon his country
that the last years of his life were spent in Egypt, and he died a
foreigner in a strange land. His descendants came into the land of
Canaan, expecting to find it a land flowing with milk and honey; they
found hard work to do--war and unrest, instead of rest and peace.

During one brief period, in the history of Israel, the promise may
seem to have been fulfilled. It was during the later years of David
and the earlier years of Solomon; but we have the warrant of Scripture
itself for affirming, that even then the promise was not fulfilled. In
the Book of Psalms, David speaks of a hope of entering into a _future_
rest. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, quoting this passage,
infers from it that God's promise had not been exhausted nor
fulfilled, by the entrance into Canaan; for he says, "If Joshua had
given them rest then would he not have spoken of another day." Again
in this very chapter, after a long list of Hebrew saints--"These _all_
died in faith, not having received the promises." To none therefore,
had the promise been fulfilled. Accordingly writers on prophecy, in
order to get over this difficulty, take for granted that there must be
a future fulfilment, because the first was inadequate.

They who believe that the Jews will be restored to their native land,
expect it on the express ground that Canaan has never been actually
and permanently theirs. A certain tract of country--300 miles in
length, by 200 in breadth--must be given, or else they think the
promise has been broken. To quote the expression of one of the most
eloquent of their writers, "If there be nothing yet future for Israel,
then the magnificence of the promise has been lost in the poverty of
its accomplishment."

I do not quote this to prove the correctness of the interpretation of
the pro